Month: February 2019

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The Loves of My Life [ Post #18]

Sorry to disappoint you, but no, this is not going to be a sleazy tell-all of my intimate love life. We’ll let that come out when I get into politics. No, what I’m thinking about here is the real loves we all have which form our lives and give us purpose and meaning on our journey on this earth. We all have different lives and the loves we develop are what motivate us and give us enthusiasm and energy and fulfillment. I’m always interested is what drives people to be who they are.

Exploring my loves, one of the earliest loves I developed in life was my love of the mountains. My family had a cabin in the local mountains and we would often spend weekends there. We would just chill out and enjoy the mountain air and go swimming and boating and even fishing in a nearby lake. My parents were in a club at the lake that always had activities going on. It was a great time! I absolutely loved the time there. Being in a family I was not always happy with, it was a transformation for us. We all got along together and just had a blissful experience. That was a love in my formative years that has stayed with me to this day. I still get up to the mountains when I can and anyone who has gone with us or visited us there knows how Terry and I love the time up there.

In a previous blog post (#3), I wrote about how I spontaneously developed my love of aviation when I took my first airplane trip with my parents around age five or six. That wasn’t just an interest, it was an instant love. I may not have realized my first dream at the time of becoming an airline pilot, but I did become a flight instructor and a commercial pilot working at a local airport as a side job to my airline job. I did accomplish my dreams and am thrilled I did push myself to get my pilot licenses. Otherwise today I would have deep regret that I never did that. Mission accomplished!

Along with my love of aviation I also developed a love of travel (there is a relationship there, you see). As a kid I did a couple of trips with my parents and that inspired an interest is seeing the big, big world out there someday. So, of course, when I got hired on with an international airline, that dream and love germinated in a big way. I traveled the world, literally (my fist airline pass was a trip around the world, blog #6). I traveled all the time. Again, I’m so glad I did as I am not as enthused in traveling that much these days with crowded airplanes and all the rest that has changed over the years. So, my love of travel got satisfied to the hilt.

In my youth, another interest that became a love was photography. Somehow, I just loved taking good pictures and I was so into it that I turned my bedroom closet into a (very cramped) darkroom. Yes, those were the days before digital photography. The only way to take pictures was to use film. I loved the whole process of pictures taking and developing the film at home. In fact, in high school I took photography class and got accolades from my teacher, he loved my picture taking ability and talent. I felt very good about all of that. A love fulfilled once again.

Turning a little more intellectual, now, I must admit another love, that of reading and being curious of my great big mysterious world. As a kid I somehow joined a book club for kids with books titled, “All About….” All About Nature, All About Science, All About the Cosmos, All About Photography, Aviation, Etc. You get the idea. Those books arriving every month or two sparked my curiosity about everything and that curiosity and love of reading has stayed with me. Another true love in my life.

Related to this love of reading and curiosity was my life-long love of religion and spirituality (even during those few years of my atheism (blog#7). Ever since my “born again, come to Jesus” experience as a teenager I have loved studying the world beyond this world, the religious and spiritual world. And yes, I know all about the horrible part of that “religious” world. I majored in history in college, so I know what has been done in the name of God and religion. But we all have a connection to life and the eternal that fascinates me. A mystery we’ll never comprehend, I’m sure. After all, I did go to seminary and studied deeper religion and theology. Once again, I’m glad I did all of this and I have no regrets about following my love to see where it led.

The last love I want to look at in this blog is my love of good relationships. I truly love deep, sincere, real relationships. I have friendships that have lasted over fifty years. I treasure those true relationships. I have no time or energy or interest in flaky relationships. God knows I’ve had a few in my lifetime, what a waste (although lessons have always been learned in those relationships also; I always believe there are lessons to be learned in all that happens in our lives).

So, my love of good relationships has culminated in my marriage now with the love of my life. It took everything that happened to get me here to this place of true happiness and bliss. Whether others understand my marriage or not is not my concern or business. It is the best part of this long life and the trials and struggles encountered along the way. My belief has proven true for me, at least, that in the end, it all works out!

Wally

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Sin (Yes, Sin!) [ Post #17)

So, my thoughts regarding sin. If you have any experience with church or organized religion, you probably heard a lot about sin. Turn on any Christian radio station or tune in to any televangelist on TV and I can almost guarantee you you’ll hear that word within fifteen seconds or so. Most conservative religions seem to be obsessed with the word and concept. A few years ago I preached a sermon on religion and sin and types of religious people. I referenced the classic book by William James, (the “Father of American psychology ,” as he is called ) “The Varieties of Religious Experience” (the late 1800’s). He basically divided religious people into two camps. There are the unhappy, miserable sinner types of people and the happy religious and spiritual people. (Now, of course, I’m oversimplifying this for this short essay.) The unhappy, miserable sinner type of person is often racked with guilt and seeking salvation from that prison of depression.

The other type of religious/spiritual person has a more pleasurable experience of religion and is happy and joyous and feels good about life and his or her connection to that something greater (God, the universe, the higher self, etc.) I would place myself in that camp now in my life. I am enjoying a good, happy, joyous life and I am not obsessed with the idea of “sin,” personally. Now that does not mean I don’t see the evil or vile side of life. I am realistic. There are some spiritual teachers and gurus that preach that evil does not really exist or is not real. I’m not going to get into that debate here. Let’s just say that I do see the crap in the world. History has always shown how evil people can be. So, what I can say is that yes, I see the bad in the world, but I do not let that suck me into the whirlpool of depression and the experience of a miserable view of life.

Now, having said all of that, I guess the paradox is that I do have experience with sin, personally. I do not go out and murder or steal or hurt people, but I do have to admit I have what I consider “my” sins. I am not racked with guilt as the miserable sinner type of person is, but I do have to watch for my personal sins creeping into my life.

Let me tell you what I consider to be sin in my life. First off, the root of the word sin means to “miss the mark,” referring to spear throwing. I like that definition better than the usual church definition of an immoral act of transgression against divine law. So, for me, what do I consider “missing the mark” in my life? Well, for me, the biggest sin for me is to stagnate. To just be stuck in my life, to stay stuck, to choose to be stuck and not growing and moving forward in my daily life, on many levels. For me, to be alive is to constantly progress, to learn something new every day, to have new insights, new experiences, deeper relationships, to have every day be a new, creative experience.

For me, the other sins that concern me are: to be mean, to hurt others or myself, to hate, to have resentments, to be envious or jealous, to desire bad things for those people that I don’t particularly like. To have unforgiveness in my heart ( I can forgive even despicable people I do not like, that’s for my own good only, really).

Those are sins for me in my life. I have to watch closely in my daily activities and thoughts that these particular sins to not sneak into my life or consciousness. Many people do not watch that these sins stay out of their lives, they usually don’t even pay attention or care, really. They just live and react without working at this.

So, for me, sin is not necessarily a bad word. It is necessary to be aware of sinful or thoughtless or damaging thoughts and activities. I do not live in guilt or negative environments in my life. I do not want any of these mentioned transgressions from the good life to be in my personal world.

Wally