"Don't Be Fooled by the Darkness Before the Dawn" - Part I

“Don’t Be Fooled by the Darkness Before the Dawn” 

Part I

This saying affirms God’s unquestioned faithfulness in response to a disciple’s genuine and humble faith in Him. Florence Scovel Shinn encourages believers to repeat this affirmation as they wait for a demonstration of God’s love and purpose. The hours just before dawn are the deepest and darkness ones of night. It is impossible to see anything. Whether with a candle, flashlight, headlamps, campfire, fireplace or nighttime infrared technology, you are unable to see even an inch in front of you. Your eyes naturally adjust to darkness with extremely limited visibility. Negotiating a darkened space contains immediate risks with potentially longstanding injury. As you traverse, penetratingly bleak periods in life, you face formidable challenges to your faith. Will you remain steadfastly faithful in your verbal and mental affirmation of God’s trustworthiness? Will you rely genuinely upon Him and His Word as you await its manifestation in your life? In the indefinable darkness of the fourth watch of the night, fears form easily in your mind and heart. You hear every single noise regardless of how small. You jump at an instant. You yearn for dawn and daylight. Applied to life, these feelings and emotions test your faith in God. If you allow the darkness to fool you, undoubtedly, you conclude God abandoned you during your toughest trial and temptation. You understandably resort to self-reliance. However, Shinn’s admonition and recommendation are apropos. “Don’t be fooled by the darkness before the dawn.”

Ironically, God does His best work in the darkness. In Mark’s resurrection account, the disciples arrive at the empty tomb “just after sunrise.”  According to John’s account, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.”  God performs the ultimate miracle, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, during the fourth watch of the night. As everyone slept and rested from their labors, they were oblivious to this incredible miracle that would change the life of anyone who believes the prophets and what the Lord foretold them. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you to triumph over any adversity. Still, a life of faith requires your unwavering willingness to proclaim God’s goodness and grace in disconsolate times. You do not permit the darkness to limit your faith in God. A friend of mine uses a helpful analogy. He appropriates the period of intermission at the theater. The stage goes completely dark as the curtain closes. To the audience, it appears nothing is happening. Many persons leave for a restroom break or to consume refreshment. When the next act begins, they pleasantly discover a wholesale rearrangement of the stage. Its reconfiguration of props, furniture and scenery was necessary for the plot to proceed. Likewise, in our lives, God reorders our purpose before we are ready for the next chapter. In the darkness where dread and danger lurk, we become less self-reliant.  We are more open to discerning His will and divine design for us. It is important that we are not fooled by the darkness but appreciate it as a time of miraculous growth.

What do we do when God appears silent and late? Impatience inevitably leads to mistakes. Anxiety compels action which seems preferable to inaction.  Exaggerated feelings distort perspective and shortchange deliberative cognitive and intuitive processes. A resulting rush to judgment not surprisingly yields missteps. Fear is even more deadly as it coerces reckless behavior. It becomes so palatable that you become willing to do anything to discard this toxic emotion. It is easy to resort to underdeveloped plans to achieve a semblance of resolution. Even devout disciples have stumbled inadvertently into criminal acts because their anxiety about debt and need of money make an impossibly good offer seem reasonable. They falsely think that they can complete just one drug deal, robbery or embezzlement. Fear additionally conceives anger, resentment, bitterness and other poisonous emotions. This negativity nullifies faith. You begin to justify faithlessness in response to God’s perceived abandonment. Practically, you stop attending collective worship, cease Bible study, rebuff spiritual disciplines, spurn mentoring, refuse to pray and lapse into a major depression. Interestingly, the things that you stop doing are activities you should do.

When it seems darkness eclipses God’s presence, it is the perfect time to pray. Dispense with meaningless ritualism about prayer and simply have a face-to-face conversation with the Lord. Share forthrightly what is on your heart and mind. Do not mince words. Consider Celie, who in the opening chapter of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, frankly tells God about the incest she is experiencing.  Detail the depth and breadth of your fears, complaints and requests.  Prayer is the perfect antidote to stress and anxiety.  If left untreated, these emotions eventuate in immoral and unethical behavior. Second, reflect upon God’s enduring faithfulness to you. The author of the book of Deuteronomy regards reflection as a type of prayer. He reminds his audience of God’s great deeds when they enter the Promised Land and their inheritance of material, financial and spiritual blessings of God’s covenant with them. Third, meditate on the goodness of God who pledges to keep you in perfect peace if you focus fervently and explicitly upon Him. (Isaiah 26:3) Steadfast recollection of God’s grace obliterates fear. Fourth, write a gratitude list of all the things for which you are thankful to God. Before you realize it, your list will easily have more items than you first imagined. Fifth, listening to music always bolsters faith. Chances are you have favorite songs, religious and secular, that encourage and empower your inner person. As “music soothes the savage beast,” it powerfully annihilates fear in all its ghastly and cunning forms. Sixth, physical exercise is a formidable corrective to anxiety and other ruinous emotions. It yields greater energy with which to combat internal enemies. Seventh, faithfully fellowship with a group of like-minded believers with whom you share the journey of faith. “Iron sharpens iron.” Eighth, finally, consider supplemental help of spiritual direction, pastoral counseling or psychoanalysis. God effectively uses these alternative means as He does other ones. Nevertheless, the foregoing spiritual disciplines prevent the darkness from overwhelming you as you wait upon the Lord.

"Don't Be Fooled by the Darkness Before the Dawn" - Part II

“Don’t Be Fooled by the Darkness Before the Dawn” 

Part II

In Matthew 14:22-36, the evangelist records the familiar story of Jesus walking on water. Most people marvel at the Lord’s ability to surmount gravity and walk on water. Others chastise Peter for tempting the Lord and requesting to get out of the boat and walk on water like the Lord. But, additional details in this story build and strengthen faith. Following the feeding of five thousand men, not counting women and children possibly the feeding of fifteen thousand or more persons, Jesus offers a benediction and dismisses the crowd. He directs the disciples to get into a boat and travel to the other side of the lake. Later in the night while the boat was a good distance from the land, a squall erupts upon the water. Tremendous winds and waves batter the boat for hours. Assuredly, the disciples assume they will lose their lives. Imagine the foreboding feelings that filled their minds and hearts. For hours, they combat the storm which appears to defeat them. As they battle the storm, an understandable thought must have crossed their minds. “Where is Jesus? Why didn’t He join us? Had He been here, He could have calmed this storm in a matter of seconds.” 

