And They Call It, Puppy Love: Border Collie Mom Giving Birth to St. Bernard Pups~~Live Video

Copy and paste into your myspace profile to view and let it speak to you:

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‘Mr. Monkey’, ‘Ms. Hortence’, ‘Mr. Bunny’ and Other Puppet Friends Downsize Heady Sermons for Children of Austin’s Wells Branch Church

“Hello, Girls and Boys,”  “Hello, Everybody,” Hortence the horse puppet (Marilyn Rucker), in her high lyrical voice greets the congregation, young and old, of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Austin, TX’s northern Wells Branch community.  Three master puppeteers interact with additional puppet friends, using engaging dialogue that conveys deep messages of how we can live in ways that bring God’s love, justice and mercy to our families, our communities, and our planet.  Both children and adults gain a simpler version of the sermon teaching to come.  Puppet conversations range from the whimsically humorous to the wildly hysterical–prefacing the Rev. Dr. Jim Rigby’s lessons with laughter and tears.  What a wonderful way to open the hearts of those about to embark on sacred ground.  Thank you, St. Andrew’s for the gift of loving, powerful entertainment that teaches us how to live.–Ash

Finding the Eternal in the Temporal or The Empty Vessel Never Filled

\”The Empty Vessel Never Filled,\” by Dr. Jim Rigby

I promised you pages on the people, places, things, and experiences that have made my life wonderful; so, may I start at the TOP?   Here’s Dr. Jim Rigby of Austin, Texas, teaching on what he calls, “The Empty Vessel Never Filled,”  but I call it, “Finding the Eternal in the Temporal.” 

[Look for the word "Comments" below, at the end of the tag word list.  Click on this in order to post your comment on this podcast or blog.]

In this, his most recent scholarly teaching, Rigby addresses a distinguished audience of Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Pantheists, Buddhists, Taoists, and people of just about any race, creed, political, religious or anti-religious perspective.  Worth bearing in mind, perhaps, is the fact that this audience gathered and assembled themselves in a small building on the corner property of Wells Branch and Wells Port, called St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, located in the Wells Branch suburb of Austin, TX,  where the oft controversial justice advocate, Dr. Rigby has taught for more than twenty years, specifically to hear the Reverend Dr. Jim Rigby eloquently expound on his topic of choice.

Though brilliant, his teachings have brought him oftentimes, harsh criticism from theologians, traditional religious figures, the Presbyterian Synod, Mission Presbytery, legal zealots, anti-gay activists and even members and former members of the church itself. 

In this particular podcast, Jim dares to illumine Christian text with Taoist teachings, merging texts into one message that has the power to continuously inform and transform our lives, providing the richness and presentness one might not hear elsewhere, from more conventional theologians.  The podcast begins with a reader citing text from Christian scripture, then Dr. Rigby, with the skill of an Artisan, weaves in Tao text, stories, humor, Science, history, metaphors and rich poetry.  The result may provide just what you need to hear in order to heal that certain hurting aspect of your life that has kept you from getting past the losses and changes you’ve experienced:

http://www.staopen.com/podcast/index.php  or http://www.staopen.com/podcast/Rigby_0810.mp3

To hear Jim’s unique perspective and perhaps find the answers to such questions as, “What is Eternity?” and “Why should we not worry?” click and play the above podcast link or choose from the index of topics, “The Empty Vessel Never Filled.”  Especially listen for sandcastles, bubbles, and Edgar Allan Poe’s, “Dream Within A Dream.”  Your comments are invited.  I look forward to hearing from you.–It’s a Wonder-ful Life!  Ash

WHEN YOU LOVE, YOU’RE A FAR GREATER PERSON

Because I loved you, I became a far greater me.

Loving you gave me the desire to live kindly with generosity toward all I could see;

I aspired to always succeed in ever new endeavors, to exceed all past success;

It was so important that my life earned your trust and your respect, without regress;

Never giving you cause to regret loving me, was everything;

Because you made my heart sing.

Because I loved you, I loved more, laughed more, cried more, lived more, worked more;

Beacause I loved you, my day was brighter, I walked lighter; I almost flew;

You made my heart soar.

When you left, I learned to love you still,

What a great gift–overcoming my will.

In loving you still, I learned to surrender my ego.

But when our paths diverged and I had to let you go,

I felt empty and small; it was a crushing blow.

Because I let go of loving you, I forfeited my heart.

I am become a lesser me.

HOW DID ONE ROOF BECOME SO POPULAR?

Who can tell us when the concept of men and women living together under one roof became widely accepted?  Who would vote with me to end this senseless practice?

 I believe that the world today would be a much more peaceful planet, were the sexes to agree to live separately.  Sincerely, who wouldn’t be able to love and respect their husband, wife, lover more, were they allowed the space and freedom of autonomous living?  Sure, your “standard of living” may not be quite the same, but with your quality of life and relationship enhanced, suffering would be counted as gain.

