How do you tell a grieving mother it's good that her baby died? How without hurting her feelings smothered by tears she's recently cried?
How do you tell her you know for sure her baby is better off where spirits that escape the world aspire and flourish without air, when all you have is Revelation to prove you're being fair?
You know it to be God's will. You know God to be flawless. God wants us all to be killed or else we'd all be timeless.
You know if she saw the big picture she'd understand but you don't have the words to make her see. You know if she knew why anything happens she'd smile, and dance, and sing God's praises. She would get that all the wars that have ever been were just as beautiful as the peace between, that all the murders and rapes and infanticides, starvation, torture, disease and pesticides, the cruelty, the hate, the genocides were as justified as flowers and brides, birthday parties, free train rides, as necessary as the tides, she'd get that each and everything coincides with every being, that events are entangled such that we are products of all of history as opposed to our parents only or the moldings of society, that what appears as God doing wrong is God doing right all along, would get that though that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to stop certain things from happening, since rather we should, we should endeavor to bring about good, it does mean God allowed it to be, or if it is happening currently, that God approves now, technically, since it can't be undone, theoretically, and since it was originally instantiated purely, remaining as such continually, if, that is, you see, we can hypothetically agree, at least temporarily, for the purposes of the discussion we are having about Divinity, God knows all, is all powerful, and three: all good, and those each eternally, like most believers claim is true without ever thinking all the way through about how that means anything that happened in the past was part of God's own living, perfect heart, of God's will, God's plan, God who knew all there is to know, or shall be, before the start of eternity, knew what we'd do with our free will, knew we'd be inclined to kill, knew we'd be obliged to fight against the stalkers of the night, knew who would raise us, what kind of brains and parents we'd have, what minds, what hearts, what life would lead us to, and even though we suffer and we cry, even though we struggle and we die, we have no choice but to commit suicide or otherwise deal with the ride.
God foresaw the full breadth of dismay and decided to create it anyway.
Hooray!
God built the infrastructure and instilled the minds and souls with which free will is activated, which makes it hard to see how we have free will in reality, makes it hard to believe we choose our path, and harder not to lose faith in our own abilities, since we were crafted to be whoever we turn out to be before we form our own identities, but still, we blame each other in the courts and God is rarely mentioned in the reports.
Most humans have been stuck on Earth in an infinitely wide outside, and all of us stuck in the universe where particles collide, which means that even if the Devil, dark, determined to harm, causes bad things to happen, still, God is the Source of the swarm, for God forged the Devil and all he'd do, and God knew the Devil would rise up to try to take over the throne if he could, and via calculated apathy wisely withdrew from opting to stop him from blaspheming good, and chose for perfect reasons not to stand in the way of the Devil's reign, which doesn't mean the Devil's not SOMEWHAT to blame, but does imply God is to share the shame if evil is real, which you know to be lame as far as a theory goes, instead aware it truly means there is no evil out there, no evil to be found anywhere, even in this world of tragedy and despair as much as it could be described as fair, or wonderful, or rare.
You know the Devil is a scapegoat and God is on trial and God comes out in the end being guilty all right, but not of being mean, or evil, of having defiled the name of Grace with omnipotence used for spite, but you don't know the reasons, don't have proof near beyond the feelings defining your inner sphere, being a person of faith, instead of a teacher of what it is you believe, so you cannot reach her, you cannot breach her heart to remove the pain she feels as she trembles in the rain doubting God exists, and cursing life staring a bit too much at a nearby knife and then her wrists, back and forth, unaware there's truly no reason to despair, that funerals should be celebrations, that there is much left to do, she's needed where she is, and where she might go if she cared as much about the others in need as she cared and continues to care about her baby, and you don't know how to get her to see that her baby was no more special than any nor any less special, therefore, because she loves human beings and creatures hierarchically and that is breeding grounds for favoring family and friends over those who God loves equally and so you watch her and don't know what to say, the Truth within you every dangling day, every night, no means to convey, no apparatus with which to display what you yourself only know to be true because of feelings inside of you, and yet, you never doubt, not even a little, as she grieves trying to answer the riddle of how come God would let such innocence fade so quickly, without so much as a parade, all the while the mayfly, alive for a day, laughs and wishes he could be so lucky, and can't come up with an answer to calm her nerves, back and forth between the knife and her curves her eyes play ping pong and finally you step in to see if you can be of any assistance, hoping desperately you actually can be, but she says the kind of help she needs comes from nobody and points to her baby.
She could be a mother who believes God has reasons, just like you, or she could be a mother who doesn't percieve God as a possibility, in either case, you want her to be pain free and the only way you can see to make that an actuality is to explain to her not only that God does what God does because God is wholly just but also how come it is good war is real and how come it's awesome that we get to feel so very much pain in our very short lives before we are what we'll become after we shed our bodies whereafter we survive in the afterlife with our true family, which means not only the ones who left before we do, but all who have lived, all who will ever live too, and the nice and infinite amenities of paradise, but faith doesn't help you one bit with that task.
