The T Word … June 18th, 2019

Jonathots Daily Blog

(4080)

---

THE

WORD

---

The T word that should never be uttered in the common ease of human conversation is:

TRUTH

Human beings are incapable of knowing the truth.

Even though I’m sure the tiny portions that do dribble into our souls have the capability of making us free, we must admit that they are mingled with much superstition, false teaching, selfishness and inaccuracy.

Actually, the best we human beings can hope for is to be truthful.

In other words, “This is what I’ve experienced, this is what I’ve seen, and this is what I’ve picked up to be workable from the lives of others.”

And even those insights often lack the hindsight to give us foresight.

Every one of us is repulsed by a human who walks in the room and insists he or she knows the truth and we don’t. Every religion that proclaims its rendition of “divine understanding…” well, all of them are like children sitting around reading fairy tales, pretending they comprehend chemistry.

We can all work on being truthful.

But if you’re quoting someone else, it’s hearsay, even if you insist they are prophets, or “the Son of God.”

If you’re judging others, it is condemnation, even if you have tablets of stone which are able to crush their spirit.

And if you are sure you’re right, it is arrogance, although you may walk with a great history of being precise.

Truth is what causes the foolishness of superiority that launches the wars that kill the children.

I shall work on being truthful–but I will not take the writings of men and women I never knew and share their hearsay, condemnation or supremacy to make you feel small.

  The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly donation for this inspirational opportunity

 

 

Four Mothers… May 12, 2013

(1,879)

I am convinced that being a mother is a good thing, even though I would have to insist that being referred to as “Mom” is preferable–because if your children call you “Mother” it’s usually because they‘re angry or overly mature.

Of course what you want to avoid is mothering. How could adding “i-n-g” to such a wonderful word turn it into such a picky piece of prissiness? After all, NO one is going to endure mothering.

But I have come to the conclusion that there are FOUR mothers, and each one plays an essential part in achieving the ideal status of Mom.

First, there is Mother Earth. That is part of the process, you know–teaching your children to understand the world around them, respect others and stop complaining about their lot, but instead, find ways to improve things. This is certainly in the job description of being a good Mom.

How about Mother Goose? While we’re teaching all those lessons about earth, it’s nice to allow our children a dream–which if they work real hard, can be confirmed by fairy tales coming true.

I think mingled into the process of being that female parent to your child is Mother Mary. Can you birth your own child of promise, let him or her grow up, teach them the best you can–but in the long run, leave it to them to change their own water to wine? Even if it takes them far from your home? That’s what Mary had to do with Jesus and I guess that’s what every Mom has to do with her child.

And finally, the fourth part of being a mother is being a Mother Ship. Once you’ve launched your little capsule of wonder into the world, it’s nice to offer them a place to come back to from time to time, where they can get energy, rejuvenate and discover the wonders of “home” before going into outer space.

So I guess that’s what it means to be a Mom–to be Mother Earth, Mother Goose, Mother Mary and a Mother Ship.

So on this day I celebrate. And on this day I salute all of those who have taken on the amazing task of birthing something you know you will have to let go, realizing that in doing so, you believe you’ve made the world a little bit better place.

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

Sometimes… March 6, 2013

(1,812)

Sometimes it doesn’t matter.

Sometimes a little piece of insignificance can float through the air and blow away into the distance.

Sometimes a duck can quack and the pond remains serene.

Sometimes a hip-hop rock star, can appear on a late-night talk show and giggle about smoking the “herb” and a young human listening, who is confused about choices, will not end up crushed by the burden of drug abuse.

Sometimes a climate of “prayer and scare religion” can preach its message of doom, with the glory of heaven to follow, and no one gets hurt, no one is lost and no one is perplexed to the point of agnosticism.

Sometimes careless conversations of overwrought self-esteem can be voiced in our culture without human beings feeling entitled to gifts and opportunities beyond their scope.

Sometimes the gridlock of Washington, D.C. is just fodder for the 24-hour news cycle and doesn’t affect the single mother or father desperately trying to put food on the table for their young’uns.

Sometimes a mother can drink her glass of wine or a father his mug of beer and the children of the household will grow up without any dependence on alcohol.

Sometimes a religious system that preaches more of heaven than God’s will being done on earth can hide behind its ritual without feeling the responsibility for the vacancy left in the hearts of those who have heard the empty message.

Sometimes young girls can go to movies and see women exploited, raped, beaten, cursed and marginalized and still grow up to be dynamic forces of nature.

Sometimes a young woman who is addicted, frustrated, lonely and drained of hope turns out to be just fine and survives her turmoil and presses on.

Sometimes fairy tales come true. At least that’s what we’re told.

But not today.

Today a young child of God has died because of too much and too little:

• Too much religion and too little reality.
• Too much laughter about drugs and too little knowledge of what they can do to the paper-thin persona of a human being.
• Too much hypocrisy and too little truthful repentance.
• Too much of a notion that women are sex objects and too little value of their worth as humans.
• Too much of everything that deceives and too little of the nuggets of truth that enlighten.

She’s dead.

I knew her as a small child and helped out her family the best I could from my wallet. But not from my time. For you see, sometimes it’s all right to free ourselves from any responsibility or guilt, but most of the time, it’s just a cop-out.

So sometimes it’s important that we rededicate ourselves to the notion that there is nothing wrong with beleiving we should do more, even if sometimes it points out the fact that in this particular case, we didn’t do enough.

Sometimes we need more than just what is available.

She did. She deserved more.

So to a religion and culture that loves to expound on all sorts of irrelevant information, let me tell you that there are casualties to your casual approach.