Notice Jesus sends them in the direction of this storm and penetrating darkness. Consider further that He allows them to linger in danger and despair for hours. Jesus providentially delays His appearance to create the miracle of faith in the disciples’ minds, hearts and guts. The text does not say whether the disciples prayed or called out to Jesus as they fought the storm. The King James Version says, “And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto to them, walking on the sea.” He appears to them during the deepest and darkest period in the night. Initially, when they see Him, they assume it is a ghost. Their assessment is understandable considering their physical exhaustion and mental bewilderment at this point of conflict with the storm. Until one of them cries out, “It is the Lord,” they were fooled by the darkness before the dawn. However, Jesus reassures them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”  Similarly, the Lord visits us and offers words of empowerment and hope. He reminds us that He is always with us. He never leaves nor does He forsake us. He tells us to renounce insidious fear. The Lord encourages us to take refuge in His presence and power. In a sense, He admonishes us not to be fooled by the darkness before the dawn.

I conclude this encouraging column with a true story that a colleague shared with me years ago. Unexpectedly, a local bank called a loan upon a female banker who lost her husband in the previous year. Bank officials notified her on the first day of the month. The loan had to be repaid in full by the last day of the month. Otherwise, the bank would foreclose and siege her farm. As this widow and her son did not have any other assets, connections or resources, the bank could have called the loan on that day. They would have thirty days to discard, clean and pack their belongings. After the death of her husband, this financial dilemma occasioned the darkest hour of her life. A stalwart woman of faith, this woman did not prepare to leave her house and farm. She decided she would trust God to deliver her from this gloomy predicament. At the beginning of the second week, a construction manager drove up the extended driveway to inquire about buying mountains of dirt he saw stored on the farm. A few miles away from the lady’s farm, he was building a new complex. He needed dirt to fill in the land and construct the foundation. As this manager analyzed the numbers, he would lose money and profitability in buying and hauling dirt from town. Time, gasoline, labor and equipment charges would erode his profit margins and prevent a bonus for early completion. This manager could regain control of finances, logistics, scope and timeframe of the project were he to buy dirt from the female farmer. When he reached the porch, he described his dilemma and asked about the cost of the farmer’s dirt. Naturally, she demanded the amount of the outstanding loan. On that day, the manager thought the amount was too much. He felt the same way a week later. The woman could not lower her price. Without the full amount of the loan, she would lose the farm regardless. The construction manager paid the woman a final visit within a few days of the end of the month. She did not budge on the price of the dirt which represented the value of her farm. For the manager, however, he had already begun to bear the burden of buying and transporting dirt from town. Met with that reality and the female farmer’s firmness, the construction agreed to her price and terms.

Relying genuinely upon Almighty God to deliver her, this female farmer refused to be fooled by the darkness before the dawn. She resolved God would be as faithful in that crisis as He had in every previous challenge. Remember God does His best work in darkness. “Don’t be fooled by the darkness before the dawn.”

Gratitude Amidst Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic in NYC - Part I

Gratitude Amidst Daily Challenges of

Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic

in the Greater New York City Area – Part I

Like the three hundred or more million stars that shine during the fourth watch of the night, the deepest and darkest period before dawn, gratitude illuminates my pathway as I live during the coronavirus pandemic. Genuinely, I offer thanksgiving for the people within the inner circles of my heart. I am grateful for the gift of life and the activities and accessories that enrich my life. Moreover, I feel profound, heartfelt and indescribable thanks for countless anonymous fellow citizens who bear the daily burden of caring for other people as they risk their lives and potentially jeopardize the lives of their spouses, children, extended family and neighbors.  As a society, we will never be able to remit payment of the incalculable debt we owe health professionals of any rank or position, first responders, law enforcement personnel, employees of grocery stores, drug stores, gasoline stations and other workers whom the state governments deem as essential during this crisis.  Easily, anyone could take the opposite view. Cynicism would be understandable given the colossal failure to prepare our nation for this infectious disease and its deadly aftermath. Spurning any naivete of assuming tunnel vision and a Pollyannaish outlook, I proactively choose to respond with flint-like gratitude.

I believe individually and collectively we will be a stronger society if we choose to harness the opportunities for growth and advancement that coronavirus affords our nation. I give thanks as I see countless chances for socially progressive development within American society as we proceed toward mid-century demographical projections of the “browning” of our citizenry. Globally, human geographers suspect the world’s population to double thereby adding an additional person for each of the 7.8 billion people who already inhabit the Earth. As we surmount coronavirus, we should do so as preparation for the population explosion and demographical shifts in addition to prevention of future pandemics. Amid current chaos, confusion, and challenge, we have glimpses of ways to create an even better and just global village. This possibility compels my gratitude.

As I write, the infection rate for coronavirus approaches three quarters of a million persons. Officially, nearly forty thousand deaths have been reported. As testing remains a high hurdle and many people still cannot get tested, I suspect the infection rate may be twice to three times what officials are reporting. A possible more macabre statistic, the death toll is probably twice. Anecdotally, my wife has a coworker whose father is a superintendent of a building in the Bronx. Two weeks ago, he shared with his daughter that seven bodies had been removed from his building. Chances are those persons died of the virus but were not added to any official accounting. They never went to the hospital and did not interact with any healthcare professionals. I surmise there are thousands of such cases throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Nevertheless, the numbers as reported are staggering and emotionally paralyzing. Within two and a half months, we have lost almost two-thirds of American casualties during the Vietnam War with no foreseeable end. These sustained and  horrific numbers symbolize the collective grief of hundreds of thousands if not millions of persons who are bereaved. I imagine their bewilderment as they are unable to observe any traditional and religious burial rites due to the unquestioned necessity of social distancing. I pray they will know God’s peace and be continual recipients of His grace as they find a “new normal” and holistic healing within these bleak yet promising days.

Marriages and families will be stronger in response to social distancing and other constraints of the virus. Employing biblical imagery, all of us are living within the valley of the shadow of death. Mesmerizingly, a simple trip to a pharmacy, grocery store or gas station could yield an infectious disease that may terminate your life. Couples and families must band together to love, affirm, and support each other. Selfishness threatens each person’s well-being and life. Hopefully, all of us extend a greater sense of responsibility and consideration toward each other. I think of healthcare workers, first responders, store employees and others who risk their lives. Additionally, I think of postal workers, food delivery people, remote government employees and persons at FedEx, UPS and Amazon who are allowing some semblance of normalcy. As a beneficiary of their largesse, I pray for them and hope they and their relatives remain well. At the end of each purchase, I specifically thank these people for being there as they extend an incredible labor of love to my family and me. I hope I continue to feel and demonstrate this gratitude after we contain this virus and establish “a new normal” for living in the twenty-first century global village.

