Author: thegraymaniac

Because we are human, we look at things in a human manner.  We process everything  through one of our five senses.  We see the eagle fly through human eyes, hear the waves break on the seashore through human ears.  We feel the softness of a baby’s skin through human touch, and smell our morning coffee through our human noses…no matter what size they may be.  We taste the sweetness of honey, so carefully made by the bees, with the taste buds on our tongue.

Many things can fool our senses.  Plunge your hand into an extremely cold bucket of ice water, and you may at first think your hand is on fire.  Close your eyes and let someone give you something to taste.  You may have an extremely hard time telling what it is you’re tasting.

Although we are an extremely successful species, there are others whose senses of perception of the things going on here on earth are much better.  A silver Grizzly Bear can smell you from 18 Miles away. He can smell you from up to 48 hours after you are gone, and can tell if you were afraid or not. Fear apparently smells different.

There are animals who can see four spectrums of light instead of just the three we see. They can also see the ultraviolet light spectrum. It’s like having one of those UV flashlights built into your eyes. You could ascertain movement much more quickly, and could see the trail of chemicals most creatures naturally leave behind. You could track down practically anything.

Then, there are the Monarch butterflies who have generational inherited memory. Since their life span is only a few months, the information about the tiny spot they must migrate to in Mexico, while its winter time in North America, is somehow genetically passed on from generation to generation. Imagine being able to go somewhere your parents traveled during their lifetime, using their memories instead of your own.

There is much, much more to learn and much more to perceive in this world then we will ever have time to learn or perceive.

I’ve gotten to this point in order to make a much more important point, perhaps a much more controversial point.  The point is, that we are human and we look at things through our human perception. Everything we are, and everything we know, or think we know, is based  upon eons  of human perception which has been stacked up in our human brains, and evaluated through our human brain’s method of evaluating things.

When something is beyond our human ability to evaluate it and understand it, we come up with alternative explanations for those things we don’t understand. We put God into a box.

Yes, that’s correct. We put God into our human box.

We box God, or our creator, THE creator or initiator of all things, the creator of the entire Universe into our human box.

We here on this third planet from the star Sol, in the Milky Way galaxy, which is in the “local galaxy” group of galaxies, which are located in the Virgo super cluster of galaxies.  There are a lot of super-clusters in our part of the Universe, which is confined to furthest thing we can see in the Universe, which is about 13.7 billion light years away. It’s absolutely mind blowing to even try and imagine the number of stars in the Universe which might possibly harbor life. It’s beyond imagination to try and comprehend the size of the Universe.  Yet we put our creator into our human “box”

Oh, I am not assigning blame!  Far from it.  I am only seeking understanding and one of the many ways I seek to understand is by writing down my thoughts.  I used to do it on a blue ruled sheet of white paper, with a number 2 pencil.  Now, I peck on this keyboard and I think about things.  Sometimes, as in writing this piece, I go for weeks at a time thinking, then coming back and revisiting.  So, I am not assigning any blame, and I am not judging the way that anybody thinks or believes.  It’s only my opinion that we put God in a box.

More than likely, I am wrong about this thing.  I am not sure that any way of thinking, any human way of thinking, will ever be totally “correct”  I am not sure that we human beings can even really know the meaning of “correct” way out here in the back of the pasture, in our little corner of the Universe.  That being said, I think we have come up with some creative ways to think about things.

We think about how special each and every one of us is, and how different and unique we all seem.  We consider that God, or our creator, thinks about each and every one of us, and listens to each word of our prayers.  We have come to the conclusion that God is in control of everything in our world.  All of this may be true.

A God who is not in a box could do just about anything.  Without our human restrictions, there is no telling what God could and has done in this wonderful Universe in which we live, in this wonderful world in which we dwell.  There is a possibility that for each and every single on of us, there is a separate and equal universe in which we live.  There is a possibility that for each of us, there will be a separate and equal afterlife into which we will go when we leave here.  There could be quadrillions of parallel Universes, that could be functioning at the same time, just on different planes of existence.  Wait….

I lost my train of thought.

There could also simply be a creator who formed this world and made us in his own image and who sent his only begotten son to offer salvation to us, if we will only believe in him.  Is that boxing God in?

I guess I will think about this some more and one of these days, I will get back with you.

Or not.

The Pasture by Larry Bowers

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I shan’t be gone long. — You come too.

