Every story matters... More than a "SPARE" by Prince Harry

"I looked up at the trees: You don’t know!

Harold…I honestly don’t.

I turned to Pa. He was gazing at me with an expression that said: Neither do I.

Wow, I thought. Maybe they really don’t.

Staggering. But maybe it was true.

And if they didn’t know why I’d left, maybe they just didn’t know me. At all.

And maybe they never really did.

And to be fair, maybe I didn’t either.

The thought made me feel colder, and terribly alone.

But it also fired me up. I thought: I have to tell them.

How can I tell them?

I can’t. It would take too long.

Besides, they’re clearly not in the right frame of mind to listen.

Not now, anyway. Not today.

And so:

Pa? Willy?

World?

Here you go."  PH

It can be a challenge, but when I read a memoir, I lay aside all conclusions and ideas about the surrounding facts of the story, and I chose to believe the author.  After all, it is their story, why not believe them?  I doubt that most who take on the challenge of a memoir would extend much effort into fictionalizing their own story.  I think it is the core of most humans to want to be known for who they really are.  Memoirs are a lot of work.  Writing is a lot of work.  It is easier to tell the truth.  

There may be a lot of squabble about this memoir, but I don't blame Prince Harry at all for putting his story out into the world.  He spent the majority of his years seeing others pass a less than accurate version of his story round the globe.  It's not that he is willingly choosing to betray his family; it seems the media has already done that.  So after the hell he experienced with the heartless media industry, he took his story back.  I can only commend him for doing that.  

"Being a Windsor meant working out which truths were timeless, and then banishing them from your mind. It meant absorbing the basic parameters of one’s identity, knowing by instinct who you were, which was forever a byproduct of who you weren’t." PH

As I read, I kept finding a kindred spirit in this second born son in the shadows of his family.  I found myself understanding the desire for identity.  Prince Harry's story is a magnified version, but still, I found myself feeling compassion for him.  I am a second born.  Identity is not easy to find when shadowed by the first.  

"My existence was just fun and games to these people. I wasn’t a human being to them. I wasn’t a fourteen-year-old boy hanging on by his fingernails. I was a cartoon character, a glove puppet to be manipulated and mocked for fun. So what if their fun made my already difficult days more difficult, made me a laughingstock before my schoolmates, not to mention the wider world? So what if they were torturing a child? All was justified because I was royal, and in their minds royal was synonymous with non-person. Centuries ago royal men and women were considered divine; now they were insects. What fun, to pluck their wings." PH

The most heart breaking part of reading this book, was the awareness of the cruelty of the media in Prince Harry's life.  I still can't comprehend the inhumane treatment that was displayed over and over again.  I remember vaguely when Diana died.  I don't remember where I was at that moment when I heard of her death, but I remember wondering at the senselessness of the accident.  Why the reckless driving?  Why the crazy pursuit of the paparazzi? Who was this woman that made other human beings act worse than rabid dogs?  I didn't understand then, and I don't understand now.  I don't understand the abuse of people just because they are celebrities.  Do these camera crazies  have nothing better to do with their lives?  Right now,  I am feeling very grateful for my insignificance. 

 "I wanted to hug her, though of course I didn’t. Out of the question. I never had done and couldn’t imagine any circumstance under which such an act might be sanctioned." PH

Another heart breaking realization for me was that there was a grandmother out there who didn't hug her grandchildren.  A grandmother that was loved by the world, but seemed to miss out of a simple act of love to the people closest to her.  As much as I have respect for who Queen Elizabeth II was and what she accomplished, I feel sorry for her that she missed out on her grandchildren's hugs.  Did any of them try to hug her and were discouraged?  Or were they just told that hugging the Queen was off limits, even if she was "Granny"?  Again... I am grateful for my insignificance and the insignificance of my family.  I was able to hug my grandparents and they were willing to hug me.  

"Why did they want to be famous? That was the thing I never understood. Because fame is the ultimate freedom? What a joke. Some kinds of fame provide extra freedom, maybe, I suppose, but royal fame was fancy captivity." PH

I wonder how many girls still grow up with the Disney fantasy that royalty is something to be desired.  Did Hollywood ever do us a favour by glamourizing that kind of fame?  I hope this story shines a better light on that illusion.  

"I'll forever support my Queen, my Commander in Chief, my Granny. Even after she’s gone. My problem has never been with the monarchy, nor the concept of monarchy. It’s been with the press and the sick relationship that’s evolved between it and the Palace. I love my Mother Country, and I love my family, and I always will. I just wish, at the second-darkest moment of my life, they’d both been there for me.

And I believe they’ll look back one day and wish they had too." PH

I am Canadian and I will still admit, I have a troubled relationship with the idea of the monarchy.  I don't totally understand the requirement for such an archaic institution in the twenty first century.  I am not a big fan of obligation, institutions, age old traditions, especially when they become more important than the people that are trying to keep them alive.  For me, people matter, not institutions.  But I am willing to put my wondering aside to embrace someone else's passion and story.  I commend Prince Harry for his loyalty to his extended family and country, but I am much more proud of him for his loyalty to his wife and children,  the truth, and his conscience.  

I usually say thank you to the authors when I do a blog post on the books they write.  But when there is no hope that the author will read my blog post, I wonder if I need to include my gratitude.  I am grateful for this read and will give it a five star rating.  If I could ever say a few words to the Duke of Sussex, it would be this.  

"I'm sorry for how the sick side of humanity has treated you. I wish you could have had a life like mine. Insignificance is much better on the human soul than fame, celebrity and royalty"  

"And to you, the reader: Thank you for wanting to know my story in my words. I am so grateful to be able to share it thus far." PH

Where Love meets Alzheimer's in "FEEDING MY MOTHER" by Jann Arden

 

Another year, another page.

a million moments melt away.

The ticking-tocking hands of time,

what’s found and lost, remains sublime.

The details that we hold so fast,

are nothing more than memories past.

For love is all that lingers true,

the bond that ties my heart to you.

—JANN ARDEN, DECEMBER 29, 2013

These days, I am doing more puzzling and less reading and writing.  There is one big reason for that.  The jigsaw puzzles that I have been doing are beautiful and lack a conflicting presence in my life.  Most of the books I've been reading in the last few years have been great for me, but are turning the rest of my world upside down.  I can share the pictures of my jigsaw puzzles with my family but sharing my literary discoveries.. well... that is a different story.  

"Gratitude is a way to belong to the universe, a way to attach yourself to everything that ever existed. When grace and thanks and mercy fill your days, you can survive all hardship. You can conquer any wrongs, and you can help others to do the same. Gratitude is my cape, my superhero “must-have” to get me through life. Gratitude helps me to understand my parents and my shortcomings and my failures and my triumphs.

It has changed who I am and how I react to things. Without this magical energy in my life, I feel lost. There have been times when I didn’t understand how much I took things for granted, and my whole being felt the effects of that negativity. I do not want to walk into the sunset anymore, I want to run into the sunrise. " JA

Jann Arden's book is a story I can talk about with my family.  My husband remembers running sound for Jann back in Calgary before "Insensitive" hit the airwaves.  But it wasn't her music that drew me to her story... it was her journey with her parents and their Dementia that had me downloading this book after I thought I had given up on reading.  

Mom started laughing when I asked her why she was saving all this crap. She said, “I just need it and I don’t know why. So there. You can burn it all when I die.” JA

I think what I loved most about the book were two things.  Jann's conversations with her mom and her wisdom that came out of those interactions.  From the looks of this last quote... it seems like we have very similar mothers.  

 Lift others up when you can, even if you don’t agree with what they have to say. Don’t always turn your words into weapons when you can just as easily make them doves.  JA

Jann's book is a perfect mix of wit and wisdom.  Those reads are hard to find.  I think I want to spend less time talking about what I got out of the book... and just share those wise words from Jann herself.  Because there were so many.  

It’s okay to feel sadness. I don’t mind it lingering there like smoke. It serves as a reminder that I am able to feel things and be present in my own life, a participant rather than an observer. Life isn’t a beer commercial. You can’t run down a sunlit beach every day. If you ask me, that would become tedious. Obstacles and challenges simply make you stronger and smarter and more authentic.

