WISDOM OF OUR WOUNDS!

HONORING SYMPTOMS AS A VOICE OF THE SOUL!-Thomas Moore

Rev. James Lumsden has been writing about The Wisdom of our Wounds on his blog and you ought to read it...http://rj-whenlovecomestotown.blogspot.com/2009/06/widsom-of-our-wounds-another-try.html

Sometimes the wisdom can be a simple as my son Bailey telling me, "Dad I should listen to you more!" after he breaks his arm and needs surgery to repair it. Sometimes that wisdom is as profound as a man losing his life for his beliefs like Jesus or Martin Luther King or Sir Thomas Moore at the hands of King Henry VIII. These men died and their deaths have reverberations of meaning throughout time!

All we need is to be open minded and as John Keats said, "I AM CERTAIN OF NOTHING BUT THE HOLINESS OF THE HEART'S AFFECTIONS AND THE TRUTH OF THE IMAGINATION!" Imagination is the key and as Rev. Lumsden says, "Now, this is a faith claim because you have to have the counter-cultural eyes of God’s kingdom – and a true commitment to using your imagination creatively – to both See and trust the reality of this upside down kingdom. Which is why, of course, Jesus spent so much time talking to his disciples about the heart and soul of God’s kingdom. "

The following song by P.M. Dawn is incredibly meaningful for me and I think reflects some of the wisdom of wounds thinking that is the heart of reality in life! The song was a part of the memorial video that I made for my father which in and of itself was a wisdom of wounds life path for me. I actually tried to upload the section of that video with this song but after hours of upload failed so I'll post it later and for now play this one from You Tube! I love this song and it's deeper meaning with lyrics like, "The windows, the doors, the passage ways to the truth." Thomas Moore mentions that "the kingdom of heaven is like an open window, nothing in itself, and yet it allows everything." The Tao Te Ching says, "Cut doors and windows for a room; It is the holes which make it useful. "



Death is the ultimate and most spiritual experience a person can live in this life! It strips away a lot of junk and can reveal truth and deep personal meaning if you are open to see. We can all have a Lazarus experience and rise from death to see a new life. We can all live the Jesus way and be light in darkness and see through pain and fear to joy and victory. Victory does not always mean things turn out the way you would wish for. Sir Thomas Moore was beheaded, Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ were assassinated and a transformation took place that gave new life in so many ways and only limited by the limits of your imagination. We can try to avoid tragedy, and many of us do, or we can be open to a transformation of our soul! I once heard a wonderful preacher say this, "When you read the bible, take off your denominational sunglasses because they keep out the glare of the glory of GOD!" In other words, like a line from the P.M. Dawn song..."open up your mind and it will sing to you!"

Life is simply not about feeling good all the time or our own happiness. As we live and experience the light and dark, heat and cold, joy and sorow and the many flavors of life we become like that old cast iron frying pan. It may not look nice and perfect, you may have burned many foods in it and ruined meals, it may not even clean up perfectly but it has been seasoned to make the best and most flavorful dishes. Go to any 12 step meeting and you will find many lives that can attest to this Wisom of Our Wounds thinking!

Another song for the theme and one that spoke to me after Vicki's death, maybe even from Vicki that began my own spiritual resurgence is Windmills from the album Dulcinea...Dulcinea, an imaginary character! Hmmmm!