There are concerning people in every faith tradition – even the New Age ones. No one group is better than another because all groups are filled with humans – and most of them are students, not experts.
Of course – this doesn’t go just for faith communities. Book clubs can have screwy people. Corporations certainly have screwy people. It just is simply more glaring when people who profess to having a clue show who they really are.
There’s one guy in a Zoom “A Course in Miracles” meeting I was in during the pandemic who loves to fill up most of the class time with his “downloads” – and often says that “Holy Spirit just told me” and then say something really whacky and ego-based. This is especially amusing since aCim is all about getting past the ego. He came off every meeting as saying “Look at me, I’m special!”
Another guy in the group openly bragged about the incredibly unethical business practices of his Dad’s tire shop.
His Dad got his kids to go out into the road near his shop and throw nails so it would puncture tires – so folks would have to go to that shop because it was close by. Then later, with the money he made, he’d donate it to the community.
He acted like this was so noble.
I interrupted and challenged him on this – and everyone else in the group looked at me like I was off the script. How dare I judge him in error! That is against the Course teachings!
So not only was he bad, the whole group agreed with him, making them bad too. I’ve never returned to that group. (Or any other, for that matter.)
But this doesn’t mean that aCim is completely useless. It does mean, like with all of the faith traditions that I’ve studied, that it isn’t a foolproof Way for humans to become better humans.
I do find this quote attributed to Buddha to be helpful. It applies to everything, not just religion –
“Don’t blindly believe what I say. Don’t believe me because others convince you of my words. Don’t believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don’t rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don’t infer or be deceived by appearances. Find out for yourself what is true and virtuous.”
Suicide runs in my family, and I’ve met many strangers on the day that they decided it was their last.
Somehow (I think there was divine intervention) we were guided to each other and my interaction with them was enough to tip the scales towards the good. In every case I didn’t know they were actively suicidal until after the encounter.
Even if you yourself are not suicidal, your presence can make the difference to someone who is – perhaps without you even knowing.
The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies, because it will heal them.
Buddhism does the same, and extends it to the entire world. They call it the Metta meditation, or Maitri meditation. You intentionally embrace the world with loving-kindness, which in Hebrew is known as “Chesed”. In English it is sometimes translated as “compassion” but this word isn’t quite big enough to embrace the concept.
This is a way of reprogramming faulty systems. Of restoring people and the rest of creation to their “factory default programming” – the way they were originally made.
Because we were made by a loving and kind God, we are made to be loving and kind. When people are showing behaviors that are not loving or kind, it is a sign that they have gotten out of balance / misaligned. Just like with tires that are out of balanced or misaligned, it is time for an adjustment to restore proper functioning. Sometimes that is something you can do. Sometimes you need a professional. But a change needs to happen for healing to occur.
Change doesn’t come about through punishment or “feeling sorry for your sins”, as reflected in the idea of penance. What is required is true Healing. Restoration. A course correction.
And we can help ourselves and others heal by practicing different forms of loving-kindness practices. In that way we are restoring the world at the quantum level.
Who are you praying for today? Who needs it the most?
I gutted a hardback book from a thrift store and used my bookbinding skills to make a junk journal. I’m using ephemera from a shop on Etsy (name to be remembered later) and a botanical sticker book. I may add more to the left side, or try something else. I need to see how much I have of the printed papers. There are certainly many more pages to go, and I have a lot of other handmade journals to play in (this might be a way of saying I have a lot of works in progress.)
#3 finished 9-27-21 given away 6/8/23 A “jellyroll race” quilt with Halloween fabric
#4 Finished 10/11/21
Fabric for the top came from Jo-Anns and Etsy. Fabric for the back came from SmArt art and craft supplies. I bought the Jo-Ann’s fabric and the Smart fabric before I knew how to quilt, knowing that I wanted to learn. This was made for sitting on the grass.
#5 finished 12/9/21 Blue-brown disappearing 9 patch. Fabrics from a fat quarter bundle from JoAnn’s in Rivergate (before I knew how to quilt) and Make & Mend. Sold 9/10/23
#6 finished 1/11/22 Donated to Caris Hospice 7/23/23 54×40″
#7 Grandfather Mountain view in the fall finished 3/23/22 All fabric bought in Boone, NC
#8 Finished June 7, 2022, given as a baby blanket for my chiropractor. I learned how to do half-square triangles
#9 Finished June 14, 2022 Given as a baby blanket for a clerk at the pharmacy I use.
#10 finished 7/12/22 Disappearing Chattanooga. Disappearing 9 patch made with fabrics bought in Chattanooga TN.