Ironically, the coronavirus irreversibly thrusts our nation and the world into a scientifically and technologically based way of living. As it relates to questions of religion, spirituality and science, a reasonable person must find a way to intellectually blend these dimensions of human existence. As an ordained clergyperson of thirty-two years inclusive of two pastoral stints, I am very disheartened by the lack of intellectual respectability of certain religious leaders. It is incredulous that some pastors would defy incontrovertible science and hold services thereby encouraging congregants to play Russian roulette with their lives and those of their relatives and neighbors. Social distancing works! New York City is the epicenter of the virus accounting for nearly half of the infections but only a quarter of deaths nationwide. The proactive response of Governor Cuomo and New York State officials in employing a “stay at home” order and implementing social distancing protocols for unavoidable interactions in shopping, walking and allowable places of work demonstrate its efficacy. It is infuriating and puzzling to observe pastors who have a responsibility to the people whom they serve to defy the law and the best knowledge and recommendations of healthcare professionals. Quoting a Bible verse will not nullify the bacteria and other mechanisms through which an infectious disease spread.

Indeed, “God has not given us a spirit pf fear but love, power and a sound mind.”  We are not to live in fear nor are we to permit it to paralyze us. However, God does not cancel the effects of science and natural law to appease stupidity that masquerades as “real faith.”  Hopefully, this corona challenge will compel leaders and members of faith communities to recalibrate the definitions and expressions of faith in the twenty-first century. Christians faced this dilemma during the ascent of the “Age of Reason” and Modernity. Theologians, pastors, and religious leaders had to redress the elevation of science within industrialization, immigration, and imperialism. More especially, the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species necessitated a paradigm shift in religion to accommodate science. The coronavirus coerces us to reconfigure the previous century’s model. The Church will be more effective and determinative in people’s daily choices and lives if pastors return to formal theological training and education that prioritizes pragmatism and human experience. I pray a renaissance of the local church occurs and become the predominant means of Christian community. The personality and celebrity driven megachurch model furthers lack of intellectual respectability in religion. As it relates to issues of faith and public policy, pastors must be conversant with the latest literature, data, statistics, and research in addition to formal theological concepts. Karl Barth insists disciples are to simultaneously read the Bible and newspaper (digital readers). H. Richard Niebuhr’s compelling book, Christ, and Culture, endures. A legitimate expression of faith and spirituality in this century demands grappling with complexities borne of blending theology, ideology, public policy, and the natural sciences.

Gratitude Amidst Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic in NYC - Part II

Gratitude Amidst Daily Challenges of

Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic

in the Greater New York City Area – Part II

I am very hopeful that my daughter’s generation, “Generation Z,” will demand rationality of their religious leaders. “Gen Zers” uncritically accept the scientific method as the surest means to determine truth. To convert them to any religion, you would address this fundamental presupposition. Ignoring science will not be effective. As I write, I recall conducting a weekly homework roundtable with a group of high school students. The truth and worth of the Bible arose as a topic of heated discussion. One of the students commented, “Come on Rev., you know as well as I do that the Garden of Eden story and most stories in the Bible are truly sketchy.”  Her remark enabled us to discuss acquisition of “Truth” versus “truth.”  The former posits the possibility of knowing with direct, verifiable, and propositional certainty. This position assumes independently corroborated evidence and conclusions that any reasonable person could reach. Some religious leaders arrogantly speak with definitiveness that they know and can articulate God’s “Truth.”  In contrast, “truth” considers all viewpoints and acknowledge the contributions of a person’s prism of experience to any attempt to state anything with certitude.

There are obvious problems with epistemology with both conceptualizations of truthfulness. Additionally, we discussed truth as myth, which is not beholden to the scientific method or provable, linear facts. The Bible is not a scientific textbook, nor does it make such claims. It reveals divine wisdom within human experience which can never achieve objectivity. Twenty-first century theologizing, to achieve intellectual respectability, must be interdisciplinary. Local pastors will bear this burden as professors in the religion academy must. The enduring “truth,” principles and disciplines of the Christian faith can meet this test. However, leaders on all levels will need to converse with other areas of study and other faith traditions to do so. Any unwillingness will mean the loss of a generation or two of disciples and a weakening of the Church. Still, I remain optimistic that the coronavirus affords us an opportunity to strengthen the Gospel message within the global village.

Parenthetically, I admonished those high school students to be as critical of science and technology as they are of religion. Science is as fraught with scandal and moral problems and ethical violations as religion, accounting, banking, medicine, athletics, entertainment, government, and other professions. In 1991, a Nobel Prize winning scientist resigned as chairperson of his department at a prominent university due to allegations that he faked laboratory data and published the results as legitimate. In conducting a peer review, a fellow scientist could not replicate the studies or conclusions. The scientific community ostracized this female colleague for her revelations. For six years, she was unable to gain employment neither in teaching nor research whether public or private entities. The subsequent investigation exonerated her. This scandal reveals that human beings who live within prisms of experience do scientific research. Science wrestles with human subjectivity just as religion does. Whether “Truth” or “truth,” science cherishes it until greater acquisition of knowledge dethrones previous cardinal assumptions. Additionally, science grapples with racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national biases as well as the plethora of phobias that plague average people.

George M Fredrickson, venerable historian of a previous generation, explored this dilemma in his compelling book, The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny 1817-1914. He discusses the pivotal role of racism in nineteenth century science. Racial assumptions not surprisingly informed scientific results. This secular version of intellectual dishonesty expanded into the social sciences during the Progressive Era, 1880-1920, in which human aptitude, capability and endowment were deemed quantifiable. The concept of Social Darwinism arose and applied the tenets of natural selection to humans. This misguided thinking enshrined White supremacist notions in scientific paradigms and presuppositions. To no one’s amazement, nature specifically endowed the Caucasian and Aryan race with superiority. She cruelly gifted people of African descent with unparalleled physiology but chose to forego giving them any intelligence comparable to their European, Asian, Mongolian Amerindian and Hispanic brothers and sisters. The coronavirus reminds humankind of its commonality when confronted by a pandemic, natural disaster, or nuclear annihilation. The necessity of achieving mutually beneficial coexistence should guide global diplomacy and geopolitical markets as the global village prepares for a doubling of the population at midcentury. Superfluously indulging the inanities of racism and xenophobia as evident in Western imperialism, jingoism, militarism, multinational corporate greed and exploitation and environmental discrimination threatens human survival. No race will be able to protect and exempt itself from these forces. Science provides a means to create a more just and equitable global village.

