Chuff-chuff-chuffing Along

[poliphilo]

On one or two occasions- always at a turning point in my life- I've had the feeling that a part of me has stepped aside and is observing things from a distance. Right now I have this image in my head where my life is a model railway layout and I'm bending over it, watching the train hurrying along, leaving the branch line for the main line- or the main line for the branch line, or whatever.

I feel happy and peaceful. Unconflicted. Also mildly amused.

I said yesterday that this new alleigance would probably last out my time- and it probably will, because I'm 58 next birthday- but not necessarily so. We can only know the truth in parts- a little at a time- because the whole of it is just too big for our brains. Anglican Christianity is the fragment I'm embracing now- at this particular point in the continuum- but where there's life there's change - and in ten years time, who knows?  

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

but where there's life there's change

I think that sums it up nicely. One goes with what feels right at any given time and later, come what may.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You can only be true to what you feel at any given moment.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Belief - ANY belief - is a gift which we cannot will or wish.
Yes, things change over time - and sometimes they change BACK.
I am 68 next birthday and am constantly amazed at how peaceful I am inside compared to my crazy and very mixed up younger years.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't take my beliefs all that seriously these days.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I can't help sayoing I'm a little bit disappointed that you are going back to something you left behind. Do you really believe that Jesus was God incarnate and he can save your soul for eternity? No doubt you will have more to say on that subject. At least Wicca was colourful and non-dogmatic. If I were heading for any organised religion I'd go for Buddhism because it seems to speak a lot of sense about the world and our response to it - but I'm really too lazy.

There are several of my LJ friends on spiritual quests at the moment and I wonder what spiritual people do when none of the stuff on offer makes total sense...

Good luck with it all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I can explain it exactly.

In fact I'm not sure I understand it exactly. This isn't a head thing; it's a heart thing.

I don't believe any of that stuff literally. But I believe in the myth.

Also I've got a thing about Romanesque churches.

One way of looking at it is that I'm reclaiming my heritage.

[carl9whalley.livejournal.com]

Ready or not, someday it all comes to an end.
There are no more sunrises, no more minutes, hours or days.
All the things collected, treasured or forgotten, pass to someone else.
Wealth, fame and temporal power shrivel to irrelevance.
It matters not what was owned or owed.
Grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies finally disappear.
Hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists expire.
Wins and losses that once seemed so important fade away.
It no longer matters where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived.
No matter whether you were beautiful, or brilliant
Gender and skin colour are irrelevant.

So what matters?
How is the value of our days measured?

What matters is not what we bought, but what we built; not what we got, but what we gave.
What matters is not our success, but our significance.
What matters is not what we learnt but what we taught.
What matters is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate our example.
What matters is not our competence, but our character.
What matters is not how many people we knew, but how many people will feel a lasting loss when we are gone.
What matters is not our memories, but the memories that live in those who loved us.
What matters is how long we will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance, but a matter of choice.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yeah- very true.

The only thing I'd quibble at is the line about learning and teaching. I mean, you can't teach until you've first learned. The two things go together.