Our Internal Fire "Hope"

Good Morning. Thank you for Joining me. My name is Siagm Nick, and I am representing the Orthodox Paradox Church. The term Siagm spelled S-A-I-G-M defined simply as “Seeker Of Truth.” It is a term that we use here at the OPC to define what it is exactly that we are doing, working towards, and what really matters in the world. Waking up, finding those true beliefs, and finding our paths in this world. No one is perfect. No one has successfully found all the answers they are looking for. However, we can learn and succeed in our lives without harming others.
Before I get started with today’s topic, I want to mention this is a safe space. It is a safe space for anyone. No matter what your beliefs, your religion, your sexual orientation, your gender, and your identifiable actions, you are welcome here. No matter your past, your present, what you do for a living, who you are, who you hang out with. You are welcome here. I ask you respect and feel the same towards everyone else and as we all learn together, we do no harm to anyone else.
Today is Sunday. The name "Sunday", the day of the Sun, is derived from Hellenistic astrology, where the seven planets, known in English as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. Each had an hour of the day assigned to them, and the planet which was regent during the first hour of any day of the week gave its name to that day. During the 1st and 2nd centuries, the week of seven days was introduced into Rome from Egypt and the Roman names of the planets were given to each successive day.
In christian religion this day is a day of rest. Originally, Sunday was referred to as the 7th day. After creating the world, it was time to rest. A time to study, a time to relax. Sunday is looked at as a spiritual day throughout many opinions, religions, and the general public. A community of people gather together to pray, meditate, think, and learn about their spiritual beliefs in an effort to find truth and comfort. It is also a day to worship gods, goddesses, and carry on traditional spiritual beliefs.
Today, even though we are on this fancy internet screen in front of us, we are still gathered together watching, learning, and leaving comments. Voicing our opinions on beliefs and asking questions, always. Finding a new way to look at things. Spirituality is a huge part of who we are and what we believe in, a power that is higher than ourselves. Seeking truth alone, it can be scary. It can be difficult and frustrating. So here we are. We are here as a community. Feel free to drop a comment introducing yourself to everyone here. Let’s make some friends and make a safe place to join together to hopefully save the world.
The current world we live in is chaotic. It is madness. I was reading an article the other day from my local news stating the world is in a mental health crisis. The US statistic says just from anxiety and depression alone, it has increased 23.3% in the last year and a half. People are scared, sad, lonely and with the decades of these complex illusions we have in our heads, we don’t have enough help or resources. Someone looking for a new therapist will wait an average of three weeks for their first appointment. These appointments are expensive even with insurance. Some can’t afford help at all. The sickness is spreading, the illusions are growing stronger, and are getting ridiculously intense causing people to harm each other. This is not okay!
We have all heard it on the radio, or seen it on tv, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help”. They have even built programs for us to learn how to be an ear and help others that ask for help. They have built programs to teach us how to swollow our pride and ask for help. There has been a lot of effort put into resources wich is amazing. With a lot of these resources, it is up to us as a community, as people, as humans with a heart and a spirit to help each other. If no one is willing to help or even listen, those resources do not work at all. We are causing harm to others when we refuse to help or to listen.
This causes quite a bit of fear. The fear of being alone. No one understands, no one will understand. I can’t get through this because I have asked for help and no one will help me! With this the illusion we are in, grows as fast as a fire in the west desert during a drought. It spreads, it grows, it gets more dangerous. The drier the grass is, the more it gets fed, and the hunger only grows in the fire’s belly. While it is trying to satisfy itself, it is causing destruction. It is taking away homes, killing life forces, and turning the landscape into a charred, burnt, desolate place.
This is much like how we feel after we have had a mental breakdown. We are in the middle of this area that is no longer what it appeared to be before. We are lost, alone, and burned into what seems like a dead pile of weightless ash. Our hunger, our need for comfort. Our greed, some of our internal “beliefs” get so out of hand, we burnt ourselves down. While the fire was growing, some tried to use vices to put it out. Drugs, alcohol, anger, and destruction. We were scared. Fear controlled us so much, those things only fed the fire. Eventually it finally burned out. We did not put it out.
Over a short amount of time, the smoke clears and the ash has settled to the flat grey mundane ground. Being children from the earth, We have settled back to the ground. During the time of chaos we have lost our ground. We no longer felt it. We were not in the moment looking at the beauty of this world and the things in it. We left the ground. The most basic forms of life no longer mattered. We didn't quite matter to ourselves in a healthy way because we were so caught up in what we wanted or thought we needed. Finally after breaking down completely, we have settled back to the ground again.
We can smell the char, we can feel the pain that was created by this destruction we went through. But all is quiet now. We may not feel very safe, but at this moment, we are more safe than we ever have been. The after feeling isn’t the most comfortable, however with things finally stopped and slowed. The little bit of uncomfort that we are now feeling, is a small fraction from what we were feeling before. That is worth it.
Underneath the ash, and char on the ground, scoot it away and what do you always find? New growth. A small healthy, green piece of grass, new life. Now that the destruction is all over and finally done, it’s time to rebuild and start fresh from those roots already laid in the ground. But this time, we do it a little differently. The new growth after the fire is hidden. It starts small. It lays underneath the ash while it develops as strong and healthy. In just a short time, you look over the hills that have burned out, they are lusciously green and a new beauty forms. A beauty that is so much different from what it originally was because at this time, in this stage, it is innocence. It’s a brand new baby that just wants to be fed, touched, hugged, and from that it will begin to smile.
Once our regrowth starts, we need to start small and take baby steps. Not necessarily hide, but take those steps in a thoughtful manner to regrow and make sure that we thrive. That we don’t make those mistakes the same way. Nature re-grows under the ash not out of fear but out of protection. Same with us. Those baby steps we take and that rebuilding that we do, we don’t do it out of fear. That will cause us to make more mistakes and create more of an illusion that can start a new fire. Instead of looking at those wants in our lives, this is the time to look at our needs instead of wants. Those needs will help us along the rebuilding process
As everything just toppled down, we want soo many things so fast. We want to rebuild quickly. We want more, we want bigger things. This is also where mistakes happen. That piece of grass that was uncovered, if it grows too quickly and pokes its head out of the ash too quickly, it’s going to get eaten. The regrowth starts yet again. That will happen and that is the circle of life. Regrowth, feeding, thriving, distraction, then death. We rebuilt yet again. Only the next time we grow stronger and with more knowledge. It is up to us to use that new wisdom in our regrowth. Things will fail, we will have struggles. The only thing that we can do in order for this rebirth to happen is to start small, think, recognize what’s real, what’s important and to slow down.
If you can slow down that chaotic fire that is burning we might be able to let it burn out faster than if we let those things fester. That is a great example of using past knowledge and experience to regrow correctly. No matter who you are, what religion you have, or things you do, we will always be able to slow down and look at the beauty that this fire has caused, being able to regrow, rebuild and thrive from it in a whole new way.
We need to make sure we take care of our basic needs first. The needs are much simpler than all those big things that we want. A want is always big, it’s never as small as a need. Food, water, shelter, happiness, laughs, and touch both physical and mental are needs, what we ALL need. Whether it’s touching someone else who is in need or gaining the touch from someone else, both need to touch and be touched in order to thrive.
Hold on to hope. With this hope we know we can thrive.
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