I am hopeful this tragedy will teach people to practice disease preventive measures and wellness habits. A revolting and infuriating disparity persists in the rates and proportions of infections and deaths. In Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama and possibly New York, African Americans represent nearly fifty percent of the infections and seventy percent of the deaths though they comprise a third of the population. The startling disproportionate morbidity in the African American community lingers. It is as if it is commonly accepted in research, data, medical and healthcare practice. Have health professionals become numb to this fiercely unequal reality? In addition to churches, barbershops, beauty salons, and liquor stores, dialysis centers litter urban Black communities. Diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease, renal failure and high cholesterol adversely effects these citizens in greater proportions than their White counterparts. The vicious cycle and context of poverty, substandard education, residential segregation, unemployment, underemployment, reliance upon public transportation and marital and familial dysfunction compound these health crises. Nevertheless, I pray our fellow citizens will respond self-determinatively and utilize their community’s resources to combat this persistent and daily threat to their families and lives.

Further, I hope anyone insisting he or she is a leader in the Black community will dedicate himself or herself to resolving one of the foregoing challenges. Leadership demands more than vacuous rhetoric, press conferences, large social media followings and other iterations of celebrity. Whether in public school classrooms, halls of government, board rooms, courthouses, athletic complexes, entertainment venues, pharmaceutical laboratories or community centers, leaders have myriad opportunities to improve the quality of life of the people whom they represent. Conceivably, the coronavirus will encourage the most vulnerable citizens to choose leaders who possess the commitment, vision, and skills to improve their communities. Moreover, I hope publicly elected officials, academicians, members of the press, social activists, community organizers, business leaders and other relevant persons will not return to regular busyness and forget about these structural injustices and disparities in our society. This pandemic offers us yet another opportunity to correct these inequities as we strive to maintain American competitiveness in the global economy. Our nation deludes itself if we falsely presume, we can leave a sizeable percentage of the citizenry behind as the sleeping bear and napping bull of the Pacific Rim countries awaken and acquire technology.

Gratitude Amidst Living with Coronavirus Pandemic in NYC - Part III

Gratitude Amidst Daily Challenges of

Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic

in the Greater New York City Area – Part III

I smirk when I hear calls for return to normality. The coronavirus forces us to create “a new normal.”  We must take a sledgehammer and smash outmoded paradigm for education, worship, business, banking, government, socializing and entertainment among other societal activities. I am grateful that we have a singular opportunity to rethink how we do everything. We can permanently fold technology into the creases of our lives. School districts throughout the country have transitioned to e-learning. Through Zoom and other software, students attend classes as if they were in school buildings. How marvelous! We will no longer have snow days in winter. Should the weather become dangerous, school officials will designate e-learning days. Educators and administrators put plans, protocols, and infrastructure in place to ensure the that school is always in session regardless of the weather. In time, e-learning will shrink pedagogical, cultural, linguistic, and geographical distances within countries and the world. Educators will assess the performance of students in their regions in comparison with counterparts who reside elsewhere. We can develop an intellectual and instructional cross fertilization as middle and high school students could take classes with schoolteachers throughout the nation. Could we finally define national standards that recognize each state’s constitutional prerogative to administer education within its borders but ensures a fifty-state standard of minimum knowledge acquisition and methodological proficiency in each subject. Whether core curricula, International Baccalaureate, or some other framework, can we determine what knowledge each high school graduate in the United States will possess? This question assumes college readiness which translates into the ability to earn a bachelor’s degree within four years without any remedial courses.

To no one’s chagrin, the ghastly ghost of inequity raises its ugly head yet again. The immediate transition to e-learning unveiled a deep digital divide in American households. Everyone does not have a laptop computer or tablet capable of successful e-learning. The U S Census Bureau posits fifteen percent of the population lives in poverty; equating with 46.2 million citizens of which 16.4 million persons are children. I grew up in a household that would not have a computer. We did not even have fifty books in the house. I will not belabor this point with a vivid autobiographical description. Suffice it to say, the continuation of American competitiveness in education and other sectors of international commerce depends greatly upon investing in the future workforce. There are market driven and non-taxable options available. We should err on the precautionary side of giving an individual the opportunity to achieve to the height of his or her abilities and endowments within the marketplace of ideas, trade, and human interaction. E-learning further affords the chance to bridge geopolitical chasms as middle and high school classrooms can interact and study together across the globe. Imagine a group of Ghanaians, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Aborigine, Brazilian, Honduran, or Sicilian high school students taking an American history class from a teacher in Burke, Virginia. Consider a group of American students doing the reverse. E-learning could corrode old prejudices and misinformation that students in grades Pre-K-12 uncritically accept from their parents and grandparents. It removes artificial and geographical boundaries thereby encouraging all peoples to accept that human survival depends upon improvement in geopolitical relationships on local levels.

How do we “do church” and worship within social distancing? As senior citizens still comprise large percentages of many local congregations and they are amongst the most vulnerable citizens relating to coronavirus, it is very unfair and unjust to ask them to attend services. Their susceptibility to the disease and dying from it means they are literally risking their lives to attend church services. We, however, cannot underestimate the significance of religious services in their lives. Consequently, we have a chance to redesign worship and the ways in which faith communities serve adherents. As e-learning will eliminate snow days in school systems, e-worship will allow Bible study and similar functions to occur regardless of weather. Lay leadership meetings, choir rehearsals and auxiliary meetings can occur electronically. In two pastoral charges where I served between 2000 and 2016 with two years of full-time teaching separating them, I fought an uphill battle to transition those congregations to use of technology. Were local pastors to be entrepreneurial, they could collaborate on local, statewide, and regional conferences which could benefit congregants and raise funds for missions, scholarships and building funds. In addition to expanding electronic giving mechanisms, local pastors will need to wean their congregations away from primary dependence on collection plate income. How do local pastors utilize technology to empower congregants in discipleship development, spiritual growth, and personal development? How do they address the digital divide effecting senior citizens in their congregations? How do they partner with children and grandchildren of senior citizens to meet this need? As I have few if any answers to these questions, I have profound gratitude that the challenge of this virus provides us with the need to revamp provision of religious services.

