But the Greatest of These is Love

     People often wonder why the youth of today is as troubled as they are, but do they ever stop to ask themselves, instead, how they got so troubled? Our tendency to judge others before we know them is what troubles me. Every person, no matter their age, race, sex, or orientation, has a story. Some are stories of loving families, warm beds, and homemade dinners. Others are of abusive parents or spouses, cold nights, and hungry mornings. Until we know their story, we don't know the person, but we're still so quick to judge.

"Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him." -Deuteronomy 1:16

     We see a teenage boy sitting in a police station. He has scars on his face, baggy clothes, and dirt on his knees. He also has chains cuffed around his wrists. He's sixteen years old. We overhear that he got caught stealing from a convenient store. One may say "Look what an awful child he must be, breaking the law. He deserves what he gets", but do we ever ask ourselves how he got there? Why he was stealing or how he got those scars? No. We simply jump to the conclusion that he must be an awful child. We assume he got those scars on his face in a fight. We figure he got so dirty while he was trying to run. He's wearing baggy clothes and his hair is not brushed, he must be a thug.
     We're wrong. The scars on his face came from his father. Every day he beat the boy mercilessly for no reason other than because he could until the day the boy ran away from home. His clothes are baggy because that's all he could find. He's homeless and can't afford clothes his size. His clothes are covered with the dirt from the ground in the park. It's where he sleeps. He didn't have any family other than his abusive father, so he had no place to go. He got where he was when we saw him by stealing bread, only one loaf, because he's starving. He can't remember the last time he had a real meal.
     This child, abandoned by the world, only wanted to live and be loved. And what did we do? Instead of taking the time to hear his story, to even ask him why he did what he did, we call him a problem child. A criminal. We turn our back on him just like everyone else has. This is the world we live in. We judge before we know. We label before we ask. We take so many things for granted. If you were in the boys shoes, beaten, starving, and alone, how would you see him then?
     Have you ever woken up cold because your family didn't have power to heat the house? Have you ever looked in your kitchen and not just seen food you didn't feel like eating but no food at all? Have you ever been tired and realized that you didn't have a place to lay your head? I have.
     We take so many things in our daily lives for granted, and we never fully appreciate them until they're gone. We complain that we don't have the food we're wanting at the time we're hungry, but we don't think that somewhere in the world someone is starving to death. We complan that our well heated house isn't as warm as we'd like it to be while someone in the world is freezing to death. We complain that our roof leaks water when it rains heavily while someone in the world can't remember the last time they slept with a roof over their head. We could all do well from taking a moment to appreciate the things we have instead of constantly worrying about the things we don't.
     For me, my most under appreciated thing was a bed of my own. In the year 2010, I moved thirteen times. Most times, I slept on a couch. I was a guest, a stray. I never knew how long I'd be welcome. I always felt like I didn't belong. When I hit the bottom of my rope, I began to miss having a place to call home. All I wanted in the world was a bed of my own. This is how I grew empathetic of people with few things. I began to appreciate that which I didn't have.
     Some nineteen year old girls want a fancy car, some want new clothes, some want the cute boy they saw at the mall to notice them. All I wanted was stability. I wanted a place to go where I didn't feel like just a guest on the couch. I wanted to not have to worry about if I was imposing on anyone or not. I wanted to feel wanted. But above all other things, I wanted a bedroom of my own. A room with my own bed, my own blankets. A room where I got to decide how to organize it. I had lived out of a gym bag for over a year. I just wanted a place to unpack my things. A room with nothing in it but things that were mine, not a storage room with a bed thrown in.
     Every time I moved to a new couch, for the first night, I cried myself to sleep. Sometimes the crying lasted the first few weeks. I had a room with a bed to sleep in at a few of the many places I stayed, but they were never mine. They were borrowed, filled with someone elses things while all my belongings filled three gray storage boxes in the corner. When I finally came to a stable home with a bed and bedroom of my own, the first time I slept in it I was so happy that I couldn't stop crying.
     We're quick to judge those around us who seem to be less fortunate than ourselves, but we're slow to do anything to help them. Next time you see someone in a situation like the boy in the police station, instead of judging them, talk to them. Take the time to learn their name. Kindness is a powerful tool. With enough of it, you can change someones life.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." -1 Corinthians 13:13

