dagblog - Comments for "A New Year Rose Ceremony. "

Evidently, Isadore Burgoon

MrSmith1 — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 03:10:44 +0000

Evidently, Isadore Burgoon was a 32nd degree mason and was a member of the electoral college that elected his friend, Rutherford B. Hayes, President by one vote. I never knew any of this until long after my dad had died. Since I started doing genealogy research on my family about 15 years ago, I have discovered a lot of things I never knew.

Smith, thanks for your

Oxy Mora — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:20:53 +0000

In reply to What a lovely image, Oxy.

Smith, thanks for your comments. Never stop discovering---that's our motto, isn't it? (although not always painless).

I'm going to check out Burgoon on Zillow.

Railroad magnate, eh?

What a lovely image, Oxy.

MrSmith1 — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:07:52 +0000

In reply to A New Year Rose Ceremony.

What a lovely image, Oxy. My parents came from Ohio, so I have always felt a vague affection for the state, even though I never lived there.

My father's family traces back to the earliest settlers in Ohio. There is even a small town near Fremont named after my fraternal great-grand-uncle, Isadore Burgoon. My father's family was mostly Episcopalian, my mother's parents, who came to Ohio from upstate New York, were Catholic. My dad converted to Catholicism when he met and married my mother, and looking back at some old letters he wrote to her during WW2, I was surprised to discover how religious he was as a young man..

I think we all go on a spiritual journey of our own making, walking along a unique path and going through doors to which only we hold the key. What enlightens me may seem horribly obvious to you, and what feeds your soul may poison mine. But that is the path of discovery. No one can tell us how to get there or find enlightenment for us, we have to do all the work ourselves. That is why tolerance is so important. We are all learning and growing, and hopefully, teaching ... And who's to say which lesson is the most important? I remember seeing a book in a bookstore a number of years ago, entitled, "if you meet Buddha on the road to enlightment, kill him." The point being, not to actually kill him, but to not let anyone tell you what is the path to enlightment. Their path is their path, yours is yours.

Lol. If that's what makes

Ramona — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:14:24 +0000

In reply to Thanks Ramona. I meant soap

Lol. If that's what makes you you, I'm all for it!

Thanks Ramona. I meant soap

Oxy Mora — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:00:55 +0000

In reply to Beautifully done, Oxy. When

Thanks Ramona. I meant soap-boxy deniers, and "hubris" in the sense "egotism" or "self-importance". But I see now that the unconscious jumped in there and not only opened a window but chose the word "hubris" which embodies more the "pride goeth before the fall", punishment to follow, idea, meaning me. You can take the boy out of the Baptist church but you can't take the Baptist church out of the boy.

Beautifully done, Oxy. When

Ramona — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 14:50:08 +0000

In reply to A New Year Rose Ceremony.

Beautifully done, Oxy. When I was a Lutheran, it was the music that moved me more than anything. I still love it, and, while I have turned off religion, I will never turn off the music.

I have to wonder about your use of the word "hubris" when you describe "deniers of a supreme being", putting them in the same slot as believers who shout out their faith. I don't believe in a god of any kind but I don't feel all puffy about it--in fact I don't feel anything. That's the point.

But please don't read this as a critique of your piece. I wouldn't want to take away from the beauty of it--just wondering what you meant.

Great story, made me think of

artappraiser — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:47:09 +0000

In reply to V.A., you are fortunate to

Great story, made me think of when God closes a door, he opens a window

And your essay is beautifully written.

No need to reply.

Thank you, barefooted, very

Oxy Mora — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:32:30 +0000

In reply to There's a hint of sadness in

Thank you, barefooted, very much. I just now understood what I wrote, the disillusion, the evolution.

There's a hint of sadness in

barefooted — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 01:24:35 +0000

In reply to A New Year Rose Ceremony.

There's a hint of sadness in this, the sort of melancholy felt when a loss of innocence inevitably happens. There's a beauty in it, too ... a poignancy. As with every evolution, we can never truly leave where we began, since it remains at the core of who we become.

You know, it matters when we share a piece of ourselves with others. Thank you for doing that here.

V.A., you are fortunate to

Oxy Mora — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:37:53 +0000

In reply to While I would probably agree

V.A., you are fortunate to have such close and stalwart friends. Maybe one of the operatives there is that trusting relationships on this earth just about outweigh everything else, including the subject matter of religion.

I had a college room mate, a Jew whose family lived five flights up somewhere along Flatbush avenue. I was a country hick from Ohio, going to be a Baptist minister. I guess the powers that be thought this would be a good social experiment. One year of fighting over how far to open the window ended our rooming experiment. Many decades later he visited me with his son. He was a highly successful business guy. At some point in the conversation my jaw dropped when he said he had converted and become a Methodist---and he mentioned my expressions of faith in that Freshman year as having influenced him. His son said, "Dad, you mean I'm Jewish?"

Somewhere here, this thread or the Creed, we might define terms---faith, beliefs, spirituality---are different concepts---aren't they?