I pray. I prayed as a child. As a good, young Catholic school boy. Not as "fervently" and "piously" as my classmates evidently believed I did given my extreme quietness (maybe not "shyness," but quietness, out of fear of... Or, maybe, just out of "fear") and the fact that I shared a first name with … Continue reading On Prayer
Category: Sunday post
On Prayer and Silence
Prayer does not need to be a "spoken" word, either externally, placed outside of us in either spoken or written form, or internally, spoken within us in our own hearts and minds. And when I write, here, of "prayer," I am intending, also, to mean meditation. Prayer need not take on "tangible" form in terms … Continue reading On Prayer and Silence
“Advanced Recovery”
My breakdown didn't really happen. It is all a lie. I have been lying to you all this whole time. And my family. And the orderlies, psychiatrists, and other personnel in the hospital who strapped me to the hospital bed during my second hospitalization (with pee-cup, and all) so that I would not, once again, … Continue reading “Advanced Recovery”
Fear, redux
The only fear I have right now is the fear of not having enough to say, which is the same as being silent, which is the same as being dead. But, then again, even "silence" can be a form of communication, such as when
“Into the Woods”
The thought of dying, alone, in the woods, in the midst of my breakdown, evidently, did not scare me, but the thought of dying alone, lost and afraid, in the years since the breakdown, has. I was never alone. And, I am not alone. And neither are you. We are here, all of US, together … Continue reading “Into the Woods”
Red Pill.
That's what writing is. The red pill. That's what it is for me, at least. Is it the same for you? I bet it could be, if you let it. Why not give it a try? Just this once... I'll shut up for once, and let you be. Just this once... Enjoy.
“The Matrix”
25 Years Later, We’re All Trapped in ‘The Matrix’ - WSJ They offered me a blue pill and a red pill in the hospital. I thought I was supposed to choose. Actually, I've always been compliant with the medication. I may have ALWAYS been resistant to the idea of it, even before the breakdown, but … Continue reading “The Matrix”
“W-hol(e)y” Sh!t.
What is the difference between the words "holy" and "whole"? I'm not sure that there is much of a difference. Clearly, from their similarities in sound and spelling it would be logical that there must be some common derivation, right? Let's check. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, there IS, in fact, a common derivation. … Continue reading “W-hol(e)y” Sh!t.
“You can’t do it without Jesus.”
You can't do it without Jesus. That's what the book said, or something like it, the small red one that my father had given me and the other members of my family of origin many years before, and which I was now huddled over beneath that tree in the "Garden of Eden" outside the Bank … Continue reading “You can’t do it without Jesus.”
Presents.
"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a GIFT. That's why it's called the present."Bil Keane, The Family Circus (possibly) Presents = Presence. To be "present" is to "present" ourselves in every moment of the Present. When we offer presents to one another on each other's birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Festival of … Continue reading Presents.
Observations from the Brink 