Tag: Nature

A Recent Healthy Decision

On By dotluvs2writeIn art, Beauty, Cultural and Political, Fiction Writing, humanity, Inspirational, Life, Musings, Nature, Past Life Activities, Personal, reading2 Comments

Friends,

In late April, I realized that absorbing news stories several times a day was not healthy for my emotional and mental health. Dropping out of commenting on anything political would also be a healthy move for me.

So, I did.

However, I will read news headlines once in a while and listen for a few minutes on something going on in the political realm. Grateful that it doesn’t stick to me like a monster glue.

I’ve discovered I’ve found much more peace and breathe better out of that world, especially the social media world.

Reading has become a refreshing pastime. It’s been a while since I truly read for pleasure and didn’t need to do it to only support my writing.

When I listened to author Lisa Wingate talk this past Sunday, she presented the importance for local communities to read together. That book clubs were essential to bringing people’s common interests in something experienced together to discuss and learn from each other.

This really struck me, because it brought me back to a simpler time when humans spent time together in person, talking, sharing, relating, that has diminished over the era of the tech and internet universe.

Keeping our humanity and respect for each other has been and seems to be more vital than ever.

And reading does this.

As Lisa said, there is a shared experience when you read a book. It’s a dive into a pool of sorts, where you experience the world of the characters you’re reading about and it transforms your own world in making it more enriching and special.

There’s a certain amount of peace I get when I read. The best experience for me is reading outside in my backyard, with the plentiful, calming sounds of the birds and squirrels, and the rustling of the leaves of the trees. As if they’re with me on my journey in the world of the story I’m reading. And I seemed to have forgotten about this special intimacy for many years until recently.

To be able to have such moments of solace and solitude, bereft of noise pollution and never-ending bickering on social media and political shows is a great feeling and encounter.

Thank God I’ve been able to experience this and live my life in a much more healthy and happy environment.

What do you feel like when you are away from the chaos of the world? How do you feel when you are reading a fiction book that takes you out of the flotsam of the social media, political universe?

~*~*~*~

The Mistaken Belief About God’s Actions in the World

On By dotluvs2writeIn humanity, Life, Musings, Nature, News Events, Religious, TravelLeave a comment

Last night, I happened to watch a few minutes of the horrific 2004 tsunami. I do remember how horrible that was, but I didn’t realize how many souls perished in that monstrous event until many years later. Under the documentary video, it said 250,000 (in the NOAA article, it says around 227,899) people died in that catastrophic event. Heartbreaking and tragic!

A few minutes ago, I watched a short documentary on TWA Flight 800’s devastating crash. Horrific and terrifying.

I happened to read several comments under both of the videos, mostly under the plane crash one. In any case, two particular responses showed up in them that, in my opinion, are related.

Under the 2004 tsunami documentary video, someone asked how God could do this to all those people who died in that horrible event.

Similarly, a comment under the TWA Flight 800 plane crash was how could God do this, which basically means she thinks He caused that plane to crash.

Both have a misunderstanding of God, Who He is, understanding of humanity, and human will.

So, both are incorrect assumptions that these events were caused by God.

They weren’t.

God had nothing to do with the tsunami or the plane crash.

The tsunami was caused by a very strong earthquake with a 9.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. They also said, “The magnitude 9.1 earthquake was one for the record books and stands today as the third largest in the world since 1900.” (NOAA, 2023)

Mechanical issues seemed to have been the issue with TWA Flight 800.

Therefore, the tsunami was triggered by a powerful earthquake = natural disaster. And the plane crash was due to technical/mechanical issues = technician/mechanic errors.

There are three ways to look at the cause of natural disasters:

  1. Earth does these things at times.
  2. God is punishing people
  3. Humanity’s collective sins causes these events

Technically, there is a 4th choice for the plane crash = human error, which is reasonable to agree with.

But for both events, I am of the belief that it’s number 3. Humanity’s actions in the world are like the butterfly effect. When we do evil or sinful things, they reverberate throughout the cosmos. Likewise, if we do good and holy things, these, too, reverberate throughout the cosmos.

This is because God gave us the gift of free will. We make choices every day, often many times a day that can affect others and all of God’s creation.

