The White Parasol

Archive for the ‘Modern Spirituality’ Category

I am with the sinners. Straight up, might as well face it. That is to be aware of being a sinner and that being saved has nothing to do with how good we judge that we are, or can become. In the gospels: MAT 10, 9-13 MRK 3, 15-17 LUKE 5, 27-32 Matthew (also known [...]

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When I consider my soul. . . . it is full of surprises (or sur-prizes)! It exhibits such patience, for it never appears to be encumbered, restricted or limited by my physical aspect. It is large and wholesome, whilst I am small and fragile. How can this tiny frame of my body carry [...]

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At some point on our spiritual journey we have to meet and conquer what is sometimes referred to as “the dweller on the threshold”.  It is a reference to the “being” or “entity” that is sum total of all the negative deeds that we have performed during our many lives, and every act of [...]

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Driving along in my yellow mini on the way back from town to my house I was pondering on the illness of my son.  He had been cured we thought and now it was back with a vengeance. It had shown itself by appearing above the clavicle so now we knew that we [...]

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Well, they have no right here do they?
They are taking our jobs, our social security, our houses, our
schools, our communities.
They cause us all the problems of a country which is too full: crime,
lack of resources.
If they were not here we wouldn’t have any problems. They are to blame.
Well, the thing is that we [...]

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about the brolly thing

The White Parasol is our (see "about little me and mrs. overall) umbrella where reflections on the confluence of religious,spiritual and modern, everyday life - with all its conflicting issues - can be looked at without and with prejudices. A practical emphasis to provide another way of looking at the bigger picture, in the midst of the ordinary material life, but without theological restriction (which doesn't mean that it is to be disregarded either). The parasol is to protect us from the heat that the issues generate theologically and politically. To propose and discuss,listen to and open up to, other perspectives without fear of getting burnt, in the hope of moving onwards. A belief is not necessarily a reality or a truth, but a programming. The overriding approach: "Faith is about searching for the truth without fear, so it doesn't matter if we lose all of our beliefs.." (from a compilation of ancient wisdoms spanning all religions in Anthony De Mello's "Song of the Bird). But can we question,without fear,issues which shape families, towns, nations and what wars are made of? Well if all the political diplomacy we have had since time immemorial can deliver only a war-torn earth, even in contemporary and "more enlightened" times two thousand years after Christ came to bring peace, perhaps we should dare to.