I Yam What I Yam...

While pondering this stuff the other day, one of the lines Popeye is famous for popped into my thoughts without warning. Hmmmmm….that would make a good title for a blog post thought I. And the more I mulled it over, the more it seemed to fit into this overall scheme of posts…this carnal vs spirit stuff. What’s that? Who is Popeye, you ask? Who is Popeye the Sailorman??? Oh my. Robin Williams and Shelly Long did a remake of the cartoon classic a while back (in the late 80’s perhaps??) but it paled in comparison to the entertainment value of the real Popeye pictured below…..

And did you catch that line?

I yam what I yam.

In the cartoons, Popeye went on to say….

and that’s all that I am.

Perhaps for Popeye…since he is simply a character that began as a figment of someone’s imagination. Being a cartoon, he is probably accurate in declaring “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam” but don’t we say that too? Okay….we probably don’t actually say “yam” but when we look in the mirror don’t we often forget that there is more to us than meets the eye…more than our reflection staring back at us? Along with Popeye, don’t we ask ourselves

If I'm not me, who am I? And if I'm somebody else, why do I look like me? (another Popeye quote)

Scripture is very clear that there is an essence within us….ALL of us….that is far more than the reflection in the mirror.

Popeye had another quote he was well known for (other than the stuff about spinach…although he usually said this right before he downed the can of spinach)

I've had all I can stand, cuz I can't stands no more!

Eckhart said that very thing to himself…worded a little differently (and probably with a bit of a German accent). On the night his awakening overtook him, he was pondering suicide and declared….I can’t live with myself anymore. And it dawned on him that there were two of him. One was the pushy, bossy, outspoken egoic mind…the one he believed himself to be….and the other one…..the spirit within. Perhaps one of the catalysts for awakening….for finding the other nature within us….for nurturing the other nature within us is when we finally get fed up with things and declare

I've had all I can stand, I can't stands no more!

Perhaps then we are ready to be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth. Just like Jesus promised!!!!

More to follow!!!!