Chat
01-14-2016, 04:42 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-14-2016, 04:44 AM by NH watcher.)
DLP, I really appreciate your contribution. I never wanted this thread to turn into exclusively NH Watcher's thoughts or Nanny's thoughts, or anyone else's. This forum is made up of many diverse members, from different ages, ethnicities, religions, etc. One thing I definitely know after years on the Internet, posting here and there, is you have to have a pretty thick skin. The open Internet is not for the faint of heart. There will be joys, and there will be sufferings. One of my mantras, which I still often fail at, is to "never assume." As the old saying goes, it really does make an ass out of u and me.
Nanny, to answer you, yes, I was using "fortune telling" in the literal sense of fortunes, or really anything for selfish gain. If you are joining this forum to tap into the "powers" of the beyond, and to use it for your own ends: caution, caution, and more caution. I would tell such a person (and I am not implying you are such a person) ... I would tell such a "generic" person, you are tapping into powers of which you really have no idea. That lays the groundwork for possession and obsession, and I ultimately conclude, the death of your individual soul.
Oh, DLP, I am sorry for using an obvious Christian reference here, or Christian illusion, please forgive me, but quoting C.S. Lewis from the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, when Lucy asked the Beaver about Aslan, "Is he safe?" "Safe??," the Beaver retorted, "of course, he is not safe ... but he is good." When I have tapped into the beyond in my own life, that is what I am chiefly seeking: the goodness amidst the unsafety. No, I really had no idea what to think, for instance, in the dream thread where you and Still went back and forth about dragons. Sure, I could have posted and tried to dismiss it or ridicule it, but then that is where my own discernment came in. No, if I have nothing good to contribute, then silence and listen, and see what I can learn, for further growth in the spirit.
And I hasten to add any more personal references, and this is never to imply that others should talk personally. If you want to maintain privacy and mystery about yourselves and your lives, all well and good. No one here should ever insist that any member expose themselves, if they are uncomfortable doing so. As for me, I am a seminary graduate, from an Ivy League School. Doesn't mean much now; it is simply a credential that some people I meet still fawn over, but I know in reality, one's own personal smarts and education do not depend exclusively on where you go to school, etc.
Nonetheless, it was an interesting two years of my life, in my 20s, when I was far less mature than I am now. I went to seminary having grown a beard for the first time in my life, and was quickly labeled, "Jesus complex." I shaved it off within the first semester. Seminary was essentially a mixture of personal experiences and the more rigid and external scientific method. Books, including the Bible, were to be read critically, of course. And the mixture was uneasy, to be sure. If someone declared in class that they saw an angel last night in their dorm room, what do you do with that? Dismiss it immediately? Refer them to a psychiatrist? Heavens no! (Of course, it made the rest of the Ivy League School always say, we were just the loons up the hill, compared to the more dignified and worthwhile professions such as law, medicine, and business.)
But in preparing ministers (yes, mostly of the Christian gospel), the tension had to be reckoned with, e.g., if someone in your congregation loses their loved one to death in whatever way, and asks you point blank at the funeral, "Is so and so in heaven?," what do you say? "I don't know" is not an option! That should give any prospective minister, all those with the lofty, "I have been called ...," to pause and get on one's knees in sincere humility. What do you say? It all depends ...
This is why, it is important that no one person or group of persons dominate this forum. If you find yourself scrambling to read every thread, and reply with something on every thread, ask yourself, is this really about the forum, or is it about me? The "illusion of importance" I initially mentioned is just that ... far be it for any of us to think that we have the singular phrase, the best interpretation, or whatever. I say God, but you may simply say the Universe, will share its glory with us, but will never allow us to take its glory. That was the original sin really, that of Lucifer, no longer wanting to be the Angel of Light, but rather the Light itself.
And so now I retreat, to let any others who choose to do so speak, who have tapped into the Light, from whatever tradition, whatever religion, whatever background, whatever circumstance. You are here to share your dreams, or interpret dreams, or even to predict the future (which, far be it from me to doubt, may even involve a personal gain), but each one here is to be honored as a participant in this one grand experiment ... but an experiment not without its rules, its limitations, or, yes, even its ethics.
Nanny, to answer you, yes, I was using "fortune telling" in the literal sense of fortunes, or really anything for selfish gain. If you are joining this forum to tap into the "powers" of the beyond, and to use it for your own ends: caution, caution, and more caution. I would tell such a person (and I am not implying you are such a person) ... I would tell such a "generic" person, you are tapping into powers of which you really have no idea. That lays the groundwork for possession and obsession, and I ultimately conclude, the death of your individual soul.
Oh, DLP, I am sorry for using an obvious Christian reference here, or Christian illusion, please forgive me, but quoting C.S. Lewis from the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, when Lucy asked the Beaver about Aslan, "Is he safe?" "Safe??," the Beaver retorted, "of course, he is not safe ... but he is good." When I have tapped into the beyond in my own life, that is what I am chiefly seeking: the goodness amidst the unsafety. No, I really had no idea what to think, for instance, in the dream thread where you and Still went back and forth about dragons. Sure, I could have posted and tried to dismiss it or ridicule it, but then that is where my own discernment came in. No, if I have nothing good to contribute, then silence and listen, and see what I can learn, for further growth in the spirit.
And I hasten to add any more personal references, and this is never to imply that others should talk personally. If you want to maintain privacy and mystery about yourselves and your lives, all well and good. No one here should ever insist that any member expose themselves, if they are uncomfortable doing so. As for me, I am a seminary graduate, from an Ivy League School. Doesn't mean much now; it is simply a credential that some people I meet still fawn over, but I know in reality, one's own personal smarts and education do not depend exclusively on where you go to school, etc.
Nonetheless, it was an interesting two years of my life, in my 20s, when I was far less mature than I am now. I went to seminary having grown a beard for the first time in my life, and was quickly labeled, "Jesus complex." I shaved it off within the first semester. Seminary was essentially a mixture of personal experiences and the more rigid and external scientific method. Books, including the Bible, were to be read critically, of course. And the mixture was uneasy, to be sure. If someone declared in class that they saw an angel last night in their dorm room, what do you do with that? Dismiss it immediately? Refer them to a psychiatrist? Heavens no! (Of course, it made the rest of the Ivy League School always say, we were just the loons up the hill, compared to the more dignified and worthwhile professions such as law, medicine, and business.)
But in preparing ministers (yes, mostly of the Christian gospel), the tension had to be reckoned with, e.g., if someone in your congregation loses their loved one to death in whatever way, and asks you point blank at the funeral, "Is so and so in heaven?," what do you say? "I don't know" is not an option! That should give any prospective minister, all those with the lofty, "I have been called ...," to pause and get on one's knees in sincere humility. What do you say? It all depends ...
This is why, it is important that no one person or group of persons dominate this forum. If you find yourself scrambling to read every thread, and reply with something on every thread, ask yourself, is this really about the forum, or is it about me? The "illusion of importance" I initially mentioned is just that ... far be it for any of us to think that we have the singular phrase, the best interpretation, or whatever. I say God, but you may simply say the Universe, will share its glory with us, but will never allow us to take its glory. That was the original sin really, that of Lucifer, no longer wanting to be the Angel of Light, but rather the Light itself.
And so now I retreat, to let any others who choose to do so speak, who have tapped into the Light, from whatever tradition, whatever religion, whatever background, whatever circumstance. You are here to share your dreams, or interpret dreams, or even to predict the future (which, far be it from me to doubt, may even involve a personal gain), but each one here is to be honored as a participant in this one grand experiment ... but an experiment not without its rules, its limitations, or, yes, even its ethics.