Faith is what's left when you no longer ask. Faith flourishes in ignorance. Belief in that for which you have no proof or belief based on feelings, not facts ascertained without a doubt as facts.
She needs more than your faith on the matter. She needs more than your opinion that life is grand while she is releasing the contents of her bladder without a smidgen of shame, her hand holding the hand of her baby, doesn't want to let go.
She needs more than your preaching that something is so.
Doesn't know what to do! Doesn't know if she'll smile ever again. She needs more than you. She needs Revelation, but while she needs it, she lacks it. You do not have what it takes to break through.
Does that mean you should keep your guess secret, too? Does that mean you should allow her to shower boo hoos on your shoulder as long as she wants to, and that you should add it's tragic, and go on to say it's nothing but bad in every single way, and tell her that to cry forever is okay, that to stop would be disrepectful to her baby even if a decade passes by, and that she should cry for all the other kids who thought they'd make it home, but never did, and that life sucks and that she may as well kill herself to avoid the pain, and tell her she should not have more kids since they too will die, like everything beautiful will do, and like so many things have in the past, and when you see your friend in a cast should you tell him that his prime is in his past while you're at it, and should you tell her she has no excuse to feel guilty unless she gets over her grief, eventually, in which case she would be lacking in empathy, and worthy of being judged deservedly as evil herself? Or should we leave her there alone with her child to grieve in her own way, even if she decides to join her baby, or how about not if she does that but so long as she doesn't try to cut or otherwise kill herself, leave her be?
Those don't sound like smart routes to me, how 'bout to you? For, you see, she's hurting, and though it is fine because God approves of it, she might find a way, on her own, or with help from you, to not hurt anymore, or as much, throughout time going forward, and that is a goal that you know you have set for yourself, for her sake, as you struggle to find the solution and ache along with her, loving her baby too, but no more or less than her. There feeling blue.
The baby's condition doesn't bother you since you figure the baby's in paradise, but she is without access to the truth and hurts because she has not seen the light, and you want her to feel the same delight her baby feels, want her to know for sure her child is better off without her for now, until she too has slipped the skin to travel to the land of zero sin, want her to have access to the feelings her baby has while she is foolishly grieving the tears all fools, all people, cry when their loved ones, so few in number for most, disappear except for a body which permeates the air but doesn't house the spirit that lives on after the very last atom is gone, transformed into whatever last atoms become, because you know if she could feel the same feelings her baby has while she exclaims, "THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD OF SHAME" soaking in the unrelenting rain, she'd do a pirouette and a double back flip and pucker up her grateful lips and kiss the sky a kiss of such gratitude with such a brand new happy attitude that God would blush, and say, "Awww, shucks!" and she would see how great her luck actually is, and she would go on to help others feel so, instead of taking her own life or spending her life depressed, forever recommending nobody take the risk of breeding because there are no guarantees that people will get to live to be however old you have to be short of forever to satisfy the desire to be immortal, as if we aren't already.
You don't know if you should step in or not. You're Lost. You and your faith are caught in a trap, in a web of beliefs you can't find proof for anywhere in your mind, inclined to act on them some of the time but not all the time, which is why you can't climb the mountain you set out to climb, which is why you can't make a mother be glad her child died.
Still, ye keeper of the faith, you believe anyway, you roll up your sleeves, and tell yourself, and others now and then, that your Revelation is legitimate, that other children, women and men who disagree and hold that you're wrong, are mistaken, are lacking enlightenment; in fact your faith is so strong you'd still believe precisely what you do even IF proof to the contrary came along and you saw for yourself what you claim isn't true.
Your song will always be the same song.
Whether you are right or wrong, you do not know, or you would be able to get her to stand and preach it's undeniably true that though her baby died just minutes ago she ought not frown or let her sorrow flow, but you are sure that she has no good excuse to cry, to sob, to scream, to fully let loose her anger, frustration, emotional maelstrom, and you are sure you are not being dumb, hopeful, wishfully thinking, sucking your thumb, no more in tune with how things really are than dinosaurs are known for driving cars.
You ask yourself how you dare to be so bold, you wonder, as she writhes there in the rain, the coldest rain you've ever ignored, and you scold yourself for possibly being vain, but you can't bring yourself to agree that is so because the feeling you have makes you know that you are right about what you bestow whenever you preach what you have in your soul, the Truth, the explanation whole except for the part about how things like babies dying, the down-trodden starving, is somehow totally cool and great, and though you'd love to fully state the details, you are ignorant, you don't have access to God's mind any more than the average ant deduces the depths of pi, or time, you don't have FULL revelation, and wonder now and then if you have blundered, if you have therefore not been granted, if Revelation was never planted, but you don't spend as much time doing that as you spend assuring folks where you are at that they don't need to suffer as they do if they will only listen to you, and more and more you don't even preach because you're aware you want to teach but realize as you fail to bring joy to people in misery, at least as much as you want to see anyway, that you cling to faith, that you have no sample to bring of the substance you hope is there despite despair and war everywhere except for where it's not, that you guess, as faith doesn't equal the Truth it suggests is out there, which doesn't do much to impress grief-stricken, heart-broken, folks in distress enough to free them of the pain that without proof all is good, shall maintain, at least for awhile, and then, off and on, never totally gone, as it goes wherever those who struggle do the things they do, wherever they impose their wills upon existence passing through, and likely she won't expect you to know what to do or say, and she'll show you gratitude for trying to help her though she'll hurt the whole time she is saying so.
