the temples of sniveling

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How many of what are sometimes called "houses of worship" are treated as little more than "temples of sniveling?" And how many of the spiritually-inclined build such temples in their minds and hearts, hoping and conniving in an effort to win favor from a world of wisdom they claim to esteem but do not dare to attain ... begging for scraps, weeping for improvements, clinging to belief, praising with an incontinence that would do an old-age home proud?

"Sniveling" -- a word used with disdain, but worth considering as a mere descriptive. Can I do it? You bet I can. But what warning does it send? I think its warning is quite simple ... stop sniveling.

The word "sniveling" is partly defined by an Internet dictionary as:

to speak or act in a whining, sniffling, tearful, or weakly emotional manner

In spiritual life, sniveling is often tricked out in wondrous clothing -- intellectually and emotionally bedecked -- book after book -- and yet loud and clear in its foundation ... sniveling:  Creating something else as a goal, begging scraps from the lord's richly-heaped table, anointing everything in sight, hoping against hope, and begging a world of wonders to tarry a while and notice me with something other than a jaundiced eye. How could anyone hope to realize the riches of spiritual life with such a mewling, miching, self-serving approach? It's not so much that sniveling is unattractive: What is more important is that it simply doesn't work... imagining that there is an ethereal ass to kiss and that kissing it will assure ethereal rewards ... I suppose there are people who lie on their death beds with this approach ... but it simply misses the mark.

Death ... stop sniveling.
Enlightenment ... stop sniveling.
Heaven or hell ... stop sniveling.
God ... stop sniveling.
Love ... stop sniveling.
Virtue ... stop sniveling.
Compassion ... stop sniveling.
Emptiness ... stop sniveling.
Freedom ... stop sniveling.
Joy ... stop sniveling.
Sorrow ... stop sniveling.
Relief and release ... stop sniveling.
Serenity ... stop sniveling.
Attachment ... stop sniveling.
Making nice or nasty ... stop sniveling.
Peace ... stop sniveling.
Sniveling ... stop sniveling.

 As an alternative to "stop sniveling," there is this possibility:

Stand in the sun, cast no shadow, and really...

Snivel.
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