Days 160-164 – City of God, City of Man

Saint Augustine developed the concept: We roam the City of Man with feet treading streets we know & eyes on a City of God we know not.

We are the only beings that imagine our soul's next home. Yet, however much we prettify Paradise, Death frightens us.

Every life is fraught with longing. It perfuses our existence as blood through our heart.

Example: Adults pursue plastic surgery to fool peers: "Pick me, I'm young," then try to fool the Grim Reaper by reversing the trick: "Don't pick me, I'm young."

Death makes some bad choices but physical beauty never stays his scythe.

Decades back a surgeon friend sought to look older so patients would trust him. At seventy he dyed his hair to look younger for the same reason.

In the City of Man we want our surgeon middle aged, our children healthy, our minister wise & our partner pretty. We want to look "great." Our souls? We might work on them when God's city seems imminent.

Yet, one is not "now" & the other "later." Eternity occupies both, gradually razing earth while protecting himself.

Does anyone think that Heaven's gate is patrolled by beauty experts, bank examiners or border guards checking citizenship? Our soul knows the right answers. Our body often argues otherwise.

As I bathe in this inlet on Eternity's sea & remember time wasted on new clothes instead of my old soul. As the shower steam clears & the mirror reveals my half-shaved face I see dimly: Truth, the home of wrinkled skin & revealed secrets; Compassion, nursing our starving at her breasts; Love, the hand that frees the artist’s fingers & liberates arias from the poet's heart; these three swim us close enough to brush the ruffled hem of Beauty & hear the silence that holds everything.

And only Death, drawing near, permits us to whiff the fragrance that perfumes the City of God.

-Rev. Erie Chapman

NOTE: Radical Loving Care has just been released as an audio book (as well as paperback & Kindle). Download your copy & listen in your car (or let it put you to sleep at home:-). All proceeds benefit the non-profit Erie Chapman Foundation. Thank you!

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Categories: Health Care, Meditations, www.eriechapmanfoundation.net

Tags: caregivers, City of God City of Man, Erie Chapman Foundation, eternity, Heaven’s Gate, Radical Loving Care

8 responses to “Days 160-164 – City of God, City of Man”

Terry chapman

June 10, 2019 at 7:59 am

Chip, you’ve gone way past my ability to conjure up the unknown which waits for all of us at sometime we hope not too soon! Not sure I fully understand the drawing but it fits the artistic timbre of your post.
“as I bath in this inlet on Eternity’s sea” and also, “close enough to brush the ruffled hem of Beauty and hear the silence that holds everything” are so beautifully sensed, felt, and shared with us. You have the gift of a muse who leans purposefully toward the arts, thank God!
Keep leading us through metaphors that leap off the written page and into our heart.

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~liz Wessel

June 11, 2019 at 10:33 pm

I have read and re-read your reflection several times and you describe the motivators that can drive or certainly influence our behaviors. On the surface all seems so vain so shallow. Yet, beneath the surface is that deep longing you describe, to belong and to be accepted. Yet, at what price?
Culture varies depending on where you live and certainly seems to play a part in the circles one frequents. I think of women religious and how down to earth and open hearted they are without pretenses. Vermonter’s live a natural life, allow their hair to grey and do not feel the need to wear makeup. Their Beauty radiates forth with an acceptance of aging, of people who are open and friendly.
I have always hoped to grow older gracefully. Yet, looking in the mirror I see the effects of gravity and cringe. The ladies at the gym are always talking about all the cosmetic treatments, procedures they undergo to enhance their looks. I resist the idea and instead am contemplating falling in love with all my flaws, my crooked teeth, wild hair, the deepening lines on my face. Can I love and accept myself as I have been created? Can others love and accept us as we are?
“May we hear the silence that holds everything” may we offer our presence to our vulnerably, welcoming in and offering hospitality to all the seemingly unwanted aspects of ourselves that long for our love and acceptance. This is the gift we can offer ourselves and each other.
Blessings to you, Rev. Chapman
P. S. So happy that RLC is now available on audio books and kindle. Fantastic news!

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Jolyon

June 11, 2019 at 11:18 pm

Erie
You have been working on your soul since the day you were born. Watching movies with your dad. Holding your mom’s hand. Kissing your future wife for the first time. The beginnings of your future does not end.
Your life has brought new or renewed connections. Connections that extend outward past the six degrees.
Time may give the body more wrinkles. It also allows the soul to have more hugs, be aware of Love, the miracle of childbirth. Enjoy. Your. Time.

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Todd

June 12, 2019 at 1:49 pm

This is beautiful Erie. I plan to let your ideas settle in my mind and read a second and third time. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, wisdom and heart with us.

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erie chapman

June 15, 2019 at 5:21 pm

Thanks so much, Todd. Very grateful for your appreciation and your willingness to re-read.

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erie chapman

June 15, 2019 at 5:23 pm

Your comments are also so insightful, kind and loving, Jolyon. Thanks so much for the way you offer your beautiful spirit to all of us.

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erie chapman

June 15, 2019 at 5:24 pm

Your beautiful comment is an essay itself. Once again you demonstrate your sainthood! THANK YOU.

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erie chapman

June 15, 2019 at 5:26 pm

Your comment is so very kind and loving, dear cousin Terry. No need to attempt to discern too much in my compound, complex photoart. I have tried to offer as much as I can so that others can take what they wish. That is why I named it Eternity’s Dream.
Blessings to you.

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