I'm not saying there is no way. I'm not saying proof isn't real. I'm asking you why you choose to say being sad is a bad way to feel.
Also I'm urging you to find the reasons why babies dying is good, before you try to tell people that's how it is. They cry real pain their hearts cannot deny, real pain their souls are forced to espy.
Learn before you attempt to teach lest you be destined only to preach without making a difference where it counts, without removing pain that mounts, without improving the status quo anywhere you go.
Maybe you should just offer your hug, and let them cry as long as they like, and tell them that you agree it is tough, but that at the end of it all, there is light.
Like Mark Twain said, "Moderation is the mark of maturity," little steps. Maybe you should reveal your Revelation slowly, instead of the avalance you've kept inside you since you heard God speak to you and tell you what you now believe is true, like Dickinson opined, "...the truth must dazzle gradually, lest every man be blind."?
She'll learn, we'll all learn, in time.
If, however, she asks for your opinion, THEN, my friend, UNLEASH the whirlwind!!!!!
How do you tell a mother it's great her baby just died five seconds ago? You don't! You find the proof, and wait to say so, until you know, and not before you can show her for herself that what you claim is not just rude, and worthy of shame, is not just cruel and inhumane, is not just wishful thinking...lame, or you admit right off that you can't prove you're right, but feel it's true that though it's sad that babies leave it's actually good in reality, and tell them that it's okay to cry when moms and dads and children die but only because we don't know why.
You try to instill hope. It boils down to that. You try to hand them a rope, stat.
You do your best to get them to smile wondering if you are right all the while about what you are saying, feeling you are, try to minimize the internal scars, and pray and pray and pray for guidance and seek to bring peace to a troubled land and even though most say you shouldn't you keep telling people what you believe is true without proving you're right about a thing and don't regret it because you don't see through to where the proof is waiting for you to bring with you, as you, without angel wings try your hardest to help the suffering.
You don't see another choice except to amplify the voice within you that says God is nice while kittens and kids are being diced and sliced up by the blades of life and other seemingly tragic events are obviously always present, even though that makes you sound pretentious and overzealously religious and foolishly optimistic and most of the time not only doesn't help but seems to give them another reason to yell, to tell you that you shouldn't preach about things you haven't figured out, to tell you that your empty hollow words are not even worth being squandered, or heard, oh yes, you push right past your ignorance and let your faith take charge and dance around the proof you lack, because that's what a person who's seen the light does as far as you can tell, and you think you have seen the light, are obligated to morally speaking, the way it seems to be the moral responsibility of parents to raise their babies, even though in so trying to some of them never do, or don't for more than months or hours or less before they're gone, not there to dress, not there to feed, not there to caress, to prove the whole world is blessed, to prove the presence of innocence.
Maybe it's okay to grieve, maybe it's also okay, to celebrate when our children leave, to dance once they've gone away.
Maybe no matter how we react, we're doing what God wants us to, or maybe there is no God, and facts aren't actually in reality true, as far as you know, your faith and you.
Keep on doing what you do unless you shouldn't. Replace pain where you can, at least as much as you're able to, with happiness, and stand for something other than being blue without overplaying your hand.
If you, however, are someone who doesn't believe, someone with no faith, what can you say to make her feel better? What good are you as she grieves? How is having no faith a better way?
Faith is not a choice, we often hear, though you don't like to think that might be true. You prefer to believe it's out of fear or hatred for God that people like Drew over there in the corner eating stew don't have faith in God, or in the notion that babies dying is God's grace in full motion, but as it stands some simply lack faith since they haven't seen any evidence as far as they're concerned that God is real, that God is more than make believe, unpeeled.
If you think you should stay out of it you are leaving her to suffer. You don't want to. What does that leave? A sympathy card? Whatever you believe, or don't, it's hard.
It's a hard situation, suffrage, and pain. What to do, to say, to explain, to ask, to think, how to maintain sanity in the twain.
As for me, I pray, and seek, and wonder if her baby died for reasons that are justified or if when after optimists speak they've always recently lied.
My guess on the matter, I'm keeping private until such time as I verify if what my heart suggests is right is more than another lie, or the whim of a wish passing by.
My guess is everything turns out okay for everything, somehow, some way, but like those who have faith to boot, I lack the proof it takes to root proper teaching in, and guess my way through life, more or less, half hunkered down by sadness and stress and half always thanking the Lord we're so blessed, like most people out there trying to stretch as far as they can into the abyss that not only seems to never end but never ends again and again.
I want to help, but don't know how. I'm like the world around me now. I'm able to plant a smile here and there, but can't keep it nurtured forever.
