Struggling with Demons

We often see the challenges in our lives, more specifically the demons we struggle against in our lives as some external force or situation. Meaning that we perceive that some sort of external remedy exists which can be a balm for our affliction. Ergo, often if we are depressed we think that changing our situation will bring happiness or perhaps we are led to look for happiness in others. Many look for some new love interest because of the excitement it brings, when in fact doing so is like using duct tape to repair structural damage in your home. And truth be told, the cost of most “temporary fixes” is a far higher than we first believed. But our demons, if we allow them, will always drive us to self medicate. And battling one’s own demons is painful. But I’d rather suffer through, than to cause harm to any innocent. I know that often over the last 30 years our culture has taught us that we need to do what makes us happy, to pursue our own truth. But I for one really question that. Every action in the universe has a cost. A price must be paid for every decision we act upon. It may not be us paying the fare, but someone will.

The Lighthouse

Surely it is questionable how one can constantly and persistently open ones veins allowing ones life to splatter across the page, especially when each encounter leaves the writer drained and a little dimmer. This compulsion to examine ones own soul, the drive to share lessons learned from every encounter, real or imagined. This thirst for something better, even when seemingly, contentment unobtainable in this life...except for this hope, glimpsed in the corner of the eye like a wayward lightening bug appearing in the darkest halls of our lives; leading us further into the darkness. Is each step further into the vapors faith, foolishness, or both? For if we could understand it all, would it be in any way faith? And maybe, just maybe, in our brighter moments, might we be lighthouses for one another in this journey through the darkness that we all share.

Consider

Consider Two Truths The most dangerous thing in the world is a closed mind. Though we crave certainty, we know it is an illusion, for there is no certainty in the flesh, never was, never will be. These two facts are the bookends of fear. We close our minds when we crave certainty, but it is a fool’s quest. Better to learn how to press on despite our fears. For if we give into fear and close our own minds, be become the very terror we fear. In my faith tradition, we call overcoming this fear, “walking by faith”.