revtimothybland

Everyone makes some excellent points (and entertaining, moving poetry), and I'd like to add my two cents: Scapegoating can be useful. Now, this is the budding Psychologist in me, but I believe that when a person scapegoats something into an outside force, a Demon, if you will, then it is made real not only to themselves but others as well. I've seen this happen, where the power of belief allowed a man I knew (who was really playing with fire, you know, one of those "They can throw fireballs on Charmed, so I can too" types) to create one right in front of my very eyes. By exorcising him, I was able to help him cement in his mind that what he was doing was wrong. I believe that there are Inner Demons, that darker half of the soul. Also, Demons, those thoughtform constructs we've created as a whole society in order to scapegoat bad things. And True Demons, those beings that exist that are dark spirits. Likewise, we have Inner Angels, Angels, and True Angels. And they live in harmony rather warring with each other, though we often war because we allow ourselves to do so. There: My Two Cents, for what it's worth. Darkness can confort, yet chill you to the bone Light can warm you, yet burn you away The best thing to do, to avoid being all alone Is to accept that you need both to stay And you will finally find peace

I thank you all for your comments, first and foremost. I knew that the way I said it might spark some friendly debate, so allow me to put in some more clarification on WHY I used those characterizations: No one here is really wrong in their respective opinions. All are valid. My reasoning for the characterization is that we, as a society, have become so complacent with being "grey" that we lose sight of what it means to be "angelic". No, this doesn't mean that those of us who do good whenever and wherever they can are true angels, but it does mean that they are closer to the light than most of us, and we should all aspire to live such a life, as Brother Kaman sugested we should. But some have fallen to darker paths, and are closer to "demonic" than "angelic". This doesn't mean that they are real demons, but instead that they are farther from the light than they need to be, and should aspire to become more "angelic". Also, because of our complacency to be "grey", we tend to hail those who only did what they felt was right as heroes or angels because we've lost that ability to see that we can ALL be like that. As for your sympathies, I appreciate it, and so does my wife (who REALLY liked that you called her "brave", Hexalpa, so thank you for lightening her day a bit), and I'll continue to provide updates as soon as they arrive. Also, Brother Kaman, I appreciate that you enjoyed my little mini-sermon there, and to anyone else who reads it, if you want to discuss it, come right here. I didn't come up with the analogy on my own, I got it from my Nocturnal Witchcraft book written by Konstantinos, but I DID expand upon it to turn it into a mini-sermon because I agreed with it. This is hereby my disclaimer on that, incase anyone recognizes it and tries to berrate me for it.

I would like to take the time to put a few things out in the open, as recent events have proven to me that ordinary Human Beings have the potential to be both Angels.......and Demons. It started in Oct, when I was suspended from my job. It not only wasn't my fault, but my manager fought to keep me from BEING suspended in the first place; it was the owner's decision, and he threatened my manager's job as well as mine if he didn't suspend me. My wife and I decided it was time to get away, and move down to DeFuniak Springs Fl. But first, we were going to stop in Bay Minette AL in order to visit her family, my inlaws I never met. We spent Oct to Jan in Bay Minette do to the fact that we had no money, job market was scarce, and the aunt in DeFuniak we were going to go see died shortly after we got Bay Minette; we never got to meet her, and she was so looking foward to it. Around the first of Jan, we had to leave, and our cousin in DeFuniak really wanted us to come down. Before we left, I was physically assualted for no reason by another of my wife's cousins. Now I believe in turn the other cheek, but he had already threatened me before with a knife, so I felt my life in danger. I came away with a busted lip, but he ended up with several cracked ribs; I know because I felt them buckle under my fist. We left the next day, and since I called the cops on him first, they didn't care that his ribs were in pain. We made it to DeFuniak and spent a week with the other cousin I mentioned. Then we had to move again, because he was about to lose his mother's (the aunt I mentioned who passed on) house we were in. It was a stupid situation that we could have helped him fix, but he left the next day, left his cell phone so we could call people, and threatened to call the cops if we weren't out by that night. We couldn't get anyone to help us until the next day, so we gathered our thirteen heavy bags of clothes and books and started walking, hoping to get to a shelter, which was two miles away. We made it a tenth of a mile before my wife's seizure disorder started to kick in. I called 911 and we were taken to the hospital. We got to stay the night, and when the nurses heard of our plight, they did everything they could; called churches, which sent out a person to help us with two nights in a hotel and a meal at a local buffet, and they were able to pitch in $15 to help us out. From the hotel, we used the internet (we still have my wife's laptop) to find out about palces, and ended up at an outreach store called The Matrix, which works kind of like Goodwill. They helped us get a temporary place at another church, as well as the use of their wi-fi to find jobs. We've been here a week. We are moving in with a couple that we met that really enjoys our company, so we can have a permanent address, I have multiple jobs oportunities that I put in for, and we help out around The Matrix, and will continue to do so as long as we live in DeFuniak Springs. So while we've met a fair amount of Demons in our journey, we've met many, many Angels. Pray our luck continues, as we keep doing, and keep this story at heart when you run across the occasional Human Demon. Angels DO exist. And we're always with you. NOTE: I'll update our progress on the job market and living situation as soon as we have new news.

This i can agree with, and it goes along with the quote I mentioned. Somethings you just use your eyes and brains with, while others you can afford to rely on Faith about. But in the long run, it's that knowledge you learn that proves to you that your Faith isn't misplaced at all, rather, it is justified.

The best way, in my humble opinion, of course, is to take the best of both worlds. I can't remember who said it, but this qoute fits it perfectly: "Scientist understand the branches of Tao, but not the roots. Mystics understand the roots, but not the branches. Now, Science doesn't need Mysticism, and Mysticism doesn't need Science. But Man needs both."