http://happylittlecrittersband.com/

Happy Little Critters Band, 10 Archbishop May Drive, St. Louis, MO (2026)

01/13/2026

DETACHMENT
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The film YOU HURT MY FEELINGS (2023) focuses on aspiring novelist Beth, her therapist husband Don and their young adult son Eliot. Unwilling to “discourage” his wife, Don pretends to enjoy the draft of Beth’s new novel. But Beth overhears Don tell his brother that her book stinks. Though Beth is upset with Don, she hides her anger. Both Don and Beth, to protect the other’s feelings, are not being open and truthful.

Meanwhile, Eliot decides to finally unload on his mother for what he calls her excessive “encouragement.” She keeps telling him to shoot for goals that he really doesn’t want to achieve. He claims that she has “forced” him to live up to her expectations for him, instead of letting him fulfill his own desires.

The movie brutally unmasks the unhealthy codependency that dominates our behavior, particularly within families and close relationships—everyone is doing everyone else’s business, and they call it “love.” (No wonder so many people have given up on love.) The characters in the film finally find a bit of relief when they realize that their true love and acceptance is not based on superficial talents, abilities or achievements.

Our need to CONTROL is obsessive. St. Paul described it this way: “I do the things I don’t want to do, and I don’t do the things I intended.” Think of the power struggles in your own life: Do you argue with yourself and others over food, alcohol, buying stuff, politics, religion, the TV remote, clutter around the house, use of the car, studying for school or choosing a career? Please, don’t ignore or deny your obsessiveness—it’s in us all.

Behind such a universal compulsion is the fear of SEPARATION. Every human has suffered the traumatic experience of being born. That “violent” beginning scars all of us with what should truly be considered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—the “Original Sin.” We go through life expecting (more or less) to fail and be rejected or abandoned. The fear of SEPARATION spawns an obsessive need to CONTROL or be CONTROLLED.

We really need is to develop DETACHMENT—HUMILITY, coming from the knowledge that none of us has CONTROL of anyone’s worth, value or BELONGING—no one can successfully earn or withhold LOVE.

We can learn a few tricks about DETACHMENT from traditional practices recommended by Christians and other “gurus”—practices like meditation, centering prayer, yoga and mortification can be helpful. Generally speaking, most healthy practices of DETACHMENT are merely ways to coax and challenge our conscious minds to surrender CONTROL and be attentive—even 10 minutes of silence (or giving up candy for Lent) can help.

Our Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) finds it impossible even to imagine SEPARATION—everything and everyone belongs within the ONE ORGANISM (God). Our “Soul Music for the Mind” may not be capable of healing ALL our fears. However, if we can free our CONSCIOUS minds of the belief in SEPARATION, that will go a long way in overcoming the rest of our wounds.

The HLCB’s “Soul Music for the Mind” gives the conscious mind a tool to take initiative in the process of freeing itself. Otherwise, the mind will surely become “Satan”—lying, cheating, sneaking and finding ways to sabotage our efforts to develop DETACHMENT.

In summary, humble DETACHMENT allows us to enjoy absolute BELONGING—without a need to cling to anyone or anything. As we happily live our brief lives without the need to CONTROL, we also are changing humanity itself. Ultimately, a critical mass of mature humans will consistently heal very young children of the obsessive need to CONTROL. Humans will live in peace and joy as long as our species exists on Earth.

© 2026 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

01/05/2026

CATECHISMS
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Ever since Jesus of Nazareth lived and articulated his Good News (Gospel) 2,000 year ago and commissioned his individual disciples to keep spreading his message to the ends of the Earth, the phenomenon of the Catholic Church has been fermenting on Earth. We have the Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, Ambrose and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

For centuries, theologians, saints and ordinary Christians have lived and taught the Gospel of Jesus, according to their own understanding. Yet, the Catholic family maintains a remarkable degree of unity—relying on the bible and tradition for guidance, but also on pastors (bishops and pope) to stay together.

Now, think of a family living in the same house for 2,000 years. Can you imagine the clutter in the attic, garage and basement? The accumulation would certainly include everything from treasures to trash. Wouldn’t it be helpful to occasionally organize and clean out all that stuff?