Apparently, if happiness is to be the face of all eternity, for everybody, that duty has not been assigned to me, reserved, instead, most likely, for Divinity.
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'revelation is only revelation to the person who received it; to all others it is heresy and we may or may not be obliged to believe it' Thomas Paine
what is a person with revelation supposed to do, though? not share it cuz they can't prove it, even though they feel it is true and they're selling out mankind, who they love with all their heart, and hope for their salvation, by keeping it to themselves? if God came to you and told you some stuff the world debates about, but not all things, and told you to spread the word that you did receive, the parts you've been asked to tell, and you were convinced it was God, wouldn't you tell others about it, even if you couldn't prove it, and doesn't the same thing maybe go with if you see a ufo pass by, though different topics and magnitudes of importance in the scenarios, wouldn't you want to share that feeling of joy and at least attempt to get others to believe you, for their sakes?
even if you wouldn't, millions do, millions who, whether they are right or not, feel God speaks to them or the spirit of God is within them or communicates with them somehow etc...they're not all out there just pretending to believe cuz its convenient. some wholeheartedly believe God is all good, some believe with as much passion God is all evil, others that there is no God, etc. for many reasons. many many reasons. at the same time, if you haven't had revelation, and you figure there is no God, or guess that there is one but aren't sure, you may not be too happy or cheered up by someone coming in telling you not to grieve over the loss of your child...ever...not even a little bit...based on their faith saying you shouldn't or that there is no point in it, or that you are grieving as if a bad thing happened when only good things happen, etc. people don't know what to say to each other when people are hurting the most. often silence does the most good. a hug. just being there. caring, without trying to save the day or make things all good as if you can, or as if it's wrong to grieve. maybe a lot of it boils down to whether or not you even care if people grieve, or if you wish it on them, cuz you think its natural and human and good to, or if you care so much you can't stop trying to find a way to intervene as necessary wherever whenever to remove all pain from the universe forever, and not just you, but every one...if that's how it is, right? one thing is for sure, so to speak, and that is that every one seems to have an opinion about whether grieving is okay or not, even though no one seems to be able to show what happens to people after they've allegedly 'died'. Socrates said only God knows if death is good or bad. who has proof he was wrong about that, if he even was, and who has proof he was right about that? and even if that was verified, that still wouldn't tell us if death is good or bad; it would just show us or tell us whether its true or not that only God knows if death is good or bad, so in short, Socrates didn't clear up the problem either, nor did he when he contradictorily stated the wise man knows he knows nothing. good luck, and God bless. faith may be beautiful, but it's not the solution to the world's problems either, now is it, nor has it been. What we need is a Conversion; what we need is LOVE, what we need is God, and what we need is to become such that were all those things to disappear or not be or never manifest, paradise will ensue anyway, become such that we can forge it ourselves, perhaps, for all we know, our purpose as humanity generation to generation, as well as the purpose of the ever evolving universe that changes all the time, for who is to say what it will change into, and what proof is there we can't in time do just that? progress, like martin luther king said, never rolls in on wheels of inevitability,' implying we need to, like ghandi said, 'be the change we want to see in the world', but my guess is that because we in time and over time as a team do make changes we want to see in the world, and do love, and because it's God's will, but even if it wasn't, or isn't, that anyway, progress is on the way, is achievable, is within our own power to grasp, to mold, to obtain, to share, to flourish in, that we can build the good, is, 'inevitable'...but along the way, suffrage ensues, has, and seemingly shall for who knows how long. half the world thinks were doomed. the other half thinks that half is wrong. which half is right? (saying one or the other is right, doesn't make it true, or prove it so...preachers).
we the preachers of the world. or the seekers. awaiting a teacher. so many claim to be teachers or call other people or beings teachers, but no one has taught the world to agree; no one has ever shown us all such that indubitably we must accept some theory as it pertains to creation or God or the beginning of the universe, etc...we are Lost, unless of course some people have revelation that is valid, and they hold the truth, but they seem incapable of proving they are right, so where does that leave the suffering? suffering. I say, we keep searching. we don't give up because the problem seems too difficult, too deep, to beyond us. I say we don't call it blasphemy to try to know God's mind, like Einstein wanted to...' I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details'...I say the truth WILL set us free, but we have to find it or acquire it or become one with it or something first, and that that will occur for us all some time, somehow. if only...I could prove it. thanks for reading. I say we don't stop at faith and call it good enough. if you have the proof the world is seeking, share it. if not, I hear ya. I hear ya.
Revelation!!!?
How do you tell a grieving mother
it's good that her baby died?
How without hurting her feelings smothered
by tears she's recently cried?
How do you tell her you know for sure
her baby is better off where
spirits that escape the world
aspire and flourish without air,
when all you have is Revelation
to prove you're being fair?
You know it to be God's will.
You know God to be flawless.
God wants us all to be killed
or else we'd all be timeless.
You know if she saw the big picture she'd understand
but you don't have the words to make her see.
