Jeffrey Davis

*Attention: Feedback and input greatly desired on this post*

Tonight I had a great conversation with two people of whom hold great importance in my life. One of them helped me see that the post I wrote yesterday that was titled “Best Headline of the Day…Period” was not only un-funny, but actually quite offensive.

The post was a link to a story I saw about an initiative in Germany to bring prostitutes out of that line of work and into the senior-citizen care profession. Upon reading that article, I found it to be inspiring and humorous. Tonight, I was helped to see that it was not…from other perspectives.

After being helped by a dear friend to see that it was so offensive, I decided to take it down completely. This is exactly what I’m talking about when I mention the “Assume the Best” concept here at the Shadows of Love. She helped me to see that though my intentions were pure, the linked article itself was quite insensitive.

That whole scenario sparked a conversation about the usefulness of blogging…both in general and specific to my blog. Let me now take the time to list the goals of this blog:

• to be a connection point that fosters real life relationships
• to help others asking similar questions realize that they’re not the only freaks wondering such things (as a number of blogs were for me a few years ago)
• to spark thought, questions, dialog, and discussion that are conducive to our collective growth as spiritual beings housed in human bodies

There are, however, some unfortunate occurrences that take place as a result of my action upon those goals:

• I hold a more Eastern philosophy of learning (which relies heavily on dialog and question, not the proving of points and regurgitation of retained information)…hence, often misunderstanding.
• People (including sometimes myself) operate and interact outside of the “Assume the Best” concept
• If a person becomes upset about a post or the perceived motive of a post, and does not inform me of such, then the situation goes un-addressed and the misunderstanding resides indefinitely
• While there are those who have related with the questions and the journey shared here, others have stumbled upon ideas that they are not ready or willing to consider (which is perfectly OK), and thus, become angry or confused
• And finally, of course, I do sometimes post out of reaction, irritation, or anger of something and such posts are NOT conducive to any of my goals aforementioned–and I do try to edit or delete those posts, but some old and archived posts of such a nature remain.

I don’t really know what that means for now, but as I seem to do every 6 months or so, I will weigh the pro’s and con’s of continuing this blog and assess it’s direction.

Again, any feedback and input is always welcome, but is specifically desired in the case of this post…

I got in my wife’s car and heard a CD playing this morning that hadn’t been played in a while. Some of those songs got me thinking about other songs in the ole’ iTunes folder that I hadn’t listened to in quite some time.

Here’s one for ya, name that artist:

they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare

they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs
they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn’t that why Jesus died
not to make us think we’re right

chorus
when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die

they’ll know us by reasons we divide
and how we can’t seem to unify
because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style
or we’ll walk right down that aisle
and just leave ‘em all behind

they’ll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God’s words to cheap clichés
says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave

chorus
they’ll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they’ll know us by the way we point and stare
telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear

So rather obviously this artist is talking about the stereotypical Christian of today. Sounds like a disillusioned, curse the church, gripe and complain kind of guy eh?

WRONG

He’s a popular church camp, church concert, christian college, and christian radio artist.

*The following is NOT a loaded question, fyi*
Why do you suspect that so many people, from the disillusioned to the institution, are feeling and voicing such things?

Technorati Tags: love, christian music, Jeffrey Davis

Body language, tone, and discernment. Those are but a few ways one communicates non-verbally. It is no secret that more than 90% of communication is actually believe to be non-verbal.

In the virtual world of blogs and forums, such communication is imperceivable.

Recently, I’ve been in several discussions [like this one, this one, and this one] around the blogosphere where misunderstandings have seemed to abound. You see, as you read these very words right now, you are projecting on me a certain tone, motivation, and circumstance that your subconscious fabricates based on a number of things.

Such projections may or may not be realistic.

That said, let’s implement a general rule friendly guideline here at the good ole’ Shadows of Love:

Let’s always assume the best.

If you think I’m being cynical, judgmental, or an all-around ass about something, how about just assuming I’m not. I agree to do the same thing to any who wish to comment, discuss, and converse (and all are always welcome).

You may ask, “but what if you really are being cynical, judgmental, and an all-around ass about something?”.

The truth is, sometimes that WILL be the case. This, after all, is the Shadows of Love, not the fullness of it…yet . But, if we still assume the best of each other, such will hopefully be perceived and will become reality. Can you imagine the connection, the peace, and the conversation that could happen in front of that backdrop?

I mess up. I make mistakes. I take cheap shots. It happens. At my core, however, I care most about Love, Freedom, and Relationships. Want to explore them together?

Technorati Tags: blogging, love, freedom, Jeffrey Davis

Gavin posted this today and I found it too interesting not to duplicate.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “Jesus”? How about Christians?

Technorati Tags: Jesus, Christianity, Gavin Richardson, Jeffrey Davis

For the past few months I’ve had the same question regarding the Christian practice of “prayer” to recur over and over in my mind. Care to follow my thought process for a while?

Why does a Christian pray? They think that by the words of the prayer, their hearts condition at the time, and often times the frequency and number of people simultaneously praying that prayer, that God will do what they ask.

