A vocation in a vocation

Quote: FrGamble

Evenbob, I can promise you that it is not me that feels this call .

Look at how many delusional people
felt the 'call' of god to do really crazy
things. Jim Jones and David Koresh are
recent examples. Koresh felt gods call
that he was the Earth's 'final prophet'
and look how many he talked into
believing it. God people feel the 'call'
about various things all the time, it's
just them talking to themselves and
blaming god because it makes their
wants look legit.

You really want to compare this discernment to the individuals you mentioned, that is pretty low brother.

Quote: FrGamble

You really want to compare this discernment to the individuals you mentioned, that is pretty low brother.

You don't understand, to an atheist it's all
the same. You have some god whispering
to you to change jobs, and that guy over
there has some god telling him he's the
last prophet on earth. To us on the outside,
who have no gods whispering to us at all,
it looks pretty suspicious. It looks like
something else is going on, that no god
is whispering anything to anybody, you're
all just projecting..

So you don't see any difference in vocational discernment and how best to serve God and His people with thinking I may be the last prophet on earth? Surely an atheist if he doesn't have God whispering in his ear has enough common sense to think its not all the same.

Quote: FrGamble

So you don't see any difference in vocational discernment and how best to serve God and His people with thinking I may be the last prophet on earth? .

So your point is not that some god is
whispering to you that's important,
that's a common everyday thing. What's
important is, did he tell you to switch
vocations or did he did he tell you to suicide
bomb a cafe. Did he tell you to become
a priest, or to have all your followers
drink the poison Kool Aid.

To an atheist, before we care about what
you think you heard god say, we want you
to prove it was actually god talking to you.
That's the only important thing here. What
he said can be judged later, first you have
to establish it was really god. Because until
you do, whatever you think he told you is
on the same level of meaninglessness to us,
it's just you talking to yourself. Atheists
tell themselves stuff all the time, but we're
grounded enough not to think it's coming
from some supernatural source.

FrG.

I can't stand it. I consider EB sort of a friend on the side of his persona here, but i have to interrupt this.

You open your heart, make yourself vulnerable, brush past any constructive advice, and fixate on EB, who would drive Sparkle Pony off the canyon ledge trailing unicorn farts in despair.

From my perspective, you seem deeply depressed and discouraged. Not sure what led you there. But you need to identify it and absolve yourself of your burden, and NOT by yourself. This is the dullness and selfishness of self-recrimination, and you will only reinforce your agonized thoughts unless you get it beyond yourself.

If you go into some decisive meeting with this mind-set, you are approaching it like you're a self-immolating monk, not a Brother Jelinek.

The Jesuits taught at and administered Creighton, but the monks RAN it. Brother Jelinek was the head of buildings, grounds, and security, and he was one tough guy. Jesuits tiptoed around him and spoke his name in whispers.

If you're going to do this, promise yourself it's not a giving up, it's a positive move to be strong. The only way I see you doing it honestly is to face your demons.

Maybe I'm totally off base. But that's the message I'm getting from this dialogue. And I still think you're a communicator, not a contemplator.

Quote: beachbumbabs

on EB, who would drive Sparkle Pony off the canyon ledge trailing unicorn farts in despair.

Har. Evenbob ran a lemon stand as a kid. He takes lemons and makes more lemons.

Quote: beachbumbabs

And I still think you're a communicator, not a contemplator.

That is what I was trying to say, but beachbumbabs is far more poetic.

Quote: beachbumbabs

From my perspective, you seem deeply depressed and discouraged.

I hope not, but I'm not surprised that it is the bright and beautiful BBB who has picked up on this.

Quote: beachbumbabs

. And I still think you're a communicator, not a contemplator.

Succinct and correct. Very good.

Now as to the Sparkle Pony and unicorn stuff that is poetic but beyond my pre-caffeine skills. I'll go hit Google as soon as I can get properly caffeinated.

Perhaps, FrG, you might consider a vacation rather than a vocation. A brief change of pace for you rather than this three years stuff.

Is there a plot of church land somewhere on which you could plant some garlic and some dogbud lilly? I think that is what was used to feed the poor since its a weed that grows so well, is nutritious and acts a bit as an invigorating tonic. Tend your garden for a few weeks and see how restful it is.

An impression I get, FrGamble, is that you feel you need to give more of yourself, possibly at the sake of your own happyness, out of some sense of guilt that you aren't giving enough of yourself.

I've been hesitating for days for expressing that.