She died today. She died of too much and too little.

By the grace of God, may she be the last.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Don’t Get Confused … July 17, 2012

(1,579)

Driving along on Interstate 40 towards Knoxville, Tennessee, I was confronted with a billboard which read, “Where will you spend eternity?”

I had an immediate answer. “I don’t know.”

Now, before you start trying to evangelize me to grant me eternal security and awareness of my heavenly destination, let me explain that I do have aspirations, desires and even requests on where I would like to spend the afterlife. But since Jesus, himself, told us to”make sure our hearts were not troubled on the issue, and we only have stories, promises and opinions, I think it could be considered a classic waste of time to deliberate such a question. Matter of fact, I will go so far as to say it is the festering sore on the backside of humankind–our preoccupation with the future, life after death and what’s going to happen next. I have written on this issue many times, but I continue to be surrounded by those who feel it is all right for them to be inconsiderate in the moment as long as they are pursuing a path to consider what is best in the future.

It’s annoying.

I would like to set this to rest. I think to be halted between two opinions–one being that humans have complete free will and the other contention that there is a perfect will of God in which we all should try to center our lives–is what makes us totally inept, if not comical. I guess I don’t care which side you choose, but I would request that you cease to believe that humans have free will and then continue to worry about what God may have in store for the future.

If I have free will, there IS no future. It has yet to be determined by my next action. Even if you want to believe that God is all-knowing about what I will do next, you must admit that if He is going to honor His system, He somehow or another has to at least pretend that He is experiencing my choice for the first time.

But I’m not concerned about God’s part in this process, but rather, my involvement. We should be suspicious of destiny–a philosophy that really found its origin in fairy tales and is now being introduced into the realm of basic human logic and interaction. Perhaps Snow White was always meant to be a Queen–or was that Cinderella?  Perhaps they were pre-destined and merely went through some obstacles to be rescued in the end and reinstated to their purposes. But that’s why they call it a fairy tale–because it’s not true.

I am not destined to be anything. Even though I’ve lived a life of being a father, a writer, a composer and traveling troubadour, if I want to, I can go out and take a rifle and kill twelve people tomorrow–and become known as a serial killer. I can choose that. I can select to change my image at my own will–and it isn’t because I was destined to eventually become a serial killer. It’s because my gift of free will allows me to be spiritually motivated instead of manipulated. Yes, I choose to love God instead of loving God because He chooses me to do so.

So I just wanted to take a few moments today to see if I can help you to get through this nasty piece of confusion that continues to insult humanity by introducing falsehoods and fairy tales into what could be a really exciting life.

1. There is no destiny. There’s just opportunity. Once you comprehend that life is about asking, seeking and knocking instead of sitting, watching and waiting, you not only begin to fathom the power of the gospel of Jesus, but you actually tap into the natural energy and karma in our world. What happens next is how effectively I use what I have to my advantage.

2. There are no thoughts–just thoughtful. This is why Jesus told his disciples to “take no thought for the morrow.” How do I get myself in trouble? When when I have down time, begin to analyze my situation and how it relates to my perceived future. I become frantic, I worry, I may even tear up because I think there’s a futility to my pursuits. In my ridiculous nature, I might consider these times to be rich with ideas and introspection, but really, it’s a complete waste of time, because unless I use this particular moment effectively, my thoughts will take me nowhere but despair. I will tell you of a certainty that no one ever thinks himself into repentance. Nobody ever thinks himself into rejuvenation. We just normally think ourselves into a tizzy. That’s why the beautiful brain you’ve been given is supposed to conjure ideas about how to be thoughtful–right now. How can I express, in a physical way, my feelings of joy to the world around me–in this second? That’s what the brain is for. If you hire your mind to do anything else other than act in the moment’s possibility, it begins to think it has more power than it was intended to possess. No thoughts, my friend. Just thoughtful.

3. And finally, no future. Just now. There is no future. What is going to happen tomorrow is being determined right now by my choices. God comes along for the ride. It is similar to the game we used to play with our children when we told them that they could make all the decisions for the day–where we were going to go, what we were going to eat and what we were going to do. For this particular exercise in fun to succeed, we had to get rid of all of our adult preconceptions, become childlike and go for it. This is exactly what God does. Our Father, who has given us life, does not suddenly snatch it back from us when we begin to make choices that are different from what He might consider to be fruitful.

There is either free will or we are creatures of pre-destination. The in-between state that we try to propagate in our pop culture not only is erroneous, but causes us to run into walls in the dark. I am deciding the future by my choices in the present. It’s as simple as that.

I had a new grandson born last week. What will he become? Well, some folks get that far-off look in their eyes and say, “It’s in God’s hands.”  It isn’t. It’s in his mama’s and papa’s, family’s, friends’–and mostly, it’s in his own hands. What little Johann is going to turn out to be is eventually going to be up to emerging Johann.

And hopefully, if we learn to respect our humanity and the power of our lives, in that process we will often stumble into the whims of God. There is no future–just now.

So I don’t want you to get confused. And even though there are those who will argue with this position, in the midst of their discourse about my error in theology or reasoning, they will collide into so many contradictions that they will eventually end their report by saying, “Well, much of it is a mystery.”

Feel free to pursue life as a mystery–but please allow me and others like myself to pursue it as an adventure. In the long run, you will understand that an adventure is much preferable to a mystery.

Don’t get confused. There is no destiny, just opportunity; no thoughts, just being thoughtful, and no future–just now.

So go and enjoy your day, knowing that it is truly your day, and it is one that God has made available for you–to revel in your free will.

   

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity