For the Joy of the Journey

A Few Thoughts

George November 20, 2024 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

…it is very hard to expect change from people who benefit from the system as it is. Change requires us to listen to voices outside of what has become our norm.”
Danielle Strickland

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
Rene Descartes

Do yourself a favor

Once we stop expecting, needing, or demanding that something or someone be perfect, we’re much happier. We’re doing ourselves and the world a favor. It’s not easy to do apart from the life and grace of God flowing through us. That’s why, for me, the notion of God as Trinity, the flow of relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is so important. Without that daily flow, we get trapped in the negatives. We all do. We all will, unless we tap into the love of God flowing through us.

Richard Rohr

Men

· Men are 50% more likely than women to struggle with alcohol and substance abuse.

· “Men died of overdose at 2-3 times greater a rate than women.”

· “Men outnumber women… about 2 to 1 among people with gambling addictions.”

· Married men are almost twice as likely to cheat on their wives than vice versa.

· The male suicide rate is approximately 4 times higher than the female rate.

· Men commit 69% of violent crimes.

· Men comprised 98% of active shooters in 2022-2023.

· Men comprise 90% of the prison population (1,653,600 men, 174,000 women; not a typo).

· Almost 400,000 men in the prison population are Protestant.

· An appalling number of male pastors and ministry leaders, including 700+ SBC pastors, have sexually abused girls and women, then attempted to cover up the abuse.

It’s important to note that the above behaviors and statistics do not apply to all men! But they nevertheless provide compelling evidence that an enormous number of men engage in emotionally driven behaviors that ironically fit the Merriam-Webster definitions for irrational, illogical, and dare I say… hysterical. Yet the false belief that all women are irrational, illogical, and hysterical endures, due to its underlying premise: that women are allegedly inferior to men.

https://scotmcknight.substack.com/p/confronting-systemic-cultural-sexism

Reading Scripture

Imagine that every time you receive the Holy Eucharist, your mind is filled with thoughts of the chemistry of bread and wine. Indeed, the thoughts become so dominant that the presence of Christ is largely forgotten. In particular, the relationship of heart to sacrament is disrupted. If, in such circumstances, someone began to absent themselves from communion, it would not be surprising.

The reading of Scripture in the life of the Church is quite properly compared to the reception of communion – for the Scriptures are best described as sacramental in nature.

If the whole time you read, the question is, “Did this happen? Did it happen like this?” etc. there is no engaging of the Scripture as Scripture. The distance between reader and text could hardly be greater.

Fr Stephen Freeman

A dose of reality

I have had an X (formerly know as Twitter) account for several years. I do not recall ever posting to it, but regularly scrolled through to get a feel for what was going in the Twitter world. I did not find it to be particularly beneficial. in my opinion, since Elon Musk bought Twitter , the cesspool seem to descend into an even darker realm.
Discovering Bluesky, a new social media platform that presents itself as an better alternative to X, I deleted my X account and signed up for Bluesky — @grezell.bsky.social . I have no anticipation of posting on a regular basis but I am interested in seeing how it contrasts to X and follow some relevant users.

To introduce myself, I decided post a link to one of my recent posts. I usually only share my posts with subscribers to my blog, a small number of faithful readers I know and who seem to appreciate what I write. Needless to say, my post on Bluesky did not go viral, but I did one comment :

“What an absolute heaped and steaming pile of shit. The authors need to reevaluate their conscience as do anyone who agrees with this utter nonsense.”

It is hard to describe the impact that comment. It was a dose of reality on several counts:

Clearly my subscribers are an echo chamber. I do not get a lot of comments but they are, almost without exception, positive. My posts are generally unchallenged. As a result, agreeable comments have produced an inflated and unhealthy self-perception about my writing. Don’t get me wrong, I love positive comments. They are wonderful and a positive reason for echo chambers. The shocking negative comment I received was a reminder of the necessity of dissenting voices for a healthy echo chamber and ego.
The comment disabused me of any idea that there is any “safe/sane” social media platform. Living in an echo chamber creates a false notion that everyone is basically a good person. Reality is, there are mean spirited people who live for an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction in hateful and or destructive ways. Social media is a petrie dish for evil. There are positive aspects to social media but the likelihood of getting a serious infection is dangerously high and requires careful precautions.
Receiving that comment exposed my spiritual vulnerability. Despite my “love your enemy” conviction, my first reaction was anger and resentment followed by an impulse to retaliate — a “Nathan/David” moment. Her comment was a needed wake-up call.
I would have preferred some thoughtful, cogent criticism but I must say,”steaming pile of shit” and “utter nonsense” got my attention. I have re-read the post several times and continue to reassess my thoughts and conclusions. Some times you beed a slap in the face. OUCH! I struggle between dismissing the comment out of hand and deleting the post. Those are false choices. I need to reassess and, revise my post if needed
I have not decided to post any more on Bluesky or whether I will even keep my account. Withdrawing from social media most likely would mean seeking comfortable confines of an echo chamber. Not a bad idea. It is a lot easier to love my enemy from there and feel really good about myself and my writing.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

