It’s a long, long way from May to December.
John Donne may have said in 1624 that no man is an island, but I have come to the conclusion that many people are definitely peninsulas. They try to cut themselves off from the rest of the world, and there is not a dadblamed thing the rest of the world can do about it.
We are all interconnected (especially if you are a United Methodist), but sometimes it feels like just barely. Sometimes the connectedness feels very intrusive. And sometimes it is very welcome.
We are peculiar creatures.
We have private thoughts that we don’t want to share with anybody, and private fears that we (in the words of John Keats) may cease to be, and private demons that come to us in the dark of night.
Thank God for Jesus.
I don’t know what this post means, but I’m going to post it anyway.
Maybe someone out there will explain it to me.
It would be nice to feel that we are all interconnected, because I do believe that in God's plan we are. But unfortunately I do think that for some they do fear that they will cease to exist ~ if we don't tweet it, blog it, share it, like it and whatever other social networking verb I have missed.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by your short blog post ~ and think it opens a myriad of questions. Sometimes these fleeting thoughts make more sense than ones that we mull over for ages.
And if you can make any sense of my comment then well done for you RWP :)
"May to December" can represent the alpha and omega of our life span. There are times when most people have a thought of their mortality on this earthly plane. In line with Carol's comments on connectedness we may reach out when confronted with our mortality so as not to feel alone as we take that final journey from this earth.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the lonliness humans feel from time to time depending on their level of social connectedness evokes the same sense of trepidation as the ultimate final journey but at a much lower level. The base feeling is likely hardwired in our evolutionary subconscious which sometimes breaks through to our conscious experience of a time, place, situation or emotional sensation.
My beloved late mother used to tell me to stop "thinking so much" and just get on with life. I suspect I'm still wondering and pondering too much.
Yet your eclectic posts so often evoke such wondering and pondering which in todays hurly burly world isn't a bad thing. Thank you!
Any man's death diminishes me,
ReplyDeleteBecause I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
I used to say of my ex partner "No man is an island, but he really is. There's a small dinghy moored in a bay which I alone am allowed to visit, but even I am not welcome upon the island itself". And I've met more people like that since. They do themselves no favours and are often deeply unhappy. There's a difference between being able to live with yourself happily, be alone in peace, and shutting yoursewlf off through...well all manner of reasons but most of them, if not all are borne from some painful experience or another. I enjoy some of John Donne's poetry, and now you have had me re-visit him, which is nice.
ReplyDeleteYou know Kenny Rogers?
ReplyDeleteThe gambler song?
This applies to the US right now.
They keep losing friends and will Canada be next in this insanity?
Ya. We are separate. We don't want to be America.We like our border lol
i would be glad to explain it to you<><><>here goes<><><>i bet yorkshore pudding is a believer in christ, because even though he has never really liked me very much, he understands my abceence dimishes him, and that is what our saviour jesus christ taught us<><>so i commented today because i want to be around michelle, you , ole pud, and others i won't mention here including those two girls who offered me a beer<><><>i hope that defines what YOU mean,.,.,.it is not always about me
ReplyDeleteI believe, hope that we are indeed interconnected.
ReplyDeleteI am not a believer - so the here and now is very, very important to me (it is all I will get, so it is up to me to make the most of it.)
And like All Consuming I am a fan of much of John Donne's poetry and must revisit.
Good post. I think it's sad when people make themselves peninsulas.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit speechless at the thundering quietude of this post. I just want to continue musing on it. And I want to read some Keats. And maybe some Donne. And thank God for Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI just read this: "One doesn’t realise in early life that the price of freedom is loneliness. To be happy one must be tied." Written by C.S. Lewis the day after his wife, Joy, died.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what this posts means either, especially: "We are all interconnected (especially if you are a United Methodist);" it being my understanding that the togetherness among UM's is a bit frayed. That said, even the most accepting churches alienate many people by the very fact of their broad acceptance. WWJD?
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush, I said "(especially if you are a United Methodist)" with a twinkle in my eye, because I thought it would tickle any Methodists who happened to read my post. Methodists are fond of telling people who express interest in joining that the Methodist Church is "connectional." Local churches are organized into districts overseen by a district superintendent; several districts are combined to form an "annual conference" (that meets, what do you know, annually) overseen by a bishop: several annual conferences are combined to form a "jurisdiction" and the whole kit and kaboodle meet once every four years in what is called a General Conference. Methodists themselves are liberal and conservative and everything in between in their individual politics. Perhaps that is what you meant by "frayed." Giving money through one's local congregation helps to support such larger endeavors as missionaries, orphanages, universities, hospitals, students in seminaries preparing to become pastors, and so forth. It's a "connectional" organization; I thought it might bring a smile to any Methodists reading the post, that's all. It wan't meant to be sinister in any way.
ReplyDelete