I love this too, especially in the context of the whole paragraph “the next time you go from mystical union to marital armageddon in under 48 hours, just remember: you’re not losing ground. You’re metabolizing grace.” I had a similar experience a few months ago over the space of 2 days and left my husband and an unhealthy marriage. It hasn’t been easy but I feel so much better and I feel that metabolism of grace that VMB speaks of.
“Virgin Monk Boy calls it ‘Tuesday’” is too funny. It reminds me of bad sermons in which a youth pastor chastises teen congregants for the Monday dip in their zeal (aka, ability to control their lust). Except you flip the script on its head. Rather than shamed, all of our humanness is welcome.
I love this! I only wish someone had told me this when I came home from a my first experience of "enlightenment" at 16 - after a week at summer church camp. Instead I fell off the grid and felt more alone than ever before, with no way to relate, describe or integrate my experiences into "regular" life. Our culture has so few well integrated supports for deeply thoughtful and aware children especially. Thanks for your words. They are greatly appreciated - even all these years later!
I chuckled all through this message. What a delight to have things explained in such ordinary human terms! Mankind always has needed your ilk, but rarely finds it. 😇
Thank you for this...laughed out loud and resembled those remarks. Went to a 10 day Vipassana retreat and was soooooooooo cool at meditating all day 🙂. Plan #1 was to do that simple meditate one hour a day....so easy right? ...I had been doing it all day! Well got home..."and those bloody kids"!! 😜. Of course those bloody kids turned out to be my most precious spiritual teachers.
"So the next time you go from mystical union to marital armageddon in under 48 hours, just remember: you’re not losing ground. You’re metabolizing grace."
So true! And the funny thing is that I read this post just after I touched down in NYC after a 15-day Divine Feminine pilgrimage in France. The ecstasy points to our potential but it is up to us to live our new found consciousness--every moment of every day. We are fortunate to have the alchemical lab of our lives within which to practice. My descents from grace didn't await my return--they were kind enough to reveal themselves to me throughout the pilgrimage.
I love this and it’s so true wise one🤣 I experienced that a lot during my retreat days (it’s been awhile😌) and I used to get so upset with myself. Always felt I’d made some progress and ended up feeling like a failure-which wasn’t true. But feeling like a “failure” has pretty much been a life long struggle. (No thanks to you religion).
Now I understand that I (the me that is me) am not now nor have I ever been a failure. Life is full of ups and downs and how I deal with them is not the balance my value, worth or character is weighed in. Accepting my self, my empathy, angst, emotions, PTSD, reactions, and deep anger with injustices-the good, the bad and the ugly (by whoever’s standard) has gone a long way towards helping me bear the pain of insight, revelations, growth and change.
Child birth is painful, believe you me😌, and soul-birth is too. Sometimes worse IMO. Holding that sweet baby in your arms makes you feel it was all worth it. But the roller coaster ride has just begun🤣 There will be blood, sweat and tears. That’s the deal. Love and Life IS a wild ride and rarely what you expected. 🤣 That’s a HUGE understatement. I laugh more now but a lot of my life has been anything but funny.
Becoming aware Love’s Presence has always been there WITH me through it all makes it all look and feel so different in hindsight.
And still, I DON’T like roller coasters and avoid them like the plague. Just ask my grandchildren 🤣 But I have been on some pretty high mountains where the air is refreshing and hope-filled and the view is indescribably beautiful. And I have known the terrifying plunge back down to earth and sometimes found myself wandering in a desert. And it’s all ok. No matter how it looks or feels Love’s Presence is constant and true.
I love the way my 40-something son (whose life has pretty much been a living hell”) sincerely says “it’s all good”.
Anyways. I was just thinking. 🤔 😌🙏♥️ Peace be the journey friends. ☺️
I always am amused by witnessing an enlightened one whispering a guided-meditation and I wonder what they will whisper while waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a full bladder on their way home.
That’s the real initiation right there. Anyone can find peace in a monastery, but only a master can stay enlightened at a red light with a full bladder and an empty coffee cup.
“you’re not losing ground. You’re metabolizing grace.” I love it!
I love this too, especially in the context of the whole paragraph “the next time you go from mystical union to marital armageddon in under 48 hours, just remember: you’re not losing ground. You’re metabolizing grace.” I had a similar experience a few months ago over the space of 2 days and left my husband and an unhealthy marriage. It hasn’t been easy but I feel so much better and I feel that metabolism of grace that VMB speaks of.
