• Each FRIDAY I invite guests to have a conversation with me!
• Come back each Wednesday
(on “Hump Day” aka Midweek) for a brief Soul School “lesson”.
HOW FUNDING WORKS: The difficult truth is that even though listening is free, Spark My Muse costs hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket each month to create, produce, and host online–and takes 25-30 hours of work per week to keep it afloat–which keeps me from making income to pay my own normal bills like electricity and water. The good news is that Listenersgive so kindly (at over 3 times the average!!) to support the show–not just because my particular listeners are high-quality people (they are!), but because of that awesome feeling that happens each time we help out someone else when they need it most. $5 or $10 makes a BIG difference – Thank you for helping too!
(Want to have the power to share Peter Rollins audio for yourself? Just use the Clammer app below to select a snippet! Click the red and white logo.)
4:30
Pub culture in Ireland and not running from doubts and pain.
(Repression is the term in psychoanalysis)
Sharing in each other’s suffering.
[ictt-tweet-inline via=””]Parables are a technology that help us look at painful things not directly so we can cultivate a grace in our lives and toward other people.[/ictt-tweet-inline]
(You can instantly tweet this quote above by clicking the blue bird. Look for other blue birds in these show notes.)
9:00
JRR Tolkien Eucatastrophe (a good undoing, like the kind that happen in Fairy Stories)
Irish culture / music / art
The 18 foot woman in a dress at IKON. Ravel and unravel.
13:30 Pete’s Memento Mori
Pete’s Happy Reaper jacket pin
Something to remind you of death.
• Pete’s happy reaper memento mori.
• Lack and nothingness has a painful side but there is a way to find a fuel from it for life and living.
The painters called the Dutch Masters featured a theme: Vanity / futility of life.
Pieter Claesz, “Vanitas” (1630)
The authentic, lively and cohesive pub [juxtaposed with] the vacuous and lonely night club.
I’m warning you, right from the start. I’m going to use a word I haven’t used before when blogging, and maybe only 12 times otherwise. It’s one of those words that could make me lose all my readers, maybe even you. But, I’m going to do it, because I have to tell the truth.
I have “checkmark envy”. When I see the Verified Twitter Account, the checkmark reversed out of cyan, I want one, too. Badly. It’s been going on for about three months. It has everything to do with feelings of self-worth. Important people have Verified Accounts. People that matter. Wanting it has everything to do with sensing my value, and worst of all vanity.
So, I realized something, Vanity is spiritual masturbation.
Now that I said “the M word”, I want to unpack what I just said, so we don’t miss the forrest for the trees.
Some people think masturbation can make you blind. Do people still think this? This obviously reflects poorly on blind people. It’s made me question Stevie Wonder, for instance. Well, not really. (After I wrote this, I found out it’s Stevie’s birthday today…what a “God thing”, huh? I mean, sorry Stevie for that extra weird bit of undue attention on your special day.)
Some people think it’s perverted. Some think it’s necessary. Some think it’s just plain fun. Some say, when in doubt, do it. Like Nike, right? Never mind.
Here’s what it really is. It’s a reduction and diminution of a real and powerful thing. The goodness of sexual intimacy is given a shabby surrogate. It’s not more or better, it’s less. It’s a shortcut that cheats you–producing fulfillment temporarily, but soon leaving you feeling more isolated or lonely; even trapped, or increasingly compulsive.
Vanity is the same way, but more thoroughly. It holds hands and makes out with shame. It’s focused on sensing worthiness in a weird, circular, and disappointing quest.
It’s given me the courage to admit this kind of spiritual masturbation addiction I avoid revealing.
I want to be somebody. God’s answer (healing) for this is to be thoroughly aware of being known and loved ever still in him. It’ll take my whole life to fully get there. This is but one of my forward steps.
Fellas! Now your love handles, pot belly, and man cleavage will melt away. How slenderizing! (Please notice the reenforced cross-straps built into the back–not to be confused with women’s apparel, of course.)
So men can regain their girlish figures: The Dude Corset!
HAVE you seen the NEW Spark Store?
