Lizard Brain

A letter to my Primary Care Physician today...

Thank you for the great visit yesterday! Please thank your nurse for me as well.  She was professional and kind.

I had an “ah ha” moment this morning that may benefit your other patients, as it did me. From Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation for today, regarding our “lizard brain”.  Full article here.

”In turning our gaze to this divine truth—in dropping our many modes of scapegoating and self-justification—we gain compassion toward ourselves and all others who suffer. It largely happens on the psychic and unconscious level, but that is exactly where our hurts and our will to violence lie, lodged in the primitive “lizard brain,” where we have almost no rational control.”

Then this from Psychology Today. Full article here.

[The Limbic Cortex] is the part of the brain that is phylogenetic ally very primitive. Many people call it “The Lizard Brain” because the limbic system is about all a lizard has for brain function. It is in charge of fight, flight, feeding, fear, and freezing-up... The point to all of this is that 12-step recovery recognized (before the limbic system was described) that we all have this tendency to do what we don’t want to do and we are powerless about certain behaviors. Understanding this automatic behavior allows us to surrender to what we cannot control. It frees us to do the next right thing by staying in the present rather than worrying about the future or being shamed and experience guilt about the past. It takes practice.

Post Script: Also see this article How To Tame Your Lizard Brain by By Susan Murphy, PhD of Desert Health.

Sincerely,

gus

Rust, A Metaphor To Consider

Recently I've had this fascination with the removal of rust by electrolysis, which is simply the passage of an electrical current through a liquid. In the process, positive and negative ions go back and forth between electrodes for the purpose adding or removing surface metal. My purpose is to de-rust old tools making them usable again. It is an easy and fascinating demonstration of chemistry in action!  See my instruction story August 13.

Also lately, through discovery of my unawareness, I found rust is also a commonly used metaphor for slow decay due to neglect, since it gradually converts robust iron and steel metal into a soft crumbling powder.

Similarly to iron, men and women can go through their own process of degradation when exposed to toxic elements that come our way such as chemicals, toxic thoughts and unhealthy relationships.  The Bible, other holy texts and sound advice from wise people warn us about this, but sometimes we become tainted and tarnished before we even realize it.  Then what do we do? 

Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass will eventually convert entirely to rust and disintegrate. Surface rust is flaky and friable, and it provides no protection to the underlying iron, unlike the formation of patina on copper surfaces. See the examples of rust accumulation on the tools below and the four descriptive stages. As you read the stages, consider the human rust equivalents.

Stage One - Deposits on the surface of the metal with a red, black or white coloration will form. This will be partnered with a small amount of etching and pitting. At this stage, the rust is attacking the surface of the metal. The rust can be treated easily with either sand blasting or chemically cleaning.

Stage Two - This rust now takes on a powdered or granular condition. Scaling can develop as flakes of metal become loose and fall off. The base metal will still be unaffected at this stage; therefore, the metal can be easily treated with sand blasting or chemical cleaning.

Stage Three - The surface appearance of stage three rust is very similar if not identical to the appearance of rust in stage two, except that the underlying decay will be more severe. The base metal in the areas of corrosion will have been compromised; small pinholes may be present. At this stage, the metal must be repaired after it has been cleaned and primed.

Stage Four - Stage four rust represents corrosion and decay that have developed to a point at which the base metal has been completely penetrated and removed. No metal will remain at the points of corrosion in stage four. Extensive repair will be required after the metal has been cleaned and primed. 

I have experienced that long term ever-so-slow decay in my life and with others.  With God’s help He has been able to reverse that process by divine electrolysis and we can experience spiritual renewal. We must stay vigilant to all things good and uplifting, so as to not become unusable by the Master Craftman. 

In the Bible, book of Matthew 6:19-20 it reads, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (NIV) As Pastor M. Collins, Church of the Great God, SC writes, "Rust" represents anything that "eats into" and destroys things more durable than clothing. In this parable, it has a wider application than mere iron oxide. Once moths and rust settle on an object, they gradually eat their way from the exterior to the interior. Thus, beyond their ability to destroy physical objects, moths and rust represent the decay of a person's life. An 8th century English Clergyman, Robert South, referring to guilt (a toxic substance) says this, Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal. 