“Virgin Monk Boy calls it ‘Tuesday’” is too funny. It reminds me of bad sermons in which a youth pastor chastises teen congregants for the Monday dip in their zeal (aka, ability to control their lust). Except you flip the script on its head. Rather than shamed, all of our humanness is welcome.
That’s what I like about VMB—he acknowledges the realness and imperfections of our humanness and welcomes us/it just the same.
I love this! I only wish someone had told me this when I came home from a my first experience of "enlightenment" at 16 - after a week at summer church camp. Instead I fell off the grid and felt more alone than ever before, with no way to relate, describe or integrate my experiences into "regular" life. Our culture has so few well integrated supports for deeply thoughtful and aware children especially. Thanks for your words. They are greatly appreciated - even all these years later!
This makes such good sense when I can laugh at it instead of hating myself for being a dweeb. You're pretty good at this, ya know?
Laughter is how wisdom sneaks past the guard dogs of shame. The moment you can giggle at your own chaos, you’ve already started growing out of it.
I chuckled all through this message. What a delight to have things explained in such ordinary human terms! Mankind always has needed your ilk, but rarely finds it. 😇
Thank you for this...laughed out loud and resembled those remarks. Went to a 10 day Vipassana retreat and was soooooooooo cool at meditating all day 🙂. Plan #1 was to do that simple meditate one hour a day....so easy right? ...I had been doing it all day! Well got home..."and those bloody kids"!! 😜. Of course those bloody kids turned out to be my most precious spiritual teachers.
It feels like taking my self too seriously is just fucking genetically encoded in me! Ugh 🤦🏻
We must be related then - ditto here 👍😖
Tuesday 😂
Very wise!
Maybe SOMETIMES it's like a " runner's high ", 50 % emotional, 50 % spiritual. I've never experienced such a thing.
"So the next time you go from mystical union to marital armageddon in under 48 hours, just remember: you’re not losing ground. You’re metabolizing grace."
I absolutely love this!
This was so good! Sometimes I have no words but to send you hugs for sharing the wisdom!
So true! And the funny thing is that I read this post just after I touched down in NYC after a 15-day Divine Feminine pilgrimage in France. The ecstasy points to our potential but it is up to us to live our new found consciousness--every moment of every day. We are fortunate to have the alchemical lab of our lives within which to practice. My descents from grace didn't await my return--they were kind enough to reveal themselves to me throughout the pilgrimage.
There is grace in both the mountaintop and the meltdown, both are holy ground.
A humbling insight into the rhythm we call integration.
🙏🙏
I love this and it’s so true wise one🤣 I experienced that a lot during my retreat days (it’s been awhile😌) and I used to get so upset with myself. Always felt I’d made some progress and ended up feeling like a failure-which wasn’t true. But feeling like a “failure” has pretty much been a life long struggle. (No thanks to you religion).
Now I understand that I (the me that is me) am not now nor have I ever been a failure. Life is full of ups and downs and how I deal with them is not the balance my value, worth or character is weighed in. Accepting my self, my empathy, angst, emotions, PTSD, reactions, and deep anger with injustices-the good, the bad and the ugly (by whoever’s standard) has gone a long way towards helping me bear the pain of insight, revelations, growth and change.
Child birth is painful, believe you me😌, and soul-birth is too. Sometimes worse IMO. Holding that sweet baby in your arms makes you feel it was all worth it. But the roller coaster ride has just begun🤣 There will be blood, sweat and tears. That’s the deal. Love and Life IS a wild ride and rarely what you expected. 🤣 That’s a HUGE understatement. I laugh more now but a lot of my life has been anything but funny.
Becoming aware Love’s Presence has always been there WITH me through it all makes it all look and feel so different in hindsight.
And still, I DON’T like roller coasters and avoid them like the plague. Just ask my grandchildren 🤣 But I have been on some pretty high mountains where the air is refreshing and hope-filled and the view is indescribably beautiful. And I have known the terrifying plunge back down to earth and sometimes found myself wandering in a desert. And it’s all ok. No matter how it looks or feels Love’s Presence is constant and true.
I love the way my 40-something son (whose life has pretty much been a living hell”) sincerely says “it’s all good”.
Anyways. I was just thinking. 🤔 😌🙏♥️ Peace be the journey friends. ☺️
I always am amused by witnessing an enlightened one whispering a guided-meditation and I wonder what they will whisper while waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a full bladder on their way home.
That’s the real initiation right there. Anyone can find peace in a monastery, but only a master can stay enlightened at a red light with a full bladder and an empty coffee cup.