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Jul 21, 2022Liked by Christine Merser

You are describing a hybrid -- humanism with a twist, that twist being still identifying (or labeling) the innate sense as "god." I wish I'd seen the reaction when you replied checkbook. Must have been priceless.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Christine Merser

I am so moved by this post on so many levels❤️

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There's so much in this post, I don't know what to say except...Wow! My head is spinning and I realize that I don't think about the things that you do. But when I read what's going inside your head, it really makes me think and wonder. Why am I not thinking about that? I guess I thought my Mom and Dad were G-d when I was little, even though I was told differently at Sunday School. To me now...the problem with the mythical figure of G-d is people like to credit him/her/it for the good in the world and the bad in the world rather than take responsibility themselves. Oh, there's so much to think about here. I don't have time...but if only I made time, this would be really intriguing conversation. Thanks for this.

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As I was reading this on a late-rising morning due to the night-time demons (i.e. NOT God) that visit us all at times in these sad times, I was reminded a lot of Anne Lamott. Ms Anne has got a lot of people through some tough times with her inspirational humor. It nestles right into your sad/scared/disappointed/angry/fill-in-the-blank negative emotion and grows until it's pushed out all the nasties and settled itself on your soul like a mama bird on her nest of eggs. One of my favorites is "I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." That to me, seems a reasonable thing. A force that meets you mysteriously when you need it, wherever it comes from, and carries you a bit until you have your sea-legs again. Or maybe soul-legs. And it's there whenever you start to feel unsteady again.

Meditation allows me to go there, thanks to our mutual friend Sue who introduced me to it about 12 years ago. I don't do it nearly enough but every time i do it never fails me. Maybe because it is me--at my absolute highest? Is that a thing?

"Bird by Bird" might be my favorite book of all time, for the simple reason that it makes me laugh out loud while telling me to carry on, because that's what she did and it was awful sometimes and she didn't understand a lot of it, but she just kept on, kept the faith, and leaned on her people who were not the people she at all thought would be her people but they are, and we have to be open to who our people turn out to be, and look how well things turned out for her. That book, like all her books, are really about her journey to and with God, who she has given a lot of thought to, some of it not at all flattering.

"A priest friend of mine has cautioned me away from the standard god of our childhoods, who loves you and guides you and then, if you are bad, roasts you: god as a high school principal in a gray suit who never remembered your name but is always leafing unhappily through your files."--Anne Lamott

Thanks for this one, Christine!

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