Whoever said words which motivated you. Words which made you love. Words which filled you with hope and gave you joy.

Whoever showed you compassion, or taught you compassion. Whoever let you know that to give is better than to receive, and a kind word is better than a hateful act.

Whoever told you that the light drives out the darkness and to treat each person as you would want to be treated. Whoever gave you cold water to drink and a warm hug to pass on.

I have seen so many posts again lately about the school shootings we have had over the past several years…since they took “God” out of the schools. I personally think that this particular line of thinking is pretty sad. Do we have a God, Jesus Christ in the case of Christians, who has gotten so mad and vindictive that the Courts of the United States ruled against having State sponsored prayer in school, that he is letting more little children get shot to death in schools to “get back at us?” What a pitiful point of view this is. I would want NO part of a God who would purposefully use the deaths of children to punish people. I really wish folks would think about what they are saying before they use this line. God IS in schools every day. In the hearts and minds of everyone who believes who take him there…no group of court can stop that. Prayer groups are still allowed in schools. American has become so diverse in nature, and in beliefs that we have to be neutral about what the Government can and cannot condone in schools. Live and let live.

If I were a stone of some type, I guess I would be a gravel. The kind they use in road paving, and to fill in mud holes. Utilitarian.

I could never be a gold nugget.

They are scarce and valuable. They are malleable and shapeable. They are extremely useful in so many things. Crowns of gold. Rings of gold that are used to bind promises of love.

Not a piece of silver.

A silver coin can lay in the ground for hundreds of years and then with a little polishing, can be as shiny as the day it was made. Silver is valuable. Circulateable.

Certainly never a diamond.

Shiny, hard and bright. A rare treasure. A stone to be cut and set in the most precious of objects. Jeweled scepters, and engagement rings for the stars.

No… Just gravel, with a coating of dust. Doing the job and getting it done. Filling the holes, paving the roads. Year after year.

I wouldn’t….I couldn’t, have it any other way.

To the night…sleep tight, all my loved ones and friends. Tomorrow we will find us a better day and maybe a better world. If not, let’s make the best of what we’ve got. Be kind to someone. Give if you can to those who have less than you. Hug and kiss your family. Love if you want to be loved.

And in your dreams, you may find solace…and occasionally perhaps a glimpse of wisdom. You may find true love, conflict and maybe betrayal. You may dream the idea that changes the world, a new paradigm for a new age….but then awake, and forget it all. Dream well this night…

The exhibit by Mother Nature this morning, or…by God, whichever you choose, is glorious. The pollen is not quite stirring as strongly yet so I was able to take deep breaths of wonderfully fresh and cool air into my lungs. The dogwood tree in my front yard is in full bloom and so white that it nearly mirrors the snow from this past winter, the blooms are large and almost fluorescent.

The large red headed woodpecker which lives the Oak tree in the front of the house is slamming his head into a rotten branch and enjoying his breakfast. The other birds are singing a Sunday song of happiness to go along with Mr. Woodpeckers drumming and it becomes an orchestra of nature which no human band could ever replicate.

The sunrise is pink and purple, peeking up over Taylor’s ridge into our little valley saying “Howdy, how are ya?” I can almost hear my Dad’s voice from these same spring mornings years and years ago: “Rise and shine” he would shout. “Rise and shine.”

Well I have risen this morning, and as always I am optimistic as a new day is born that it will be better than the one before it. Who knows how I will feel about it, when Mr. Sun has made is entire journey across the sky tonight? I hope I am still optimistic. I hope all of my friends will find a sense of optimism today. I hope we will all find a renewed sense of giving today, and will act upon that sense of giving and help someone who needs helping. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful gift to give to go along with this wonderful gift of a day we have been given? I think so.

Sitting there watching Sergio Garcia finally win the Masters on Sunday, I like to remember back to my High School years and all of the times which I won that tournament. It was many times, as I remember….

I switched from baseball to golf after I had a knee injury while playing baseball. Old Doc Clemens wanted me to walk…even while I still had a cast on my injured left knee. My Dad liked golf, so he bought me a set of “Kroyden” golf clubs from one of the supervisors he knew at the mill. It was minus a 3 iron…which had gotten wrapped around a tree. Thinking back, I guess that’s why he got them so cheaply. The guy was giving up the sport. I still have the nine iron from that set. I used it for years and years around the greens. I chipped a lot of balls in the hole with that club. I won the Masters a couple of times with it.