You know if she knew why anything happens
she'd smile, and dance, and sing God's praises. She
would get that all the wars that have ever been
were just as beautiful as the peace between,
that all the murders and rapes and infanticides,
starvation, torture, disease and pesticides,
the cruelty, the hate, the genocides
were as justified as flowers and brides,
birthday parties, free train rides,
as necessary as the tides,
she'd get that each and everything
coincides with every being,
that events are entangled such that we
are products of all of history
as opposed to our parents only
or the moldings of society,
that what appears as God doing wrong
is God doing right all along,
would get that though that doesn't mean
we shouldn't try to stop certain things
from happening, since rather we should,
we should endeavor to bring about good,
it does mean God allowed it to be,
or if it is happening currently,
that God approves now, technically,
since it can't be undone, theoretically,
and since it was originally instantiated purely,
remaining as such continually,
if, that is, you see,
we can hypothetically agree,
at least temporarily,
for the purposes of the discussion we
are having about Divinity,
God knows all, is all powerful, and three:
all good, and those each eternally,
like most believers claim is true
without ever thinking all the way through
about how that means anything
that happened in the past was part
of God's own living, perfect heart,
of God's will, God's plan, God who knew
all there is to know, or shall be,
before the start of eternity,
knew what we'd do with our free will,
knew we'd be inclined to kill,
knew we'd be obliged to fight
against the stalkers of the night,
knew who would raise us, what kind
of brains and parents we'd have, what minds,
what hearts, what life would lead us to,
and even though we suffer and we cry,
even though we struggle and we die,
we have no choice but to commit suicide
or otherwise deal with the ride.
God foresaw the full breadth of dismay
and decided to create it anyway.
Hooray!
God built the infrastructure and instilled
the minds and souls with which free will
is activated, which makes it hard to see
how we have free will in reality,
makes it hard to believe we choose
our path, and harder not to lose
faith in our own abilities,
since we were crafted to be
whoever we turn out to be
before we form our own identities,
but still, we blame each other in the courts
and God is rarely mentioned in the reports.
Most humans have been stuck on Earth
in an infinitely wide outside,
and all of us stuck in the universe
where particles collide,
which means that even if the Devil,
dark, determined to harm,
causes bad things to happen, still,
God is the Source of the swarm,
for God forged the Devil and all he'd do,
and God knew the Devil would rise up to
try to take over the throne if he could,
and via calculated apathy wisely withdrew
from opting to stop him from blaspheming good,
and chose for perfect reasons not to
stand in the way of the Devil's reign,
which doesn't mean the Devil's not SOMEWHAT to blame,
but does imply God is to share the shame
if evil is real, which you know to be lame
as far as a theory goes, instead aware
it truly means there is no evil out there,
no evil to be found anywhere,
even in this world of tragedy and despair
as much as it could be described as fair,
or wonderful, or rare.
You know the Devil is a scapegoat and God is on trial
and God comes out in the end being guilty all right,
but not of being mean, or evil, of having defiled
the name of Grace with omnipotence used for spite,
but you don't know the reasons, don't have proof near
beyond the feelings defining your inner sphere,
being a person of faith, instead of a teacher
of what it is you believe, so you cannot reach her,
you cannot breach her heart to remove the pain
she feels as she trembles in the rain
doubting God exists, and cursing life
staring a bit too much at a nearby knife
and then her wrists, back and forth, unaware
there's truly no reason to despair,
that funerals should be celebrations, that there
is much left to do, she's needed where
she is, and where she might go if she cared
as much about the others in need as she
cared and continues to care about her baby,
and you don't know how to get her to see
that her baby was no more special than any
nor any less special, therefore, because she
loves human beings and creatures hierarchically
and that is breeding grounds for favoring family
and friends over those who God loves equally
and so you watch her and don't know what to say,
the Truth within you every dangling day,
every night, no means to convey,
no apparatus with which to display
what you yourself only know to be true
because of feelings inside of you,
and yet, you never doubt, not even a little,
as she grieves trying to answer the riddle
of how come God would let such innocence fade
so quickly, without so much as a parade,
all the while the mayfly, alive for a day,
laughs and wishes he could be so lucky,
and can't come up with an answer to calm her nerves,
back and forth between the knife and her curves
her eyes play ping pong and finally
you step in to see if you can be
of any assistance, hoping desperately
you actually can be, but she says
the kind of help she needs comes from nobody
and points to her baby.
She could be a mother who believes
God has reasons, just like you, or she
could be a mother who doesn't percieve
God as a possibility,
in either case, you want her to be pain free
and the only way you can see
to make that an actuality
is to explain to her not only that God does
what God does because God is wholly just
but also how come it is good war is real
and how come it's awesome that we get to feel
so very much pain in our very short lives
before we are what we'll become after we
shed our bodies whereafter we survive
in the afterlife with our true family,
which means not only the ones who left
before we do, but all who have lived,
all who will ever live too, and the nice
and infinite amenities of paradise,
but faith doesn't help you one bit with that task.
Faith is what's left when you no longer ask.
Faith flourishes in ignorance.
Belief in that for which you have no proof
or belief based on feelings, not facts
ascertained without a doubt as facts.
She needs more than your faith on the matter.
She needs more than your opinion that life is grand
while she is releasing the contents of her bladder
without a smidgen of shame, her hand
holding the hand of her baby, doesn't want to let go.
She needs more than your preaching that something is so.
Doesn't know what to do!
Doesn't know if she'll smile
ever again. She needs more than you.
She needs Revelation, but while
she needs it, she lacks it. You do
not have what it takes to break through.
Does that mean you should keep your guess secret, too?
Does that mean you should allow her to shower boo hoos
on your shoulder as long as she wants to,
and that you should add it's tragic, and go on to say
it's nothing but bad in every single way,
and tell her that to cry forever is okay,
that to stop would be disrepectful to her baby
even if a decade passes by,
and that she should cry for all the other kids
who thought they'd make it home, but never did,
and that life sucks and that she may as well
kill herself to avoid the pain, and tell
her she should not have more kids since they too
will die, like everything beautiful will do,
and like so many things have in the past,
and when you see your friend in a cast
should you tell him that his prime is in his past
while you're at it, and should you tell her she
has no excuse to feel guilty
unless she gets over her grief, eventually,
in which case she would be lacking in empathy,
and worthy of being judged deservedly
as evil herself? Or should we leave
her there alone with her child to grieve
in her own way, even if she
decides to join her baby,
or how about not if she does that but
so long as she doesn't try to cut
or otherwise kill herself, leave her be?
Those don't sound like smart routes to me,
how 'bout to you? For, you see,
she's hurting, and though it is fine
because God approves of it, she might find
a way, on her own, or with help from you, to
not hurt anymore, or as much, throughout time
going forward, and that is a goal that you
know you have set for yourself, for her sake,
as you struggle to find the solution and ache
along with her, loving her baby too,
but no more or less than her. There feeling blue.
The baby's condition doesn't bother you since you
figure the baby's in paradise,
but she is without access to the truth
and hurts because she has not seen the light,
and you want her to feel the same delight
her baby feels, want her to know for sure
her child is better off without her
for now, until she too has slipped the skin
to travel to the land of zero sin,
want her to have access to the feelings
her baby has while she is foolishly grieving
the tears all fools, all people, cry when their
loved ones, so few in number for most, disappear
except for a body which permeates the air
but doesn't house the spirit that lives on
after the very last atom is gone,
transformed into whatever last atoms become,
because you know if she could feel the same
feelings her baby has while she exclaims,
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD OF SHAME"
soaking in the unrelenting rain,
she'd do a pirouette and a double back flip
and pucker up her grateful lips
and kiss the sky a kiss of such gratitude
with such a brand new happy attitude
that God would blush, and say, "Awww, shucks!"
and she would see how great her luck
actually is, and she would go
on to help others feel so,
instead of taking her own life or spending
her life depressed, forever recommending
nobody take the risk of breeding
because there are no guarantees
that people will get to live to be however
old you have to be short of forever
to satisfy the desire to be
immortal, as if we aren't already.
You don't know if you should step in or not.
You're Lost. You and your faith are caught
in a trap, in a web of beliefs you can't find
proof for anywhere in your mind,
inclined to act on them some of the time
but not all the time, which is why you can't climb
the mountain you set out to climb, which is why
you can't make a mother be glad her child died.
Still, ye keeper of the faith, you believe
anyway, you roll up your sleeves,
and tell yourself, and others now and then,
that your Revelation is legitimate,
that other children, women and men
who disagree and hold that you're wrong,
are mistaken, are lacking enlightenment;
in fact your faith is so strong
you'd still believe precisely what you do
even IF proof to the contrary came along
and you saw for yourself what you claim isn't true.
Your song will always be the same song.
Whether you are right or wrong, you do not know, or you
would be able to get her to stand and preach it's undeniably true
that though her baby died just minutes ago
she ought not frown or let her sorrow flow,
but you are sure that she has no good excuse
to cry, to sob, to scream, to fully let loose
her anger, frustration, emotional maelstrom,
and you are sure you are not being dumb,
hopeful, wishfully thinking, sucking your thumb,
no more in tune with how things really are
than dinosaurs are known for driving cars.
You ask yourself how you dare to be so bold,
you wonder, as she writhes there in the rain,
the coldest rain you've ever ignored, and you scold
yourself for possibly being vain,
but you can't bring yourself to agree that is so
because the feeling you have makes you know
that you are right about what you bestow
whenever you preach what you have in your soul,
the Truth, the explanation whole
except for the part about how things
like babies dying, the down-trodden starving,
is somehow totally cool and great,
and though you'd love to fully state
the details, you are ignorant,
you don't have access to God's mind
any more than the average ant
deduces the depths of pi, or time,
you don't have FULL revelation, and wonder
now and then if you have blundered,
if you have therefore not been granted,
if Revelation was never planted,
but you don't spend as much time doing that
as you spend assuring folks where you are at
that they don't need to suffer as they do
if they will only listen to you,
and more and more you don't even preach
because you're aware you want to teach
but realize as you fail to bring
joy to people in misery,
at least as much as you want to see
anyway, that you cling
to faith, that you have no sample to bring
of the substance you hope is there
despite despair and war everywhere
except for where it's not, that you guess,
as faith doesn't equal the Truth it suggests
is out there, which doesn't do much to impress
grief-stricken, heart-broken, folks in distress
enough to free them of the pain
that without proof all is good, shall maintain,
at least for awhile, and then, off and on,
never totally gone, as it goes
wherever those who struggle do
the things they do, wherever they impose
their wills upon existence passing through,
and likely she won't expect you to know
what to do or say, and she'll show
you gratitude for trying to help her though
she'll hurt the whole time she is saying so.
