426 Amazing Love

Gentle Reader, I have learned much in my Spiritual Odyssey about Jesus Messiah and how he lived. I will never forget when I first recognized how he consciously lived by the principle of replacing evil with good. How he required it of Himself, even in the face of terrific mental and physical abuse.

Christians certainly can live by this principle too—replace evil with good— (and should)! For our own sake, at the very least, don’t you think?

In fact, I am learning to do just that, after experiencing for myself the sad consequences of times of mistaken thinking. I am learning to make Jesus my Best Friend. As fast as I can, I hold all mistaken thinking captive to Jesus. I make the huge effort a priority.

Most of all, I am learning to remember, treasure, and rejoice in His amazing love—so amazing He would die for us. That means I must practice, practice, practice. That means learning to recognize and embrace the encouragement of His love, especially in painful and difficult circumstances—and then, keeping moving in simple goodness.

To be continued . . .

425 Getting Great Results

Two final great results of an earnest spiritual odyssey remain to be named:

One, closure can be reached on the meaning and purpose of many worrisome thoughts, such as:

What is the meaning and purpose of life?

Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? How do I want to spend it?

Why suffering? Why death? Why evil, pain and torment?

What is life after death?

What is the purpose of personal choice?

Why are there no answers to some questions?

That last question particularly pains many seekers, Gentle Reader, even to the point of discouragement. But my experience as a seeker has led me to understand that there is such an abundance of answers in Christ that unanswered questions are extremely few and far between—that’s if I keep pressing on as a seeker. Answers come! And the answers that do come are plentiful and rich. Those few answers that don’t come easily, if ever, fall under the God’s Great Mysteries category in my sort-out. And I have learned content with that.

Two, the last result that has abounded to me over the years and which we have been recently exploring is this: Sort-outs that produce new and better thinking need all be ruled by the same principle—simply replace any evil with good—sort-out the evil and sort-in the good. Goodness above all, that’s simple enough, isn’t it? Throw out those “bad apple” thoughts, feelings and purposes. Aspire to Philippians 4:8—dwell on goodness. Cultivate goodness. And the pursuit of goodness is now my select organizational principle for—well—everything! And it is great result: simple goodness.

To be continued . . .

424 Getting Somewhere

It’s coming time to close what I have, upon reflection, confirmed to be a fairly accurate record of the why and how of the spiritual journey I chose to chronicle in this blog.

As I reflected upon what has been written so far and what more might come, I realized, Faithful Reader, that I am getting great results from the Odyssey I have been describing so intimately over the past years. 

If you can agree that up until now my writings have been a description of the "getting somewhere" in a spiritual odyssey, then I can move on. I hope you do agree. 

So now I want to rightfully conclude this portion of our tête-à-tête with a summation of sorts, even though the odyssey as a whole is not yet over.

Perhaps you have noticed, at this point the label airhead debutante no longer covers who I am.

Yes, I have been getting results in my personal growth, Gentle Reader: Great Results, I think!

When talking about results in life, let me remind you that it is my conviction that, overall, there is nothing like a thorough sort-out for getting great results--it always does the heart good! And it has done and continues to do so for me.

New and fresh thinking abounds in me now, thinking that began to emerge over the years of my “sort-out” for sane reasoning in a frequently insane-seeming world. It’s taken time, but I am learning that any number of misjudgments (however great or small) can be erased and replaced with right thinking, feeling and purposing. Let me assure you, that particular new conviction does do my heart good!

But aren’t there more results, you might ask? Yes! There are. And I am happy to say that at this point in my quest, that is "getting somewhere", I am acquiring a stand-out list of great results as a benefit of the effort I have spent to take stock of my life and experience. In fact, reading that list might just get you as excited about a spiritual odyssey as I continue to be. So, enjoy what follows!

Stand-out Benefits of a Spiritual Odyssey: You can realize that . . .

A quest for God (in Christ) always changes things.

Sort-outs are really an evaluation and selection process.

Sort-outs regularly produce new and better thinking as old, unsubstantial thinking passes away.

New thinking can result in an abundance of good spiritual results in your life.

Agile Montage Thinking is a mega result of practicing wrapping one’s mind around big ideas that sort-outs regularly encounter.

Communication is greatly enhanced by all the mind toning accomplished in the effort of performing regular sort-outs.

Therefore, a sort-out is a journey, not a destination—each time one comes back to a sort-out, both old and new subjects are amplified and improved—understanding increases, wisdom expands. There is great personal satisfaction and content in having gone deep and thorough in sort-outs, Gentle Reader, be it of files, cabinets, clothes . . . or of the very plan and purpose of life!

To be continued . . .

423 People in Family

What is probably most relevant about the many aspects of social harmony or chaos we have been sampling up until now is that they are so evident in everyday life and yet so largely overlooked.  

Through one last comment on group dynamics, I will attempt to explain why. 

You see, many of life’s human circumstances are ruled by group dynamics. The group dynamic is particularly evident in families of birth where people are in lifelong connection with each other (ideally).

Yet the group dynamic is also obvious in cultural situations both positive and negative—where they may be observed in the form of communities, organizations, clubs, institutions, gangs, governments, the workplace, nations, and so on, and loosely referred to as "families".

This may sound like a theme from a college level Social Studies class. And I think it is (since I have had such a class). A classic example of group dynamics is in the 1963 Film: West Side Story.

In both family and other social contexts, similar habits, attitudes and behaviors frequently unite people into groups and create a form of fairly homogenous social order within the group. The great benefit of this spontaneous social order in positive groups is a one-mind mentality that reduces conflict, creates identity and ideally promotes health, wealth and happiness within the group, as well as any other group impacted by them. The great detriment of the group dynamic in negative groups is how such “unity” can negatively impact positive groups—through dissention, hostility, and attack; undermining their effectiveness and durability.

People do love to group up, Gentle Reader! But the choice of group dynamic, how they will act, react and interact, is crucial to groups being of benefit to each other—within each group—and beyond.

And, of course, good guidelines and communication benefit everyone.

To be continued . . .

422 Group Dynamics

Gentle Reader, I see being human—being people—as a great challenge to everyone alive. Individually, it is challenging; and of even greater challenge is the group dynamic of being human. I see clarity on the great value of replacing evil with good as a great good for all people, for the whole human race. I see careful think-throughs and differentiating right from wrong as something that really matters among people, determining how well or how poorly they interrelate and communicate.

Many do not agree. Take for example “Rocky Hardcastle” father of Lionel in As Time Goes By on PBS. When advised by his son to think out something (I forget what) before he acts, Rocky remarks emphatically, “A think-through! Those take too long!” He may be forgiven because he is after all of “great age” and terminally ill.

Despite this argument, thorough think-throughs do improve living and help develop good judgment. Good judgment (as well as good memory) among people matters especially in the group dynamic; good manners matter; loving, interactive parenting matters; practicing obedience to God Most High matters. Everything we think or do in life matters. And the careful think-through is the foundation of all good standards.

Quality standards held by people singly and in relationship with others also always matter. The quality of standards held forms the very character of the individual and of the group, be it good or evil. Quality, positive or negative, also explains why I have chosen The Bible as the most sane set of standards existing in this world for relationship and behavior in any world. Combined with seasoned wisdom, the standards of the Holy Bible are always eternally applicable to all human relations that ever will be, or ever were, since time began. 

To be continued . . .