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Author Topic: Service to others and discouragement  (Read 8643 times)

Goddess_Ashtara

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Re: Service to others and discouragement
« Reply #30 on: January 30, 2018, 01:48:16 pm »
Hi,

I have recently been recovering from an ailment and I am feeling much better about it.  So since I have been finding the Goddess and considering her the Creatrix I have a different outlook on things and I have been really grateful to her that I am feeling better.  I have even felt a call for action to thank her by wanting to go out and help people.  The way I am thinking about it is that since I am feeling well and I am here on earth I can serve the Goddess.
Your recovery was a natural human experience.  Why give gods credit for it and allow that experience to inspire you to "serve"?  You become free to do as you please again only to shackle yourself to the Will of another.  My helpful advice to you is to serve nothing but your own Will.  Consider the Will of your goddess as well, above all things, except your own Will.  You don't have to "serve" a deity to have an epic symbiotic relationship with them.  Why choose to be a puppet or some subservient slave when you could be an ally and comrade instead?


Quote
However yesterday with my new found enthusiasm, I got news that a member of the family who is around 35 years of age is battling again with cancer and now it is spreading.  This unfortunately discouraged me because I thought what would she do to be able to serve the Goddess with cancer.
Cancer is a horrible way to die.  The most badass person I've ever known died shrieking in their deathbed in unbearable pain.  It is a terrible thing but that is life.  Pain is something we face and serves its own purpose. 

Quote
So how do you deal with this news?  I feel so sad for her and feel powerless in trying to do something because what if one day I get an illness that would eventually become fatal?

Right now you are powerless to stop the cancer she has.  Accept that.  When she is gone, and hell even now, think about how valuable life is.  Think about how valuable your time is.  Think about what opportunities are before you now that would not be if you were in that dying relative of yours position right now. Then, consider what you desire to experience most with the time and life you have left and set your mind to it.  If you still feel inspired to help people, then help people, but do so because it is what you want to do deep down and not because it is an act of servitude to the Will of another.  Consider the Will of your goddess and allow that to fill your heart and mind with inspiration, but only if the relationship is symbiotic and if that inspiration acts in harmony with your own Will. 

That is my advice, which is hope is helpful.  If it is not, then disregard it and do what you feel you must do and believe what you feel you must believe.
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rous54

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Re: Service to others and discouragement
« Reply #31 on: January 30, 2018, 02:20:53 pm »
Your recovery was a natural human experience.  Why give gods credit for it and allow that experience to inspire you to "serve"?

Thank you for your input.  I am glad that I went through this human experience.  I did not expect to go through it this way and it is not easy to foresee such events.  However when I was feeling a lot of discomfort because of the OCD it also helped me to not get angry at the OCD and think that it is part of the Goddess since we come from her and it helped me be more patient with the discomfort.  So in times of need I felt that the Goddess helped and therefore in times of relief I felt that I want to use my Goddess given recovery to help others.

I am panentheistic and I do not view my relationship with the Goddess as Mastress and slave.  I believe that we are part of the Goddess and the Goddess is part of us however I still believe that she engulfs us and there is mysticism and mystery involved in our daily lives.  Do you see this as flawed?

How do you view your relationship with the Goddesss, since your username is Goddess Ashtarta?

ehbowen

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Re: Service to others and discouragement
« Reply #32 on: January 30, 2018, 11:47:17 pm »
Your recovery was a natural human experience.  Why give gods credit for it and allow that experience to inspire you to "serve"?  You become free to do as you please again only to shackle yourself to the Will of another.  My helpful advice to you is to serve nothing but your own Will.  Consider the Will of your goddess as well, above all things, except your own Will.  You don't have to "serve" a deity to have an epic symbiotic relationship with them.  Why choose to be a puppet or some subservient slave when you could be an ally and comrade instead?

Well, I'm not exactly disputing you, Ms. Goddess, but I do feel moved to bring out another perspective. Sometimes it can be greatly to your advantage to join yourself to an entity, personal or corporate, which can help you develop to your full potential. In my case, of my own free choice I joined myself for six years of my young life to an entity known as the United States Navy.

