Welcome

Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com

Contemplative Action

The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die


A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::

"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.

"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Way too busy

I'm way too busy. Haven't posted a blog since Kenya trip, August 2017.... been way too busy.  Doing what?

In the past year, I've been working with Transdermal Global as clinical director, developing a device to deliver insulin across the skin for treating diabetes.  All the while Miriam Medical Clinics is moving along, very nicely, thanks to my practice partners, our board of directors and several hundred very loyal patients.

I've continued with Temple University Medical School and its Bioethics Master's program and the Temple IRB. And, oh yes, sttill teaching at USciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.

Moving beyond these local ventures, planning a possible trip to Haiti in January, 2019, followed quickly by another trip to Kenya the same month.  Giving being in places at the same time its true meaning,... can't be done :-).

Healthcare is my thing. Has been since 1965.  Yes, you've done the math right. I was young,..15 years old to be exact.  This has been a job for life.  I used to be asked how its going,...now I'm asked, how's it going, and when are you going to retire?  My response id easy to the second part of that question: When Springsteen and van Zant retire, I will.As to the first part of the questions,.. It truly could not be going better. Health is good, family good, energy level is high, and God, the Universe has kept me going..  Yes, still crazy after all these years.


But I'm way too busy, I haven't taken time to write in my blog/journal in over a year; my exercise frequency is way down (and weight is up,... yes there seems to be an inverse proportion here, .. thus, this mathematical ratio is confirmed;..and most importantly my bass guitar dreams have taken a backseat,... not good, not good at all.

We're all too busy,.. I'm not alone in that respect, And you have to ask yourself, cliched as it might be, What's important here? Saving the world or saving yourself? Paying attention to the healthcare system, broken as it may be, or paying attention to relationships, at risk for becoming broken? Or can we do it all? One has to wonder. I say no, you can't do it all, or you can try and become way too busy in the process.

So what to do? When you find out, please clue me in. Because I'm at a loss. The state of the world demands, yes, demands, our attention. And if we don't pay attention our children inherit a world that will indeed be difficult to fix. And, we have to remember that it is about our children because, as I tell my students, we're outta here. So at least setting things up for our children to even consider moving the ball forward becomes our job now and mentoring teaching them in how to pay attention and what to pay attention to,has utmost significance.

This is a crucial; point in our history. So we must become teachers (of those who follow), but that's a full time job. And its tiring. My guess is, that's why relationships and companionship are important to build, because why we're setting the court for our children to build a better world, we can build better and more sustaining relationships among ourselves.  On so many levels does this apply. The point was driven home for me when I spoke with a woman yesterday who felt along, forsaken and had thrice attempted suicide in the past month.  Relationships are everything, an on so many levels apply to taking care of ourselves and in so doing, you can take care of the world at the same time.

Maybe this is what Jesus was trying to say when he showed us what discipleship looks like. Realizing his human finitude, he involved his infinitide by showing his 12 best friends how to take care of each other and the world.   Can we do any less or any different than this example? I haven't figured that out yet.  Don't know that I ever will..  But maybe we need to think about it a bit more.

As for me, right now, there's a very lonely bass guitar in the corner, begging to be tuned up.

C ya. :-)





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