The New York subways are a source of infinite amusement. Lining the corriders is a Baskin-Robbins of religions-From the quietly sentinel Jehovah's to the ragtime organ playing of the 42nd street minstrel, my chances for salvation are available at all times of the day.

Today I saw a new guy, and as I passed him I heard him say that God takes care of him, from a parking space to the welfare of his children. I found this highly amusing, considering I live in a very parking-challenged town. What was more amusing than the particular statement was the overall notion that God is involved in the minutia of life.

What do you pray for? For myself, I find I cannot really seperate prayer from meditation-they are part of a mobius strip in my spiritual exercises. I stopped believing a long time ago that God was some sort of supervisor who takes requests and either rubber stamps them or disapproves. I came to this conclusion when I realized that God was not something "out there", that indeed she resided within-that prayer and meditation was a way to contact the source and have a truly personal relationship.

When there is illness I send healing waves; I do not ask God to heal the illness-I contact the source, and in tandem send out the postive thoughts. Through this type of relationship with God, I have come to believe solidly in true grace-that all that I do, all that happens, is a result of collaboration with her-even the painful items-for I have learned that behind ALL my pain there are valuable lessons-in a real sense I chose the hard times to learn what I had to learn and move on. I have learned that the longer I avoid dealing with life issues, the more they will kepp preventing themselves. I have learned that the more I try to work on something, the more opportunities arise to work on those specific things.

I approach prayer and meditation to seek my higher good-not to find a parking space or hit the lottery. These spiritual disciplines give me the opportunity to see who and what I am, and decide who and what I wish to be the highest version of myself.

Meanwhile in the subways, I will continue to find amusement with those who would save me-those who would offer testimony that there is a loving and caring god who will guide me to a restaurant in New York where the waitstaff is not snotty.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), February 01, 2001

Answers

God = "she". FS, you are so painfully PC. What color is her pubic hair?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 01, 2001.

Lars-

Not PC. Love to refer to God as she cause it always incites a reaction! Gender is only chromosomal. In spirit there is no gender.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), February 01, 2001.

Aspects, Lars. To assign gender to God is to take the concept off that shelf way up high which many of us cannot reach, and make God more accessible, humanize that which we cannot grasp any other way. IMO, of course.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 01, 2001.

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, have you not experienced times in which you feel so in tune with the universe that life flowed effortlessly? When parking spaces appeared when you needed them? When the usually snotty waiter smilingly suggested a specialty of the chef's not listed on the menu? When your actions sprang to life of their own accord; each event taking form, shaping itself as if you were not the doer, but the viewer?

Perhaps this man so desires to be relieved of personal responsibility that he surrenders himself in each moment. Let Thy will be done, Lord, not mine. Maybe?

Maybe a charlatan. Maybe deluded. Maybe a fakir. Maybe a faker. Maybe in samadhi.

Just a thought.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 01, 2001.

FutureShock,

Question: Does God care about a parking space?

Answer: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29- 31 NIV

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), February 01, 2001.

Rich and FS--

Well of course God has no sex. But we have to use some 3rd person pronoun. Maybe we should say it. Personally, I am comfortable with "Him". That does not mean that I visualize God as a 100 foot tall Jewish guy with an 8 foot circumcized dick. Actually, I can't visualize God at all. Can you?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 01, 2001.

Lars, see my remarks about the subtle senses on AB's thread. You'll have to extrapolate on them to gauge my answer. No, I do not see God with my eyes.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 01, 2001.

Does God care about a parking space? FS, you already know the answer to this one. If you care enough about parking spaces, then you make parking spaces important to God. But their importance lies not in their nature as parking spaces, but as an opening into your heart through which understanding may enter.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), February 01, 2001.

"...But their importance lies not in their nature as parking spaces, but as an opening into your heart through which understanding may enter..."

I tried this out on a meter-maid when I was getting ticketed. Didn't fly.

As far as the color of God's pubic hair - how dare you be so blasphemous. (he/she probably shaves anyway)

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), February 01, 2001.

The purpose of prayer is to help you foucus on the important things in your life. If parking is important to you, then by all means you should meditate on this issue daily. Uh, but to be on the safe side, wait until you've parked....

-- (@ .), February 01, 2001.

We sometimes fear to bring our troubles to God, because they must seem small to Him who sitteth on the circle of the earth. But if they are large enough to vex and endanger our welfare, they are large enough to touch His heart of love. For love does not measure by a merchant's scales, not with a surveyor's chain. It hath a delicacy... unknown in any handling of material substance. ... R. A. Torrey

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), February 02, 2001.

