SENSITIZE 85
Every morning, Mr. Cring takes a personal moment with his friends.
Today: A refreshing look at the appetite for life.
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1 Thing You Can Do This Week to Make the World a More Flowing Place
Start with agreement
One of the more nasty vices that has slipped into our society is the attitude that we must establish how we disagree with one another in order to keep our ideas, our politics and our faith pure.
We lead with it.
We watch a movie and criticize it instead of first offering the things we enjoyed.
We read a book and tear into it before we share the parts that were enlightening.
We listen to music and complain that it’s derivative or doesn’t have the right beat or lyrics, instead of isolating off the portion that was enriching.
I do believe if you came to Almighty God and asked Him to say one nice thing about Satan, He would reply, “You know, he used to work here—as an angel.”
It won’t kill us to do this
And doing so will set in motion a completely different mindset and manifestation of emotion in the room.
Start with agreement
Then if you feel a need for further comment, enter at your own risk.
It’s a wonderful way to cut down on the animosity that has cropped up in the “Mean Streets.”
Just remember it this way:
First, agree.
Then suggest.
And if you must…
Share the rest.
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PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant … August 10th, 2016
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Seated
I hope I did not scare
You with my wheelchair
It’s just my legs are sore
From all the weight I bore
Crossing this American scene
Since I was just nineteen
First appeared my song
Then the books came along
I saw my movies on the screen
A symphony born, sweet, serene
I raised a house full of boys
Suffered the trials, blessed by joys
A feeling–a calling within my soul
A deeper wish to make me whole
Yes, my heart is full of humble praise
My soul is young and quite ablaze
My mind reaches–ideas to seize
But I’m a bit weak at the knees
You might think I should rest a spell
A doctor’s care might do me well
But the fields are ripe and ready, you see
For laborers to come–is that not me?
Then please forgive my weakened frame
And not consider me a shame
I will tell you of good common sense
And soothe the terror that makes us tense
And find our hope in one another
You’re my sister, you’re my brother
So don’t you worry–all is well
Let’s join together … and change this hell.
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PoHymn: A Rustling in the Stagnant
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G-Poppers … June 5th, 2015
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G-Pop just decided not to do so.
He was considering offering some insights for his children and grandchildren on the “Jenner-gender-bender” situation with Bruce emerging as Caitlyn.
He passed.
Why? Because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
It’s not that G-Pop thinks he’s ignorant, ill-informed or without some degree of wisdom. No–G-Pop contends that none of us know what we’re talking about.
So the question might be raised: why does G-Pop write books and post blogs if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? That’s simple.
Somebody who doesn’t know what he’s talking about needs to remind everybody that we don’t know what we’re talking about.
For truth is a mysterious mixture of understanding history and assessing the present, while including the chaos of the future.
Who could possibly accurately discern such things?
So what we tend to share is what we feel, believe and think.
Of course, the trouble is that what we feel is based on our preferences; what we believe can be contingent on doctrines of people who lived nearly 4,000 years ago, and what we think has an overly exaggerated sense of importance from analyzing some statistics and data.
Here’s the truth of the matter–nobody knows Jenner. He is known by God and his own heart, when he’s open to such revelation, just like the rest of us.
So G-Pop realized that what he feels, believes and thinks is insignificant. What he’s going to do is the only thing that counts.
So what is G-Pop going to do about the “Jenner-gender-bender” situation?
Absolutely nothing.
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G-20: Life or Knowledge … April 18, 2014
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Right there in the middle.
It’s hard to miss. It’s not hiding from us.
It’s called life.
And life is where ability, faith and our daily bread of situations merge together.
- It’s meant to be abundant.
- It is intended to be fascinating.
- It is not free of hassle, yet within the struggle is a great learning gift which further enriches our experience.
Anything that deters us from eating of the Tree of Life and gaining strength, wisdom and energy is counter-productive to our humanity and destructive to our character.
So as the story goes, God placed this gift of life right in the middle of all the activity. It wasn’t hidden at all. Like every other possibility in the Garden of Eden, it was “good for food and pleasant to the eyes.”
Yet is was absent of distraction. That particular misleading element was found in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And this tree was useless to our human escapade because knowing what’s evil does not give us the function of improving our situation. After all, since we are not gods and do not control our Olympus, we end up being at the mercy of despair.
God offers one piece of advice to his free-will creatures: having the knowledge of good and evil, which appears to offer elements of being wise, only introduces futility, which makes us exhausted to partake of life in the middle of our existence.
Adam and Even didn’t get it.
They listened to the voices screaming for self-improvement and pursued a knowledge which made them feel they were naked and vacant of the capacity to change their situation for the better.
Though many of my friends and even family members argue with me continually about television shows, movies, books and even blue-tinted comedy routines which offer a view on the bleak side of life, insisting that this is an element of maturity lending itself to greater understanding, I have to shake my head and say that the knowledge of evil does not make me a god.
It makes me a victim.
Jesus told us we should “be as little children.” So anything that comes before my eyes and into my heart which is not suitable for a child of eight years only ends up pointing out to me the deficit in my society, the weakness of my character and the vacancy in my soul.
Just like Eve, we are pressured into believing that we are deprived of experience by a God who refuses to allow us to explore our sensibilities.
But all that Adam and Eve achieved was a weirded-out feeling–that the things they had been participating in and enjoying were now somewhat dirty, nasty and needed to be hidden.
“Why do you think you’re naked?” says God to a frightened Adam.
Who told you and me that it’s “adult” to watch men beating up women? Or solid citizens losing their minds and becoming criminals? Or sexuality being reduced to the mere visualization of humping?