Suicide

     Over the past few days, I had a friend tell me they were considering killing themselves. I've had another who said she'd already started. This is something I cannot grasp.
     I've always told people, friend or otherwise, that I'm always here to talk or listen whenever I'm needed. I don't always have the best advice, but I'll be there as long as they need me. If someone tells me they're depressed, I want to do all that I can to help them. All they have to do is ask. However, some people seem to not understand how precious the gift of life really is.
     Life is the most precious gift ever given to us by God and Mother Earth. To be able to live and be a part of the grander scheme of God's plan for the world is truly a blessing. All life, no matter how it is lived, is beautiful in its own way. You just have to look at it with open eyes. We wake up in the mornings and complain that we've woken too early, while children are born dead everyday and will never know the joy of the waking world. Each new day we live is a blessing that we all push aside in our minds. Not everyone gets to experience it.
     When God and Mother Earth breathe life into us, it is a gift. For one to take their own life, it's telling God that we don't appreciate the beautiful gift he's given to us. It's taking that gift and throwing it back in his face. The sixth of the ten commandments states "Thou shall not kill". This goes out not only to our neighbors, but also to ourselves. Suicide is an act that not only brings pain to the heart of God, but to those beings who loved the now deceased. To take ones life will not release you from the pain of the world. I do not believe that a person can enjoy their afterlife as much as one should while watching the pain and sorrow they left their loved ones with. You don't realize how much you will be missed until it's too late.

      ^"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." -Romans 8:18, King James Version.

     Every person reaches a point of despair and loneliness in their lives. God allows us to experience such pain to show us that as long as we love and trust in him, it will all be worth it in the end. He allows us to experience bad things in life so that we will grow stronger and learn to be happy through the sadness.
     The thought of anyone taking their own life deeply pains me; however, someone as young as myself or younger ending their lives is an act I cannot fathom. To consider ending your life over the loss of a mate at this age especially. You are young. You have your whole life ahead of you just waiting to be lived to the fullest.
     I've felt the sorrow of losing someone I loved with all my being, and there were many times where death appeared easier to bear than going on living without them. I prayed for a very long time to anyone who would listen, and when I prayed, I felt no pain. Mother Earth was the first to grant me peace. She filled my days with sunshine and warmth, and surrounded me with others who cared for me. She gave me a soft breeze and the birds a pleasant song, and I was closer to happiness. Then God spoke into my heart and showed me that just because that part of my life was over, it did not mean my happiness was. He showed me that it wasn't the end of my story, but the beginning of a new chapter, and I smiled again. Through their love, I was at peace.
     People may say "Oh, my love does not love me in return. I wish I had never been born." Why wish away the gift of life over someone who doesn't return your love? While they go on living their lives happily, you are miserable because you only think of the pain you feel because of their absence. Live your life for yourself, and you will find happiness.
     Others tell me "I have no one to love, I feel so alone. I wish I were dead". One cannot find happiness by going through life searching for love. You will only find misery. Let love find you. That's why it's called falling in love. You don't make yourself fall, you just fall. To be truly happy, we need only ask our Earth Mother and our Heavenly Father and they will fill the void of loneliness. We are never truly alone.
     Another I've heard is "The one that I love wishes I was dead; I want to make them happy. I'm going to end my life". The best way to deal with hate is to love. If they wish you were dead, then living a happy life is the best way to show them that you don't need their approval. Show them that what they want for you doesn't matter. Taking your life over someone who doesn't care whether you live or die is pure ignorance.
     Life is the most beautiful gift we are ever given. If you're unhappy with your life, change it. Don't end it. Change the things that bring you sorrow. Do things differently. If you can't change the larger things, change small things about your daily habits. Get a new hobby. Buy an interesting book. Do a puzzle. Paint a picture. Do things to keep your mind occupied and away from poisoning thoughts. Now mind you when I say to occupy your mind, there are things to avoid. Many things that seem to help at the time are very self destructive. Alcohol abuse can sometimes give a  temporary feeling of happiness, but it will only make you more pained in the end.
     When thoughts of suicide come into your mind, stop and think: Every morning you wake up, there's someone somewhere who will never see their family again because they didn't. Every time you're angry or hurt that your mate left you or doesn't return your love, there's someone somewhere whose loved one has already died. Remember that you will see them again when you join them in the afterlife. When your parents take away the things you enjoy to teach you a lesson, someone somewhere is being beaten daily by their parents. While you complain that you didn't get the food you wanted, someone somewhere in the world is starving to death. As you complain that you can't find find an outfit you like, someone somewhere in the world is freezing to death because they can't afford warm clothes at all.
     Life can always get worse. When we're depressed, we only look at the negatives in our lives. We ignore all the positive things and silver linings. Open your eyes. Look at the world with an open mind and you will see that life is beautiful and you have so many reasons to live. Mother Earth loves you, God loves you, and I love you.
           ~Manda Chanel

