Comments on: My Spiritual Journey http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/my-spiritual-journey-riemermann/ For Quakers and others interested in nontheism among Friends (Quakers) Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:53:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: James Riemermann http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/my-spiritual-journey-riemermann/#comment-1027 James Riemermann Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:51:15 +0000 http://blog.nontheistfriends.org/my-spiritual-journey/#comment-1027 Thanks for your kind words, Carlo. I often have to depend on others to understand my poems, because I don't particularly understand them. Or maybe it's more accurate to say, the deepest parts of any poem, mine or someone else's, are not the parts that can be explained. The end of fear... ...makes me think of how intrinsically frightening mystery is, but at some point we will be absorbed into the mystery, when it can no longer be experienced as "other," and can no longer terrify. In our most lucid moments we recognize that the mystery we fear has always been in our own hearts, and our fear is based on the illusion of separation... ...whatever that means. Thanks for your kind words, Carlo.

I often have to depend on others to understand my poems, because I don’t particularly understand them. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say, the deepest parts of any poem, mine or someone else’s, are not the parts that can be explained.

The end of fear…

…makes me think of how intrinsically frightening mystery is, but at some point we will be absorbed into the mystery, when it can no longer be experienced as “other,” and can no longer terrify. In our most lucid moments we recognize that the mystery we fear has always been in our own hearts, and our fear is based on the illusion of separation…

…whatever that means.

]]> By: Carlo Ami http://www.nontheistfriends.org/article/my-spiritual-journey-riemermann/#comment-1012 Carlo Ami Mon, 11 Dec 2006 23:16:56 +0000 http://blog.nontheistfriends.org/my-spiritual-journey/#comment-1012 The beauty of your words written last year touched me. I appreciate your willingness to be real, not simply to take up the spiritual beliefs of your parents or others around you. The hypocrisy of most religions is obvious to those who are paying attention. And the last line of your poem was the most powerful: Because the end of fear is a way of saying the full recognition of love. I believe that we do not wait fear out, but confront it, then move towards simply realizing more fully that it exists only in our idiotic minds. And the spiritual journey is largely about realizing that we are not those minds, but we are our souls. The beauty of your words written last year touched me. I appreciate your willingness to be real, not simply to take up the spiritual beliefs of your parents or others around you.
The hypocrisy of most religions is obvious to those who are paying attention.
And the last line of your poem was the most powerful: Because the end of fear is a way of saying the full recognition of love. I believe that we do not wait fear out, but confront it, then move towards simply realizing more fully that it exists only in our idiotic minds. And the spiritual journey is largely about realizing that we are not those minds, but we are our souls.

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