Quote:
Originally Posted by OnOurWay2MO
I am always the odd ball.
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In utter sincerity,
OnOurWay2MO, when June first logged on this morning and read your above statement, she laughed out loud. (Even before she had enough coffee in her June 7th body to post anything!) She laughed, as she thought to herself: "Huh? OnOurWay thinks that
she's always the 'odd ball?' "
If that's the case, then June is thinking that perhaps she was either conceived by aliens or just may need to reconsider the merits of those pharmaceuticals that she has read referenced in this thread!
You see, June was going to post a response last evening to post #4, but she realized that if she did, she would once again feel like (far more than) an odd ball herself!
(Not that there is anything particularly out of the ordinary in that expierence for June; she feels that way quite frequently it seems at times, especially as of late...) So at the risk of (once again) coming across as the confusing odd ball that others may perceive her as, here goes:
"My sould is overwhelmed with sorrow. Stay here and keep watch with me."
The first odd ball statement June felt compelled to make last night was in noting the fact of just how beautiful the above verse is in it's sheer simplicity. Although June had remembered that bible passage from way back when, she hadn't quite realized the impact that it actually has. It had always somehow gotten lost in the overall context of the chapter it is from. However, when it stands alone, it truly conveys something that (I suppose) is quite powerful.
The second odd ball statement June felt compelled to make last night had to do with the fact that she had sat here reading the above verse, and had thought to herself "Don't know whether that verse helped PG77, but it sure helped me!"
(
) June tends to think that a statement like that coming from the "heathen likes of June" more than qualifies and constitutes an "odd ball" statement. --So know that June hears ya, OnOurWay, and she joins with you in "odd ballness."
There is something profoundly touching in the simplicity of the words: "Stay and keep watch with me." It's the vulnerability of it, especially when taking into account
who was making that request...
Here's the thing, for what it's worth, from heathen June:
If one is a human being, they are vulnerable to feeling depressed. Period. While I think I understand the point you were trying to make, OnOurWay, nonetheless, June has to say this: Christian, heathen, or otherwise, we are all fundamentally human. -Which means that we are capable of feeling an entire array of emotions. Just as Christians would not discount or deny the fact that there are times that they experience real happiness and joy, so too there are times when (June is guessing) that they also feel real sadness and depression, as well. You can't have one without the other. One's happiness and joy spring from the same origins within you as your sorrow and depression. (June seems to recall Kahlil Gibran saying that...She'll have to find the link...)
If one's emotions all stem from that same place within, and are all contained in that same place within, then it would make sense to June that also within that "place" would exist God, for the Christian. It would stand to reason for this atheist that if God "so loved the world" as to send His own "image and likeness" in the form of Jesus, as a
human being , then somewhere in that equation June is thinking that even Jesus's "soul being overwhelmed" has to be acknowledged, validated. To June's way of thinking, some sort of comfort would have to be derived from the fact that one is not alone in their own "aloneness" or depression, as (for the Christian) they have the written word or their own God having experienced that exact same state. -For entirely different reasons, grant you, however: The feeling that one is overwhelmed with sorrow is something that exists independently of circumstance.
We have
all, at one time or another, felt alone. Depressed. Overwhelmed with sorrow. It's not a bad thing, it's a painful thing. It's a human thing. And June's thinking if it was okay for Jesus to feel it, then it certainly should be okay for any Christian out there to feel it, as well. June in no way, shape or form would be able to believe, for a single moment, that being a "Christian" somehow exempts one from becoming "depressed" at times.
--Unless, of course, being a "Christian" means that you are also exempt from feeling happiness. Joy. Unless, of course, one wishes to deny the fact that Jesus, himself, stated that He felt the same...But Jesus did something else, as well: He asked:
"Stay here and keep watch with me."
To this odd ball atheist's way of thinking, (for whatever it's worth) that implies the simplistic beauty of Jesus's statement: That when our souls are overwhelmed with sorrow, we too can ask others to stay and keep watch with us. That we don't have to be alone. Jesus taught by example, or so June always thought. Jesus was closest to the Father, and yet Jesus himself felt overwhelmed with sorrow. The fact that any Christian can and does feel depressed does not negate the presence of God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit within them, just as Jesus's utterance would not imply the negation of, nor the absence of the existence of God the Father...
--But I could be utterly, absolutely, wrong.
But I need to end with this: Earlier ths week, June received some bad news. June felt depressed. June felt like crap. This was somewhat odd for June, as generally speaking, June is a pathetically happy individual who loves her life and rarely but ever takes anything for granted. So to June's utter shock and dismay, she found herself writing to a very dear friend, and saying "I feel so alone." -And in so doing, June was consciously aware of the fact that she does NOT possess something that all you believers, all you Christian's have: The reasurring presence of your faith. The "whatever" it is within you that makes you believers, makes you Christians, that lets you know on some profound level that you are
not alone. --Even when you don't feel it, it is still there. He is still there. He is still there in your sadness and sorrow, just as He is there in your happiness and joy.
Just as my friend wrote back saying: "You are not alone" so too should PG77 know that she is not alone. --That if her soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, that all of us can, and will:
Stay right here and keep watch with her...
Yes.
Take gentle care, all.
DISCLAIMER: The above post consists of the early morning musings of an atheist without sufficient levels of caffine, hence, any aspect of the above that seems ridiculous should immediately be disregarded.
Thank you.
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Post #4:
Another word for depression is a crisis of faith or the dark night journey*.