May we all be sensitive to elements and situations that will corrode and degrade our fragile humanness, especially the children and others whom we associate and care for.

gus

Sinners and Saints, All Saints Day

As I prepare for my Nov. 1, 2015 sermon at Saint Andrew United Methodist Church I am called to preach this message: That we are all sinners and we are all saints, if we choose to be,

"For all have fallen short of the glory of God."  (Romans 2:23).

It seems a bit complicated, but not really.

Please refer to my story, my heartfelt poem, "Not A Saint" from Oct. 21, 2015, where I remorse in my own frailties.  In this poem, I relate a need for forgiveness and how blessed others are who have found freedom to walk in the Light of Christ.

As citizens of Saint Andrew United Methodist Church, who is this Saint we are named after?  What is his legacy and his background, that we should be the saints of Saint Andrew?

Saint Andrew from Loyola Press...
St. Andrew was a fisherman who lived in Galilee during the time of Jesus. He often followed John the Baptist and listened to his teachings. One day, John saw Jesus walking along the road. John said to his followers, "Behold the Lamb of God." He told his followers to go and talk to Jesus. He wanted them to know that Jesus was the One for whom they had been waiting. Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus and spent an afternoon with him. Early the next day Andrew found Simon Peter, his older brother, and told him, "We have found the Messiah."

Both men gave up their work as fishermen to become apostles of Jesus. Andrew was one of the first to be called. He seemed to take delight in bringing others to Jesus. Andrew was the one who told Jesus about the little boy who had the loaves of bread and the fish, the beginning of a meal that fed more than five thousand people. It was Andrew and Philip whom the Greeks approached when they wanted to see Jesus. These events indicate that Andrew was a man who was easy to approach, a man you could trust.

Like the other apostles, Andrew became a missionary. He preached about Jesus in the area around the Black Sea. Tradition tells us he preached in northern Greece, Turkey, and Scythia (now the southern part of Russia).

Andrew died as a martyr. Tradition says that in Patras in Greece he was tied to a cross shaped like the letter X. Ever since then, a cross in the shape of an X has been called St. Andrew's cross.

The name "Andrew" is a Greek name meaning "courageous" or "manly." St. Andrew lived up to his name.

It's my desire to follow the example of Andrew and "be a helper" to Jesus who is easy to approach, is able to relate with the common person in love and compassion and let them know by deed and example that indeed we have found the Messiah!

A Note to My Pastor

Dear Pastor,

If I were to title your sermon today it would be Opening Up The Kingdom.

When I was a child, I experienced so much rejection in my family church.  If someone smoked, drank, payed less than a full tithe or were immoral they were shunned, disfellowshiped and even excommunicated.  Fast forward now 30 years with prison populations probably doubled since then, gays out of the closet, pornography a challenge for 70% of Christian men, divorce the norm and and daily discussions on transgenders common.  What we see is our civilization being drawn toward two polar opposites - accept everything and everyone or close the doors to only the visibly righteous.

Your message today helped to mold my core values.  I shall accept every person as God's child worthy of acceptance, love and forgiveness. Period.  We the people, are God's people, that is our right and blessing given to us by the blood of Christ.

I will open my arms and my heart to love my brother and sister as Christ would.  That is my prayer.  I will treat the prison inmate with the same love and respect as my fellow officer or next door neighbor. That is my vow.

Build Your kingdom here

Let the darkness fear

Show Your mighty hand

Heal our streets and land

Set Your church on fire

Win this nation back

Change the atmosphere

Build Your kingdom here

We pray.

By Rend Collective - YouTube

Bless you in your continued work.

-- 

gus

In A Downward Spiral of Regrets

In A Downward Spiral of Regrets

In a downward spiral approaching the vortex.
The light at the end of the tunnel is dimming.
Dreams not achieved, bridges burned.
How do I know when my life turned?

It turned when I caved to peer pressure.
And when I gave up on my dream.
It turned when I groomed my dead father,
And said goodbye to my devoted mother.

It turned when I traded in my virtue,
For friendships superficial.
Not realizing the most important ones in life,
Are family, my children and wife.

Now I arrive at a turning point.
Which path am I to choose?
The downward path that leads to death,
Or toward His love which gives life new breath?

For this moment I'll choose to continue,
But I don't know for how long.
Every day I work behind the wire, encouraging the inmates
To better themselves and rise above their past.

Sometimes I wonder if I've sentenced myself to prison,
Daily incarceration with men of a similar vision.