I'm not saying there is no way.
I'm not saying proof isn't real.
I'm asking you why you choose to say
being sad is a bad way to feel.
Also I'm urging you to find the reasons why
babies dying is good, before you try
to tell people that's how it is. They cry
real pain their hearts cannot deny,
real pain their souls are forced to espy.
Learn before you attempt to teach
lest you be destined only to preach
without making a difference where it counts,
without removing pain that mounts,
without improving the status quo
anywhere you go.
Maybe you should just offer your hug,
and let them cry as long as they like,
and tell them that you agree it is tough,
but that at the end of it all, there is light.
Like Mark Twain said, "Moderation
is the mark of maturity," little steps.
Maybe you should reveal your Revelation
slowly, instead of the avalance you've kept
inside you since you heard God speak to you
and tell you what you now believe is true,
like Dickinson opined,
"...the truth must dazzle gradually,
lest every man be blind."?
She'll learn, we'll all learn, in time.
If, however, she asks for your opinion,
THEN, my friend, UNLEASH the whirlwind!!!!!
How do you tell a mother it's great
her baby just died five seconds ago?
You don't! You find the proof, and wait
to say so, until you know,
and not before you can show
her for herself that what you claim
is not just rude, and worthy of shame,
is not just cruel and inhumane,
is not just wishful thinking...lame,
or you admit right off that you
can't prove you're right, but feel it's true
that though it's sad that babies leave
it's actually good in reality,
and tell them that it's okay to cry
when moms and dads and children die
but only because we don't know why.
You try to instill hope.
It boils down to that.
You try to hand them a rope,
stat.
You do your best to get them to smile
wondering if you are right all the while
about what you are saying, feeling you are,
try to minimize the internal scars,
and pray and pray and pray for guidance and
seek to bring peace to a troubled land
and even though most say you shouldn't you
keep telling people what you believe is true
without proving you're right about a thing
and don't regret it because you don't see through
to where the proof is waiting for you
to bring with you, as you, without angel wings
try your hardest to help the suffering.
You don't see another choice
except to amplify the voice
within you that says God is nice
while kittens and kids are being diced
and sliced up by the blades of life
and other seemingly tragic events
are obviously always present,
even though that makes you sound pretentious
and overzealously religious
and foolishly optimistic
and most of the time not only doesn't help
but seems to give them another reason to yell,
to tell you that you shouldn't preach about
things you haven't figured out,
to tell you that your empty hollow words
are not even worth being squandered, or heard,
oh yes, you push right past your ignorance
and let your faith take charge and dance
around the proof you lack, because
that's what a person who's seen the light does
as far as you can tell, and you think you
have seen the light, are obligated to
morally speaking, the way it seems to be
the moral responsibility
of parents to raise their babies,
even though in so trying to
some of them never do,
or don't for more than months or hours or less
before they're gone, not there to dress,
not there to feed, not there to caress,
to prove the whole world is blessed,
to prove the presence of innocence.
Maybe it's okay to grieve, maybe it's also okay,
to celebrate when our children leave,
to dance once they've gone away.
Maybe no matter how we react,
we're doing what God wants us to,
or maybe there is no God, and facts
aren't actually in reality true,
as far as you know, your faith and you.
Keep on doing what you do
unless you shouldn't. Replace pain where you can,
at least as much as you're able to,
with happiness, and stand
for something other than being blue
without overplaying your hand.
If you, however, are someone who doesn't believe,
someone with no faith, what can you say
to make her feel better? What good are you as she grieves?
How is having no faith a better way?
Faith is not a choice, we often hear,
though you don't like to think that might be true.
You prefer to believe it's out of fear
or hatred for God that people like Drew
over there in the corner eating stew
don't have faith in God, or in the notion
that babies dying is God's grace in full motion,
but as it stands some simply lack faith since
they haven't seen any evidence
as far as they're concerned that God is real,
that God is more than make believe, unpeeled.
If you think you should stay out of it you
are leaving her to suffer. You don't want to.
What does that leave?
A sympathy card?
Whatever you believe,
or don't, it's hard.
It's a hard situation, suffrage, and pain.
What to do, to say, to explain,
to ask, to think, how to maintain
sanity in the twain.
As for me, I pray, and seek,
and wonder if her baby died
for reasons that are justified
or if when after optimists speak
they've always recently lied.
My guess on the matter, I'm keeping private
until such time as I verify
if what my heart suggests is right
is more than another lie,
or the whim of a wish passing by.