With the advances in personal freedom, mutual love, respect, and peaceful relationships, doesn’t it stand to reason that the personal gains would rise through the hierarchy of community, national and international interactions and relationships?  What I’m asking is, wouldn’t we live more peacefully on a global scale, if we had peace at the family level?  What could we possibly be sacrificing by providing for privacy and space–what I consider to be most elemental and foundational in our “hierarchy of needs.” [Maslow]

Once you’ve given it some thought, allowed the concept to sink in, your ideas on how to accomplish this shift in societal thinking are welcome.  Is this worthwhile?  Why or why not?

Keep in mind, I’m not devaluing or discrediting men or women, families or singularities, marriage or non-married unions; to the contrary, I’m only recognizing the value in respecting and supporting one’s own and well as the significant others’ person, space, individuality, autonomy, and freedom to agree to when and how to share those along with time and energy with another; as well as, acknowledging how unsatisfying the nature of cohabitation of couples truly is.  Before you argue, note that statistically, divorce rates and unhappy “marriages” bear this out.  Maybe, it’s not our marriages that are unhappy; maybe, just maybe, living together, beneath the same roof, seeing each other every day, day in and night out, is an impossible way to live and support happiness and harmonious living.  Simply because, Love, peace and harmony are not by-products of control or invasion or even suffering in silence or outloud with someone else’s intolerabilities.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, so get to blogging.

LOVE LIST

Love begins with yourself.

Love does not avoid responsibility; but love does not “fix.”

Love has boundaries but never judges.

Love responds and supports but does not play both sides of the court; and Love never keeps score.

Love gifts and Love receives.

Love collaborates.

Love never ceases

Love builds bridges.

Love broadens, searches out and find new ways.

Love is secure…love trusts.

Love respects.

Love enjoys.

Love is grateful.

Love surrenders the ego…is humble.

Love works.

Love plays.

Love renews.

Love, like water, is powerful.

Love recognizes there is never anything to forgive.

Love moves mountains.

Love is not about what I can do for you, it’s about believing in you.

Love sees the Perfection and knows that All is Well.

We are loved.

I believe in You.

I believe in Me, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Gift of Love…

Statistics bear out the fact that my history of several marriages is not uncommon; however, my last marriage, at the age of 45, took me by surprise, as I believed that I would never marry again.The man that I married was precious beyond comparison. He loved me with all of his strength, devoting inordinate amounts of energy to our life together. The six years we spent together were the only drug-free years of his life, since his teen hood.

I loved him with all of my strength too. When he left me because he had returned to a life of using, it nearly killed me. The loss was too great. For two years afterward, I maintained contact, to make sure he was okay…surviving at least; always yearning in my heart for him to decide to recover from his departure and want “us” again.

Two years after he left me, I finally surrendered him and “us” to Spirit. Several weeks later, he asked me to relocate, and take a job near him. I didn’t think that I could do it, but my heart is what it is, and I believed that surrendering to Spirit allowed this to happen.

Leaving a metropolitan area that I had known for twenty years as my home, I moved my border collie and me to a remote mountain area, a thousand miles away, where all of the traditions of love, marriage, commitment, companionship and friendship that have heretofore shaped my life underwent radical reconstruction. My husband and I live near in geographical proximity to one another, see each other frequently, have morning coffee together, have brief conversations, sometimes longer, camp together, hike together, work together, ride horses together, play with our border collies together, sometimes even make love together…but do not live together.

I’ve accepted his current lifestyle, circumstances and choices even though they are not in harmony with mine. I’ve never asked him to change anything about himself. If I don’t love him as he is for who he is and what he’s become, then I don’t love him. Of course, I want the best for him, but how do I know what his Spiritual Path is? It’s not up to me to determine his path. I’m extremely grateful that our paths allow us to walk side by side, sometimes.

In the past, I could never have imagined such an unorthodox or non-traditional relationship; but in my view, by surrendering to Spirit…letting go, I’ve enlarged my views and concepts of what love is and what love is not. I don’t believe that love judges or criticizes though it’s often called upon to reflect and to offer perspective. I believe that love finds the strength to believe in and see the perfection, no matter what.

Surrendered, I love this man that I took as my mate, eight years ago. His strength, his weakness, his love, his searching, his confusion, his abilities, his inabilities, his peace, his turmoil, all of him…I just love him as he is for who he is, who he was, and who he is yet to become. I love me too; for all the same reasons.

This is my gift of love.

 

 

LOVE IS NOT. . .

Thoughts from Ashtora on LOVE:  Love is not about what you can do for me or what I can do for you. Love is not about what we have or have not in common. It is not about what we have or don’t have. It is not about independence or our accomplishments, individual or collective. Love is not about earning or proving anything.

Love is about who we are. Love is the willingness to be with each other. Love is about our mutual ability to allow the other into our lives; and also, to allow ourselves to be vulnerably open to one another. If I cannot allow you into my life, cannot allow myself to welcome and need (at least sometimes) your strength, your weakness, your love and all that comes with who you are, I cannot love you; and in the end, you cannot love me.

Ashtora, March 2008

Thoughts from Albert Einstein on LOVE:  A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.