In the case of the Church, every few hundred years, popes have commissioned a group of experts to create a CATECHISM—reordering all the teaching and beliefs taught by the Church, up to that time. The most recent such project was authorized by Pope John Paul II in 1985. The results were published in Latin, and then translated into other languages, throughout the 1990’s. The English translation was approved in 1994.

Many folks could not wait to get their hands on the NEW CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Especially fearful and immature people were seeking the security of a single source of authority that would have all the answers. They fanaticized, living a “safe” life, shielded by a “bullet proof vest” of two extremely thick books—the bible and the CATECHISM. However, they missed the whole point of the project.

The CATECHISM says it is a tool, not a solution: “This work is intended primarily for those responsible for catechesis: first of all the bishops, as teachers of the faith and pastors of the Church. It is offered to them as an instrument in fulfilling their responsibility of teaching the People of God. [Also,] it is addressed to redactors of catechisms, to priests, and to catechists. It will also be useful reading for all other Christian faithful.” ( #12)

When the new CATECHISM was first published, future Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) explained that it only told us where the Church had come so far. He said that it is up to theologians to open new insights and avenues for the continued growth of the Church. “Those who search for a new theological system in the Catechism, or for surprising new hypotheses, will be disappointed. This is not the concern of the Catechism.”

Indeed, almost immediately, the paragraph dealing with the death penalty (2267) was revised by Pope John Paul in 1997, and again by Pope Francis in 2018. The original text allowed the conditional justification of executions. But both popes put restrictions on capital punishment, eliminating any moral justification.

So, we already have seen the CATECHISM change on the death penalty; our Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) foresees it drastically changing in its description of Creation, Evil and the Four Last Things (Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell). The Good News of Jesus never changes, but our understanding is constantly developing.

Cardinal Ratzinger said: “After the fall of ideologies, the problem of man—the moral problem—is presented to today's context in a totally new way: What should we do? How does life become just? What can give us and the whole world a future which is worth living?” CATECHISMS will continue to collect, organize and cull the answers to those questions; but it is up to us to blaze new trails, with better answers for humanity.

© 2026 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

12/15/2025

WHERE DOES IT HURT?
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When I was 6 years old, I fell in love with my mother’s uncle from New York, Will Sockett. He came barging into our house, smoking a big cigar; he was larger-than-life, like a Dickens character. They say that a doctor once asked my uncle where he was hurting—what was wrong. Will replied, “You’re the doctor, you tell me.”

In doctor shows on TV, we notice that the medical team makes 3 or 4 misdiagnoses, before they finally find the true source of an illness. Likewise, most people miss the target, when they aim to find the real root of human misery. But our Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) claims to have discovered the genesis of all human ills: simply, all real human agony stems from minds that compulsively think that they must CONTROL.

Of course, problems and obstacles arise from all kinds of factors beyond our CONTROL. But the real misery comes from our own “masterminds” being driven to engage in life-or-death struggles to maintain our BELONGING, amid a universe we’re convinced is hell-bent on SEPARATION.

The HLCB never has to fight life-or-death battles, because we believe that we already BELONG, as parts of the ONE ORGANISM (God)—the only life that exists. Since that God Life is eternal, we are eternal—there is no death. God always has had a Trinity of “Persons,” and each of us has a “person” who (when human life ends) is drawn by God to join the eternal Triune “Persons” in sharing everything.

Meanwhile, on Earth, we are intimately connected and constantly evolving, rising into new forms that are totally good and marvelous. Think of a kaleidoscope. As it turns, every nudge creates new and beautiful patterns—each unique. Yet, not a single colored particle is added to—or lost from—the cylinder. Once minds SURRENDER to the reality of our cosmic ONENESS (a totally self-contained organism), there’s no agony.

We human forms of life are temporary and have no other purpose than learning how to be happy together, right here and now. We accept our limitations and failures as parts of our “growing pains.” As our immature “masterminds” surrender, our minds become servants, actively searching for new opportunities and better methods for forming healthy INTIMACY with everyone and everything.

My friend Dan was born with severe cerebral palsy. Neither he nor anyone else could change that condition. But Dan had an active, clever and humorous mind that did its best to avoid envy or self-pity. In my very first meeting with Dan, he (literally) spelled out for me that his mission was to bridge the gap between disabled and able-bodied people. (Overcoming what appears to be SEPARATION is all humans need to be happy.)