My guess is everything turns out okay
for everything, somehow, some way,
but like those who have faith to boot,
I lack the proof it takes to root
proper teaching in, and guess
my way through life, more or less,
half hunkered down by sadness and stress
and half always thanking the Lord we're so blessed,
like most people out there trying to stretch
as far as they can into the abyss
that not only seems to never end
but never ends again and again.
I want to help, but don't know how.
I'm like the world around me now.
I'm able to plant a smile here and there,
but can't keep it nurtured forever.
Apparently, if happiness is to be
the face of all eternity, for everybody,
that duty has not been assigned to me,
reserved, instead, most likely,
for Divinity.
-----
'revelation is only revelation to the person who received it; to all others it is heresy and we may or may not be obliged to believe it' Thomas Paine
what is a person with revelation supposed to do, though? not share it cuz they can't prove it, even though they feel it is true and they're selling out mankind, who they love with all their heart, and hope for their salvation, by keeping it to themselves? if God came to you and told you some stuff the world debates about, but not all things, and told you to spread the word that you did receive, the parts you've been asked to tell, and you were convinced it was God, wouldn't you tell others about it, even if you couldn't prove it, and doesn't the same thing maybe go with if you see a ufo pass by, though different topics and magnitudes of importance in the scenarios, wouldn't you want to share that feeling of joy and at least attempt to get others to believe you, for their sakes?
even if you wouldn't, millions do, millions who, whether they are right or not, feel God speaks to them or the spirit of God is within them or communicates with them somehow etc...they're not all out there just pretending to believe cuz its convenient. some wholeheartedly believe God is all good, some believe with as much passion God is all evil, others that there is no God, etc. for many reasons. many many reasons. at the same time, if you haven't had revelation, and you figure there is no God, or guess that there is one but aren't sure, you may not be too happy or cheered up by someone coming in telling you not to grieve over the loss of your child...ever...not even a little bit...based on their faith saying you shouldn't or that there is no point in it, or that you are grieving as if a bad thing happened when only good things happen, etc. people don't know what to say to each other when people are hurting the most. often silence does the most good. a hug. just being there. caring, without trying to save the day or make things all good as if you can, or as if it's wrong to grieve. maybe a lot of it boils down to whether or not you even care if people grieve, or if you wish it on them, cuz you think its natural and human and good to, or if you care so much you can't stop trying to find a way to intervene as necessary wherever whenever to remove all pain from the universe forever, and not just you, but every one...if that's how it is, right? one thing is for sure, so to speak, and that is that every one seems to have an opinion about whether grieving is okay or not, even though no one seems to be able to show what happens to people after they've allegedly 'died'. Socrates said only God knows if death is good or bad. who has proof he was wrong about that, if he even was, and who has proof he was right about that? and even if that was verified, that still wouldn't tell us if death is good or bad; it would just show us or tell us whether its true or not that only God knows if death is good or bad, so in short, Socrates didn't clear up the problem either, nor did he when he contradictorily stated the wise man knows he knows nothing. good luck, and God bless. faith may be beautiful, but it's not the solution to the world's problems either, now is it, nor has it been. What we need is a Conversion; what we need is LOVE, what we need is God, and what we need is to become such that were all those things to disappear or not be or never manifest, paradise will ensue anyway, become such that we can forge it ourselves, perhaps, for all we know, our purpose as humanity generation to generation, as well as the purpose of the ever evolving universe that changes all the time, for who is to say what it will change into, and what proof is there we can't in time do just that? progress, like martin luther king said, never rolls in on wheels of inevitability,' implying we need to, like ghandi said, 'be the change we want to see in the world', but my guess is that because we in time and over time as a team do make changes we want to see in the world, and do love, and because it's God's will, but even if it wasn't, or isn't, that anyway, progress is on the way, is achievable, is within our own power to grasp, to mold, to obtain, to share, to flourish in, that we can build the good, is, 'inevitable'...but along the way, suffrage ensues, has, and seemingly shall for who knows how long. half the world thinks were doomed. the other half thinks that half is wrong. which half is right? (saying one or the other is right, doesn't make it true, or prove it so...preachers).
we the preachers of the world. or the seekers. awaiting a teacher. so many claim to be teachers or call other people or beings teachers, but no one has taught the world to agree; no one has ever shown us all such that indubitably we must accept some theory as it pertains to creation or God or the beginning of the universe, etc...we are Lost, unless of course some people have revelation that is valid, and they hold the truth, but they seem incapable of proving they are right, so where does that leave the suffering? suffering. I say, we keep searching. we don't give up because the problem seems too difficult, too deep, to beyond us. I say we don't call it blasphemy to try to know God's mind, like Einstein wanted to...' I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details'...I say the truth WILL set us free, but we have to find it or acquire it or become one with it or something first, and that that will occur for us all some time, somehow. if only...I could prove it. thanks for reading. I say we don't stop at faith and call it good enough. if you have the proof the world is seeking, share it. if not, I hear ya. I hear ya.