Since we live in a fallen world, these things happen–joyful things and tragic things. Life is a kaleidoscope of joy and sorrow. And how we experience and deal with them is up to us and our free will.

Some of what I’ve said here echoes a blog post I wrote a few years ago called Humanity’s Power. If you’re interested, you can read it here.

God be with all the souls lost and their families. He is a loving, merciful, and Good God.

~*~*~*~

Works cited:

NOAA, 2023. “Jetstream Max: 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.” https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/2004tsu_max#:~:text=On%20December%2026%2C%202004%2C%20an,Ocean%20generated%20a%20devastating%20tsunami.

The Last Days

On By dotluvs2writeIn Cultural and Political, humanity, Life, Musings, Nature, News Events, Religious, warLeave a comment

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”  ~ St. Anthony the Great

During Orthodox Christian Holy Week before we celebrated Pascha (Easter for other/Western Christians), my church’s bishop came to speak to us on Holy Tuesday evening, as he usually does every year during Holy Week.

In the midst of his homily, he stated (with a bit of paraphrasing), “In 2020, we entered the Last Days.”

This was chilling to hear but not too surprising, as our bishop speaks eschatologically often.

However, it was still sobering to hear him say this. Now, this may be his personal belief, meaning he was not speaking for the Church in a doctrinal or dogmatic manner. Still, it was both sobering and informative.

He uttered the words “Last Days”, not “The End Times”.

We have been in the End Times for nearly 2000 years. But the Last Days is the era that eventually includes the appearance of the antichrist and at some point (we don’t speculate on when this is), our Lord and Savior’s Second Coming.

Having said that, we have no idea how long the Last Days are to be. Days, years, centuries. They could last another 2000 or more years.

However, the state of the world tells us we are in the midst of a spiritual darkness spreading like poisonous tentacles all over the world.

For the past few years, I’ve seen and experienced how the culture and geo-political issues have become alarming.

From flat out denial of scientific biological facts to any sense of sanity or concern regarding our leaders stepping off the cliff into a third world war where mutual nuclear annihilation is certain to occur.

What happened to the leaders that used to understand mutual destruction and made every effort to not take that reckless path but worked for some type of diplomatic solution to world problems?

There is a war on Nature and therefore God, too, and it has been going on for several years now. But all of these issues have culminated quickly in the past two to three years.

Many people, who are blinded with pride, have no problem destroying the environment around them to further their supposed advanced technological discoveries. Nor do they care about the citizens of the globe that do not have the power to stop any of this, who are the main ones paying the price.

Saint Paul said, “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.” (Corinthians 6:12 NIV)

Because we live in a country that promotes never ending oneupmanship that is led by a need to make the most money, there is no off ramp, no halt to examine what we are doing before we take the risk or leap with no return, such as we are learning through AI executives of Google and Apple who are now asking for a moratorium.

Unfortunately, the video I saw on an interview with an ex-Google top official, he had said that if that person doesn’t take the next irreversible step, another person will.

While we are on the precipice of WWIII, we are grappling with this impending AI disaster, as well as no one being permitted to speak the absolute truth that there are two sexes. Science and biology have shown this for millions of years.

I personally think our political and economic systems are broken and need a true overhaul that actually centers on the whole of humanity and not just those who have the power and money to decide what the rest of us are to live with.

The nonsensical rhetoric from radical movements and some political figures regarding the cultural and geo-political situations tells us that we’re at a time in human history that Saint Anthony the Great warned us about.

Throughout the history of man via the Old Testament, we see humanity degrades to evil behaviors, and pride is usually at the root. God had to come in and clean up these messes by us humans, which is done by purging humanity, such as the flood did, giving humanity another chance to make efforts to be selfless and love one another.

Because none of us have the power to stop all of the destruction and evil that is taking place, this purging will take place again, via Orthodox Christian prophecies I’ve read, but this will be the last one where God helps us to walk a righteous path.

The suffering that will increase in the coming days, months, years, that my bishop mentioned, and WWIII being part of it, I’m working to cling to Christ and am struggling to follow Him and His teachings, which include confession and repentance.

I’m praying my focus stays on this:

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I felt compelled to write this, as I do not want to be lukewarm for which God spits me out, but a good servant and follower of God.

Praying for all. Love to all. God bless.

~*~*~*~