tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post5253040657206430389..comments2024-03-28T15:55:33.435-07:00Comments on The Big Study: PROOF, FAITH, LOVEThe Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07811807639219365621noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-87145955022903037922009-11-28T16:14:44.541-08:002009-11-28T16:14:44.541-08:00If our "culture" allowed us a stress-fre...If our "culture" allowed us a stress-free environment within which to share with one another all these experiences, I believe that they would be so numerous that doubt of their validity would be as laughable as suggestion of their truth is nowadays. I like the Gide quote.The Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811807639219365621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-39800867257940173422009-11-27T08:31:17.589-08:002009-11-27T08:31:17.589-08:00I had two similar experiences: one after losing my...I had two similar experiences: one after losing my Dad, about whom I felt as you do about yours, and some years later after losing my aunt. <br /><br />During the graveside service on a beautiful August day for my father, a large cicada zoomed into our little gathering and square into the center of my chest before flying off. I strongly felt it was somehow my father communicating symbolically through the natural world.<br /><br />Some years later after my aunt's funeral on a frigid January day, our small family came back home in a numb state and as I was a getting out of the car, a cat that I'd never seen near the house before (or since) jumped up into my lap as soon as I opened the car door and would've sat there contentedly purring had I let it. Again, I had a strong feeling it was my aunt communicating with me in a way she knew would get my attention as she knew I loved cats.<br /><br />Of course, rationally I recognize these are my interpretations.<br /><br />But I've also come to recognize we don't really live in a rational world....or perhaps one whose rationale is something different from what is generally assumed.<br /><br />"There is reality and there are dreams; and then there is another reality as well. - Andre GideAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-568380388948151122009-09-17T12:50:40.040-07:002009-09-17T12:50:40.040-07:00Richard, whether clairvoyance or mind-to-mind psyc...Richard, whether clairvoyance or mind-to-mind psychic connection, your experience was in the realm of the Spiritual---a "little miracle" so commonplace that the world is full of them. A British science fiction hero said: there is always something to see, if you just open your eyes.The Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811807639219365621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-46670054215399177932009-09-16T09:57:52.171-07:002009-09-16T09:57:52.171-07:00I remember a friend, an artist named Jim. [I was h...I remember a friend, an artist named Jim. [I was his parish priest at the time.] He called from the hospital to say he was dying, but before I could visit, he checked out for a final European trip with his mother and sister. In a tourist hotel in London he lay down and died. They shipped his body back home for burial.<br /><br />The following week I was discussing plans for a memorial service with his companion. Now, Jim always had long wild hair, shoulderlength hair, in keeping with his artist image. As I spoke with his companion, there suddenly emerged on the edge of my consciousness like a stained glass window brightening as the sun came out from behind a cloud ... Jim's face, and it stayed there, unlike a memory, as the conversation continued. But for whatever reason, his hair was very short.<br /><br />Then he faded, and moments later, his friend mentioned that - to please his mother's conventional sensibility - he had cut off all his hair before leaving on that trip.<br /><br />[I described what I had seen, and Jim's companion said, that's how he looked when he died - although you never saw him like that.]<br /><br />We can explain that event at any level of precision, but whatever our interpretation, something emerged in my consciousness that told a more precise truth than we usually know how to tell.<br /><br />...<br /><br /> <br />At the graveside and we are always at the graveside the powerful compression of grief tunes our awareness to what matters most. We surrender to the truth that is always there, but buried, our deep longing for forgiveness and mutual forbearance, our desire to surrender the need to be rigid or right. The readiness is everything, and during those moments of exquisite timing - tolled by a clock that ticks to a different rhythm - we know that when everything can go right, it will, at the best possible moment. We weep, and we embrace one another. The universe is gregarious and welcoming. We are built to live in space that is gateless, unbounded, free.<br /><br /><br />... from "Ferg's Law," one of my "Islands in the Clickstream," all of which are at www.thiemeworks.comRichard Thiemehttp://www.thiemeworks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-78723300673397795692009-09-02T07:08:27.815-07:002009-09-02T07:08:27.815-07:00To Newb, if you stay open to these possibilities, ...To Newb, if you stay open to these possibilities, I can promise you that you'll begin to see them still "surrounding" us in our lives. Of course, it helps a little to get beyond the "noise" of our techno-world for at least a bit of naturalness. GOD bless, however you may envision the Great Maker and Sustainer. The "olde professor".The Professorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811807639219365621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2019724693487670016.post-51491293623287823902009-09-01T14:23:52.981-07:002009-09-01T14:23:52.981-07:00Yesterday, as a began my turn onto Milwaukee Avenu...Yesterday, as a began my turn onto Milwaukee Avenue, I saw the sun illuminate the reddish brown back of a young buck nibbling on some flowers in Saint Adalbert Cemetery. As I completed the turn, the deer looked in my direction and began running along the fence, gracefully leaping over headstones and wreathes and darting around monuments, easily keeping pace with me. When I approached the end of the cemetery grounds, it disappeared into the shade behind a line of pine trees. I slowed down and craned my neck to catch one last glimpse behind the trees, but I could not see him. In the few moments that we were running parallel with each other, I felt a connection with its wild spirit that was both calming and exhilarating, a rare feeling. After reading your post, I like to think that this deer could be my "Grand Dad's Deer".Newbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07291924937978548122noreply@blogger.com