Now, let’s examine the intent of a Wiccan spell.

I found a site called ReligiousTolerance.org when I googled, “what is a wiccan spell?” Here are a few quotes from that site:

“Spells are not about turning people into frogs or granting wishes. A spell is a set of actions and prayers that you do and say in order to ask for divine help with some particular aspect of your life.” ~Mnemosyne’s Realm 9

“Christians sometimes pray to their God with the intent of obtaining God’s power to change their life or to heal friends and family. Some light a prayer candle in their home or church. Such rituals have many parallels with Wiccan spells. What some Christians call prayers, Wiccans may call magickal spells.”

Is it me or does a Christian’s prayer and a Wiccan’s spell sound really, really similar…both in practice and intent?

In a recent conversation, a new acquaintance of mine said something to the affect of, “Religion only divides the spiritual, but it is all the same essence.” She meant that whether you call yourself a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, etc, we’re all talking about the same essence.

Personally, I call that essence “God” and believe with every fiber of my being that he is Love.

So what do you think? Is a Wiccan’s spell and a Christian’s prayer really the same thing? Why or why not?

*Disclaimer: I’m NOT trying to pick a fight with anyone here; nor am I trying to make a “point” of any kind. I’m just curious as to various opinions on such a question…please try to have an open mind as you respond.*

Technorati Tags: love, spirituality, christianity, wicca, Jeffrey Davis

There’s something about a star 150 times the size of our sun exploding that makes me wonder about a great many things, both big and small.

CNN Space & Science released images of supernova SN 2006gy’s explosion yesterday. It is believed to be the brightest stellar explosion on record, and exploded in such a way that only the very first generation of stars in the universe are believed to have exploded. (*Note that the image at right is an artist’s rendition of what the explosion of supernova SN 2006gy might have looked like.)

Is that intriguing and mysterious to anyone else but me?

Before astronomers observed SN 2006gy’s explosion, such a stellar death existed only in theory.

“A huge star in the Milky Way, Eta Carinae, has already erupted in a similar fashion. So if it explodes as a supernova, it could present the best light show seen, because it is a mere 7,500 light years away from our planet”, says the CNN.com story.

So what thoughts does such an event birth in my twisted mind?

Some are simple, some complex. Some shall not be mentioned in such a forum as this…yet.

For now, however, I will share that I wonder if we are “alone” in the universe. I wonder if we are, then why does such a great expanse exist? If the life and the physical cosmos exist only as we experience it with our senses, then what would the death of such a star mean to us here and now? In the same vein, If life and the physical cosmos are merely shadows of a greater, more real, existence that many of us have yet to wake up to, what does the death of such a great star mean? Anything?

I suppose that is all the rambling I shall do for one day. Does the explosion of such a great, bright, and old star invoke any questions in you? If so, care to share?

Technorati Tags: supernova, SN 2006gy, astronomy, spirituality, Jeffrey Davis

Though he has one of those multi-contributor blogs of which you can’t subscribe to the writings of one person, but must subscribe to the whole, I like to read John Mayer’s blog. He seems to write the type of posts that I find myself stopping to peruse, rather than scrolling right past in my Google Reader.

Yesterday, Mayer wrote a post wondering how Jimi Hendrix was able to shred the guitar like he did. It’s worth a look, but the closing line is what really interested me.

“…close your eyes, get out of your own way, and JAM.“

I wonder, what would our lives be like if we decided not to consider what others might think or say of us? How differently would I live if I wasn’t so freaking scared of my own shadow? How would I be different if I just closed my eyes, got out of my own way, and rocked out in life?

I don’t know everything that would be different, but I do know that I would:

• dance more (and not just move to the beat…I mean really dance)
• tell the people I love that I love them…besides my wife, who I strive to make aware of my love multiple times a day. I have such a complex about telling people that I love them for some reason.
• take more chances
• not hold so many grudges
• apologize more
• care more about my neighbors
• listen more and talk less

Those are just a few things I would do. What would you do differently if you got of your own way and really lived.

Technorati Tags: love, spirituality, John Mayer, Jeffrey Davis

Sunday morning Shaunna and I had breakfast with some old friends of her mom’s that were in town for the 1/2 marathon. I must say, this was a pretty cool older couple. He is a missions pastor at a church and she works for the city government where they live. As is normal, the conversation over breakfast turned to the spiritual.

As is no secret, I’m not a big fan of a church buildings…especially ones that cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. I’ve got my reasons, but that’s for a different (or probably a previous) post. Though I hold my personal feelings on the topic, I don’t project them or feel that others be in error if they feel a different way. What can I say, I’m slowly maturing in that area…I suppose.

That said, this particular gentleman helped me see the potential of a new avenue of thought on this topic. He said that in some “temple cultures”, like predominantly Buddhist nations, a “church building” is necessary to make it real and credible. After all, that is the culture.

Interesting. I’ve never thought about it like that.

Do you think church buildings are necessary in some cultures and not in others? Could they foster dependency on themselves regardless? Do you think they’re necessary at all? Why or why not? What would Christians do without them?

Technorati Tags: church, spirituality, Buddhism, Jeffrey Davis