Navy life includes many contradictions and (seeming) inanities. Why, on God's green Earth, is it necessary for you to fold your underwear skinny-fat-fat-skinny? But after a steady diet of such indignities in boot camp, you get to the point where you are prepared to follow orders. When you're steaming through the Indian Ocean at 15 knots at two in the morning on a quiet midwatch, and without any warning the Bridge suddenly rings down, "ALL BACK FULL!", you don't stop to question or argue that you've been cruising peacefully all night and why upset routine? No, you spin the ahead throttle closed and the astern open, trying not to suck your boiler off the line while waiting for a burnerman to throw in a couple of 22s and the checkman to ramp up the feedwater flow...and you do it NOW.

True story: My own father was an Air Force pilot in the 1950s, years before I had ever been thought of. One night, while in training, he took his T-28 up to 10,000 feet for some night aerobatics. He tried a loop and messed it up a bit, but recovered...or thought he did. Everything looked and felt normal, but his altimeter was unwinding like mad. (Factoid: An aircraft which is trimmed for level flight will always try to maintain a +1g trajectory...which, if it is on its back, it can only do by diving down at the earth in a parabolic arc at ever-increasing speed.) He got ticked off and decided to ride it down to the ground...until, upon checking his artificial horizon again, he saw that the tick mark which was supposed to be above the bar was in fact below the bar. He was diving into the ground, upside down. Instead of flying by the seat of his pants, as he had been doing, he trusted his instruments and rolled upright. And so he lived to tell about it...and, come to think of it, so did I!

I've often used the metaphor of treating Holy Scripture as akin to a pilot's instruments. You rely upon it, even when the seat of your pants tells you something different. HOWEVER...instruments are complex devices. If not maintained and inspected regularly by someone who understands them, even they can lead you astray. This is not something you do on the fly while maneuvering...but, IMNSHO, when you sit down to reflect upon it, it's essential.

The former...trusting and believing the Scriptures...is something which most of my Baptist brethren are pretty good at. The latter...delving into the whys and wherefores, and being willing to question...not so much. Oh, there's a lot of questioning out there...but, generally, it's people who say, "Well, that obviously can't be true, so I'm going to disregard whatever looks off and do what is right in my own eyes." Seat of the pants works well on clear, sunny days...but at night or in storms, you can end up in need of Mr. Morbid's services. Most of us fundamentalists, OTOH, look at proof texts which tell them that God Is Always Right And Never Changes...and never honestly consider that maybe even God needs a little boy to speak up from time to time and say, "But, Sir, you're not wearing any clothes!"

Navy life and the military in general faces a difficult task: Taking an independent and often ornery and rebellious civilian and breaking his rebellion so that he can become a reliable cog in a well-oiled machine...without snuffing out so much of his independence that, when he is promoted into a position of great responsibility, he finds himself unable to make exceptions to policies (when called for) or come to a good spur-of-the-moment decision when faced with a situation which is not In The Book. Or even being able to talk back to the Admiral in a polite and respectful manner and say, in so many words, "Sir, you're fucking up!"

I know I've digressed much here, but what this all comes down to is that there need to be priorities for your Will. There are many times when you need to be flexible and honor the whims of another, even when you personally don't think that they make sense. Insisting on driving on the right-hand side of the road may work well for me here, but if I were to travel to the UK or Japan...I don't think so. And then there are other objectives which should be higher priorities...until you get to those which you Will not compromise, for any reason.

For me, those boil down to three main Objectives: First, that Evil be utterly, absolutely, completely, unconditionally, totally and permanently defeated. "Defeated" is deliberate, as opposed to "destroyed"...there is a difference. Destroy something and you may lose a sliver of the good within it. Defeat it, each and every time it raises its head, and you can redeem and refine the good while making it apparent that there is no reason whatsoever to choose the evil. Second, after that has been accomplished, that there be true justice for all...high and low, civil and criminal. Merciful justice whenever it is compatible with the first objective; vindictive justice whenever mercy is not effective. And, finally, once the first two objectives are accomplished, that there be hope and a future for everyone. No exceptions.

This, Ms. Ashtara, is my Will. Even if you really are a sure 'nuff Goddess (which possibility I do not discount; I have more reasons than most to believe that Goddesses walk the earth!), I would strongly advise you or anyone else not to oppose it. [Last two sentences redacted before posting; could possibly be interpreted as proselytization. Another place, another time.]
--------Eric H. Bowen
Where's the KABOOM? There was supposed to have been an Earth-shattering KABOOM!
Computers are like air conditioning. They become useless when you open Windows—Linus Torvalds.

Sorcha

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Re: Service to others and discouragement
« Reply #33 on: February 02, 2018, 09:30:53 pm »
Hi,

I have recently been recovering from an ailment and I am feeling much better about it.  So since I have been finding the Goddess and considering her the Creatrix I have a different outlook on things and I have been really grateful to her that I am feeling better.  I have even felt a call for action to thank her by wanting to go out and help people.  The way I am thinking about it is that since I am feeling well and I am here on earth I can serve the Goddess.

However yesterday with my new found enthusiasm, I got news that a member of the family who is around 35 years of age is battling again with cancer and now it is spreading.  This unfortunately discouraged me because I thought what would she do to be able to serve the Goddess with cancer.

So how do you deal with this news?  I feel so sad for her and feel powerless in trying to do something because what if one day I get an illness that would eventually become fatal?

Thanks.

Adonia
First off, I'm sorry about your friend. Cancer is scary.

That being said, my mother has had cancer three times and it hardly rendered her useless. She, if anything, became a stronger, more amazing person through it.

Additionally, it's not really your job to worry about what use her life will be. You were given your life to live, not hers. It's her business whether the cancer has any purpose. Your business is to be a good friend. I'm not saying that's necessarily easy, but it's just a fact of life. Bad things happen and everyone goes through them, and it's just a part of life. The cancer may have a purpose you never know, and it may affect just her or somebody else that you don't know and will never see. That's not information we always get.

There's a passage in the Bible where Jesus is speaking to his disciples, and one of his disciples asked if another would live to see Jesus return. Jesus said, in essence, "None of your business. It doesn't affect you whether he lives to see me return or not, does it?"

I believe CS Lewis was the one who said we are not told other people's stories.

If I have any advice after reading the whole thread, it's to not worry so much about other people's stories. You have enough to worry about with your own story. That doesn't mean you don't help others; that is, after all, a part of your story. But you won't be told what happens after your stories diverge, and you won't be told necessarily what point your friend's cancer may or may not have. This does not mean that her cancer doesn't have a purpose or at the very least a positive effect somewhere, sometime either in the immediate or distant future. It doesn't mean it will, either. But you have no control over that. All you can really control is what you do with what life brings you. Love your friend. Be kind to others. And don't worry so much. 

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rous54

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Re: Service to others and discouragement
« Reply #34 on: February 03, 2018, 09:32:41 am »
First off, I'm sorry about your friend. Cancer is scary.

That being said, my mother has had cancer three times and it hardly rendered her useless. She, if anything, became a stronger, more amazing person through it.

Additionally, it's not really your job to worry about what use her life will be. You were given your life to live, not hers. It's her business whether the cancer has any purpose. Your business is to be a good friend.

Thank you Sorcha for your response.  Glad that your mother is doing well and is stronger.  That is a blessing.

I realized after that I was really affected by the illness of the family member because I was just finding this giving drive inside of me and I thought that her having cancer is a reflection of me. I am not sure how she is doing because for some reason the family prefers not to discuss it but I ended up going out and doing random acts of kindness to people.  I bought sandwiches and distributed them to needy people on my way back home and then I donated clothes to a senior home and donated money as well. As long as I feel that I am able to do good things for strangers I will end up doing it.

I hope that we follow the call for action when are able to.

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