Yet this is what is chosen.
So on that day, whether completely truthful or partially a metaphor, when man and woman chose knowledge over life, two things became evident: (1) we, as a species, have to learn to escape evil to find the good and munch on life; and (2) a plan of salvation to light up the road to that discovery would be necessary.
Yes, Good Friday was a bad thing that happened because human beings thought it was possible to become gods through knowledge.
It is life that makes us powerful.
It is life that welcomes intelligence.
And life is always right there … in the middle of what we’re doing.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.
A Simple Questionnaire … March 10, 2014
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- What do I want?
- What do I need?
- What do I have in ability?
- What do I fear?
- What am I doing?
- What do I desire to do?
- What is the bridge?
Even though it’s a very simple questionnaire, it is filled with important inquiries, which help us understand more about ourselves and our aspirations.
The confusion of every generation is the ongoing belief that we are not confused. People on their way to the discovery of truth always start out with a bit of personal perplexity, questioning, and maybe even feelings of insecurity, because the road to candor is never clear, but always filled with revelation and sometimes, shocking realities.
So let me be the first to jump in and answer these questions.
First, I want to write, teach and share with my generation without being inhibited by so many restrictions and fears. I would like to escape the rigidity of all the systems that exist, which are determined to bring people into submission to a set of rules instead of helping them find the true cause.
Secondly, I don’t know what I need. I feel pretty comfortable with that because the Good Book tells us that God knows what we need even before we do. Excellent. Maybe that’s why He’s such a good partner–he brings the plastic spoons along for the yogurt, because nobody else thought about actually eating them.
My ability is to use insight with humor, and hopefully a gentle spirit, to communicate difficult ideas and contentious causes in a season where people are so easily offended. I do it through art, music, and hopefully, giggles.
I have a dual fear–falling short of my goals because of my age and physical limitations, and losing my solvency and embarrassing the people around me because my ideas are solid but my bank account is dwindling.
What am I doing? Good question. I’m finishing up a seventeen-year career, working faithfully in the mainline denominational churches, to bring a message of common sense, realizing that I can no longer limit myself to such a tiny market, but must at least attempt to expand my borders.
What I desire is to take that which has been forsaken by society, which has callously cast away great means of communication, replacing them with Instagram, and use these methods to reach people with a simple message of hope and personal responsibility. Just because it’s popular to believe that theater, newspapers, books and even musical albums are obsolete because of downloading, it’s not necessarily true. If I owned Facebook, I would also decry any other form of communication that wasn’t “me.” The world will always return to intimacy. It may take a week; it may take a year. We will come back to needing one another.
Which leads me to the final question. What is the bridge? Just as with my need, I don’t have the foggiest idea. But I’m excited about the search; I’m thrilled about the quest. I feel like a Knight of the Round Table pursuing the Holy Grail.
And I know this: it takes courage to chase something that half the people need and the other half don’t believe in.
But those are the only adventures that are truly worthwhile.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Click for details on the SpirTed 2014 presentation
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.
click to hear music from Spirited 2014
For Bidding… October 7, 2013
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The Good Book tain’t good unless it makes good things happen when people are thrown together.
A few days ago, after one of my shows, I was getting ready to pack up my books when a teenage boy inched his way to my side. Apparently he had stood around for a good half-hour while people talked to me, looking for a chance to have a private moment.
He wasted no time.
“There’s a girl I like. How can I ask her out on a date?”
I paused for a moment, trying to make sure I didn’t come across surprised, alarmed OR amused. I guess he chose to ask me the question because he knew I wouldn’t be around tomorrow to tease him about it. Or he thought I might be one of those “cool adults” who would give him a real answer instead of one that’s canned, sealed and labeled “for grown-up consumption.”
My answer was simple. I told the young man to figure out what he liked, take the things that came to his mind and start doing them for the girl he was interested in.
He thought that was really nifty. (Forgive me. I guess “nifty” is no longer used. Let us just say he was impressed.)
His last words were: “I can do that. Because it’s about me.”
As he raced away, I had to chuckle. You see, all I had given him in the way of advice was a remake on the Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
But you see, it worked, was valuable and was understandable to him because it’s true.
We spend entirely too much time talking about the Good Book as if it’s suspended in mid-air, on gossamer wings, with the supernatural breath of the divine Creator.
Shoot. If it doesn’t work on earth, it sucks.
You see, it’s easy to go from something that is “for bidding” to something that can become “forbidding.”
The gospel that was put together as a means of inviting all of humanity to discover its better side and therefore generate salvation in our souls can just as easily be turned into a message of hatred, prejudice, incrimination and selfishness.
So let me give you a clue:
- I don’t recommend agnosticism. It turns you into a jaded grouch, critical of human life while devoid of any eternal possibility.
- I don’t recommend religion. It keeps you panting for heaven while simultaneously missing buckets of opportunity on earth.
Here’s what I’ve discovered: if you find something that works in everyday life, it won’t take you too long to discover that this same idea is in the Good Book.
Don’t try to go to the Good Book to explain everything you see in life. Get rid of your fear of living and in so doing, discover the three or four things that universally work. Then go read your Good Book and be delighted when you find out that God thought it up millions of years ago.
No wonder that book itself tells us that everything written within its pages can be boiled down to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
It is “for bidding” others, welcoming them to your life, removing the anger of “forbidding” personal contact.
And when all the chickens come to roost, you find out, like this young man will certainly discover, that the Golden Rule even works with dating.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about personal appearances or scheduling an event
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