A Few Thoughts

George November 13, 2024 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

Sometimes I shock myself with the smart stuff I say and do. Then, there are the times I try to get out of the car with my seat belt on.
unknown

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

EVIL

Going back to biblical notions of evil. Evil in the bible is very simple. It is transgression. Evil isn’t a prerequisite for sin. Evil is sin. That is the biblical view. Evil is not a noun. It’s a choice.

Richard Beck

Separateness

We go through our lives, our years on this Earth, thinking of ourselves as separate. That sense of separateness basically causes every stupid, sinful, silly thing we ever do. The little, separate self takes offense when people don’t show us proper respect. The separate self lies, steals, and does unkind things to other people. When we’re separate, everything becomes about protecting and defending ourselves. It can consume our lives.

One word for overcoming that false sense of separateness, that illusory self, is heaven; quite frankly, that is what death offers us. It is simply returning to the Source from which we came, where all things are one. The whole gospel message is radical union with God, with neighbor, and even with ourselves. I think that’s why so many people are drawn to church each week—to receive communion and eventually, hopefully, realize that we are? in communion.

Richard Rohr

Belonging

Social group identities and norms, as opposed to theological beliefs, as the primary psychological drivers of religious interpretation and expression.”
Our religion is about what our group defines as sacred. Belonging before believing.

Samuel Perry

Humility

…humility simply means living in the reality of the human condition. The word “humility” comes from the Latin root for “ground” (hum-) which it shares with both “human” and “humus”—that nutrient rich soil that gardeners love. In this way, humility suggests a kind of groundedness or acceptance of our limits as earthbound creatures. Humility puts us in our place, teaching us that for all our ambitions and aspirations, our lives are lived in this moment, in this time, in this place.

Hannah Anderson

WE ARE STUPID!

Prov. 12: 15 Stupid people always think they are right. Wise people listen to advice. (GNT)

Wise people are really aware of how often they are wrong. Even when they are right they feel a sense of wrong.

Stupid people always think they are right. They never have to justify their actions. They never have to justify their choices because they think they’re right. If you are always right you’re not always right, you’re always stupid.

By choosing to listen you begin to attack the stupidity in your life. Wise people listen to counsel. You never get so wise that you do not need advise.

Stupid people think that wise people don’t need advise. And that’s why they are stupid. Wise people need less advice and want it more. Wise people need less advice and seek it more. Stupid people need more advice and seek it less.

Here’s how to know where you fall on the spectrum of stupid or wise. If you are asking people for counsel and input in your life you are wise. If you are looking for people that agree with you, you are being stupid. Ironically, stupid people always pretend they are getting advise.

Irwin McManus

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

Now can we stop screaming?

George November 11, 2024 Echo chambers 1 Comment

Lord, if we are pleased with the results of the election, let us in humility remember that every earthly authority must one day give way to your eternal rule – so let us in grace love all our neighbors well.

Or, if we are disappointed, let us resist all fear, anger, accusation and bitterness, but instead renew our trust in you – and let us in grace love all our neighbors well.

Whatever the outcome of this election, let our citizenship and our hope be rooted first in your heavenly kingdom, that we might live as winsome ambassadors of our soon-returning King – always in grace loving our neighbors well.
Jessica Smith Culver and Douglas McElvey
via Chris Seidman

I very much appreciate the prayer above. My prayer, not nearly as thoughtful, sadly, betrays my shallow expectations. A veiled request to love our neighbors well. “Lord, help us quit screaming at each other!”

The election over but it is not the end, it is the the beginning. What our nation will look like during the next four years, and beyond, will be largely determine by whether we can stop screaming at each other.
Rhetoric for unity, peace, cooperation, et al, will not, cannot, be heard until the screaming stops. An obvious question is “How do we stop screaming?”. To answer that question we need to understand why we are screaming at each other. It is my premise that Why we have been, and will continue to scream at each other is because almost everyone resides in an echo chamber ¹. It is the simple adage: “Birds of a feather stick together”.
Despite some pleasant post election rhetoric, each side, rather than un-circling wagons, are reinforcing defensive positions. The election has been conceded but not the fight.
Echo chambers exist because of our tribal instincts as human beings.

Despite all the contrary rhetoric, contemporary Americans are not highly individualized: we are tribal, in the extreme. It is the group, however constructed, that gives identity, for the identity that is sought is one that covers us, that hides our vulnerability and gives us the safety of those who agree. A tell-tale sign of this dynamic is found in our culture’s anger. Anger is largely driven by shame and we can affirm our tribal protection only by shouting at the outsider. Everything outside the group threatens to unmask us. To an increasing extent, the group to which we belong is that set of people who share our anger.
Fr Stephen Freeman

Humans are designed to be tribal. We are wired to organize ourselves socially into in-groups (our own group) and out-groups (others’ groups), and to organize ourselves cognitively so that our reasoning processes and even our sensory perceptions support in-group solidarity. “Believing is belonging,”
Jonathan Rauch

Life in an echo chamber is paradoxical. There are positive experiences of belonging (comfort/identity) and strengthening of our beliefs (rightness). Negatively, living in an echo chamber has potential for unhealthy even destructive outcomes. Whether we are right or wrong, our echo chamber has potential for harmful and/or destructive consequences. Living outside an echo chamber is a rare exception.

Dynamics of echo chambers

Using the concept of natural frequency (resonance)² can help us understand the dynamics of echo chambers.

Accepting I am not a physicist, let me propose an analogy between the physics of natural frequency and echo chambers. Supposing the natural frequency of our echo chamber is ƒ_r [rightness]. An external application of ƒ_r[rightness] will cause the echo chamber to oscillate and achieve resonance — i.e. “resonate with us”. In simple terms, “playing our tune” or “on my wave length”. The application of ƒ_r[rightness] at increasing amplitude can grow enough too, as in case of a glass, shatter the object.

Perhaps the analogy breaks down with destruction, but, at a minimum, it supports Nicholas Kristof’s assertion: “Whatever our politics [beliefs], inhabiting a bubble makes us more shrill.” When we are exposed to continual reinforcement of our rightness, it will result in unhealthy consequences [i.e. screaming at outsiders].

We scream [become shrill] at one another because we live in echo chambers sating ourselves on ƒ_r. Because we are human echo chambers will always be our preferred residence. Eliminating echo chambers is not realistic,
Neither is Eliminating input of ƒ_r an option; reinforcement and validation of beliefs and values is crucial.
Because we reside in an echo chamber does not mean we are evil people. However, the nature and character of echo chambers is such that if we choose to reside in an unmitigated echo chamber the trajectory of our lives will bend toward evil not good.

Destined to dwell in echo chambers, how can we survive and thrive ?

Surviving and Thriving in Echo Chambers

Consent echo chambers are a reality.. Hopefully this post is helpful.

Embrace our fallibility. Counterintuitively, mitigating the power of echo chambers requires acceptance that we, as humans, are fallible. The reason we reside in echo chambers is because of our desire for confirmation that we are infallible. The most significant human trait that sustains and encourages the proliferation of and participation in harmful echo chambers is our unwillingness to entertain the possibility that we may be wrong.
Self-delusion is the adhesive which keeps us confined to echo chambers. Self-delusion is a two-sided coin: One side the delusion of omniscient, the other side the delusion of infallibility. Unfortunately, whichever side comes up, we lose.

Myth: My opinion/belief is TRUE, therefore I have no reason for concern.
The negative impact of echo chambers is indiscriminate. Relative to negative outcomes, it does not matter whether we are right or wrong. If we are certain of our opinion/belief, the reverberations within our echo chamber confirm our certainty, deafening and blinding us to any dissenting voices. In our self-deluded infallibility, we are able to justify responses, that we would never otherwise consider, toward any and all dissenting voices.

