SHIPWRECK SAINTS

Sometimes we see what's happening but have no clue what's going on

                         

A seasoned seaman of notable character and integrity 

has been endowed graciously with these four gifts. 

These navigational gifts are tools or moral compass. 

That serves as beacon, to guide and guard a person's heart 

through convoluted dark alleys of deception and deceit .

To keep it seaworthy and afloat. 

It's likened to a command center of a secured fortress 

where raw information are filtered through series

and stages of defense . 

Our " common sense " first, waves and flashes red flags.

Our " conscience " blurts early warning signals

of impending disaster.

The third should and must pose greater resistance . 

Hence our " knowledge and experience " 

should take precedence over gathered intelligence .

Where information are further processed and purged . 

Validated before assimilation.

When certain subtle malicious script or 

Trojan horse breached and slipped through

these fortified benevolent barriers. 

Undetected , unscathed , uncontested . 

Then " discernment " - the last line of defense folds its tent . 

Retracts its sword, withdraws its shield and deserts the battlefield . 

 by NeiL ArandA

Author's Note

When a person failed to distinguish between a sheep from a goat, between lie and truth, between friend and foe, between dark and light, between shout and whisper, between a gong and a flute. Then our defenses have been breached and our hearts are no longer tender and sensitive but has been seared. Callouse has formed to hear and feel that faint gentle whisper from our last line of defense ...

Reviews

[gabrielle]

Follow your heart is an advice that I always hear. But it makes me wonder, how could we trust something that is so vulnerable to deception and deceit? Sometimes affection/affinity clouds our judgment. This is deep...i could not still truly comprehend the last stanza...

[NeiL ArandA]

Gab . You are right on tract . The last line is the tromp card but only if the initial barriers are still intact .. Im sure you will figure it out . Thanks for your time and inquisitive thoughts on this piece . The last line of defense has great influence over the initial barriers but it can be drowned and overwhelmed . This is the most sensitive to both foreign and domestic intruders . Its also connected to the other defences. This gift and last line of defense is not acquired but divinely inherited ...

[gabrielle]

forget about common sense, forget about conscience and forget about logic and surrender to the will of God.. glad to know that the last line of defense is divinely inherited for it means i already possess it. :)

[NeiL ArandA]

You breached the meaning . Here is another explation . If aperson has been enticed to engage in malicious conversazione, believed the unverified information . Then share and spread the infected files is like adisillusioned mechanic who puts sand instead of oil inside his ships engine and ignores all warning labels and safety precautions . Discernment abandon ship when the enemy with RSVP walks in inside his or her fortress . Its fully expose and wide open for the enemy to exploit and take permanent residence . Likewise with a person that is enticed entertained and enthralled with gossips .

[gabrielle]

My friend, did I truly “breach” the meaning of this piece or you’re just being too nice and too diplomatic about my interpretation? :p Anyway, I remember a quote from a movie which is relevant to your message, it says : Before us is a line that separates right from wrong. There are times that we cross the line even if we don’t really mean it. But when we cross the line too often, the line/boundary will eventually disappear. ----When we fail or refuse to listen to our common sense, conscience, logic/professional skills, this is the beginning of moral disintegration.
Re: your example, if someone feeds us information, we should not assume or take it as gospel truth; we must double check. If we have no means to double check, the least we can do is to keep that rumor (particularly detrimental) to ourselves otherwise we will be forever misguided/misled.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

nice analogy to the trojan horse...the idea of conscience, common sense and skills and experience...all of those can be fooled by life...and in the end, Spiritual Discernment is what protects us...and helps us move on.

a few edits needed but a really intelligent piece of writing...with deep thematic logic.

[NeiL ArandA]

Thank you Jacob that you saw this one . I would like to see your edit to see if i could improve this one. I appreciate your thougths .

[jacob erin-cilberto]

just some spots like "it's" and "raw information"

a few little glitches like that.

[NeiL ArandA]

Thanks I'll change it now ...