Moreover, the rising death toll from the coronavirus hopefully will encourage us to reconsider what life is. I suspect many people will reassess love, work, time, talent, mission, and purpose. This tragedy will thrust some people directly into an existential and intuitive wilderness. Anyone who has been deceiving himself or herself will no longer be able to do so. Fundamentally unhappy people will face that fact. They will respond with inner honesty and re-evaluate the remaining years of their earthly journeys. They will no longer allow fear to be larger than life. As I stated above, we hopefully will experience a renaissance in the local church. It must become a place where average people go to find meaning in their lives. There, they can discover their uniqueness as children of God and members of the human family. They can acquire true riches of love, truth, justice, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace. Twenty-first century pastors and religious leaders, in addition to formal theological and biblical training, will dedicate themselves to lifelong interdisciplinary study. They will be conversant with the branches of psychology, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, behavioral and social sciences, and public policy. Moving beyond moral suasion, prophets will demand reversal of systemic, legal, and economic ills that subjugate society’s most vulnerable citizens. Within the global village, spiritual and religious leaders will seek an end to international alliances that perpetuate exploitation of poor and disenfranchised persons in developing countries. Christians in the United States are their brothers and sisters’ keepers thereby harnessing the American appetite for conspicuous consumption and tremendous waste. With a genuine revival reminiscent of the Great Awakening (1733-1770) and Second Great Awakening (1800-1830), American Christianity can recalibrate and regain its inherent biblical and spiritual values; thereby divorcing itself from specious political ideology that contradicts its core principles. The late David Kuo, author of Tempting Faith: The Inside Story of Political Seduction, served as Special Assistant to former President George W. Bush and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. An eyewitness to the dangers of mixing a potent cauldron of politics and religion, Kuo, a committed evangelical Christian, in a C-SPAN interview years before his untimely death, pleaded with Christian leaders to declare a fast from politics. This coronavirus allows us to heed Kuo’s prophetic warning and return to the core beliefs of the biblically based New Testament Church. Otherwise, not only will we witness continual decline and closings of churches, we will observe a colossal shrinkage of Christianity worldwide. The power of the resurrection and Eucharist enduringly yield rebirth of purpose and rejuvenation in daily living. Misguided syncretism of political ideology and religion undermines these God given gifts to humankind.

Gratitude Amidst Living with Coronavirus Pandemic in NYC - Part IV

Gratitude Amidst Daily Challenges of

Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic

in the Greater New York City Area – Part IV

Revival of religious principles and renaissance in faith communities undoubtedly will put snake oil salespersons out of business. Since 1970, the “Gospel of Wealth and Health” commandeered the expression of Christianity in America. Preying upon the weariness of poverty that plagued the rank and file of persons who weekly filled the pews in churches, this commercialization of Christ’s message declared an end to their misery. Its proponents who occupy the upper echelon of celebrity ministers told listeners that God desired nothing more than their immediate and undeniable prosperity as evidenced in financial and material acquisition and perfect physical health. Through books and other media, these religious salespeople sold formulas for success, wealth, and health. The manifestation of these promises relied upon large monetary gifts to their parachurch organizations that stealthily and shrewdly utilized tax laws to maximize receipts and bolster their ornate lifestyles. The last half of a century witnessed a proliferation of these ministers and organizations. We have every conceivable racial, cultural, ethnic, linguistic, national, and creedal iteration of prosperity preachers. Despite intractable poverty in developing countries, clergypersons rank amongst the wealthiest persons. Not surprisingly, these rogue ministers have a divine message relating to the coronavirus as they did for Hurricanes Katrina and Maria and “September 11^th”. One can only hope and pray that the effects of the current challenge will sink so deeply within the minds, hearts and beings of everyday people that they will demand more from local pastors and discard the shady, morally questionable and unprincipled teachings of snake oil clergypersons whose main motive is a lifestyle that they could not earn in the free market.

Incidentally, clergypersons are not the only snake oil salespersons taking advantage of vulnerable citizens. The mixed, confusing, and contradictory messages from health professionals through the coronavirus briefings compels us to question their motives, objectives, and purpose. Some of them appear to acquiescence the revolting political schemes of the Trump Administration. Others have perfected verbal dodge ball as they attempt to relay the best science standing in a field of political land mines. Yet, other scientists waffle between the interests of business, research, politics, and future government funding. Mental health professionals, hopefully, are preparing for the onslaught of immeasurable depression, survivor’s guilt, bereavement, and post-traumatic stress that will emerge from the experiences of millions of Americans. Treatment will provide a chance to empower average people with intrapsychic tools to achieve self-determination in resolving their challenges. As with the prosperity preachers, the $10 billion self-help industry encompasses magic formulas, luxurious conferences, and multimedia commodities. To counterbalance this crass profiteering from people’s pain, psychoanalytic and mental health professionals must reinforce standards, training, and ethics. Additionally, the palatable fear in which many people will live following this healthcare threat will create openings for financial, pharmaceutical, insurance, real estate, investment, and telemarketing scandals.

I have another hope and measure of gratitude for egalitarian advancement in education. In my opinion, the establishment of public libraries throughout the nation remains one of the greatest components of Carnegie’s legacy. Between 1883 and 1929, his philanthropy built 2500 libraries. This gift gave average, anonymous but gifted persons who lingered in poverty one passageway of self-improvement. As one who relished trips to the public library in my childhood, I appreciate the incalculable worth of any attempt to extend education to common people. It is an American priority to eliminate the digital divide from the Bronx to Appalachia to Southside Chicago to Inglewood California. As we do so, we should encourage the completion of the Google digitization project which includes the entire collections of the libraries at University of Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. This can be done solely through the open market and without need of any public funds. Amazon offers subscribers access to fifty million songs for a minimal monthly fee. There are multiple options for movies and videos. The Google project would offer common people access to scholarly libraries and collections exceeding ten million volumes. Anyone with the discipline to educate himself or herself would be able to learn the latest research on any subject. Amazing! Trips to the library and access to scholarly material will be as instant as turning on the laptop or tablet. Simply amazing!

I recall the days of S & H Green Stamps which you received at the end of grocery shopping in the 1970s. Were you disciplined enough, you would fill books of these stamps and redeem them for toasters, mixers and other appliances.  Also, the Sears Roebuck and JC Penney mail order catalogs were state-of-the art technological advancements in shopping. Receiving clothing that fit via the postal mail seemed as if it were a giant leap for humankind. Imagine adding to your wardrobe without leaving your home. What we contemporarily experience with Amazon seemed futuristic and for The Jetsons. My reminiscences yield gratitude for advancements in e-commerce which will lower prices, increase jobs, and require new standards for success and profitability. Traditional laissez faire economics employing Adam Smith’s principles demands competition for Amazon. Monopolies lower the value of common people’s incomes and spending power. When retail brick and mortar stores reopen, they must prioritize good and respectful customer service. Consumers will no longer tolerate rude, disrespectful, and unknowledgeable salespersons. They can purchase online instead. People who live on the bottom economic rungs can advocate for themselves with their wallets. They can demand respect, fair prices, and input into the market. Imagine the control that Black people can exert over television, film, and social media depictions of them in the post coronavirus world. Their patronage will send a clear and direct message to Hollywood and other relevant industries. Personally, I do not watch or buy any “Blaxploitation” shows or films. I am not a Sambo or minstrel and will not further these demeaning stereotypes.