And my sadness is not depression. I’m not depressed, I’m sad. Two very different things. I know why I’m sad. It isn’t a mystery. I don’t want or need a pill or a drink or a salve or some sort of magic tonic to make it go away. I am quite happy to feel sad. JA

A woman after my own heart.  

What I’ve come to understand, through a great deal of my own anguish and heartache and sadness, is that memories DO NOT define our souls. Our souls—my mother’s soul, and all the souls who are bombarded with memory loss—are intact.

I’ve been trying, but I can’t begin to tell you what I have learned about myself and my mom during this unfortunate but, in its way, glorious journey. I knew my mom was strong and resilient but I had no idea how strong, how resilient. She said to me once, after one of my rants where I tried to be the memory police a few years ago, that a person didn’t have to remember everything in order to be happy. That, as you can imagine, kind of blew my mind for the following several weeks.

“You don’t have to remember everything to be happy.”  JA

I think the greatest lesson I learned from Jann's story is about the memory police.  Why do we have to be the memory police?    Do I really have to correct another person just because I think they have their facts wrong?  Alzheimer's intensifies fantasies, but fantasies are a part of every day life for most people.  And one person's fantasy is another person's reality.  So why do I need to infringe my reality into what I perceive as another person's fantasy, which they only see as their reality.  This has been a great lesson for me and one I hope I can implement in my own life more.  Thanks Jann!

We shouldn’t judge a human life by how it ends, and we so often do. How we die has nothing to do with how we lived. I think I’ve been confusing these two things. I’ve been making her whole life about these past few years and that’s not where the truth lies. JA

Oh boy... it just kept getting better and better.  

I believe with all my heart that love permeates Alzheimer’s. It gets through even though you think it’s not getting through. It’s like a shard of light that even a blind person can see. Love will surprise you at every turn. JA

My Oma forgot my name in the last couple years of her life, but she never forgot that she loved me.  Alzheimer's and Dementia take the brain, but they have no access to the love.  I have seen love and fear manifested in patients with Dementia... I wonder if it a choice.  If we can pour love into our lives and into the lives of others... that has to be the best way to navigate the Alzheimer's journey.  The memories will be lost... but we can do everything to see that the Love remains.  Because... Love drives out Fear!

Thank you Jann for sharing your story and being vulnerable in the process.  If this is the last book I ever read, it will be a crowning jewel in my library.  

And because I am posting this on the first Sunday of Advent... Jann's greeting seems an appropriate send off...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Whatever your beliefs be, I hope goodness is at the heart of them all. JA

My Unfinished Reads still matter

These days, I haven't spent much time reading.  Most of my hours are spent assembling jigsaw puzzles.  It is my new time consumer.  I started a new book today, hoping that this one will find completion and a place in my rocket reads.  I have amassed quite a few reads that haven't made it to completion. I can think of a few reasons I didn't cross the finish line with them.  

1. I lost interest with the content

2. I got the message in the first few chapters and the remaining content seemed to be redundant.

3. I felt guilty for investing time in the content. 

4. The read wasn't what I had anticipated. 

5. I found that the material was already covered in previous books.  

6. I started reading another book more captivating.

7. My short attention span wins out.  

8. My eyes got tired. 

9. My brain got tired. 

10. The finish line was just too far away. 

So many possibilities.  This morning I thought of going into my unfinished reads and pulling out some quotes to share.  Just because I didn't finish the book, doesn't mean some wisdom wasn't gleaned.  I must have found something worth sharing before I abandoned the book.    

Let's see what I can find... 

"The Knowledge Seeker" Blair Stonechild

"In the Indigenous world view, all Creation is sacred and spiritually alive. As one Elder described it, once a person set foot outside his lodge, the entire world was his church. Land is a living entity that must be treated with respect. Spirituality is to be practised daily rather than merely written about or practiced in a rigid institutional setting. 

Underlying all Aboriginal belief is a view of a world gifted by Manitow. Our purpose on earth is to develop an understanding of how to live in harmony with all of Creation."