Self awareness is essential to surviving and thriving in echo chambers.
To see and truly understand ourselves is the only antidote to the self-deceiving nature of echo chambers. Self-deception is a path of least resistance. The lure of self-deception is so consuming that any thought that we can will ourselves into self-awareness is, ironically, self-deceiving. We become self-aware when we are exposed by light from external sources, stripping away shadows of self-deception, leavingus profoundly naked and humiliated. In those moments that we cannot only see who we truly are, we are also able discern who we should be and what changes are needed to transform us.

Humility is a product of self-awareness.

Humility is not about having a low self-image or poor self-esteem. Humility is about self-awareness.
irwin McManus

Absent of any driving or damping force a system, subjected to increasing amplitude of its natural frequency, will oscillate to its destruction.
Humility, produced by awareness of fallibility, is a dampening force which can modulates the amplitude of ƒ_r permitting validation and confirmation of beliefs to occur while overruling the impulse to scream.

SUMMARY

our human default is tribal.
self-delusion is a plight of those residing in an echo chamber,
self-awareness is essential to surviving and thriving in echo chambers,
there is inherent resistance to self-examination,
prevailing, relentless narratives engender fear and rejection of dissenting voices.
Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change minds. More education/information is not a solution. [even what presented in this post] We are faced with the discomforting reality that any solution must come from outside ourselves.
ever-present and complex, echo chambers are an obstacle to a society characterized by virtuous human values.

Conclusion

For too many of us it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods, or on college campuses, or places of worship, or especially our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. In the rise of naked partisanship and increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste, all this makes this great sorting se em natural, even inevitable.
And increasingly we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it’s true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there.
_{Obama farewell speech}

The poor in spirit do not commit evil. Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves. The evil in this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisees of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin in because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination.
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own human nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world.
Unless we can now tame and transmute the potential for evil in the human soul, we shall be lost. How can we do this unless we are willing to look at our own evil?
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own human nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world.
_{M. Scott Peck – People of the Lie}

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

1
An echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a defined system. Inside a figurative echo chamber, official sources often go unquestioned and different or competing views are censored, disallowed, or otherwise underrepresented. The echo chamber effect reinforces a person’s own present world view, making it seem more correct and more universally accepted than it really is. (Wikipedia)
2
Natural frequency is the frequency at which a system tends to oscillate in the absence of any driving or damping force.

A Few Thoughts

George November 6, 2024 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

Aging is the most difficult task I’ve ever undertaken…pursuing holiness is a close second…
Phoenix Preacher

Prayer

God, lover of life, lover of these lives,?
God, lover of our souls, lover of our bodies, lover of all that exists:
It is your love that keeps it all alive….
May we live in this love.?
May we never doubt this love.?
May we know that we are love,?
That we were created for love,?
That we are a reflection of you,?
That you love yourself in us and therefore we are perfectly lovable.?
May we never doubt this deep and abiding and perfect goodness.?
We are because you are.

Richard Rohr

Peace

Perhaps, there is no definitive opposite of peace to speak of, only its definitive absence. It is surely the case that no matter how many things a person might have, to have no peace is in a certain sense to have nothing. I do not mean to not have anything but to have precisely nothing: an inescapable void right at the center of everything else, like the billions of stars in our galaxy that all have a supermassive black hole churning at the center. It is indeed the absence of peace that sets much of our world in motion, into commotion. Everyone is searching for its presence (or running from its absence) but more often than not search (or run) in vain. The absence of peace cannot be filled with any substitute presence any more than a black hole can be filled with starlight. It’s like the absence of a person. The only thing that can fill the absence of a person is that same person’s presence. There is no replacement for peace.

The opposite of peace is godlessness, in a literal sense. In the words of Karl Barth, “The enterprise of the No-God is avenged by its success.” So if you want to find peace, you have to go straight to the source. There is no replacement for God.

Jeremy Spainhour

Words for the Belovéd

And this is the consolation-that the world doesn’t end, that the world one day opens up into something better, and that we one day open up into something far better.
Maybe like this: one morning you finally wake to a light you recognize as the light you’ve wanted every morning that has come before. And the air itself has some light thing in it that you’ve always hoped the air might have. And One is there to welcome you whose face you’ve looked for during all the best and worst times of your life.
He takes you to himself and holds you close until you fully wake. And it seems you’ve only just awakened, but you turnand there we are, the rest of us, arriving just behind you.
We’ll go the rest of the way together.