Politically, common people can use the power of the purse and wallet to combat businesses that fund political action committees that further White supremacy, imperialistic international policies, unjust and expensive wars, misogyny, corporate welfare, and other iterations of xenophobia. Recall the threat of a potato boycott of the State of Idaho in 1990 and the multiple company boycott of the State of North Carolina for its discriminatory gender and sexuality laws in 2017. Whether women of color whom the fashion industry takes for granted or children of color who still struggle to find toys that affirm them or professional athletes of color who insist “Black Lives Matter,” average people possess more power than they realize.  Indeed, “it is all about the Benjamins.” Given the incontrovertible disparity relating to infections and deaths amongst Blacks and poor Americans, these vulnerable citizens must respond to this virus with an intensity to reorder society and allocation of resources. Rather than begging politicians, media executives, businesspeople, bankers and manufacturers, marginalized people have tremendous power in multiplying and directing their money and purchases. Economic self-determination necessitates expanding entrepreneurship in localized communities. Community activists, social justice advocates, public officials and clergypersons have an obligation to empower their followers to awaken this sleeping giant.

Gratitude Amidst Living with Coronavirus Pandemic in NYC - Part V - Conclusion

Gratitude Amidst Daily Challenges of

Living with the Coronavirus Pandemic

in the Greater New York City Area – Part V – Conclusion

Consumers will demand greater cleanliness in all eating venues. Restaurants with dirty restrooms will not last. Bars and clubs with sticky and smelly floors will not remain open. Any eating places that fail health department inspections will soon close. Moreover, if a restaurant receives a grade lower than a “B,” it will soon be out of business. Coronavirus has unimaginably and irreversibly educated the public on infectious diseases. A corollary benefit to the market driven insistence upon cleanliness and sterilization of food places will be expansion of small private cleaning businesses specializing in restaurants, bars, clubs, catering halls and types of food venues.

If marginalized people organize themselves to combat racial, cultural, and ethnic pigeonholes in athletics, entertainment, mass media and Hollywood, they can accomplish the same in banking and the automobile industries. Predatory lending, usurious interest rates, discrimination in extending and categorizing credit and redlining as it relates to mortgages and rental rates financially cripple communities of color. Despite the Federal Reserve Bank lowering rates in this crisis to stabilize markets, banks have not passed along these savings to average consumers. Common people need debt relief. Marginalized communities cannot build wealth without any liquid or expendable income. How can they get ahead if housing costs (rent or mortgage) consume sixty percent of their monthly net pay? When you add utilities, automobile expenses (car note, gasoline, maintenance, and insurance) and groceries, what is left? Rising healthcare costs erode their gross salaries. Still, rather than complaining about these economic injustices, poor and disenfranchised people, individually and collectively, can direct their spending, saving and business to compel the banking class to end these oppressive practices.

The coronavirus clarifies the necessity of electing persons who possess the education, knowledge, personality, experience, and competence to govern. Leadership abilities and skills must be a requirement regardless party affiliation or ideological positions. Whether left, center or right, a person must possess the wherewithal to resolve the aftermaths of natural disasters, prevent a burgeoning pandemic, halt an economic crisis, stabilize markets, punish players in financial scandals, bolster economies, allocate tax dollars as investments rather than handouts, expand rights of all citizens, specifically marginalized persons, encourage better social relations and portray confidence when the public is justly frightened.  The incompetence of the Trump Administration and several governors compounds the threat of the coronavirus. Undoubtedly, their failures resulted in preventable infections and deaths. One of the Southern governors incredulously stated at a press conference that he had learned of the potential of social distancing to curtail the spread of the virus within the last twenty-four hours. He made this profoundly ignorant comment after a quarter of a million infections and nearly ten thousand deaths. The states of New York, California, Washington, and Illinois had already declared stay-at-home orders. Additionally, New York City had become the international epicenter of the pandemic. Given the myriad issues that I address above, marginalized, vulnerable and disenfranchised citizens must use the political process to advocate for themselves. They must demand genuine public servants who understand the privilege of holding office requires care and compassion for all citizens. Regrettably, until the United States Supreme Court reverses its 21 January 2010 decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (558 US 310), the disproportionate power and influence of the monied class will determine outcomes in American politics. Average people have their votes and the small yet significant contributions in the millions with which to combat the burgeoning American oligarchy.

I conclude with a recitation of my gratitude for the countless and anonymous health professionals, first responders, grocery store employees, pharmacy store workers, food delivery people, postal workers and their nuclear and extended families who assume tremendous risk each day enrich our lives during this pandemic.  Also, I think of the local, state, and federal government employees who labor in the shadows and burn the midnight oil to allow millions of American households to maintain a semblance of equilibrium. A pandemic exposes the absolute best in some people. For the thousands of our fellow citizens who teach us what duty, sacrifice and patriotism really mean, I am wholeheartedly grateful. Equally, I appreciate the opportunities that this regrettable crisis affords us to create a more just and equal society. We have three decades to prepare our nation for major shifts in world population and subsequent changes in the international economy, trade, competition, and geopolitical dynamics. Resolving systemic inequalities of healthcare, education, housing, hunger, employment, technology, transportation, criminal justice, and other human and infrastructure needs is the surest way to prepare future leaders and workers. The electorate should insist upon strategic and smart planning from political and governmental leaders. Candidates for the United States House of Representatives and Senate should reveal their plans for bipartisan collaboration to achieve American preparedness for mid-century demographical, market and diplomatic challenges. Continual systematic indifference to large swarths of citizens will undermine the country’s ability to thrive.