"The Knowledge Seeker" is a book that originally enticed me because I wanted to learn more about the First Nations in Canada from a first person perspective.  I still do.  The whole perspective that the Earth is a sanctuary is attractive and inspiring to me.  I treasure the respect the Indigenous people have for all of nature.  

"The Anabaptist Story"  William R. Estep

"It was a foregone conclusion that if the Swiss Reformation were to continue within the context of a state church, Manz must go. The mandate demanding the death penalty for rebaptizing had been issued the previous March, but it had not as yet been enforced. The time had come for the crucial test, and the first victim was to be Felix Manz."

I was first drawn to learn more about the Anabaptists, because they are my ancestors and my heritage, and I am technically an Anabaptist.  I was baptized as a baby in a Lutheran church and then baptized as an adult in my thirties in a Pentecostal church.  Five hundred years earlier what I did could have cost me my life.  But instead, my Lutheran parents came and witnessed my baptism.   

Now... being agnostic, my baptisms are strictly cultural for me, but still hold a value because of what others went through a half a millennium ago.  I am the child of two religious cultures.  If I go back far enough... I can imagine one set of ancestors lighting the fires under the pyre of other set of ancestors.  We, as a human species, have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. 

"A New Earth" Eckart Tolle

"How do you let go of attachment to things? Don’t even try. It’s impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them. In the meantime, just be aware of your attachment to things. Sometimes you may not know that you are attached to something, which is to say, identified, until you lose it or there is the threat of loss. If you then become upset, anxious, and so on, it means you are attached. If you are aware that you are identified with a thing, the identification is no longer total. “I am the awareness that is aware that there is attachment.” That’s the beginning of the transformation of consciousness."

Maybe this book was one that gave me enough just in the first few chapters.  I did listen to some of Eckart Tolle's stuff on Youtube.  I just didn't finish the book.  But his understanding of self helped me in my journey.  

"Grounded" Diana Butler Bass

" “What did you do to try to shift their awareness from a vertical faith to a more horizontal one?” I queried the Kentucky pastor.

“We planted a garden,” he replied. “We grow food. Lots of food. For the local food bank. We’ve studied the soil and learned about global warming. We’re finding God in the garden. It isn’t quite as vertical as it used to be. Heaven is getting downright earthy.”

And that, of course, is another vision of heaven: a garden. Where dirt, water, and air all come together to feed us, to heal the earth, to produce the atmosphere we need to survive. Paradise, really. Here and now. "

What got me started with this book was the whole idea that the Earth is where our spiritual attention can rest... not some faraway cosmic galaxy religion has penned as "Heaven".  There is a connectedness we can have with the elements here...  sky, dirt, water... that connects us with Creator and the Universe.  We are home... right here, right now.

  

"The Superstition of all Ages" Jean Meslier

"Religion is handed down from fathers to children as the property of a family with the burdens. Very few people in the world would have a God if care had not been taken to give them one. Each one receives from his parents and his instructors the God which they themselves have received from theirs; only, according to his own temperament, each one arranges, modifies, and paints Him agreeably to his taste."

I discovered Jean Meslier when I was a part of the "Atheism for Lent" course with Peter Rollins.  I still like Meslier's rants.  He had the spirit of Christopher Hitchens long before Hitchens existed... but his rants were all done in the privacy of his closet.  He was a Catholic priest.  At first, his approach seemed like hypocrisy, but thinking about it for a while, I see it was survival.  He longed to be true to himself, but most likely his culture didn't allow him that authenticity.  This was 1664-1729.  Maybe I drifted away from the read because there was a lot of redundancy in his rants, and I felt I had enough. 

"Let's All Make the Day Count" Charlie Daniels

When you see a flight of geese overhead, if they are traveling for any extended distance, they will be flying in a V-formation. You’ll also notice a single goose in the lead and the others spread out in the V following the leader.

This is done for aerodynamics, similar to the way NASCAR racers draft off the car in front of them. The geese do much the same thing flying beak to tail, taking some of the air resistance off each other.

When the lead goose gets tired, he drops back. A fresh goose takes his place, and the flight goes on.