Scott Cairns

Students of God

…no student of God, no believer in God or worshiper of Him, has any interest in remaining at the level of third-person knowledge, that is, questions and facts about God. What makes God God is his qualitative unlikeness to all other objects of study, what theologians call His transcendence.

God is incorporeal (not a body), immaterial (not made of matter), invisible, eternal, and infinite. He cannot be studied in a lab, placed in a petri dish, or spied through a telescope. What we know of Him we know by inference or by revelation: by reasoning from effects in the world, tracing them to their ultimate cause in Him, or by receiving what He has to say about Himself, if He so chooses.

Brad East

Notation in the back of my old Bible (circa 1999)

Oh God, our heavenly Guide, as finite creatures of time and dependent creatures of Thine, we acknowledge Thee as our sovereign Lord. Permit freedom and joys thereof to forever reign throughout our land. May we as klansmen forever have the courage of our convictions that we may ever stand for Thee and our great nation. May the sweet cup of brotherly fraternity ever be ours to enjoy and build within us that kindred spirit which will keep us unified and strong. Engender within us that wisdom kindred to honorable decisions and the Godly work. By the power of Thy infinite spirit and the energizing virtue therein, ever keep before us our oaths of secrecy and pledges of righteousness. Bless us now in this assembly that we may honor Thee in all things, we pray in the name of Christ, our blessed Savior. Amen.
_{Prayer of Sam Bowers, KKK Grand Chaplin, on June 7, 1964 at Boykin Methodist Church near Raleigh, Mississippi.}

STLL ON THE JOURNEY

Dying Well 5.0… preparing

George October 31, 2024 Dying Well 0 Comments

Dying well:
Living like a tree- producing a burst of beauty as death approaches.

Dying well is putting our dying to use for our sanctification and the welfare of those we leave behind.
G Ezell

Dying well is not just about what happens when death is immanent, it is about living well in preparation for the final event.

The process of dying begins when we we are born, therefore, planning to die should, theoretically, be a life-long undertaking. In reality, planning to die well becomes relevant we accept our mortality. Culture’s avoidance of death, explains why many do not plan or die well.

Some may object to the idea planning to die well, i.e. “No one knows when where or how they will die!” ” God will take me when He is ready.”
It is ironic one would object to planning to die well and be very emphatic about planning for retirement, for example. It is true that our life is always tenuous. “I never thought I would live this long.” is not a reason to forgo planning.

Dying well, as defined, is a spiritual discipline, — advancing sanctification, It is also practical — addressing the welfare of those we leave behind. This post attends to the latter.
What follows is a stream of consciousness intended to eventually produce a cogent framework for addressing the welfare of those we leave behind. Future posts will focus on the spiritual.

Integrity is the ability to come to terms with your life in the face of death. It’s a feeling of peace that you have used and are using your time well. You have a sense of accomplishment and acceptance.
david brooks

In all the moments I spent at the bedside of the dying, I witnessed none where pain did not overcome the survivors. Even in deaths that were anticipated, like those among elderly people who had suffered the ravages of long-standing terminal illness, the loss left scars. Families who voiced acceptance of a loved one’s impending death struggled afterward, blindsided by the abrupt absence of someone dear to them. It was as if a part of their heart had been removed suddenly.
Kathryn Butler

For the dying, death’s effect – fear, temptation, sin – precede its appearance. Death’s consequences — grief, sorrow, loss – are the burden of those left behind.
Dying well does not eliminate, but attends to, the reality of the consequences of death for those left behind. To die well well is an act of love.
What follows are topics which minister to those we leave behind. Each topic is worthy of more discussion and may be addressed in future posts. For now, they are presented to further stimulate thinking about preparing to die well.

End of Life
End of life is often defined as the time between a medical declaration that one is dying and death. For this discussion the span end of life is from acceptance “I am going to die” until death. In either case the span of end of life is tenuous and can vary greatly, increasing the importance of the following topics

Last rites
An occurrence of death is a terrible time to make important decisions. To the extent possible, decisions should be made and executed in advance, or at least communicated clearly.It is true that the dead won’t know or care, but those left behind do.