Living in the valley of the shadow of death as a nation offers us a unique chance to demolish historical racial and ethnic myths, invest in educating and equipping people, correct past injustices, recalibrate upon democratic ideals and principles, direct markets toward fundamental fairness and legislate to expand personal freedom and opportunity. I am thankful that our market driven responses to the pandemic will induce some of these changes. I expect we will enjoy a better life which values people instead of financial and material prosperity. If we harness the positive attitudes that I observe in the grocery store and on long walks every two days, we will experience growing relationships with potential to normalize human dignity for all persons. Whereas I truly hoped that this pandemic would not have landed on our shores, it offers a contradiction which is an opportunity to heal myriad ills that plagued our society long before we learned of coronavirus. In this deep darkest, I am grateful for the possibility of holistic healing in our society.

Fifth Pathway - Persistently Looking Inward - Part I

Fifth Pathway – Persistently Looking Inward

Self-reflection is an especially important pathway to healing.  I contend countless people do not heal from past pain because they do not examine their personal backgrounds and learn from them.  It is easier to ignore these lessons.  Retreating to bitterness and resentment appear more empowering than reflecting on situations that fuel those emotions.  It seems weak to consider how you might grow because of those difficulties.  People who refuse to forgive their victimizers nurse toxic feelings believing they retain the upper hand.  Instead, those lethal emotions poison the people who nurse them.  Rather than remaining in the vicious cycle of pain, depression and anger, you can embrace self-reflection as a means of healing.

A friend of mine who is a psychoanalyst had an amazing quote sketched onto the wall of her office.  “The inward journey is the only one worth taking.”  She offers these encouraging words to her clients to motivate them to dig deeply within themselves until they achieve serene self-acceptance.  Looking honestly and persistently at yourself is ridiculously hard work.  From time to time, it becomes discouraging as it appears extraordinarily little progress has been made.  It seems easier to simply terminate, walk away and resolve to react to whatever happens.  It is particularly disheartening when the past blindsides you.  Periodically, your current circumstances enflame the embers of anger, fear and resentment thus plunging you back into the abyss of bewilderment, toxicity and hopelessness.  Still, persistence pays incalculable dividends as anyone who endures the utterly painstaking process of digging within the rubble and ruins of past pain and trauma.  Utilizing biblical imagery, it is worth traveling through “the valley of the shadow of death.”  Thorough self-examination is a reliable pathway to healing.

Alan Alda speaks of the necessity of time in the “intuitive wilderness” where a person genuinely learns who he or she is.  That self-knowledge in turns yields serene self-acceptance.  That ideal is attainable if individuals embrace this process.  Alda specifically says, “Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful: yourself.”  He encourages us to discard old ways of thinking.  Businesses fail because owners refuse to change and adapt to shifting market trends.  Basically, “think outside of the box.”  Wipe the canvass of your life clean.  Be willing to make bold and creative edits to the script of your life with God’s guidance.  Open the dream files stored in your mind and heart.  Dust off the latent and even lofty ambitions of your youth that time, monotony, fear and aimlessness have corroded.  Healing and miracles are divine creative processes which require your desire and cooperation.  To live creatively, you must be bold and imaginative.  Are you willing to entertain the smidgen of possibility that your dreams could come true?  Will you pause for a moment and visualize the prospect of living the life your envisioned in your childhood innocence?  Imagine that you can live happily ever after in perfect, gracious and divine self-expression. 

Reminiscent of the space explorers of the Star Trek Enterprise, persons who discover creative space land “where no one else has ever been.”  Creativity demands fearlessness.  Personally, I err on the side of right-brain, Western, logical and linear thinking and approaches to life.  I am not the type of person who gets in the driver’s seat without previously researching my route or activating Google maps.  I must know where I am going!  Preferring efficiency of time and gasoline, I am not content to travel aimlessly until I reach my destination.  Internally and sometimes externally, I holler if I am lost.  With free and readily available GPS software and smart phones, there is no reason for any mistakes in traveling directly to any destination.  A wrong turn infuriates me.  However, zigzagging is very necessary when traversing internal terrain of self-discovery, self-expression and self-acceptance.  Detours and wrong turns are par for the course.  Rarely is someone able to travel directly to this sacred and serene space.  Trial and error are necessary fuel.  Like Edison’s one thousand failures in an engineering lab and Lincoln’s perpetual defeats in pursuit of political office, a person encounters rough terrain and unexpected obstacles as he or she seeks to become the person whom Almighty God created him or her to be.

Alda next insists you should leave “the city of your comfort.”  Unchallenged childhood and formative trauma ironically become normal.  It is easy to romanticize it.  Unwilling to embrace the depth of pain and innumerable feelings of hurt, victims make excuses for their “well-intentioned” victimizers.  Using literary techniques of American folklore, people turn the horror of their personal experiences into Horatio Alger myths.  “It really wasn’t that bad.  After all, I made it through and lived to tell the story.”  Practically and intra-psychically speaking, some people make peace with their past pathology.  Regrettably, they surrender to fear, anger, resentment and other poisonous attributes.  On an unconscious level, they make decisions regarding love, work and other important relationships from this unfortunate and ineffective space.  Captive to erroneous voices of the past that insist he must externally affirm his inward desires and ambitions, a talented, intellectual and driven man allows family members, colleagues and friends to talk him into entering a profession for which he was not suited.  The man experienced two major “failures” within that profession before finally exiting it.  Had he listened to his inner voice as God was guiding him, this man would have trusted himself thereby sparring himself the waste of fourteen years of his professional life.  Resulting from his poor decision to defer to other people and deeply embedded fear, this man spent twenty-five years in anger, fear, resentment, bitterness and cynicism.  His inability to live in harmony and collegiality with other people stems from his formidable inner anger at himself for surrendering to fear and people-pleasing.  The unacceptable fear that paralyzed him became acceptable.  He began to live comfortably with it.  Living with fear, anger and other venomous emotions as normal receded into the background of his “city of comfort.”  To change fundamentally and achieve inner healing and wholeness, this man needs a wholesale paradigm shift in his daily outlook.  It is as if he became comfortable living in “the valley of the shadow of death.” 

Healing requires this man to strip himself of all assumptions and establish a “new normal.”   Leaving his “city of comfort” necessitates openness to transforming every aspect of his life.  What if this man were to ask for God’s help in transitioning to the job of his dreams?  Finally, he would listen to himself and do what he always desired in his heart of hearts.  Perhaps, he attains a greater sense of self-acceptance which empowers him to live peacefully with other people.  Conceivably, he discards character defects (procrastination, debt, failure to forgive, self-righteous indignation, etc.) that compound his pathology.