Dan accomplished his goal by putting himself in the midst of able-bodied people—“forcing” them to deal with him. Unable to travel on his own, Dan would get one his friends, whom he wryly called his “lackeys,” to take him to a meeting. The more meetings he attended, the more “lackeys” he attracted.

Believing in the ONE ORGANISM is the great equalizer. It rids our conscious minds of our desperate need to CONTROL. No longer does the delusion that there’s not enough food, space, clothing, shelter or intimacy drive us. The only reason we have a scarcity of any necessity is because we think we are SEPARATE, so we hoard and CONTROL.

When we no longer believe in SEPARATENESS, “good and evil”, we can relax and enjoy the discovery of INTIMACY. Our conscious minds, at least, become havens of sanity amid the “growing pains” of humanity. The HLCB (or the Good News of Jesus) has the perfect “medicine” for all our woes.

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

12/08/2025

JUSTIFICATION
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For centuries, Lutherans and Catholics notoriously condemned one another over the question of how a person is “JUSTIFIED” in the sight of God. In October of 1999, scholars from both groups finally hammered out and signed a joint statement of agreement on the meaning of “JUSTIFICATION.”

I must confess that I have been a Catholic priest and have lived, studied and preached Christianity for well over 50 years, and I have never felt the need to delve into the theology of JUSTIFICATION. It must not be very important for my understanding of the Gospel. Have I been missing something?

Recently, I was forced to look into the issue more closely. One guy in a group of men I visit regularly at a prison wanted to discuss a religious book he found. The first two or three chapters were on nothing but the topic of JUSTIFICATION. I admitted my ignorance on the subject and asked the other guys what it meant to them.

In no time, I realized why the matter is of no importance to me. It is like asking me when I am going to stop beating my wife. In the first place, I don’t have a wife. But even if I did, I would never beat her. I might be wrong, but the whole issue of JUSTIFICATION is about establishing a reason (a “justification”) for God to love us tiny, sinful human critters. The question assumes that our sins make us EVIL in the sight of God.

Basically, the argument has been about: Does God love us because Jesus died on the Cross to cover over our EVIL, or does God love us because Jesus replaces our EVIL by infusing us with Godliness? I am astonished that some Christians are still stuck in such a mindset. If God doesn’t love us just the way we are, then God doesn’t love us at all. To say that God doesn’t love us, even for a moment, is sheer nonsense and blasphemy.

The Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) believes that we are all parts of the ONE ORGANISM (God). The question of JUSTIFICATION makes absolutely no sense to us. Why would a foot—or any part of the body—have to justify its existence? The mere notion that our “free-wills” allow us to SEPARATE ourselves from God merely reveals the extent to which we arrogantly exaggerate our own power.

We can free ourselves of the fear of SEPARATION, by simply surrendering our thinking to the HLCB’s “Soul Music for the Mind.” Personally, I find it fairly easy to surrender, because I have been relatively shielded from the need to justify myself. Of course, like everyone else, I am a slave to fear, but I am like a “house slave.” I have never had to work in the field and pick a quota of cotton, in order to avoid the lashes of the master.

For instance, as a child (the “baby” of 3 boys), I never got trapped in the need to give gifts or to justify my position in the family. My mother would say, “Johnny, you don’t need to buy me a gift—you are a gift in yourself.” I learned early, “No kid should have to ask his parent for money, to buy a gift for that same parent.”

Both Lutherans and Catholics are now “able to articulate a common understanding of our justification by God's grace through faith in Christ.” Hopefully, all Christians will continue to move away from having to win God’s favor, through the pagan practice of atonement (Jesus sacrificed himself on the Cross to pay the price we owe to God).

Some believers may still think they have to prove something to God, or justify the love God has for them. Perhaps they can be healed, if Christians who are less wounded or more mature will keep hugging them and say, with a smile: “God already loves you, and you are a gift in yourself?” Enough said about JUSTIFICATION.