This whole thread makes me glad to be an atheist.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 02, 2001.

I don't know about God, but some people definitely care too much about parking spaces.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), February 02, 2001.

I guess not. It is like abortion. If God thought it was important, he would have mentioned it in the Book.

BD

-- bydisgrace (bydisgrace@thru.faith), February 02, 2001.

Strangely enough, since I posted this thread, I have had no problem finding a parking space close to or directly in front of my house. Hmm.

Tarzan:

Always glad to be of help to someone in affirming the highest version of the highest ideal of themself.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), February 03, 2001.

How bout addressing the idiots who park in handicapped spots?

Here in Cleve, they recently upped the fine....it is now 200.00 to illegally park in handicap spot.

As well it SHOULD be.

Anyone else? What is the cost in your neck of the woods?

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), February 03, 2001.

sumer:

Here they chop of both your hands and confiscate your car.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), February 03, 2001.

If I end up in church tomorrow and that good-for-nothing missionary is back trying to shake us down for contributions to his illiterate transgendered worm-loving, dice-rolling, one-eyed, third world hookers with ingrown toenails, I shall ask him if he thinks God cares about parking spots.

The look on his face will be worth the price of admission.

-- kb (kb8um8@yahoo.com), February 03, 2001.

"What do you pray for?"

Most of my life I didn't pray at all. A waste of time, right Tarz?

Now that I do pray, it is simpler to say what I don't pray for.

I don't pray for myself very often. Others say they pray for me. I'll settle for that. I don't pray for people that I don't know. Somehow that seems fake. There are a few billion people out there with problems; I can't pray for them all.

Everything else is negotiable.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 04, 2001.

"I guess not. It is like abortion. If God thought it was important, he would have mentioned it in the Book."

What part of "Thou Shalt Not Kill" didn't you understand?

-- God (watching@you.all), February 04, 2001.

Lars-

I wouldn't say prayer is a waste of time, per se. Beliefs seem to add something to the lives of the believers. If praying about something makes you feel better, by all means, pray all you want. My problem comes with those who confuse prayer with action. I have a real problem with people who, upon observing a problem, pray over it and do nothing else. As Bertrand Russell once said, "Hands that help are better than lips that pray,". If you can do both at the same time, more power to you. But don't stand around with bowed head and pious words and pretend that you actually did something to resolve the problem.

Personally, if there were such a thing as a god(s), I would hope that s/he/it/they wouldn't NEED to be asked for help in a disaster. I would also hope that s/he/it/they would have bigger things on her/his/its/their mind(s) than whether or not someone gets a parking space.

Of course, that being said, I have always had oddly good luck with parking.

FS-

I wish we could pass a law like that here. There's not much that gets me frothing at the mouth, but seeing an able-bodied, compassion- deficient moron taking a disabled spot just so they can get 20 feet closer to the front of the mall sets me off every time. Some days I wish there were a hell for these lowest common denominators. Those people and the folks that leave small children and dogs locked in the car on hot days in the middle of the summer.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.

Re: Idiots who park in handicapped spots.....

I have one line that I tell them when I see them (including the ones who've "borrowed" someone else's car in order to legally park in those spots):

Stupidity is NOT a handicap.

(Actually had a guy retort once, "Yeah, well, don't you worry about how STUPID I am." I had absolutely no response to that one.)

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 04, 2001.

Careful with the assumptions there, Patricia.

I have a friend who lost a leg in an accident as a child. He walks a little odd, but unless you looked, you might not notice. Because of the shape and nature of his injury, his prosthetic irritates his residual leg and thus he can't walk very far. He has a disabled tag on his car, and he's constantly ragged about being a healthy young guy stealing a disabled spot. Of course, his response is to pull up his pants leg and show his prosthetic.

Just trying to say that some of those folks who might not look like they need the spot may very well have a legitimate reason to use it.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.

Re: Idiots who park in handicapped spots.....

I have one line that I tell them when I see them (including the ones who've "borrowed" someone else's car in order to legally park in those spots):

Stupidity is NOT a handicap.

(Actually had a guy retort once, "Yeah, well, don't you worry about how STUPID I am." I had absolutely no response to that one.)

