Overheard on Mastodon

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to think of reasonable sounding ways to blame other people for things I could totally change but consistently don’t.

– @AliceFraser@mastodonapp.uk / HT Dense Discovery

“Managed” Religion, which somehow needs to create co-dependency (“learned
helplessness”) among its members, preferred to emphasize “original sin” instead.
This has kept us united but disempowered in inferiority instead of empowered and
united by dignity—which is our only real future. The negative result, however, has
been the immense self doubt, guilt

The initial basis for that inherent dignity is found in the beginnings of the book
of Genesis, where it says that human persons are actually created in the “image and likeness” of God (1:27)! I always say that, if we really believed it, we could save most people $10,000 in therapy bills! The Judeo-Christian tradition thus begins on an extremely posi

Just stand wherever you are — in the kitchen, in the shop, or in the bathroom — and wrap your arms around yourself as tightly as you can. Rock yourself. Before long you will be able to feel God holding you in the same way you are holding yourself. You will be comforted the way you were comforted as a child when your mother held you in her arms and

There are conditions of blindness so voluntary that they become complicity.

Paul Bourget

One thought from Ruth Ozeki

"language is magical - it's a form of conjuring. If you do it convincingly, readers will follow you."

One thought from Ruth Ozeki

“Life is fleeting. Don’t waste a single moment of your precious life. Wake up now! And now! And now!”

“School tests weaknesses. Life rewards strengths.

Spending more time on our weakest areas is tempting, but life mostly rewards us for investing in our strengths. Imagine a student who struggles with math but excels at writing. In school, they might spend hours raising their math grades from a C to a B. However, spending the same time on writing migh

Jesus (a good person) still had to die for the Christ (the universal presence) to arise. It is the pattern of transformation . . . What has to die is not usually bad; in fact, it will often feel good and necessary.2

Can you see the necessity of healthy and mature religion? Why else would you take the jump from a safe, comfortable sense of self into

Manic Screaming1

We should make all spiritual talk

Simple today:

God is trying to sell you something,

But you don’t want to buy.

That is what your suffering is:

Your fantastic haggling,

Your manic screaming over the price!

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1Daniel Ladinksy, I Heard God Laughing, Penguin Books, p. 13.