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

12/01/2025

OUTRUNNING A BEAR
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Fans of the old TV series HOUSE will remember misanthropic Dr. Gregory House repeatedly reminding his medical team, “Everybody lies.” We have bred a whole human race of liars, cheats and sneaks—more or less—by attempting to CONTROL children and adults. Our false “truths” compete against each other, and it becomes nothing more than a footrace.

It’s like the old joke about two hunters confronted by an angry Grizzly. When Bob’s buddy expresses doubts that they can outrun the beast, Bob says, “I don’t need to outrun that bear; I only have to outrun you.”

When humans think they can define reality by merely out-lying, out-cheating and out-sneaking the other side of a struggle—with no other accountability—they get lost in a maze of relativism. But the TRUTH is irreplaceable and invincible. No human is able to escape or CONTROL the TRUTH—nor does anyone need to defend it. We really need to accept our helplessness and totally surrender our minds to a higher power.

The Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) teaches that everyone and everything is part of the ONE ORGANISM (God). We have no need or ability to CONTROL others—we can only influence them. The ONE ORGANISM holds itself together naturally, without manipulation—healthy people don’t worry that their toes are going to fall off. We already BELONG, safe and secure, within reality—there’s no need to run away.

Eventually, we will stop lying and CONTROLLING, but we’re not there yet. And since we are not isolated individuals, but parts of the ONE ORGANISM, we have a responsibility to influence others for the common good. Sometimes, children and certain adults need to be “influenced” in the form of “healthy control.”

“HEALTHY CONTROL” demands a “YES” answer to all three of these questions:
1. Is the situation deadly or very serious? [Haircuts and clothing don’t usually qualify as “deadly.”]
2. Do we intend our pressure to be conditional (temporary)? [If conditions change, the constraint must stop.]
3. Is the use of force possible without doing more harm than good? [The “Serenity Prayer”—seeks wisdom.]

Unfortunately, most of us are incapable of applying those guidelines; we simply cannot resist doing other people’s business. The way others dress or wear their hair, how they worship and how they express their s*xuality are sources of unnecessary division in families and society. On the other hand, wearing a mask during a deadly epidemic is “very serious.”

An 18-year-old who kills someone during an attempted robbery usually does not need a lifetime of incarceration—nor is it “temporary” to execute him. The moral condition of most murderers drastically changes for the better, over a period of years.

Governments cannot possibly CONTROL most private individual activities (e.g. drug abuse, abortion, s*x, su***de and worship) without doing more damage than good. Sometimes, the “lesser of two evils” must be tolerated—a group of French nuns provided a safe and clean home for prostitutes. The ladies continued to conduct their “business,” but the nuns were able to educate and guide the women to find a better way of life.

Once we fully believe that we already BELONG within the ONE ORGANISM (God), there is no need to run from reality (e.g. lying, cheating and sneaking). We can surrender! – “Let the TRUTH do your ‘dirty work’ for you.” Maybe then, we can learn to appropriately apply (when necessary) the three principles for “healthy control.”

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

11/24/2025

A MUCH BETTER SANTA
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In 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to THE SUN newspaper, requesting an answer to an awkward question: “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”

In a 416-word reply, editorial writer Francis "Frank" P. Church classically highlighted the truth that there is a much better “Santa Claus” than the one in whom most children are told to believe. He wrote, “Santa [exists] … as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist …."

Our Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) claims that the ONE ORGANISM (God) is a much better “God” than the one most people worship. It’s like Michael, the kid in a comic strip, who broke a gift he had intended to give his mother for Christmas. His father secretly replaced the broken gift and asked the boy if he was too old to believe that Santa Claus did the good deed. Michael replied, “No. But I’d rather believe it was you.”

From the moment of birth, humans experience SEPARATION. We imagine that our BELONGING can only be guaranteed by CONTROL—our own or that of a higher power. But, because the HLCB believes that we are all parts of the ONE ORGANISM (God), we have no fear of getting lost. The consistency and security of our God is much better than the erratic help from a magical God who pushes buttons and pulls strings.

A CONTROLLING God tends to keep people immature. For instance, a woman gets an upset stomach every time she eats her favorite dish, but she then eats the same food again. She says to her friend, “I’m praying that I don’t get sick this time.” That may sound silly, yet religious people say similar things all the time and expect their prayers to be answered by a magical God.

