tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post4100432841211269679..comments2024-03-22T03:10:08.766-05:00Comments on The Good Raised Up: Eggs, the roller derby, and hewing broken cisternsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-46482215527089214732010-03-25T21:39:02.153-05:002010-03-25T21:39:02.153-05:00Thanks for your patience in waiting for me to retu...Thanks for your patience in waiting for me to return to this post. Life has provided many distractions--some worth cracking the egg, others not so much. (None have involved roller derbies, however.)<br /><br /><b>Nemo</b> -<br /><br />Glad you stopped by and left a comment.<br /><br /><b>Mia</b> -<br /><br />There are many ways to exercise the muscle that we call "discipline," especially when we start to get overinvolved or overinvested in something. <br /><br />It seems to me that one way we discern if we are in fact overinvolved is to take some time away--exercise some discipline--and see how that feels, giving careful attention to identifying what it is you want to do (or how to be) in that empty space you've just created for yourself. (Otherwise, it's too easy to sabotage ourselves by saying "I'm bored, at least I was DOING something before...)<br /><br />Just do your best and be gentle on yourself. <br /><br /><b>Rich</b> -<br /><br />Sometimes what drives me to go to an event I would normally be ambivalent about has everything to do with Fear of Missing Something. So my temptation to "abstain" from the roller derby was going head-to-head, so to speak, with my very human Fear of Missing Something. You can see which won that particular night.<br /><br />As for the concept of pride leading me to protect against cracks, what I mean by that is that there are times when my ego (pride) tempts me into not letting my guard down; keeping my defenses up; showing that I'm brave, thick-skinned, knowledgeable, etc. If I put up that sort of front, I might avoid conflict or getting hurt or being made fun of.<br /><br />Does that help?<br /><br />Blessings,<br />LizLiz Opphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09802348848085930901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-25127313735887973552010-03-16T10:23:25.397-05:002010-03-16T10:23:25.397-05:00Hi Liz,
Many years ago (early 1968) I went to a ho...Hi Liz,<br />Many years ago (early 1968) I went to a hockey game with some friends who were enthusiastic fans.<br /><br />This was only a few months after I had witnessed and experienced physical violence at an anti-war demonstration (people getting clubbed by military police). There was a lot of shoving and punching and deliberate colliding in the hockey game and I found it made me feel sick - probably because it restimulated my feelings about the clubbings. I haven't been to a hockey game since. (ditto for football, boxing, wrestling or any kind of contact sport). Not sure if that shows some kind of principled spirituality, unmanly timidity, or simple common sense.<br /><br />I have a little trouble imagining how the roller derby could have been appealing or tempting on any level, but I accept that it could be. I like all kinds of entertainment that in theory I don't approve of. In the latter part of your post, about pride leading you to protect yourself against cracks, are you suggesting that it would have been wrong to abstain from the roller derby just because it was spiritually distracting?<br /><br />Hope this comment and this question makes sense. <br />- - RichRich in Brooklynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589780733691616974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-24505027171192431552010-03-11T12:56:31.479-06:002010-03-11T12:56:31.479-06:00This post spoke to me, too. For the past year or ...This post spoke to me, too. For the past year or so, my husband and I have been on a journey to determine our deepest priorities. For us, they are family, health, Quaker faith and music--if we are doing something that doesn't lift up one or more of those four things, that's a pretty clear sign to us that we need to not do it. Where the problem comes in for me is that I can (and usually do) get very overinvolved with any of the four. So your image of the cistern and query about digging the well quickly was the message I needed to be reminded of. Thank thee! --MiaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-49379346945205130972010-03-11T10:44:19.049-06:002010-03-11T10:44:19.049-06:00"Have I been so quick to dig a well that I ha..."Have I been so quick to dig a well that I have taken little care to check how well I am digging it?"<br /><br />Fantastic writing! God bless you.nemohttp://www.yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-2183512029194137002010-03-10T20:32:02.785-06:002010-03-10T20:32:02.785-06:00Mary Ellen -
...I hadn't considered the synch...<b>Mary Ellen</b> -<br /><br />...I hadn't considered the synchronicity that you raise, about spring, eggs, and flowing water. Thanks for your comments and adding to the conversation! <br /><br /><b>Eric</b> -<br /><br />I was raised Jewish too, but my parents and extended family seemed to have little understanding of the basis for certain rituals and traditions. Quakerism often strikes the right note for me, but since it's human beings who practice Quakerism (or Judaism), there are times when I'm disappointed...<br /><br />Thanks for the Hicks' quote. I haven't read his journal and I usually like reading the writings of early Friends. <br /><br />Can I ask where you're worshiping? And do you know about the online Quaker community, <a href="http://www.quakerquaker.org" rel="nofollow">QuakerQuaker</a>? There are LOTS of Friends there who would be happy to answer any questions you may have. (Or you could ignore it until you're curious to check it out.)<br /><br /><b>Mark</b> -<br /><br />I like your question about Jesus and the roller derby! And yes, the derby's program had a blurb in it to explain that it was NOT the WWF.<br /><br />Blessings,<br />LizLiz Opphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09802348848085930901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-84189231022059260862010-03-10T08:46:50.201-06:002010-03-10T08:46:50.201-06:00So, if Jesus and the disciples were on a roller de...So, if Jesus and the disciples were on a roller derby team, who would be the blockers, and who would be the jammers? : )<br /><br />Liz, thanks for sharing. The cistern analogy is poignant. I remember watching this sport and "All Star Wrestling" as a kid growing up in Grand Forks. both are spectacular, physical events, made to be over the top in showmanship and theater. (the wrestling was fixed and correographed, but i dont think the Derby is.)<br /><br />Mark JacobsonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-73286165857112599262010-03-10T01:30:04.544-06:002010-03-10T01:30:04.544-06:00I was raised in a Jewish-atheist family, and have ...I was raised in a Jewish-atheist family, and have recently begun exploring Quakerism. Thank you for including your (mis?)adventure at the roller derby. It speaks to me when you are less centered. I am at the roller derby most of the time, but don’t know enough to walk out.<br /> I was able to download a sample from the new collection of Elias Hicks’ journals. One entry, above all, reached out to me for similar reasons:<br />“Fifth Day: Attended our meeting as usual when at home. Was much cumbered in the forepart of the meeting with unprofitable thoughts, such as relate to our temporal concerns, which produce poverty of spirit in religious meetings and ought to be strove against in order to obtain a release from them. And although it is what we cannot do in our own time and strength, yet as we continue to strive and do not give over the struggle, but persevere in faith and patience to obtain the blessing-as Jacob did when he wrestled with the angel-we shall witness an overcoming in the Lord’s time and strength, and know our light to arise out of obscurity, and our darkness to be as noonday.”Eric H-Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10737238.post-6524363665262867642010-03-09T17:55:49.874-06:002010-03-09T17:55:49.874-06:00Liz, this is a lovely reflection, with the spring-...Liz, this is a lovely reflection, with the spring-like images of flowing waters and eggs being broken open. <br /><br />I, too, would have found the roller derby to be overwhelming and distracting - but also an interesting opportunity to view my neighbors in a setting I might never see again. (I enjoyed hearing the description about it, at any rate.)Mary Ellenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06476814211173076515noreply@blogger.com