Fifth Pathway - Persistently Looking Inward - Part II

Fifth Pathway – Persistently Looking Inward – Part II

Persistently looking inward demands a major pilgrimage and subsequent annual or biannual trips to a most holy space, “the wilderness of your intuition.”  This existential space requires a person to divest himself or herself of his or her material and intangible riches.  Formal education and multiple degrees lose their significance.  Titles preceding your name and letters following your name are meaningless in this wilderness.  Occasions to wear formal attire and attend events at the top of the social registry evaporate.  Finances decrease and tighten.  Each dollar counts.  Cutting expenses proves insufficient to combat overspending and living above your means.  Fearing your horrific circumstances are contagious like infectious diseases; coworkers and friends call less frequently.  They fear your plague will attack them.  Essentially, in the intuitive wilderness, you find yourself completely naked: mentally, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.  Your willingness to erase the canvass of your life and stare honestly at a blank plank graces you with divine gifts of discernment and acceptance.  Listening to God is equally important.  The wilderness is a perfect setting in which to hear Him and your inner voice.  The distractions of well-meaning relatives and friends and noises of daily busyness cannot impede your internal journey. In the darkness, mystery, scariness and isolation of the wilderness, a person clearly sees himself or herself.  The main discovery of the intuitive wilderness is your heretofore “Undiscovered Self,” your unquestioned divinely given and gifted uniqueness.  In a moment of epiphany, you realize the singular and special life which your Creator means for you that past conformity to social expectations nullified.  You cease to be someone others want you to be.  You stop pleasing other people and grasp the incalculable worth of your uniqueness.  Simply stated, you unconditionally accept yourself as God does.  Self-acceptance is the pathway to acquiring your true “Self.”  Carl Jung describes this process as “Individuation.”  Open-mindedness, honesty, humility and willingness are the main prerequisites to embarking upon the lifelong process of ever-increasing self-acceptance and self-knowledge.  Without time in the intuitive wilderness where you are separated from urbane comforts of modern utilities, effortlessly efficient creature comforts, lavish artistic choices, myriad shopping conveniences and millions of other self-indulgences, a person cannot know his or her authentic “Self.”

The standard business practice of taking a quarterly inventory suggest practical means of achieving individuation.  It is helpful periodically to determine your assets and liabilities.  Numerous theorists recommend a person’s energy is better spent on strengthening his or her assets instead of compensating for personal weaknesses.  Failure to listen to the inner voice quite possibly explains formation and proliferation of weaknesses.  As a person invests substantially in self-discovery, he or she undoubtedly acquires greater self-awareness.  Constant vigilance about his or her interior life is a means of striving for self-expression and self-acceptance.

Alda insists that you cannot arrive in the intuitive wilderness by bus.  This is not an easy trip.  Mechanisms of modern technology and media of transportation cannot lessen the necessity of struggle and adversity in this inward journey.  “Hard work, risk and not quite knowing what you are doing.”  To discover who you are necessitates total deconstruction of the façade you built prior to your arrival.  Probably, a catastrophe propelled your motivation to travel there.  Fundamentally life-altering experiences such as termination, divorce, bereavement or a major health crisis are usual factors.  Colossal loss and isolation compel you to examine your life.  Jung proffers the concept of “the midlife crisis” wherein a person can no longer distract himself or herself with busyness in work or duty in marriage and family relationships.  The loss of a job creates space for consideration of how you exactly wish to spend time, abilities and energy that you allocate to work.  Beyond yielding an income, is your work rewarding?  In an ideal setting, would you commit seventy hours of time inclusive of commuting, twelve-hour shifts and immeasurable mental energy to the job that you lost?  If not, what should you be doing?   Additionally, you may ask, “Have I contributed anything meaningful to the betterment of humankind?”  Regarding relationships, at midlife, a person cannot deceive himself or herself about whether he or she is or has ever been happy?  If a person cannot answer in the affirmative, then his or her psyche compels clarification and rigorous honesty.  The reality of having fewer days in front of you than behind you forces you to define how you wish to spend the remaining years of grace. 

Your hard work also includes cessation of external validation.  Many people erroneously look to others to give them something that they can only find within themselves.  Titles, degrees, feature articles, social media followings and other indicators of external success are meaningless within the intuitive wilderness.  There, a person must look as deeply within as possible.  Who are you?  Risk, ask and answer the question.  I surmise many people fear they will not respond with anything concrete upon which they can live.  I think of the third servant in The Parable of the Talents whose fear made him bury his talent lest he be a failure.  Ironically, this man preferred to succeed perfectly in accomplishing nothing rather risk; make obligatory and human mistakes; and then succeed following several hard lessons.  With a deconstructed veneer, you erase the canvass of your life.  As your past is perfectly inalterable, your memories are indelible.  It is time to paint a new canvass with exciting colors, hues and brushstrokes of unimaginable joys, mysteries and experiences.  If you linger in past pain, anger, fear and failure, you cannot appreciate the new vistas which a sustained period in the intuitive wilderness reveals.  Begin with gratitude for today and any positive changes that may evolve in your life.  Your solitude affords blessings in discernment.  You remove the herculean burden of adhering to societal norms and people’s expectations.  You ask God to take away the character defect of pleasing other people.  You pray for grace to know and accept yourself.  You seek self-knowledge which eventuates in perfect self-expression. To achieve this invaluable milestone in self-acceptance, you dissolve previous assumptions and misconceptions.

Alda adds the necessity of admitting willingly that you may not know what to do.  Humility and lack of knowledge create a teachable person. It is amazing what we can learn when we honestly admit that we do not know anything.  Whether a new language, musical instrument, math, science, technology or a trade; a clean canvass of an open mind enables you to learn from a master teacher.  As you do not know anything about the subject, you will not judge the information, process or person transmitting it.  Honesty and humility create expectancy and excitement.  It positions a student to build a solid mental, methodological and mechanical foundation in a new subject.  Practically, your willingness to listen earns points with the teacher as he or she passionately shares “tricks of the trade” in addition to generally accepted principles and procedures.  As I write, I recall learning to drive.  My late beloved paternal grandfather assumed the burden of teaching me.  With each attempt to demonstrate a different aspect of driving, my grandfather experienced frustration as I rudely stated, “I know.”  The tenth time became his breaking point.  “Look son, you keep saying ‘I know’ every time I show you something.  But it appears that you do not know as much about driving as you think.  Because people who know as much as you do already have a license.  You don’t have one.  So, you don’t know as much as you think you know.”  His thoroughgoing rebuke humbled me and allowed my grandfather to share his knowledge with me.  If you are unsure what to do as you find yourself in the wilderness of intuition, then you are ready for the ultimate blessing.  Allow Almighty God to instruct you.  Humility is the only requirement.