Nursery Rhymes for Adult Spiritual Enrichment

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet

Eating her curds and whey

Along came a spider

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away

The spider that approached Miss Muffet affected her on various levels of human needs. The encounter disturbed the very basic need of the human body to obtain nutrition.  This obviously unsettled the sense  of safety, made the social environment unbearable, the value of the eating experience plummeted in worth, and the ability to self-actualize was impeded due to the unwanted guest. Where do we run to from here? Hopefully, we run to a place of peace, faith, love, and perseverance during distasteful situations.

Interestingly, curds and whey is cottage cheese and includes the lumpy with the liquid. The spiritual fruit are characterized as being "liquid," which are soft, moist, and tender.  The lumps represent the hardness of our inner experience which consists of our human short-comings.  This combination of liquid and lumpiness are the curds and whey of our spiritual life.  The "spiders" of life will sit near the solid lumps of our short-comings to intimidate us away from humane attitudes. Spiders do not do well submerged in liquid, so it's best to run in the direction of fruitful attitudes and away from the source of terror. We should immerse self in the liquid of meekness, gentleness, and peace, while escaping from the lumps of aggression, harshness, and cruelty. Run from the self-hatred within human short comings to restrain cruel and ill-intended acts to self and others. Let's allow the liquid of love, kindness, and goodwill to remove the lump where the spider wishes to sit. The seat in which the spider sits is in the lumpiness of human despair, sadness, and evil, but the seat sinks in the softness of an optimistic attitude by the spirit of joy, goodness, and faith. In our human short-comings is where we become impatient with our own lumpiness, which could lead to out of control responses to unfavorable situations, and that can lead to fatal consequences. In this case, we accept our human condition by accepting self as we are, with all the lumps, as we run in the direction of patience with our faults, self-control with those who judge,  and perseverance in constructive attitudes.

Grace brings comfort to our fleshy imperfections to sink the seat of fear into the blossoms of juicy fruit. To be purely open is like having the liquidity of the spiritual fruit flowing through us unencumbered. Unfortunately, fleshy imperfections make us a little lumpy which could impede the fruitfulness in what we think, feel, and do. Thus is the nature of our spiritual nutrition that we receive through "curds and whey. " The "spiders" of life will have a seat on the lumps of our flaws to make us fear our humanity. They intend to incite unfruitful responses to our imperfections by making us close self from a fear of others, and to close our inner life from the fear of reprisal for being spiritually focused. The spiders want us to be impatient with criticism, become out of control towards pious attitudes, and to react in ways that cause endings in life. In this case, we should run to a place where there is patience with human short-comings, self-control when feeling the lumpy urges of inhumane reactions, and to persevere in the liquid of spiritual fruitfulness.

Mercy towards the shortcomings found in the lumpiness of the flesh brings relief and a tranquil feeling, and that mercy is within the liquidity of a fruitful spirit. Within the "curds and whey" of our inner life we can know that the spirit changes the primitive nature of the flesh. That change transpires by regulating harsh attitudes,  curbing aggression  towards others, and quelling violent responses. However, the "spiders" of life sits on the lumps of our imperfections to make us feel fear of embarrassing exposure to the point of hurting others with bodily harm. That disturbance spills into the home and perpetuates instability in daily activities of living. In that event, we should run to a gentle place where meekness will cause peace to stabilize our interpersonal responses, to bring harmony in our place of shelter, and to contribute to stable behavior from day to day. Tolerance and mercy towards human imperfection creates a safe and secure environment.

Compassion does wonders for infusing warmth into the lumps of our imperfections, which creates social graces from person to person. The "spiders" of life sit on our social short-comings to incite fear of one another to cause intolerance, and exclusionary reactions. This includes abuses to sensual intimacy, hatred, cruelty, and ill intentions. When those anti-social sentiments begin to terrorize us, we should run to a place of goodwill, kindness, and love, which is internal to us if not externally evident. Within the liquidity of social attitudes, we sink the seat that the spider sits on. Those social graces include sensual intimacy, acceptance of imperfections, belonging with the well-intended, and love for humanity. As we feed on the spiritual curds and whey, we are able to digest the lumpy short-comings with the moisture of compassion to bring social harmony through tolerance.

All that we are on the inside, including the "curds" with the "whey," corresponds to how we relate to the living divinity of our inner life. Within the liquidity of our softness is found spiritual fruit, serenity with our flesh, respect for life however imperfect, reverence for the grace of the universal deity, and positive energy towards fellow human beings. Because the liquidity of our inner life is of the internal deity, then the lumps of our imperfections can be diminished into the cream of the spiritual realm. The "spiders" of life intend to scare you away from the source of infinite intelligence, to frighten you away from the source of infinite power, and to incite terror to the infinite presence. They focus on your imperfections to make you feel unworthy of divine goodness, and use intimidation on human vulnerability. The spiders want to desolate your inner life by the tool of fear to put you in turmoil by your insecurities, incite contempt of life towards those who disparage, to terrorize your respect for the supernatural, and turn you into a frightful storm of negative energy. In that case, we should run in the direction where there are fruitful attitudes for the spiritual curds and whey. That is a place of merciful intent towards the vulnerability of the flesh where social graces embrace human imperfections. In that place is love for the divine potential of humanity, and the optimism of faith while working through short-comings.

Within the curds and whey of our spiritual life is enough warmth to generate hope within human imperfections, and that hope is durable over the eras of time. We accept who we are within our carnal nature and are propelled forward by the optimism of the spirit as we experience failures and successes. Faith is necessary to see past our fleshy short-comings so we can move on with honorable intentions towards our future. The spiders of life sit on our imperfections to strike us with fear concerning the future, which leads to despair and hopelessness. Goodness is to know that regardless of our human pitfalls there is grace as we believe in wholesome and honorable living. The spiders will terrorize you with the belief that there is nothing good and honorable about the human animal, and only through evil can we do well in this world. Joy gives us the ability to feel enjoyment in the gratification of the flesh while happiness in the spirit is extended to one another freely. The spiders want you to be afraid to enjoy the fulfillment of basic human desires, and incite sadness and pessimism over any carnal gratification.  Our identity definitely belongs with the lumpiness of humanity as we all share the same oxygen, food sources, water, need to elimi ate, and need for sleep. Even then, our self-expression can share the liquidity of hope, optimism, and faith as we self-actualize as decent human beings.

We can assess that spiritual curds and whey comprise all the liquidity of fruitful attitudes, and all the lumpiness of human imperfections. The diagnosis is that some people will sit on our short-comings to incite fear to frighten us away from spiritual fruitfulness. Even then, we plan to maintain the peace we have with our human condition. We implement that plan through tolerance and compassion towards our own imperfections, and the imperfections of others. The success of that plan is apparent as we persevere in peace, love, and faith amidst intimidation and terror.