FS, I miss the subways for many reasons, but one of the main ones is the Entertainment Factor. I sure do miss those wackos. Here there are plenty of "wackos", but they aren't nearly as sophisticated as the NYC Subway Wackos (a group unto themselves).

An anecdote: At the train station where I left for work in the AM, there was almost always this one guy all dressed in white, with his little plastic bag of Jesus Pamplets, trying to hand them out to anyone who would listen (the truly amusing part is that most of the people he was trying to give them to were Asians who didn't speak a word of English...I can only imagine what these poor people were thinking).

Anyway, he'd try to give me one at least three times a week (and he wasn't really nice about it either; he was kind of "pushy"), despite my polite refutations ("No, thanks."). He'd stand there, preaching the "word" and telling us all that we were "sinners" and were "going to hell" and the like. Well, one day after I again politely refused, he decided to declare as loudly as possible, "YOU'RE REJECTING JESUS!! I'M HIS MESSENGER AND I WAS SENT TO DO HIS WORK!!"

I calmly replied, "No, I'm not rejecting Jesus; I'm rejecting YOU. If Jesus can't find a better messenger....."

There are a million subway stories in the naked city.........and don't piss off the waiter until AFTER he brings your food ;-)

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 04, 2001.

(Don't know how I managed to double-post that one; sorry.)

Understood, Tarzan, and it's not like I "attack" everyone I see. But there are some obvious idiots out there, as I'm sure you can imagine. And for some reason, it seems to be worse in this town than it was back East.

Don't know if this is still the same, but many years ago, after my ex-roommate got out of rehab, she had moved upstate NY, bought a car, the whole nine yards. Well, when she went to register the car, they told her that because she's a recovering addict, she qualified for handicapped plates. Sorry, but I think that's ridiculous. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her aside from her former addictions to alcohol and drugs. I don't feel that should qualify one as "handicapped" in the sense that it requires special parking.

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 04, 2001.

I agree, Patricia. At the hospital, they told me I qualified for a handicapped temporary tag since I was on chemo. I turned them down, since I was too damn tired to drive anywhere in the first place!!

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.

BTW, how are you feeling these days? I saw your other post (memory fails me....) about something recent..... Do I remember correctly that you said you were done with the chemo now? (woo-hoo!!)

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 04, 2001.

Yep, I'm off the chemo and back at work, and trying like hell to catch up. I'm finally gaining weight again, which is a good thing. I've always been tall and thin, so when I started the chemo, I lost too much weight too quickly. I'm 6' and I've never weighed more than about 170 in my life. I got down to 135 and started to disturb small children by my appearance. Also, my hair is coming back. I've never had a lot of body hair, but it sure bothered me to go bald! At least I got to keep my eyebrows and eyelashes, others aren't so lucky.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.

Tarz,

Glad you are off the chemo and are regaining some weight. I hope the hair is returning too.

I was just funnin ya about prayer being a waste of time. I spent most of my life looking at it that way. I'm not sure why I changed. Not an epiphany, that's for sure.

Sounds like we have the same morphology. I'm also 6' and the most I ever weighed was 175. I couldn't gain weight. Now I'm 160. Think we need to start hittin them Krispy Kremes.

-- Lars (lars@yahoo.com), February 04, 2001.

Do I care about parking spaces? My children, I care a great deal. When I was creating the world I spent the entire 5th day on parking spaces. Don't worry, it will all work out. It's part of my plan. Al-d understands my plan. After the apocolypse, parking places will be the least of your problems. I love you all. Heehee.

-- (GOD@fire.brimstone), February 04, 2001.

Lars- Would you believe I have high cholesterol too? My fiance's mother has never weighed less than 200 pounds in her whole life, and is African American (a group that tends to have high cholesterol) and has a cholesterol reading of a full 100 points less than mine. Ironic, no? I always thought it was disingenuous to use prayer to ask for selfish things. Sort of like a kid writing out a Christmas list. In fact, Elvis Costello referred to this in song called "God's Comic". It's written from the perspective of a recently deceased clergy man, who meets a disaffected and cynical Jehovah. He said before it had really begun
I prefer the one about my son
I've been wading through all of this unbelieveable junk
And wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys
. . . . . . . . . .
When you lie in the dark afriad to breath
And you beg and you promise and you bargain and you plead
Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus
It's the big white beard I suppose
I'm going up to the pole where you folks die of cold
I might be gone for awhile if you need me


-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.

Off.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), February 04, 2001.