TGIF

Although, I have been retired now for 11 years I still remember the blessedness of a Friday. To have that weekend stretch out before you.............two whole days to relax and be free. You working stiffs have my love and compassion. There is nothing wrong with work. We need to work. It is an important expression of our being. I was lucky, I always did what I loved to do. Working with people, helping people, but even then the institution that provided the work could be rife with rules that contradicted the mission and caused stress in the employees. We will have a saner world.

My last two days were very busy. Wednesday we went to the flea market and bought vegetables to supplement the supply from the garden. My brother and his wife came for dinner and brought a bushel of tomatoes that they couldn't use. There was a frost forecast for the morning and they already canned all they they wanted. We much appreciated them, as our crop was piddly. We had a delicious dinner featuring our home raised chicken and ample wine.

Yesterday, Jamie worked all day putting up vegetables for the winter. She was on her feet from morning until evening. My day was much more relaxed. I did go to the feed store. I did finally get my lawn mowed and it really needed it.

These are difficult times and it is hard to see that people are really becoming more enlightened. One would not get that impression from the popular media, yet there are signs. Recent poles have indicated that more and more people describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. People are realizing that religion has not fulfilled the function of helping people make sense of the universe and understand their place in it. Regardless of the high motives religions founders may have had, the institution generally evolved into a means to control people. To be sure, their are many genuine spiritual seekers as parishioners and leaders in organized religion, but the institution as a whole has been used to control people, not enlighten them, these last two thousand years.

A core belief of most religion is that God is love and every human has equal access to him. No where in the instructions of the primary spiritual teachers is there any hint that people should create an institutional hierarchy of religion to let us know what God wants. All the teachers, I am familiar with, teach that God speaks directly to the heart of every person. We need to listen.

I am heartened that more and more people are willing to think for themselves in these matters.

Well that is enough for today. My dish water is getting cold.

Love and Peace, Gregg