Tuesday, June 10, 2008

God@yahoo.com

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:16:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nemo Ogle
Subject: Do you think of me?
To: God@yahoo.com

Dear Almighty,

I e-mailed you a few years ago. Apparently you have a yahoo account because the mailer daemon didn't tell me at that time that he couldn't deliver your mail. But you know daemons, unreliable creatures really. But you never e-mailed me back. I find this typical of your behavior. Billions of people crying out to you every day eon after eon. If good happens they credit you as having answered, if bad happens they credit you with having answered in a way they didn't like. It is when nothing happens at all that people begin to doubt, and wonder where you are.

I have had several encounters with you in my life where you did speak to me in that "still, small voice". And sometimes not so small voice. "The kingdom of heaven is in you." So I listen to that voice that is in me, combining it with Emerson's input to become more reliant on what I hear there and trust it. I know that such things are very subjective. Yet I wonder, which is more true: the subjective or the objective? Objective is just facts, not truth. Truth has a lot more to do with how the facts are interpreted. I think that subjective truth has a lot more going for it.

Emerson said that "intuition is the highest faculty of the soul." "Know yourself" is something else that he said. But a self is a very subjective thing. Can't see it. Can't smell it, taste it, or touch it, like you can the body. But a self--the observer who thinks and responds to other selves-- well now that is a mystery not so easily washed away by those who believe in objectivity, in spite of all their theories of being and consciousness.

Why am I telling the All-knowing these things? I don't know. I am a human being, and though you are a divine being, you are still being. In my own human way, I guess, sometimes I don't really want anything from you other than to just talk. I know that people ask you for things all the time. Can you please heal my 96 year old grand mother from her heart trouble? Can you send me money: I'm in dire straights? Can you send me a perfect husband who will love me? Can you make me rich and prosperous? If you just let me win that lottery I will go to church every Sunday and give money to the poor etc., etc. Can you please take me back in time for five minutes so I can undo the stupid thing I just did? Everybody wants something from you. As Janis put it: "O Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz..."

But today, all I really want is you. Just you, just to talk to you, I think. At least you are a good listener.

I guess I thought you should know.

By the way, Happy Father's day.


Date: 10 Jun 2008 07:16:44 -0000
From: MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com
To: Nemo
Subject: failure notice

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
"context": "209.191.118.103 failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 554 delivery error: dd Sorry your message to god@yahoo.com cannot be delivered. This account has been disabled or discontinued [#101]. - mta489.mail.mud.yahoo.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"This is a permanent error; I've given up."

I think it's funny that the Mailer Daemon gave up. But somehow I don't think message delivery failure to God is permanent. I wonder how many bounce-back e-mails he's tried to send to us.

Maybe God has hotmail?

Anonymous said...

"This is a permanent error; I've given up."

I think it's funny that the Mailer Daemon gave up. But somehow I don't think message delivery failure to God is permanent. I wonder how many bounce-back e-mails he's tried to send to us.

Maybe God has hotmail?