Thank you, Rafael for this beautiful acknowledgement of Jesus' sacrificial message--both a reminder and view of the gateway into the heart of our humanity.
I remember the first time I embraced (not just saw or recognized) the potential for violence that exists inside me. It came in as a frightening mental image picture that I almost ignored--likely because it may have caused too much mental suffering to bear at that time.
Instead, I shared it with my then-partner who said quietly and simply, "is this the first time you've realized it?"
Yes, it was the first time--I was in my 30's. In the ensuing months--into years, I purposefully and poignantly recapitulated anything that may have been a potentially earlier awakening, if I had only looked, felt and listened.
The discovery led me to feel and know both victim and perpetrator inside me, and how they are one and the same--not just a matching of opposites, but the very same.
It also opened a willingness to actually feel suffering--the correspondent nature of its (so-called) positive and negative aspects, and eventually to better understanding the profound truth in natural law.
In an evolutionary, step by step sense: I am committed to a fully conscious, felt-sense journey of ever-increasing awareness and non-ignorance--to evoke, model, and when appropriate, to provoke anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear the subtleties of the incredible adventure that brings darkness to light.
There are no sticky places at the midpoint of suffering; only compassionate spiritual warrior-ship and flow. From belvedere, everything is brilliant and beautiful.
Much appreciation and gratitude for your beautifully provocative writing.
I'm rereading it now since I'm going through a lot of emotional suffering. The only thing keeping me from falling in a depressive state is the remider of the Sacred Heart of Christ.
''The image of the Sacred Heart reveals a heart at once on fire with love and yet pierced with suffering. It is a heart both vulnerable and strong—a heart truly courageous that does not shrink back from the shadow. It is in this alchemical furnace of the heart that pain is transformed into bliss. Here, love and grief commingle to become a vessel of healing, a chalice of life giving love.'' I especially love this part. Thank you.
Just what I needed to read today and so well written. I am facing the possible loss of a granddaughter due to suicide and a sister to a slow disease. Thank you for sharing!
Understand it or not the traditional images of the bloodied body of Jesus nailed to a cross and wearing a bloodied crown of thorns is a very life negative image and communication.
Such bloodiness was graphically portrayed in the unspeakable vile movie The Passion by Mel Gibson.
The Romans were merciless in their torture of the victims they killed. The sanitized version so many have of Christ's final day has been a misrepresentation of the suffering He endured. It represents the worst of humanity and I believe that's what Raphael's message is.
Thank you, Rafael for this beautiful acknowledgement of Jesus' sacrificial message--both a reminder and view of the gateway into the heart of our humanity.
I remember the first time I embraced (not just saw or recognized) the potential for violence that exists inside me. It came in as a frightening mental image picture that I almost ignored--likely because it may have caused too much mental suffering to bear at that time.
Instead, I shared it with my then-partner who said quietly and simply, "is this the first time you've realized it?"
Yes, it was the first time--I was in my 30's. In the ensuing months--into years, I purposefully and poignantly recapitulated anything that may have been a potentially earlier awakening, if I had only looked, felt and listened.
The discovery led me to feel and know both victim and perpetrator inside me, and how they are one and the same--not just a matching of opposites, but the very same.
It also opened a willingness to actually feel suffering--the correspondent nature of its (so-called) positive and negative aspects, and eventually to better understanding the profound truth in natural law.
In an evolutionary, step by step sense: I am committed to a fully conscious, felt-sense journey of ever-increasing awareness and non-ignorance--to evoke, model, and when appropriate, to provoke anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear the subtleties of the incredible adventure that brings darkness to light.
There are no sticky places at the midpoint of suffering; only compassionate spiritual warrior-ship and flow. From belvedere, everything is brilliant and beautiful.
Much appreciation and gratitude for your beautifully provocative writing.
Thank you Raphael - a very poignant essay!
I'm rereading it now since I'm going through a lot of emotional suffering. The only thing keeping me from falling in a depressive state is the remider of the Sacred Heart of Christ.
''The image of the Sacred Heart reveals a heart at once on fire with love and yet pierced with suffering. It is a heart both vulnerable and strong—a heart truly courageous that does not shrink back from the shadow. It is in this alchemical furnace of the heart that pain is transformed into bliss. Here, love and grief commingle to become a vessel of healing, a chalice of life giving love.'' I especially love this part. Thank you.
Well done.
Just what I needed to read today and so well written. I am facing the possible loss of a granddaughter due to suicide and a sister to a slow disease. Thank you for sharing!
Understand it or not the traditional images of the bloodied body of Jesus nailed to a cross and wearing a bloodied crown of thorns is a very life negative image and communication.
Such bloodiness was graphically portrayed in the unspeakable vile movie The Passion by Mel Gibson.
The Romans were merciless in their torture of the victims they killed. The sanitized version so many have of Christ's final day has been a misrepresentation of the suffering He endured. It represents the worst of humanity and I believe that's what Raphael's message is.