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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Thursday, June 23, 2016

Connecting

I have just finished a “conversation” on Facebook
It didn’t end well

Oh… yes, I get it!

“I talked (wrote) a lot a listened very little

Forgive me, Lord: it was a monologue and not a dialogue
I explained my idea and did not get his;
Since I didn’t listen, I learned nothing
Since I didn’t listen, I didn’t help
Since I didn’t listen, we didn’t commune…”
                              (an excerpt from a prayer by Michael Quoist, Prayers,  p.19

It matters not if we agree about a subject
There are lots of things about which we can disagree (guns for example)
And Facebook (and texts, and email) is not the best medium for any conversation

For they do not allow for body language, tone of voice
(forget emoticons)
They do not allow for corrections, and that slow stumbling toward understanding

What matters in the end is that we listen, and hear
That we refuse to get pulled into the kind of dialog where
People feel diminished, marginalized, ignored

I know it is not all about me
That mistakes are usually made on both sides

But I have control of me

So….

For all the times, including the conversation today,
Where I have not engaged in dialog
And where understanding has not happen
And respect has not been communicated

For all the times it has not gone well

O Sacred One forgive me


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