Can You Imagine?

Every no one has his someone. 
Every hopeless romantic has his hopeful song, every bleeding heart his healing hand, every artist his muse, every Lancelot his Guinevere, every Darcy his Elizabeth, every Paris his Helen, every Romeo his Juliet, every Beast his Beauty.
Can you imagine such a love?
A love shared by four hands molded to fit perfectly together, by four of lips only to kiss each other, by four eyes to share their light, by two hearts made only to love the other. Your perfect soul mate.
Can you imagine such a love?
A person who will view your imperfections perfectly. One who will smile through your troubles and  kiss you in the rain. Truly through sickness and health, till death do you part. 
Can you imagine such a love?
Love is not a burning flame. It neither flickers nor fades, neither dims nor dies. Love is the everlasting coal set afire by the spark of a touch made only for you, the sweet embrace of a happiness made perfectly for you.

Can you imagine such a love?

Seven

"Now is it bihovely thyng to telle whiche been the sevene deedly synnes, this is to seyn, chiefaynes of synnes. Alle they renne in o lees, but in diverse manneres. Now been they cleped chieftaynes, for as muche as they been chief and spryng of alle othere synnes." --Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parson's Tale

      In modern English, this reads roughly:

     "Now it is necessary to tell of the Seven Deadly Sins, that is, the capital sins. They all run on one leash but in different ways. They are called capital because they are the chief ones, the sources of all other sins."

     The seven deadly sins, also known as the cardinal sins or capital vices, were created by early christian leaders to show followers the tendency of a lost humanity to sin. According to Charles Panati in his novel "Sacred Origin of Profound Things", Greek theologian Evagrius of Pontuswas the first to write a list of eight offenses and wicked human passions. They were, in order of increasing severity: gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and pride. Evagrius saw the escalating severity as to represent increasing fixation with ones self, with pride as the most serious of the sins.
     According to Geoffry Chaucer in "The Parson's Tale", the Seven Deadly Sins are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust; they are "healed" by the virtues of humility, contentment, patience, fortitude, mercy, moderation, and chastity.
     Dante's The Divine Comedy is a three part work made up of "Inferno", "Purgatorio", and "Paradiso" "Inferno" divided Hell into nine concentric circles. Four of these circles correspond directly to deadly sins: circle two to lust, three to gluttony, four to greed, and five to both anger and sloth. Punishments for the sins of circle five take place in the Stygian lake, the wrathful being punished atop the lake, attacking one another with the various members of their person, including fangs, while the slothful are punished underneath the lake, breathing sighs in bubbles and singing a dolorous song. The other circles don't correspond with any of the cardinal sins; however, in "Purgatorio", Mount Purgatory is scaled in seven levels.
     In 1589 Peter Binsfeld, a German bishop and theologian, paired each of the seven deadly sins with one of the Seven Princes of Hell, said to temp humans by means of their associated sin. The pairings are these: Pride to the Day Star Lucifer, Greed to the God of Wealth Mammon, Lust to the Prince of Lechery Asmodeus, Envy to the Gatekeeper Leviathan, Gluttony to the Prince of False Gods Beelzebub, Wrath to the Marquis of Hell Amos, and Sloth to the Disputer Belphegor.
    