#11 finished 11/9/22 Sold to a neighbor. First log cabin quilt. All fabric from SmArt.
#12 Scrappy X finished 11/10/22 I learned how to do this from a YouTube channel called “My Sewing Room”. Fabric from “My Fabric Addiction” and “Farfalla Originals” on Etsy
#13 Finished 12/16, 2022 6 disappearing 9 patch panels, made from 9 inch squares. Used 14 fat quarters. Given as a gift to my husband. It is flannel.
#14 finished Jan 6, 2023 I didn’t cut or sew the HSTs. They were in a bag from Make and Mend. I assembled them into this pattern, to resemble fish in a pond. 61×37 inches
#15 finished 3/4/23 Kantha, technique by Terry Rowland. Fabric by Smart. Now I know why to sew coming from alternate sides
#18 finished 4/27/23 Rainbow postage stamp. Colorful fabric from “Shanzay’s Sewing Co” on Etsy
#19 finished 5/24/23 Halloween nap blanket for my husband
#20 finished 6/20/23 Donated to Caris Hospice 7/27/23
#21 finished June 22, 2023 Fabric from “My fabric addiction” on Etsy
#22 finished 3/25/23 gifted 4/8/23 (forgot to take a photo of it so it got lost in the numbering) The recipient uses it as sound baffling because he is a musician. All Halloween fabrics. First picture is from him, second is the fabric before I sewed it (better light)
#23 finished 6/24/23 given 1/1/24 ‘L7″ quilt, fireflies at twilight. Fabric from JoAnn’s
#24 finished 7/7/23. Donated 7/27/23 All fabric from Smart. Autumn Leaves and Twigs
#25 finished 7/7/23 Patriotic Log Cabin. all fabric from Smart. Donated 10/18/24
#26 finished 7/14/23. Some hand quilting with perle cotton. Fabrics from Smart and Etsy
#27 finished 7/12/23 Autumn log cabin. Fabric from Smart
#28 finished 7/14/23 58 x 43 inches. A meditation on the “new normal” after Covid
#29 finished 12/6/23 Also made the back. Top- JoAnn, back, Smart
#30 finished 12/12/23 Gifted. Batman comic strip. Fabric from Hobby Lobby
#32 finished 12/13/23. Donated 10/18/24 (yes, I made the same quilt twice)
#33 finished 12/29/23 63×48 inches. All Egyptian and African fabrics from Smart
the back
#34 finished 1/17/24 48×51
the back
#35 finished July 27, 2024 Mystic panels. Fabric from Smart
close up
#36 finished 7/27/23 fat quarter favorites. Dinosaur fabric from Hobby Lobby. Some from a fabric shop in Chattanooga
#37 finished 9/11/24 Orange/Pink orphan – created during a week when there was an ice/snow storm (Jan 2024) Learned Courthouse Steps, Wonky Star, Disappearing 4 patch, and practiced different sizes of make 4 at once HSTs for an upcoming project. Listening to “Otherland”
#38 finished 10/16/24 Blade Runner quilt as you go.
#39 finished 10/29/24 Panel from “Ready Set Sew” in Chattanooga, in 2022. Charm pack from “My Fabric Addiction” on Etsy
#40 finished 11/6/24 (after Election day). Scrap bundle from Smart. Given as a baby blanket to a local baker/ coffee shop owner. Good HST practice. Also, first time to bind it like normal quilters do.
#41 finished 11/9/24 Tilda X and O. Colorful fabrics from a fat eighth bundle from Smart. Given to my aunt who was in a nursing home.
#42 finished 11/21/24 Irish Chain
#43 finished 12/28/24 Lime/Liberty Liberty of London quilting fat quarters from “The Last Homely House” youtube channel. Lime Green fabric from JoAnn’s
Quilted using Aurifil thread that came with the Christmas packet
#44 finished 1/1/25 Fish in a pond. Given to my husband. Fabric from SmArt
#45 finished 4/2/25 browns from Smart, pink/blue/green centers from JoAnn’s Log cabin – but a Chocolate Cupcake with Sprinkles. Backing fabrics were a fortuitous find.
#46 finished 4/3/25 Train nap blanket. Fabric from Smart
#47 finished 4/9/25 Given to my chiropractor for his second baby. 4/30/25 Geisha in a tea garden. Fabric from Smart
“Sometimes people use ‘Respect’ to mean treating one as an authority, and other times they use ‘Respect’ to mean treating someone as person. And sometimes someone will say ‘If you don’t respect me I won’t respect you’ and what they actually mean is ‘If you don’t treat me as an authority I won’t treat you as a person’ and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t.”
betsybeadhead 
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