If one of the geese in the flight gets sick or, for whatever reason, has to go down to the ground, two other geese drop out of the formation. They go to the ground with the sick bird and stay until it gets better or dies. Pending the outcome, they return to the air and try to catch up with their flight.

If they are too far behind to catch up, they’ll join the formation of another flight and continue on.

Geese mate for life. Sensible bunch.

At this stage of my life, daily devotionals are not that much of a priority.  This seemed to be an exception at the time.  Charlie Daniels had some "rubber meets the road" wisdom in this book, and I found his perspective illuminating.  

* * * 

I guess I can't really officially recommend any of these books, as I didn't finish them.  But I learned something about me the day I created a file in my Ibooks that was marked "Reads I started but...". 

I found out that I could extend grace to myself.  

Maybe not all things need finishing in life.  Maybe it is okay in some things to just let go when all I am doing is pushing through because of obligation to a completion, instead of enjoying the journey.  Reading is like that.  Some books I finish and my blog is testament to my ability to finish.  I am the biggest proponent of doing more things out of passion and less out of obligation.  Reading is a passion and I don't want obligation to complete a book to be the only reason I am reading.  

Now... back to puzzling.  

It's finally over ..."THE LAST BATTLE" by C.S. Lewis

"What else could we do? We don't want any other King. We're your people. If it were only the Ape and the Calormenes who were against you, we would have fought till we were cut into pieces before we'd have let them tie you up. We would, we would indeed. But we can't go against Aslan."

"Do you think it really is Aslan?" asked the King.

Okay... it is mid August and I finished this book at the end of July.  Better late than never.  I think my blog posts of the Chronicles of Narnia would be incomplete without the last book, even if I didn't find it quite the rocket read that some of the others were.  

Tirian had never dreamed that one of the results of an Ape's setting up a false Aslan would be to stop people from believing in the real one.

So this book introduced a belief in an Aslan that wasn't a real Aslan.  Interesting.  And then when the fake Aslan was uncovered, the belief was still supported.  Wow... That part of the story is helpful to my journey now.  I may have disconnected from the 2000 year old story, but to be the one to broadcast it to those who believe it... not such a beneficial thing to do.  Yes, the story has a real Aslan... and in the minds, hearts and beliefs of so many... there is a real Jesus living (and breathing?) today.  Maybe all I can do is wait like everyone else.  

The sweet air grew suddenly sweeter. A brightness flashed behind them. All turned. Tirian turned last because he was afraid. There stood his heart's desire, huge and real, the golden Lion, Aslan himself, and already the others were kneeling in a circle round his forepaws and burying their hands and faces in his mane as he stooped his great head to touch them with his tongue. Then he fixed his eyes upon Tirian, and Tirian came near, trembling, and flung himself at the Lion's feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, "Well done, last of the Kings of Narnia who stood firm at the darkest hour." CSL

This is the warm part of the story... Aslan finally shows up.  He is delinquent for most of the story and it makes one wonder if he is an adequate picture of Jesus.  We are 2000 years past the promise (according to the gospel of Matthew)... and people are still waiting for Jesus to show up.  

"Aslan," said Lucy through her tears, "could you—will you—do something for these poor Dwarfs?"

"Dearest," said Aslan, "I will show you both what I can, and what I cannot... CSL

This is why Thomas Jay Oord's book really moved me into a different trajectory.  There were some things that Aslan couldn't do.  Thank you C.S. Lewis... for making Aslan... lion. 

"So," said Peter, "Night falls on Narnia. What, Lucy! You're not crying? With Aslan ahead, and all of us here?"

"Don't try to stop me, Peter," said Lucy, "I am sure Aslan would not. I am sure it is not wrong to mourn for Narnia. Think of all that lies dead and frozen behind that door."

"Yes and I did hope," said Jill, "that it might go on for ever. I knew our world couldn't. I did think Narnia might."

"I saw it begin," said the Lord Digory. "I did not think I would live to see it die."

