Sunday, May 11, 2008

Some Thoughts & A Poem

I was going to do a post on my thoughts on freedom and what we are worth, but I just can't quite get enough steam up . . . maybe it isn't done cooking yet. ;-) 


I will do that one soon. But tonight, I decided to post some thoughts that I had last fall on living outside the religious box and a poem I wrote last fall. (Gulps, this is a little scary!)

A quote from my journal from september '07:

I have been feeling a little uncertain lately - concerned whether I was drifting too far from religious things - getting off course. (I know, it seems to be a theme with me through this whole growth thing.) Anyway, I was driving and thinking about it and thinking about *the people in my former church* and how they seem, to me, to be stuck in a religious box. Then an answer to this unspoken question came:

Not everyone wants or can even handles life outside the religious box. The box gives them a feeling of security and stability and even purpose and they cannot handle life outside of that. Some will come to the place where they can handle it, some won't. Even among those who reach the place where they can handle it, some will not WANT to. It's a whole different ball game outside the religious box... kind of like the difference between being on a sailing ship and steering the course, relying on the wind and currents, but safe in the structure of the ship - securely anchored to the surface of the earth, versus floating on the wind itself, up in the air, riding the currents and letting Him steer...

Hmm... whether you are on the ship or in the air, the Wind-Breath-Life-Spirit of God are guiding - directing. But on the ship, you have to deal with the under-currents, cross- currents, just-plain-currents of the water - the earth - that pull and push and can cause you to drift or lose your bearing. In the air, these currents can't affect you - cannot even reach you... so, strangely enough, when you are in the air, floating on the Wind alone, it can SEEM like you're drifting without purpose or direction when you are not. And when you stay in the safety of the ship, trusting it to get you to your destination, you can get completely off course and not even know it... Hmm... the ship can sail "off the edge of the world" with you on it and you helpless... if you are in the air, the "edge of the world" is irrelevant...

And here is the poem I wrote the same day...

I walk through the corridors of Time
My time - All time
Images come at me
Flare up - linger - fade
I am no longer moved by them
History - mine - all
Past - Present - Future
The same
I am unmoved - keep walking
The images - events - cannot reach me
I am beyond them
Beyond Time
The images continue to flare - recede
Flare - recede
They will continue to do this intricate dance
Until Time stops - comes to an end
Freedom.

4 comments:

Beowulfa said...

(directed here by molleth's site, reading through your stuff) That poem is awesome! May I copy it for personal use by me?

Jeannette Altes said...

beowulfa~

Yes, feel free to copy. :-)

James said...

Thanks for sharing your poem. Poetry for me is like water to a man lost and dying in the hot desert sun. Poems spring from us like an spiritual fountain of emotions and soul giving aid to all who wish to drink from our fountain of love and wisdom of thought.

Jeannette Altes said...

Thank you, James. :-)
And you are welcome.