Why Human Torture?

A River Of Love

by MA Nangini in The Beholden 2001

I go to the edge
     of the earth
And again  I scream out
     to the vast dark
     unfeeling universe

Why?

Why must there be human torture
Why must we experience
     the agony of rejection
     human-to-human ostracism
     the war of dehumanization
Why does any human heart settle on destruction?

            …….....

Not with the axe
     or sword
Nor knife or bomb
     shall thy Kingdom come
     but in love
     seeing the fault of others
     as my own
Stronger and stronger the reviving powers
Love is the never-ending river
     the promised fountain
     the Living Water

The Resurrection of soul at death's end
Gift from eternal source lives on and on
If only we would allow it access
This river of unending Love

We'd never turn away food and water for the body
Why do we turn away from the nourishment of soul
Why?

Why are we in denial of this Divine Power
And the Oneness of our Being?

Grace Transforms the Impossible

The Positive of Negative

by MA Nangini in The Beholden, 2001

In any kind of
     harassment
     terrorism
     human degradation
as in
     hostage-taking provocations
     prisoners of war in detentions
     concentration of inhuman encampments 
     mental and emotional enslavements
     whatever the abusive variation
personal energy orientation
comes to an end
depleted  devastated 
unless rooted in Hope.

Then comes the cracking point:
     into the insanity spiral
     retaliate - allow violence full reign and strike back
     provoke the need for a public assassination
     become numbed by the whole experience in alienation
     "run into the wire" to die
or
work with the forces of devastation
as does the Author of Life
and transform the negative into positive
and have more of life.

And to have it more abundantly:

I listen
     from the holiest of inner spaces  
     and creativity unfurls
     cracks open the gift of insight
     for its meaning
     seeing with new eyes
     the world.

I feast
     on its meat and vein
     heart  marrow and kernel
     knowledge and understanding
     for energy re-organization
     in person
as in
    group, nation, global planet
    micro-macro places of being in unison:

The work of Grace.

Blessed Are You ...

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:10-12)
…"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

The Unasked Question: Behind the Fear of Surrender and Total Abandonment to Love

The Great Commandment

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV)

This picture of earth from outer space takes me back to the days I was taking Theology courses at Saint Augustine's Seminary of Toronto built along the Scarborough Bluffs. Having time on my hands, I took advantage of the sandy Ontario Lakeshore at the bottom and as I walked along the beach, a beam of light rose from the sand. Something in it was reflecting the sun. I kept my eyes on the spot and picked up the glass marble children play with as I myself did long ago. The marble I picked up came to be connected to this picture of the earth known as The Blue Marble Shot. As I inspected the little marble, I saw my reflection looking back at me from the middle of the marble. Excited to show it off to my fellow students and Professor Silani at the time, this little marble also became an instrument for teaching about the Great Commandment to my students.

This was truly a found treasure buried in the sand (Mat 13:44). Through my poetry, I discovered that I was using the "Jesus Method." By tracing backwards from the product, the poem, to the analogies that led me to the perceptions in the poem and finally back to the attributes of the objects that I had found fascinating and a perfect match to grasp the new understanding. In the process, I also discovered that this Jesus Method fits the description of a metacognitive strategy, because it helps us to think about thinking to arrive at a new way of thinking: a new understanding, a new concept applied within the field or domain of expertise that continues to link to innovation and discovery in other fields of knowledge thereby having the capacity of transferring the learning and new understanding to other disciplines.

I had named this metacognitive strategy "Being Metaphor." This strategy is integral to the new theory I'm developing called The Four Phases of Being: IQ3 -Integrity Quotient.

Using marbles came to be a Being Marble activity that evolved from this found treasure. (under construction)