"Sirs," said Tirian. "The ladies do well to weep. See I do so myself. I have seen my mother's death. What world but Narnia have I ever known? It were no virtue, but great discourtesy, if we did not mourn." CSL

C.S. Lewis gives, not only his characters, but his readers a chance to mourn the ending of Narnia.  I guess I was surprised.  Lewis doesn't leave room for continued imagination and that is what most readers of fiction like.  Even through the author doesn't write the continued storyline, readers still want to imagine the characters going beyond.  

"This is absolutely crazy," said Eustace to Edmund.

"I know. And yet——" said Edmund.

"Isn't it wonderful?" said Lucy. "Have you noticed one can't feel afraid, even if one wants to? Try it."  CSL

I highlighted this because the idea of not feeling afraid even when I wanted to... well... I don't know if I ever want to feel afraid.  It seems just a response, not really a desire.  But having the courage when fear is more expected, now that is what this might be trying to convey.  

This wasn't my favourite book of the series.  I don't know what is my favourite.  But I can tell you the characters that I most admired - Aslan (when he did show up) Eustace and Bree. A elusive, cuddly when he wanted to be, lion; a pesky cousin and a beautiful talking horse that had more character than the human that rode him.  

Will I recommend the books?  Definitely not to children.  I think I said before, the whole royalty motif isn't my favourite.  But I am glad I read them, because now I can say I did.  

And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. CSL

Revisiting the conversation with Bart and Tony in "WHY I LEFT, WHY I STAYED"

 

"To me, however, Jesus is almost entirely inaccessible. I’ve never seen his photograph, listened to a recording of his voice, or read a single sentence that can be surely ascribed to him, let alone met him in person or known someone else who did. Like the rest of the world, all I have to go on are four brief, highly redacted, obviously biased accounts of his life and times, which even in their original form were written some decades after his death, and aren’t entirely consistent with one another. I know plenty of folks who claim those accounts clearly reveal his personality, but as far as I’m concerned, the biblical record of Jesus is far too sketchy for anyone to claim they really know Jesus’s character.

Among the many important things I don’t know about Jesus: whether he was a good carpenter; how he felt about Joseph not being his real father; his sexual orientation; his perspectives on slavery, abortion, and just war; his favorite kind of anything; his sense of humor; his best friend; why he raised Lazarus from the dead but nobody else; what he thought about between the crucifixion and the resurrection; and why he didn’t make sure at least one of his disciples took better notes. I mean, seriously, I know way more about Abraham Lincoln—or Michael Jackson for that matter—than I do about Jesus." Bart

Reading books again is a great way to catch what I missed the first read through, and also to find new wisdom that helps me on an ever growing journey.  

The first time I read this book, I had Jesus, my iPhone and a way to track great quotes and was probably reading in my house on the highway in my small town.  This time, I was out camping in the bush by a beautiful lake, with my hard copy of the book.  I had no electronics, no highlighter, and no Jesus. -- nothing but nature, me, my hubby and the book. It was an entirely different experience.  I read through the book in three days.  

(The link to my first blog post of "Why I Left, Why I Stayed" ) 

It was winter of 2020 when I first picked up the book.  I had been out of Christianity as a system for over a decade already, but Jesus as a real living entity was still somewhat there.  This year, on Good Friday of 2022, I had a funeral for Jesus... and I didn't resurrect him.  ( This is the poem I wrote on Good Friday to honour the occasion... entitled "Love Never Breathed" ) 

"Not surprisingly, I very much like my father’s Jesus, not only for his great compassion but also for his longtime commitment to social justice, environmental responsibility, and women’s rights, not to mention his more recent embrace of marriage equality. I’m just kidding about that last part, of course, because everyone knows it isn’t Jesus who finally changed his mind about our LGBTQ friends, but rather my father who changed his mind about Jesus.

I did the same thing as a Christian. Over and over again, I adjusted my vision of Jesus to reflect my latest values and understanding of the world. The good news was that the Lord I ended up with was quite literally the most perfectly wonderful person I could imagine. The bad news was that, once I realized my Jesus was merely a projection of my own ideals, he lost all authority in my life." Bart

I think what stuck out for me this time was the whole focus on changing theology.  Even Tony admits that he changed his theology.  So what exactly is the expectation for anyone introduced to Christianity.  There doesn't seem to be consistency.  That is a huge problem for me.  But also it is the open door for me to say that the way out of the chaos of divisiveness is to find a way to be okay with everyone being on their own journey.  No conversion necessary, no assimilation required and no shame to manage.  Just free people up to find their own way to understand their existence.  