I had a hole in one on number four at the Trion golf course once. It was, however, a two. I was playing with old friend of mine Steve Hammonds. I lined up that five iron and took a mighty first swing…..and…whiffed the ball. Totally missed it. I tried to play it off as a practice swing, but Hammond wouldn’t let me. I changed clubs to a four iron and swung a little more gently and the ball took one hop and bounced right into the hole. “Hole in one” I yelled. “No, said Steve…it’s a two” Ah well, at least it was a birdie. The only hole in one in all my years of playing and it would have to be a two!

Being a solitary soul, I played many rounds alone. Those were the “majors” for me. I can’t tell you all the amazing shots which I made, all of the commentary from the announcers. (I didn’t know who they were back then…but they later turned into the voices of Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi) I made up all the acceptance speeches, held all of the “loving” cups with my name engraved into them. I won the “grand slam” many times over.

The golf course was my home away from home. I worked at the “pro shop” for a couple of years and learned a lot of neat new words from all of the older golfers, as the shop was just off of the first tee at Trion…with the river running right next to the fairway on the right. My friend Michael Brown and I dove into that muddy mess after a lot of tournaments and felt in the “gunk” with our hands, often coming up with dozens of balls which had found their way into the “wet” I mowed around the roughs and sloughs. (Lamar would NEVER trust me to mow the fairways or the greens) I caddied for the guys from Ware Shoals S.C., when they came down for their yearly match with the Trion supervisors. They paid better, especially as a caddy AND a player, I knew the course well.

My best tournament I ever played (with the exceptions of those imaginary ones) was in my Senior year at Trion High. There was a Fall tournament…a “Jaycees” tournament for the youth of the community. It was divided by age and I was in the “fourteen and over” group. I played excellent and consistent during this 27 hole day long affair. I had three 37’s for 111. Three over par. Some of the best golf I have ever played. The air was crisp and leaves were already starting to turn. The sun was gorgeous and temperature just loomed in the 70’s. The golf course was in immaculate condition. As I walked up onto the old clubhouse steps after my last round I just knew that I was going to finally get that trophy I wanted do badly. It would make up for losing the Region tournament low medalist by hitting my ball inside a 55 gallon trash can. I knew I could beat all the kids around town with my score. I hadn’t counted on an outsider from Savannah coming up and playing and shooting a final round 33 to post a 108 and win our age group. His Daddy Tommy had been pro at the Trion golf course some years back. Kid’s name was Andy Bean. He did go on to win a lot of money on the PGA tour…but that wasn’t any consolation to me at the time.

I haven’t played a round of golf since about 2004 or 2005. I think about playing from time to time but just don’t get out there and do it. Perhaps I’ll go play a round by myself someday soon just to get back into the “swing” of it. I can hear Pat Summerall’s voice now….”and Bowers chips the ball into the hole on the 18th, winning the 1975 Masters” Ahh the memories..both real and imagined.

It’s been a few days since I have walked around town, but I hope to go in the morning.

I need the fresh air to fill my lungs and reinvigorate my blood. I need the sunrise to refresh my spirit as it’s first rays peep over the crest of the ridge.

I need the solitude in order for my brain to reset itself.

More and more time is a blur, similar to standing next to the road very closely while a huge long bus passes by so very close….you can feel the whoosh of the air and brace yourself against the vacuum it creates as it tries to pull you into the road, under it’s wheels.

You feel like you are at fate’s carnival, watching the grim reaper throw darts at the balloons on the big backboard of life, trying to hit somebody’s brightly coloured existence and end it. He broke one of my high school classmates earlier this week. It got my brain to spinning thinking about that loss.

He’s relentless and random, that Father time. Doesn’t care a whit for any of us, rich or poor, low or high.

So I hope to go walk tomorrow and feel the wind on my face, and smell the grass people were out cutting today. I hope to see a hawk or a woodpecker, and smell bacon cooking. I know I’ll hear the local dogs barking but I won’t care. I’ll be busy living life and loving it.

‘

We are the gatherers of our experiences, no matter if we initiate them or if they are initiated by others, and through us, I believe God is able to experience all of that sum of those experiences. We believe in a creator who is all knowing, all seeing and all powerful…but that is not to say that our creator has experienced all things. If you are the author of a fictional novel, it is much different than if you are the author of a biography.