In 2021, Utah Governor Spenser Cox made this plea on TV: “We need more rain; and we need it now …. We need some divine intervention.” Cox continued, “I’m asking Utahans of all faiths to join me in a weekend of prayer.” Yet the governor ignored that, in the area of the city of St. George, there are at least a dozen golf courses that suck up tons of water every day—(attracting golfers to the State is good for the economy).

Without the ability to CONTROL, people have to grow up and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions—(“If it is to be, it is up to me.”) Likewise, every “person” sharing the one God Life must suffer the same consequences. (Whatever is done to the least one is done to the whole ONE ORGANISM.) Yet, even so, no one gets lost, abandoned or rejected—there is absolutely no possibility of SEPARATION.

The ONE ORGANISM (God) is not a collection of parts, like jelly beans in a jar; nor is it unaware or uncaring, like a machine. God knows, enjoys, suffers and participates in every surprising movement and revelation. Each part of God’s Life rises up from one form into newer forms. God is like the beautiful designs of a kaleidoscope, endlessly enjoying Life and sharing it with each of its “PERSONS.”

The HLCB’s “Soul Music for the Mind” is easy to learn. We use the two notes of our music (ONE ORGANISM and “PERSONS”) to train our conscious minds to think better, safer and fairer thoughts. Without this better music, our masterminds compulsively will devise ways of CONTROLLING, which only causes more misery and troubles—wars, poverty, starvation, despair, slavery and a whole host of personal problems.

Just as Virginia learned of A MUCH BETTER SANTA than a chubby little elf, we have discovered that the ONE ORGANISM (God) is a much better God than the one in whom most of us believe. This better God is what everyone and every religion really have longed for, in their search for INTIMACY and BELONGING.

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

11/18/2025

WE AREN’T SPECTATORS
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Richard Bach’s book ILLUSIONS (1977) opens with a parable: Tiny creatures spend their lives underwater, clinging to rocks on a riverbed. One day, a youngster lets go. They see the rushing river bash him against the stones, but (once out of sight) the current sweeps the little fellow up and gracefully carries him downstream. Creatures along the way watch him sail by, and tell their children of the day the “messiah” appeared.

We must not waste our lives as mere SPECTATORS, clinging to “rocks.” What happens to us in eternity need not distract us from fully living this earthly life. Though nobody knows for SURE why we’re here (or what happens when we die), it is helpful to examine some of the theories that link this life to an afterlife. Our Happy Little Critters Band (HLCB) does not necessarily oppose those stories—especially Christianity’s.

For example, all mainline Christians believe Jesus is “God-in-the-flesh.” Catholics say bread “becomes” Jesus (God) during the Mass. They celebrate the “Assumption”—that Mary’s body and soul were taken to heaven (defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950). Our HLCB supports such beliefs, with plausible and logical reasons, explaining the merger of time and eternity: Everything is ONE ORGANISM (God), shared by many “PERSONS.”

Unfortunately, most Catholics watch as SPECTATORS—they only see Mary as an object of admiration and intercession. But, early Catholic tradition said that whatever is true of Mary is true of the Church (the people of faith). In the case of the Assumption of Mary, the whole Catholic community should look forward to the same fate. As a matter of fact, all humans can look forward to that same destiny.

Spanish pop singer “Rosalía” claims she is not even baptized, yet the Jesuit internet magazine AMERICA MEDIA commented about her album LUX: “Finally, a pop star who understands Catholicism … On LUX, the DIVINE and the HUMAN are inextricably linked: Rosalía talks about the WORLD by talking about GOD.”

The HLCB believes that everything is ONE ORGANISM (God) who loves and cares for every single particle of Life. We say the ONE ORGANISM could never be happy without giving itself totally to another. Therefore, our theory of ONE ORGANISM demands the coexistence of “PERSONS” capable of receiving life, though they are not parts of the life they receive. [Christians identify three such “PERSONS”—FATHER, SON and SPIRIT.]

Our band’s understanding of “PERSONS” is unique. And we imagine that each and every mortal human has a coexisting “person” that needs life (any life) to exist. Thus, when a human life ends, its “person” is “assumed” to share the abundant ONE ORGANISM. That transition, from a tiny individual human life to the whole all-inclusive ONE ORGANISM (God), is precisely how we understand the “assumption” of Mary.

