The world without spirit is a wasteland.

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The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and whos on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers

Dear Ann,
I am a person who understands these words. I guess that is because I had been behind (in a dismal way) but finally got it.

I used to bewail that 'I am a person, too!' but no one gave much of a damn. It was not until I understood that I was a person without anyone's sanction that I became one. I hope that makes sense. It is then that I became alive.

Religious people might akin the experience to being "born again."
There was no religion about it for me, but I was a new person...but not all at once.

You are a very alive spirit.
Love,
Betty

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I used to bewail that 'I am a person, too!' but no one gave much of a damn. It was not until I understood that I was a person without anyone's sanction that I became one. I hope that makes sense. It is then that I became alive.

Every little once in a while, I think of Joyce Ann. The most unreligious, religious person I have ever met in these spaces. I think of her tree of life that has all her family, and grands. I think about her gentle and beautiful spirit.

If anyone talks to her, tell her I said hello.

Love,
Betty

I miss her, too.

Ann

Also from The Power of Myth:

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“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” ~ Joseph Campbell

Dea Ann,
I believe you have the connection to living back and forward, the spirit, the intelligence, the power of words, the use of language, the imagination, the story telling prowess to be renoun. I believe it. It will be.

Love,
Betty

Thinking...Interesting concept.

alj wrote:

Quote :

The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and whos on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers

What rules ? Are there any rules anymore other than how you feel?

My daughter was out running. An eight year -old boy ran up to her and pinched her behind
A rather cheeky act for a chld to do to a forty year old woman.
She mentioned it in one of her classes and a male student asked her what she expected.
She answered that she expected to be left alone.

Tmes have changed.

Phil Harris writes on FB.
"You
cannot change another human being. Think how hard it is to change
yourself! And even if you could, you would only bring them away from
their purpose – changing themselves.
We can, however, provide help
on physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual levels. We can attempt to
influence others in ways we think would benefit them. We can try to act
in a manner and make decisions that would serve as a positive role
model.
But we must navigate the razor’s edge between teaching and
preaching. Teachings means sharing your wisdom out of love and care, not
because you want to convert or convince or coerce." YB

What drives some of us perhaps is the need to make a connection with the whole universe.
As I get older I am more and more becoming aware of life itself.
The very stars in the sky make me question in awe and wonder.
There is so much more to our existence than procreation and the acquisition of wealth.
Nature in this world fills me with a yearning for some kind of contact beyond what we know.

I am beginning to question so many things I see going on in this world.
All of us are herded like animals by big corporations and people in power into ways of living that destroy the environment. We the animals are then held to blame for said destruction and we bare that collective guilt. Some of us become enlightened to the truth and fight for change. We the animals are kept herded and mesmerized, blinded by our keepers through fear. Those who see the truth are often ridiculed and discredited. Sounds a bit like a George Orwell scenario I know! But I look around these days and sadly it is what I see.
"The Truth is good and should be embraced so long as it brings in a profit."
Every time I hear it said that mankind is destroying the earth I say "No not all mankind just the greedy ones who rule. I am talking global security here!
Those who conceal the truth and amass for themselves the technology of warfare under the banner of national security fail to see the big picture.

The majority of us care about our world and as we learn the truth we desire to act and save our world. The Spirit this world needs is the Spirit of a change of mindset. We are no longer representatives of individual nations. We are the people of the planet Earth.

Alice wrote:

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alj wrote:
Quote:
The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and whos on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers


What rules ? Are there any rules anymore other than how you feel?

David wrote:

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The majority of us care about our world and as we learn the truth we desire to act and save our world. The Spirit this world needs is the Spirit of a change of mindset. We are no longer representatives of individual nations. We are the people of the planet Earth.

Their responses reminded me of a few passages from a couple of the Judeo-Christian Books:

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Jeremiah 31:31-:34 - “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"

Here is my take on those passages. Under the older covenant, God handed down a set of rules - the Tn Commandments. It became a practice among he men to actually wear those rules on their foreheads, inside small leather boxes called phylacteries, because they read certain passages from Deueronomy in a literal sense:

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Deuteronomy 11:18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

(All quotations are from the ESV, English Standard Version)

I believe that the answer to the question, "What rules," is not about making new ones, but about living our lives from that "new mindset" that David suggested.

Rules written down can be bent and warped to fit the needs of few people - those who are in power and wish to remain there. Rules within our minds and hearts will produce the integrity we need to live our lives in a manner that supports our beliefs.

That, to my thinking is the difference between the wasteland and a living world - a world whit spirit. And like David pointed out, the new mindset needs to include that whole world in one community.

Not preachin' - Just sayin'.

Ann

I like your perspectives

David, I concur with your thoughts.

Me too.