Spiritual Understanding Which Is Better Than Political Wisdom

image from my flickr photostream

This was a clipping in a scrapbook kept by my Grandfather.

It says:

July 4, 1948
"Prayer for the U.S"
by Peter Marshall [Chaplain of the Senate]

"O God our Father, we pray that the people of America, who have made such progress in material things, may now seek to grow in spiritual understanding.

For we have improved means, but not improved ends. We have better ways of getting there, but we have no better places to go. We can save more time, but are not making any better use of the time we save.

We need Thy help to do something about the world's true problems -- the problem of lying, which is called propaganda; the problem of selfishness, which is called self-interest; the problem of greed, which is often called profit; the problem of license; disguising itself as liberty; the problem of lust, masquerading as love; the problem of materialism, the hook which is baited with security.

Hear our prayers, O Lord, for the spiritual understanding which is better than political wisdom, that we may see our problems for what they are. This we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen

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So, in barely a generation, we have gone from this view of Christian counsel to the recommendations and admonitions of the 'religious right.'

My grandfather was a passionate Republican as was my father and most of the people in my tiny hometown. [The town paper, for which my Aunt was a reporter was "The Kane Republican"].

I told my father a couple of years ago that if Ike could see today what had become of the Republican Party , he'd be a Democrat. Dad hung up on me.

Explain to me please the allure of Sarah Palin, the Right-to-Life movement, the current leadership of the Republican Party . The charm of Televangelists, the good sense of the "Prosperity Gospel" , the point of the 'Megachurch' [aside from the obvious one of making piles of money].

The only appeal that I can see is that we have gone as a country to the 'farce' setting and are just looking for a good laugh. Except those who seem caught up in the farce seem to have had their sense of humor extracted. This includes my father, a formerly hilarious human being who then became more and more angry.

It's raining today the day after the 4th of July. No fireworks for us last night, we just got drunk on the back porch and ate fish.

I'll pray the prayer of Peter Marshall for our country. Since time doesn't seem to run backwards, those days of sober, thoughtful men gracing the halls of the Capitol are probably gone for good, and life and especially Public Life will become more and more of a sporting event, filled with the kind of human beings who possess the kind of megalomania and narcissism necessary to survive the constant glare of an equally crazed media.

It struck me, in reading the NYTimes article about Provincetown and Mary Oliver, that all of her work and her poetry are about a tiny tiny place where she has spent her life. Is this how real change takes place, the quiet out of the way places and people, going about their lives and passions with integrity ? In spite of all that I see that would contradict it, my faith remains intact. I can only assume that this has something to do with all that I don't know and can't see. I forget sometimes the part of faith that is "the substance of things hoped for".
[ Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [Hebrews 11:1]

And there is plenty of evidence of things not seen.

I saw this on "Talking 37th Dream With Rainbow"

"In Tibetan, the word for blessing means "transformation through majesty or power." In short, the meaning of blessing is to bring about, as a result of the experience, a transformation in one's mind for the better."

-- The Dalai Lama

I'm lifting it to share it here because , in this rambling post, I guess what Peter Marshall , my grandfather, my father, the Televangelist and myself share is the desire to bless and be blessed.

Here's to a transformation in one's mind for the better. My mind can always use a little transformation, the same goes for all of us down here on Planet earth as far as I can tell.

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