THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
I wrote in the past about the concept of spiritual "thinness". Maybe you remember. In the last four days or so I've experienced that spiritual state quite often, but I am not sure why. In case you missed the earlier discourse about it, or would like to be reminded, we can start with some metaphysics.
An illustration from an anecdote might help.
Between May of 2002 and June of 2004 I taught college courses in the Western Humanities; in Ethics; and in World Religions at Brevard Community College in Melbourne, FL and for Columbia College of Columbia, Missouri on Patrick Air Force Base just south of Cocoa Beach, FL. Some of the sections were taught to advanced placement students at Satellite High School in Satellite Beach, directly south of the Air Force Base. We used many multi-media resource for the courses and one of my favorite movies to start the classes out in the proper mood was a movie called "Time Bandits".
Usually the first showing of the film was greeted various levels of teen whining and moaning as well as broad yawns. After every video or presentation I gave the students ten minutes to write down questions or observations about what they had seen or heard. For the most part, very few of the kids had any knowledge of the classical history and mythology that was irreverently depicted.
Then, at the end of the semester after finals, we watched it again, and you could almost see the little light bulbs lighting up over and over above their dear little heads. But back to "thinness' . . .the main premise of the plot was that there is a cosmic map of time/space reality, but there are holes and/or perforations . . . even maybe screens and windows that can be used to travel from one culture to another across the centuries.
I hope you will watch it sometime. It's really wonderful. For instance, Sean Connery plays a 20th century London firefighter as well as King Agamemnon from the Trojan War era.
Anyway . . . You know that time/space confusion as you are falling asleep or daydreaming or just beginning to wake up, trying to stay in your dream? Or you think you catch a glimpse of an angel or a ghost . . . A leprechaun or a fairy . . . (or perhaps a talking fish . . . or Mr. Ed the talking horse).
Or maybe you've spent sometime beyond the Looking Glass or in Neverland?
Even if you've been told it's all just your imagination, maybe you are still not sure. That's the "thinness".
For me, it's just a reminder that we are more than just who we seem to be physically. We are Spirit . . . and even maybe stardust.
Some examples: my grandmother's spirit sitting on my bed and talking with me on the 2nd anniversary of her passing and telling me I would have wonderful news that afternoon. Then my daughter called me about 3pm to tell me she was pregnant with her first child.
Or when on a lovely spring day in DC/Northern Virginia I felt led to pray for my teen-aged son. the first thing he asked me when I saw him that evening was whether I had been praying for him. He and one of his friends we climbing a rock face on the Potomac from the Virginia side near Great Falls. They both lost their grips and fell about 15 feet. (No doubt the angels taking care of most teen-aged boys have to work over time.)
So what about "The Long and Winding Road"?
I'm not sure, but it's possible that we can connect "thinness'' to that concept, top.
What do you think?
I wrote in the past about the concept of spiritual "thinness". Maybe you remember. In the last four days or so I've experienced that spiritual state quite often, but I am not sure why. In case you missed the earlier discourse about it, or would like to be reminded, we can start with some metaphysics.
An illustration from an anecdote might help.
Between May of 2002 and June of 2004 I taught college courses in the Western Humanities; in Ethics; and in World Religions at Brevard Community College in Melbourne, FL and for Columbia College of Columbia, Missouri on Patrick Air Force Base just south of Cocoa Beach, FL. Some of the sections were taught to advanced placement students at Satellite High School in Satellite Beach, directly south of the Air Force Base. We used many multi-media resource for the courses and one of my favorite movies to start the classes out in the proper mood was a movie called "Time Bandits".
Usually the first showing of the film was greeted various levels of teen whining and moaning as well as broad yawns. After every video or presentation I gave the students ten minutes to write down questions or observations about what they had seen or heard. For the most part, very few of the kids had any knowledge of the classical history and mythology that was irreverently depicted.
Then, at the end of the semester after finals, we watched it again, and you could almost see the little light bulbs lighting up over and over above their dear little heads. But back to "thinness' . . .the main premise of the plot was that there is a cosmic map of time/space reality, but there are holes and/or perforations . . . even maybe screens and windows that can be used to travel from one culture to another across the centuries.
I hope you will watch it sometime. It's really wonderful. For instance, Sean Connery plays a 20th century London firefighter as well as King Agamemnon from the Trojan War era.
Anyway . . . You know that time/space confusion as you are falling asleep or daydreaming or just beginning to wake up, trying to stay in your dream? Or you think you catch a glimpse of an angel or a ghost . . . A leprechaun or a fairy . . . (or perhaps a talking fish . . . or Mr. Ed the talking horse).
Or maybe you've spent sometime beyond the Looking Glass or in Neverland?
Even if you've been told it's all just your imagination, maybe you are still not sure. That's the "thinness".
For me, it's just a reminder that we are more than just who we seem to be physically. We are Spirit . . . and even maybe stardust.
Some examples: my grandmother's spirit sitting on my bed and talking with me on the 2nd anniversary of her passing and telling me I would have wonderful news that afternoon. Then my daughter called me about 3pm to tell me she was pregnant with her first child.
Or when on a lovely spring day in DC/Northern Virginia I felt led to pray for my teen-aged son. the first thing he asked me when I saw him that evening was whether I had been praying for him. He and one of his friends we climbing a rock face on the Potomac from the Virginia side near Great Falls. They both lost their grips and fell about 15 feet. (No doubt the angels taking care of most teen-aged boys have to work over time.)
So what about "The Long and Winding Road"?
I'm not sure, but it's possible that we can connect "thinness'' to that concept, top.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.