Running last minute errands this morning before we take off tomorrow morning for Hawaii, and had the radio on KBVM (K-Blessed Virgin Mary), which I've listened to on and off for years. Love the music. Like some of the discussions. Do NOT like some of the discussions. You can take the girl out of the Protestant religion, but you can't take the Protestant religion out of the girl.
Topic turned to Halloween, which precedes All Saints' Day, and then All Souls' Day. The woman on the radio urged us to be praying for all the souls in purgatory. I snapped that radio off so fast it would have made your head spin - did not want to hear one WORD about purgatory, a concept I have always struggled with.
Got to thinking, anything that made me react with that amount of energy, probably needed to be looked at a little more closely. Clicked it back on. Because there are no accidents, the whole conversation was about people's struggle to understand purgatory.
I'm not pretending I understand it any better, but it did get my wheels turning. I, personally, don't believe there is a heaven "up there," or a hell "down there," I believe that they are states of mind, and there are those who have figured out how to achieve heaven on earth, and those for whom this alludes. It then stands to reason that there is an in between, too, a place of purification, a place of struggle, and mental anguish. Doesn't that sound a lot like life? Or at least periods in our life? Is it possible that we experience heaven, hell and purgatory over and over and over again, sometimes concurrently?
The Buddhists believe in Samsara - a cycle of birth and rebirth, until one finally breaks free through enlightenment and transcends the cycle to a state of Nirvana. I like this concept, or maybe just the words sit better with me. I like the notion of "transcending," of breaking free from a cycle, be it lifetime after lifetime or just what feels like it, the issues we have that seem to haunt us and feel so old and ingrained we grow weary and doubtful we will ever transcend them.
On this All Souls; Day (Wednesday), I will light a candle for just that - all souls. May we all transcend. May we all move from a place of mental anguish and struggle. May we all "find" heaven.
Amen.
* Photo from http://blissfullydomestic.com
7 comments:
Beautiful post. Your words resonate with me -- your beliefs echo mine -- I have always thought about Jesus' "kingdom at hand" being here and now. When my boys ask about heaven and hell, I tell them that for me they are not places but states of being -- with God and Love or away from God and Love.
Have a wonderful, blessed trip.
"On this All Souls Day (Wednesday), I will light a candle for just that - all souls. May we all transcend. May we all move from a place of mental anguish and struggle. May we all 'find' heaven."
I will light a candle as well. Beautiful words. Enjoy your well-deserved vacation, Carrie!
"Got to thinking, anything that made me react with that amount of energy, probably needed to be looked at a little more closely."
Ain't that the awful truth!
Beautiful post Carrie. May your trip be more joyous than you can even imagine.
Love. Love. And more love.
May we all "find" heaven.
......
A nice thought.....
Dear Carrie, thank you for this provocative posting that thrust me into the past and my Catholic schooling.
Long ago I rejected most of it and explored other spiritual paths. I find Buddhism with its stress on living in the present and curiosity and laughter speaks to me in ways that parts of Catholicism never did.
And yet there is a part of me--the marrow of my bones--that will always be Catholic. But without the notion of a "place" called heaven or hell or purgatory.
Those who believe in re-incarnation speak of the Bardo state after death and before new life. That is, I would guess, what purgatory may be all about. Examining the past life and recognizing the need to return to a new life so as to explore new ways of evolving into wholeness.
Peace.
You are a rock star. So glad you listened to your inner voice and turned the radio back on. Even more glad you shared with us.
Love.
Namaste.
:)
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