In identifying the arseholes... and dealing with having them in our lives in any way...

Then there is the gift of discernment (by which I mean a God-given spiritual Gift) to be able to distinguish what is OF God from what is NOT of God, especially (I think) in the people around us and what they put out.

There is also good old human intuition when your gut tells you something is just not quite exactly ON.

Then there is the wisdom of the community, and their collective discernment. Anyway, they say it well here in my little town-- if you aren't genuine, word will get around pretty fast. It may happen sooner or it may happen later, but when it happens, it's fast and its permanent.

I depend on these to keep loving what needs loving in order to grow, and to interrupt what needs interrupting in order to be looked at with some measure of intentionality. (I believe that without harnessing our intentionality we are subject to doing most things the hard way.) I depend on being responsive to that inner sense and Sense to accept the good that is offered, regardless of who offers it.

In our Book of Common Payer is addressed the question: "What if the priest is a notoriously evil one? Is communion, received from the hands of an unclean priest, valid?" The answer has to do with the inner experience of communion coming from God Himself, incorruptible. I would hope that many of the gifted people we struggle to understand, however flawed or really evil, are (in part) vessels of something greater. Since I experience music as part of God's creation for us and in us, this works well for me, because I allow it into me in that way. But true evil can also be transmitted musically (I mean more than satanic lyrics), and I still struggle to understand this. I think it must come down to, what filter are you running?

BTW, from time to time I may share my thoughts from this Christian perspective. I'd like you to know that it's not my intention to proselytize at you. I would hope that the thoughtfulness I try for in when I come from that place would be supported by fellow 'Cateers who know I am focusing on the topic raised when I do come from there. When you respond genuinely to me, that's effective support, whether your response is humor or shared insights or anger or whatever.

Just try not to kick me when your knee jerks. Wait instead for a clear thought, and then wind up for a good purposeful boot!