By accepting HLCB’s “Soul Music for the Mind” we can finally free our conscious thinking of any need to CONTROL. We know that the ONE ORGANISM (God) is eagerly waiting to share the whole God Life with each of our “persons.” Once we get our controlling minds out of the way, we can give ourselves totally to the business of enjoying INTIMACY (not as SPECTATORS)—we can enjoy life and die willingly.

Yes, to “die willingly” is a great relief for our species of critters, who have no other option than to end. Of course, it’s nice to know that we humans will rise from our graves to serve God here, in new forms (gases and particles). However, our greatest satisfaction (and motivation to “willingly” let go of this life form comes from knowing of the “assumption” of our individual “persons,” to share the eternal ONE ORGANISM (God Life).

So, let’s not be SPECTATORS, telling of the day the “messiah” appeared. We can BE the “messiah.”

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

11/11/2025

CHARACTER - LOVE
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Whether someone has STRONG or WEAK character depends on how closely their actions match what they believe in their heads (minds). Even great St. Paul acknowledged the weakness of his character when he said: “For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Rom. 7:15). Honestly, most of us share Paul’s condition.

On a wider level, GOOD or BAD character depends on how closely beliefs (minds) match the universal reality of unity (LOVE). We might say that Adolph Hi**er had a very STRONG, but BAD, character. The N**i dictator was hell-bent on dividing Germany (and the world) into the “Master Race” and those who were “inferior.”

Our Happy Little Critters Band insists that everything is part of the ONE ORGANISM (God). Therefore, we can only demonstrate GOOD character by seeking harmony with the people and the parts of this universe that we encounter from moment to moment. We train our minds (“masterminds” hell-bent on CONTROLLING) to learn that strength of character is measured by how completely they SURRENDER to REALITY (“servant minds”).

St. John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent!”—change your minds. But that is only the beginning. To be saved and to help save others, we must have STRONG character—we must ACT on what we believe. Good thinking is never enough. St. Francis of Assisi said, “You know what you DO.”

St. James said: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves” (James 1:22). When folks claimed that faith (a state of mind) was enough, James retorted, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?...[It’s] dead” (James 2:14, 17).

World Wide Marriage Encounter teaches the concept: “RISKING TO TRUST.” TRUST is a state of mind (I have faith that this parachute is correctly packed, and I hope that it will safely carry me to the ground). But, RISK is acting on my faith and hope (I jump). Or, parents TRUST (believe and hope) that their teenage children are responsible. But they RISK, when they leave the young folks unsupervised for the weekend.

What we learn from the study of character helps us to better understand the Theological Virtues: FAITH is a state of mind—I believe that everyone absolutely BELONGS. HOPE is a state of mind—I expect that humanity will grow to accept that everyone BELONGS. But, LOVE is taking a risk to act on my faith and hope—I FORGIVE my enemies NOW. “So, faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13).

Thus, most of our spiritual advice about “self-control” is misleading and prideful. When I eat a pint of ice cream (substitute any other addiction), it is not my body “screaming” for ice cream. Our “masterminds” blame the flesh, other people or the devil. Our “masterminds” may sound like the sweet-talking seducer of Jesus in the desert. Or, they may be abusive bullies that shame and destroy our worth, value and confidence.

Our “servant minds,” on the other hand, sound like Jesus in the garden—“Thy will be done.” They sound like Mary—“I am the servant girl of the Lord. Let it be done according to your will.” They sound like standing up at a weekly meeting and announcing, “I am an alcoholic: I came to realize that I am powerless, I acknowledge a power greater than myself and have decided to surrender my will and my life to that higher power.”

Real “self-control” does not involve minds that dominate our flesh or other people. STRONG character is not boasting or CONTROLLING. It is SURRENDERING and DOING what faith and hope reveal to us as REALITY—the ONE ORGANISM (LOVE/GOD) that includes everyone and everything. STRONG character frees us from the tyranny of our “masterminds.” Finally, we can enjoy the INTIMACY of BELONGING.

© 2025 Rev. John Vogler [HappyLittleCrittersBand.com]

Happy Little Critters Band

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