Cremation and/or burial
Funeral arrangements / Prepaid?
Funeral service
Officiant/s

Legal/ Medical

Medical Advance directive
Living will
Power of Attorney
Driving Advance Directive
Last Will and Testament

Establish guardrails to help prepare for dying in our high-tech world before death is imminent.:
Stay out of the hospital if possible.
Avoid new devices, interventions, and procedures if possible.
Spend your remaining days at home if possible.
Nurture relationships with those you love.
L.S. Dugdale

Conversation

Conversations are an essential part of nurturing relationships with those you love. It is important to have meaningful conversations before there is an immanent death crisis. In crisis , conversations about extraneous matters will not be a priority.
There is an inverse proportional relationship between meaningful conversations and the caliber of relationship. Paradoxically, the closer the relationship the more difficult, or less likely, it is for meaningful conversations to occur. There are exceptions, but the key point is “meaningful”. Close relationships are typically filled with fun, entertaining and informative conversations but when meaningful and/or serious topics arise— not so much. Either the conversation shuts down or it is diverted to a less risky topic.
This story about my father illustrates the point:

It has been well over two decades, but I remember it clearly. My father, in the closing days of his life, was in a shabby nursing home in North Alabama. Traveling from Kentucky to make what might be a final visit, I was hopeful we could have “the conversation” . You know what I mean, that conversation where you talk about all the “stuff” left unsaid; or, at a minimum, say final goodbyes. I did not have the forethought to prepare for that conversation, but as he lay there, bed-ridden, disfigured by age and ravaged by disease, I knew that there might never be another opportunity. When we had finished our usual small talk, and the room was quiet, I said “Dad, Is there anything you would like to talk about?” Laying on his back, looking at the ceiling, I could tell he was thinking. Absent his dentures he was chewing on his gums, unsupported lips flapping. As I looked at him he avoided eye contact. Tears began to well up and slowly roll down his cheeks. Chewing vigorously, he looked at me and said, “Could you hand me a cookie out of that drawer?”

Perhaps the most difficult challenge to preparing and dying well is having meaningful conversation about death and related issues. I can attest to this by my experience over the past year or so as I have intentionally engaged in developing a plan to die well. To have meaningful conversations requires attending to relationships which may be fragile or broken. Even when relationships are healthy, avoidance of death restraints needed conversations.
One more reason why dying well ain’t easy.

Community

We want somebody there when we die, and it is worth rehearsing for the inevitable in community now—while we have our wits about us and are able-bodied. Community does not materialize instantly at a deathbed; it must be cultivated over a lifetime.

The ars moriendi drives home the point that we die best in community. Rare is the person who dies alone and dies well. In fact, we might go so far as to say that it is impossible to die well if you die alone. Dying in the fifteenth century was truly a community affair.
ars moriendi literary genre sometimes characterized dying as a drama in which moriens (the dying person) is the protagonist and all other members of the patient’s community, from youngest to oldest, play supporting roles. The idea is that those in attendance at the deathbed could rehearse their roles in this familial drama while still young and healthy, in anticipation of their own future role as moriens. Rehearsing made it easier to sustain a supportive community once death hovered. When someone died, there would be no guessing about what one should do or say.
The Lost Art of Dying

A community surrounding us when we die is naturally thought of as family. Sadly in today’s world, often families are broken and absent at the end of life. For that reason, community needs a broader definition i.e. church or another group. In any case it is important that community be cultivated in a way that we are able to be in the company of loved ones when death nears.

Legacy

”With few exceptions, everyone wants to be remembered . That desire can be fulfilled in numerous ways — gravesites, monuments, photographs, etc. Reality is, those and other attempts to assure remembrance will fade and/or be forgotten.

“Almost all human endeavor is the attempt to mine the past for what we need to survive into the future.”
A legacy is the radiations of significance from a life-as it is lived and after it is over. “Your legacy is the fragrance of your life that remains when you yourself are not present.”
“The closest thing we have to a more permanent existence is our stories. Our stories capture more of who we are and what our life has been than anything else in the human experience.
_{Creating a Spiritual Legacy by Daniel Taylor}

“Preserve your stories now, while the memories are vivid. Think of the stories you’ve heard your partner or parents tell a thousand times. They are precious. When someone dies, we need those stories—not in a vague, half-remembered, second-hand form but in the original version, with all the plot twists, nuances, and personal storytelling quirks. Your own words and insights are more illuminating than others’ eulogies and tributes.”
https://mikefrost.net/the-way-you-tell-your-spiritual-autobiography-matters/

After our death, like ripples on the water, each story shared, is a memorial, sustaining our legacy.

What stories will be told?

poet Jim Harrison once wrote, “Death steals everything except our stories.” But if you don’t take care, death can steal those, too.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY