Friday, January 25, 2019

SELF III








         
                  FRIENDS,


      THIS IS THE LAST OF OUR

       THREE PART SERIES ON

                     SELF.

             PARTS I and II

          ARE AVAILABLE

 BY SCROLLING DOWN HERE

                    OR

       AT BLOG ARCHIVE

           TO THE RIGHT

          ( online posting ).

                *****


    


Hi There !

So, "Smores" on

         Self.

This time round,

let's see if we can

put some flesh on the

conceptional bones of

     TRUE SELF

     FALSE SELF.





What's it like out here

on the street of everyday life

to embrace and live out our

        True Self

and do that with delight?

   - It takes clear thinking

     and gutsy freedom.

   - It often calls us

     to be counter cultural.

  - It takes regular

     reality checks.

  - They depend on

     naked openness to God

     and being energized by

     The Spirit of Truth.

   - Being based in a

     truly spiritual community

     for sharing and support

     is a tremendous help.

    - So, too, is having

      a seasoned, spiritual

      Spiritual Director -

     great care is

     imperative here -

     many so called

     spiritual directors

     get minimal training

     and are credentialed by

     less than sound sources

    - Savoring Sacred Texts

    - Prayer and meditation

    - Living from the inside out

      is essential.

    - Otherwise we fall

      into the foul of the

         False Self,

      we are wasted

      and we waste

      our endowments,

      the gifts meant

      to be shared .

    - In prayerful reflection

      The Spirit shows you

      to yourself

      and gets you,

      not down right, but

          " up right"

      excited to be you

      and about having

      treasures  to share.

   - Let God happen in you

     the way God wants

     to do that.

   - Get "juiced" by

     the electricity of divinity

    flowing through you,

    and that through

    your one of a kind circuitry.

 - Get really turned on

   by turning over

   to others the gifts

   God gives you

   to give away.

Living out our

    True Self

takes things like:

 - being pleased with and

   proud of your body,

   being comfortable

   in your own skin,

   whatever your body type,

   toning and coloration,

   being tall, short,

   of medium height,

   being slender, full figure,

   any wonderful sizing,

   having lots of hair

   or hardly hair,

   very muscular or

   just muscular enough

   to move and

  on a good day be able

  to make a cake,

- to relish your body

  as the unique

  Temple of the Holy Spirit

   that you are,

 - to give your body the chance

    to be and do what it is,

    not what social pressure dictates

            ( as in "dictator" ),

    e.g. diets, weights, abs,

    tattoos or not,  rushing 24/7,etc.

  - to share your body as appropriate

    in real relationships

    and genuine love,

    one way at work,

    another with a child,

     another with a neighbor,

    yet another with your life partner,

  - to use your physical powers

    in the service of people and nature
       
            - tending a garden,

            - working a part time job

              after your full time one

              to help get your child

              through college,

             - serving at a homeless shelter

            - staying up all night

              with a sick relative or friend,

           - volunteering at

             an animal reserve.

          - whatever your intellectual

            and artistic endowments,

            function on all eight cylinders,

          - being curious -  notice, appreciate,

            be inventive and creative,

            share and serve:

                 - keep the team's score at

                   a baseball game,

                 - write poetry,

                 - be a leader in government,

                 - further the work

                   of Stephen Hawking

                   and go beyond his

                   limited understanding of God

                   with a full, zesty sense that

                   Being, Existence, Reality, Goodness

                   are coded as "God."

                 - show Shakespeare

                    how to write a play,

                  - be fully applied at work,

                  - sing barbershop.

                 

Whatever your endowments and talents

 let them be treasures of creativity

 generously shared.

 Whatever your

  temperament/personality,

  be true to it it.

  It is the channel

  through which your spirit

  flows and communicates.

 To violate it under social

 or other pressure

will thwart your way of being

and your way of being with others.

The American culture is noisy

and  highly interactive.

Extroversion  predominates.

Introverts need

a power plant of courage

to be true to their unique

God given manner

of socializing/relating.

To cave to

cultural preference and pressure

causes an unnaturalness that drags

an introvert into

the lie of a False Self.

It would be like

trying to fly a plane

through a railroad tunnel -

crash and chaos.

I know of what I speak here.

On the Myers Briggs

Personality Profile

I am an INFJ,

and each to the extreme.

We INFJ's account for

a whopping one percent

of the population,

a real minority.

It's taken a lot of

gutsy courage

TO THINE OWN SELF

       BE TRUE

        for me!!



In the spiritual realm there are

 "a variety of gifts...

   services...activities "

 I Corinthians 12:4-6.

One size does not fit all.

For me that means

connecting God and people

through preaching, pastoring,

teaching, spiritual direction,

writing.

Could have made

a lot of money otherwise,

but it just didn't add up.

How about you?

What are your gifts of soul?

A good help here is the free, online:

      Spiritual Gifts Assessment -

      The United Methodist Church.



PONDERABLES:


 "You do you."

        *****

"Your time is limited,

  so don't waste it living

  someone else's life."

       Steve Jobs

         *****


"Here is where

our real selfhood

is rooted,

in the divine spark or seed,

in the image of God

imprinted on the human soul.

The True Self

is not our creation,

but God's.

It is the self

we are in our depths.

It is our capacity for

divinity and transcendence,"

    Sue Monk Kidd



"Each mortal thing does

one thing and the same;/

          Selves-

        goes itself;

myself it speaks and spells,/

Crying what I do is me:

        for that I came."

  Gerard Manley Hopkins

"As Kingfishers Catch Fire"





          Here's to you,

          the real you,

               your

           True Self.


   In God's Dear Love

        John Frank

          *****



It would be greatly appreciated

if you would share word about


        "frankly speaking"
 
     spirituality for the street


with family, friends, associates

              in person

            and through

 your preferred social media.

              Thanks!!



New folks have recently joined in

with us from The Seychelles

and the United States.

                 Welcome !

Thanks for the gift of your company.




        " frankly speaking "

     spirituality for the street

                      is

- posted each Friday online at

     johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

 (easily bookmarked for ready access )


- available for automatic email delivery

  each Saturday. Sign up at

  the top right of the online version


-Past Postings available at

 BLOG ARCHIVE,

available at online version


   THANK YOU !


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