My blogs

Latter Years of a Pampered Life!

About me

Gender	Male
Industry	Non-Profit
Occupation	Hieromonk
Location	Etna - 41º 26' 31.27" N 122º 54' 07.60" W [My Grid Square is CN81nk] KB7BNW@KF6ZSY Elevation: 3032 feet above sea level,, California, United States
Links	Wishlist
Introduction	All my life was a preparation to the pinnacle of my being, meeting and knowing Father Seraphim. Everything in my life led to this. Since his death I can find no peace of heart unless everything in my life is in some way an awareness of the reality that I am living the rest of my life the way I am, because I met and knew Father Seraphim.
Interests	Ah ... interests ... I do have a great deal of interests ... far to many to list here. So I guess I would list the following. Amateur Radio, KB7BNW Personal callsign, KF6ZSY - The Blessed Seraphim Rose Integrated Amateur Radio Auxiliary, E.M.E.(Moonbounce) Communications, Amateur Satellites, Rag Chewing, Wholly Rollers (Pigeons that is). Birmingham Rollers and Parlor Rollers. Now ... on a more serious note ... I have interests in the following ... +Learning through suffering endured in a spirit of devotion. +Death and dying in the Orthodox Tradition. I'm interested in trying to awaken people to the fact that there are some really powerful people who would like to take our Second Amendment Rights to keep and bear arms away from us. People are going to kill each other no matter what weapon they use. I think I would much rather be shot dead than to be beaten to death by someone's bare hands. So ... I'm interested in being able to keep our right to own and use guns. I was raised with guns and as a young child a great deal of my food was game that we killed in the area around the dirt farm I was raised on. Do you want to see an end to "Gun Related Violence?" If you do all you have to do is learn how to use guns in a proper and respectful manner. The greatest deterrent to a crazy person running around shooting people is a bullet between their eyes. But since I'm a priest-monk I don't kill anything. This is just my advice to people in the World. I say own a gun and join the NRA.
Favorite movies	I live 30 miles from and over a 4,097 foot mountain pass to a bad theater. The closest theater of mid-range quality is 165 miles round trip and over 2 mountain passes twice. One of which is at an elevation of 4,310 feet. I'm a monk - and - not a wealthy monk. Thus movies have to come to me. That is something that rarely happens.
Favorite music	This is difficult to describe. I once wrote about how my Dad taught me saying "Son! There is no bad whiskey. Some are just better than others." So it is with music and I. There is no bad music. Some forms are just better than others. I listen to so very many different kinds of music. I even listen to music I don't like so I can remember a period in my life when I liked that kind of music. I will say however that I'm a sucker for a woman with a wide spectrum of vocal abilities. But Karen Carpenter is dead, Diana Krall married that Elvis Costello character, and Agnetha Faltskog wont have me. So I'll just listen to that gal beating on that hollowed out gourd with a hand fashioned piece of antler from some horned critter that she already cooked up. Need I go on? I just like music - any music. BUT ... not all the time. I fast from music for unknown periods of time whenever my spiritual life calls for it. If it is doing me harm during my prayer then I'm doing without it until things spiritually come back into focus. I'm not a casual music listener. If I'm going to play music and listen to it that is all I'm going to do. Can a person pray casually? NOT! If they are really going to pray that is all they are going to do. Music is a mystery that has to do with a person's soul and communication. I'm certain that we will never really understand what music is as long as we choose to remain in this fallen state. For most of us that means we wont understand it this side of the grave.
Favorite books	Mostly ancient books written as devotional material on living a spiritual, or as it was known in the Early Church, a philosophic life. The Early Christians had a deeper understanding of the spirituality of True Philosophy. Because of this and other reasons I enjoy Early Christian Literature. For this reason the moral classics of ancient Greek and some modern British and even American literature help to form the soul of those who read them. Even so, some of my favorite books and writings that I would recommend are: The Christian Holy Scriptures (all of them), The Soul After Death, Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works (or Not Of This World depending on your jurisdictional affiliation), The Sin of Adam, The English Philokalia, The English Evergetinos, Archie and the Strict Baptists, The Vicar of Nibbleswicke, and much - much more.