     Pride is the original and most severe of the seven deadly sins, and also the source of the remaining six. Pride is considered to be holding oneself to have a higher self worth than others while refusing to acknowledge the worth of others. In Dante's Divine Comedy, the penitents of this sin were forced to walk with stone slabs bearing down on their backs to induce feelings of humility, the suggested cure of pride. Perhaps the best known example of Pride is the story of Lucifer.

    Lucifer was an exalted archangel of the lord next in honor to only the son of God, Jesus Christ. An immaculate light shone around him brighter and more majestic than that of all the other angels. Only Christ held pre-eminence over the angel because he was one with the Father before the angels were created. Lucifer, who was immensely jealous Christ, thought that he had been a favorite in Heaven among all the angels. He had been exalted on high, yet still he received no gratitude nor praise from his creator. From this came his wish to be held higher than God. Filled with overbearing pride and envy, Lucifer called forth the angelic host. He stated that he would never again bow to Jesus Christ; he would take the honor upon himself where it should rightfully be and be commander of all who would submit to his will and follow his voice. The angels loyal to God wept. They urged him to renounce his wicked plans. Lucifer did not concede. It was the highest crime in Heaven to rebel against the will of God. And so it was that Lucifer, 'The Light-Bearer', sharer of God's glory, the attendant of his throne, by transgression became Satan, 'The Adversary'.

     Second to pride is Envy. Dante defined this sin as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs." Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they consider themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it as they are. In Dante's Purgatorio, the punishment for the envious was to have their eyes sewn shut with wire because they had gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low. Of the seven princes of Hell, envy if governed by the gatekeeper, Leviathan.

 

     In constructing the punishments of hell, Leviathan is called to punish the sinners who committed the deadly sin of envy and died without confession and absolution. 

     Greed is the next of the seven. Also known as avarice, greed is an inordinate desire to possess more than one needs, usually in respect to material wealth. In Dante's Purgatorio, the penitents of this sin were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. Greed is ruled by Mammon, the god of wealth and one of the seven princes of Hell.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon." --Matthew 6:19-21,24

      Now we come to Lust, also known as lechery. This sin is generally thought of as excessive desires of a sexual nature. Aristotle described lust as an excessive love of others which therefore rendered ones love and devotion to God as secondary. In Dante's "Inferno", unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack of self control to their lustful passions in earthly life. Asmodeus is the demon of lust and is therefore considered responsible for twisting people's sexual desires. 

     It is said that people who fall to Asmodeus' ways will be sentenced to an eternity in the second level of hell. In the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Asmodeus is depicted with the breast of a man, a rooster leg, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these animals being associated with either lust or revenge.

     Wrath is the next of the cardinal sins. It may be described as uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Wrath, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. It may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness. Dante described wrath as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite". The sin of wrath also encompasses wrath pointed internally. Because of this, suicide was deemed as the ultimate expression of hatred directed inwardly, a final rejection of God's gifts.

     According to Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, Satan is the demon who rules over the sin of Wrath. Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent.

      Next is Gluttony. Medieval church leaders, such as Thomas Aquinas, took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods. Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:
-Praepropere - eating too soon.
-Laute - eating too expensively.
-Nimis - eating too much.
-Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
-Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
-Forente - eating wildly (boringly).     Beelzebub was the demon of gluttony.

     Beelzebub is commonly described as being high in rank in Hell's hierarchy. According to the stories of the 16th century occultist, Johann Weyer, Beelzebub led a successful revolt against Satan and is the chief lieutenant of Lucifer, the Emperor of Hell, and presides over the Order of the Fly.

     The final sin is Sloth. Sloth is defined as spiritual or emotional apathy, neglecting what God has spoken, and being physically and emotionally inactive. Religious views concerning the need for one to work to support society and further God's plan and work also suggest that, through inactivity, one invites the desire to sin. "For Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." Belphegor is the chief demon of sloth.

      He is one of the seven princes of Hell said to help people to make discoveries. He seduces people by suggesting to them ingenious inventions that will make them rich. Bishop Peter Binsfeld believed that Belphegor tempted by means of laziness and thus his government over the sin of sloth.