"If I’m right, then it makes sense that so many norms, mores, and values are similar across cultures, because there are some laws of nature that apply equally around the world. Antisocial behaviors like lying, murder, and incest don’t work for anyone under any circumstances over the long run, so they are universally proscribed.

Of course, if group flourishing is truly the ultimate standard of goodness, then it also makes sense that rules about food, water, sexuality, child-rearing, and other aspects of community life would vary widely from group to group, depending on the conditions under which they develop. Even so, all such rules are ultimately rooted in mutual care and responsibility in the context of cooperative groups. Simply stated, human morality is and always has been fundamentally about human relationships." Bart

Morality is built into each human being.  I didn't understand that until I got to know people who didn't ascribe to divine inspiration or sacred laws.  It is really a self-preservation necessity.  We need people to survive, and being nice and kind and loving is the smartest way to facilitate that.  But religions have put rules around basic humanity.  That makes no sense to me now.  I'm not loving someone if I do it because I have been commanded to do it, or even asked to do it.  Love needs to flow from within me to be authentic.  

All that being said... how do I explain the immoral.  Immorality happens when people get messed up.   It is a vicious cycle.  Fear messes up people.  Fear gets transferred like urine in a swimming pool or oil in the ocean. One little spill can wreck the water and the experience for others.   What comes out of Fear... Anger, Ignorance, Hatred, Bitterness and eventually... Immorality.

"I understand the gut-level attraction of the idea that almighty God defines good and evil, but it’s awfully hard for me to swallow. I mean, are things like rape and murder evil simply because God forbids them, or are they objectively wrong? Regardless, isn’t morality really about thinking through the potential impact of my actions, weighing the various options against a complex matrix of competing values, and humbly making the best decision possible? For me to blindly follow a divine commandment seems like a way to shirk the hard work of deliberation and evade responsibility for the intentions and consequences of my actions. Simple obedience might keep people of faith from doing bad things, but I’m not sure how it helps them become morally good themselves." Bart

Maybe you're noticing that this time the quotes are from Bart.  That is on purpose.  It was Bart's thoughts I was tapping into the most on this read through.  I was out in nature and found myself being freed up to just be and discover me in the woods and the water.  I had let Jesus go, and I needed to find a bit of support for that.  Maybe it's my need for ammunition in my conversations with my people, or maybe it is just confirmation.  I have admitted that I am insecure.  I was amazed that even with Bart's well through through responses and story, that his dad didn't see what really made sense.  There always seemed to be a defensive comeback.  It makes me wonder if it is even possible for committed Christians to have empathy for Post-Christians.  I didn't when I called myself a Christian, but I am looking for those who might be different. 

"I think we need to stop seeing death as the negation of life, and see it instead as the necessary catalyst for every good thing we enjoy." Bart

Reading in nature gave me a great appreciation for the world I live in.  When I came across passages like this, I found myself looking out at the lake or in the trees or at the jaybirds that frequented our campsite.  "Life is precious" Bart says in the documentary he did with his dad "Leaving my Father's Faith" 

"Indeed, it may well be that the greatest mistake in this world is to live as if you have endless time when in fact you don’t." Bart

Spending three days in nature has given me more confidence in my understanding and my world view.  I am feeling less burdened by the need to please my people.  I feel like I matter and my journey matters.  I am grateful that Bart's words of encouragement came to me in that beautiful place of peace and connectivity with the planet.  Thank you again, Bart for an amazing book, the amazing conversations you had with your dad, and the voice you continue to have.  

"Look, everybody knows there are bunches of angry atheists running around out there, openly mocking the church and loudly proclaiming that organized religion poisons everything, but I will never be one of them. First of all, I have far too much love and gratitude for the many believers who have positively shaped my life to ever want to communicate disrespect for their communities and traditions. Second, and more importantly, I feel no disrespect." Bart