Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Day 291 – The Bridge to Our Soul?

"What is great in man (sic) is that he is a bridge and not a goal." – Nietzsche  

Rumi
   How do we cross the bridge that leads to our soul? Perhaps, part of the answer lies in recognizing that we are not goals, we are, ourselves, bridges. 

   Is our role on earth to be a bridge over which Love travels into the hearts of others? If so, than Love comes through us, not from us. 

   That is why the idea of using an image such as a bridge may be a misleading. The soul may not be a place we "walk toward" or "bridge to." If not, then how to we travel there, if at all? Do we need to travel to something that is already within us?

   My recent sense is that our soul is God's Love living within each of us and all of us. If this is true, then the soul is always present. But our Love may exist in many of us unlit, smothered by the some darkness we have experienced. Meanwhile, our love lives in us as potential, as kindling waiting to be ignited so that we may warm the hearts of others. 

   Our work may be to let go of "work." Perhaps it is unwise to use the world's tools (such as logic, reason and analysis) to solve a mystery that is other-worldly. Instead, the inward pathway to the soul involves letting ourselves fall open so that the soul's love may enter.

   What is "soul" music? Is it something we create or is it simply listening to music that is already there? If this is so, then all great caregivers, like all musicians, artists, writers and leaders are engaging energy other than what comes merely from the world.

   When religion understands Love's energy, it posits that surrender (of ego) is the only way to engage God. We need not yield to some authoritarian power figure. We may instead perceive ourselves as yielding to the warmth and compassion of Love.

   This thinking, engaging the heart's wisdom, may be the single most important gift caregivers can give themselves, and therefore their patients. 

   What I wonder is whether this notion appeals to you. Does this image of yourself as a bridge, or as carrying an unlit fire that can only be ignited by Love, help you or confuse you as you go about healing those who come to you?

-Erie Chapman

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3 responses to “Day 291 – The Bridge to Our Soul?”

  1. Victoria Facey Avatar
    Victoria Facey

    The thought of being like an unlit fire is such a great metaphor! I see our lives as small embers, waiting to be nourished by love’s rushing wind. And, to pass this love through, like a baton would be a magnificant gesture of caregiving.
    Without sounding like a pyromanic, this ignition would create a beautiful fire to warm our and others’ hearts and enrich our lives.

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  2. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Absolutely! I find your encouragement is extremely helpful, as we want to contribute in a meaningful way and to find a deeper purpose in our work. What a hopeful message, as we open our hearts in receptivity Love’s energy will guide us.
    Your words “falling open” and “surrender” stand out for me. I’ve been reflecting on the following thoughts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. “Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a pacifist, the son of a gracious German family; he became involved in the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Hitler and he was executed in the German system of terror. Before Bonhoeffer died, he wrote the following from prison in 1944” (Source: Krista Tippit’s book, Speaking of Faith.)
    “I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. … I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God.’”
    How stirring is this notion that no matter how challenging life situations seem, when we give ourselves over, “falling open” we can still find the “warmth and compassion” of Love’s guiding arms.

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Bridge Over Troubled Water
    By ~Simon And Garfunkel
    When you’re weary
    Feeling small
    When tears are in your eyes
    I will dry them all
    I’m on your side
    When times get rough
    And friends just can’t be found
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down
    When you’re down and out
    When you’re on the street
    When evening falls so hard
    I will comfort you
    I’ll take your part
    When darkness comes
    And pain is all around
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down
    Sail on Silver Girl,
    Sail on by
    Your time has come to shine
    All your dreams are on their way
    See how they shine
    If you need a friend
    I’m sailing right behind
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will ease your mind
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will ease your mind

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