I’m coloring my hair this morning, so I have 20 minutes of waiting time to share with you. So here we go!
MEMORIAL SERVICE MISHAP
I inadvertently gave my older sister a scare last night when I sent her a link to my updated memorial service Powerpoint and a copy of my obituary. She emailed me this morning saying we need to chat or visit soon, and what’s up with the memorial service and obituary? Something urgent?
No. I just wanted to update it. In earlier versions, I alluded to having a Christian service, but I don’t want that anymore. I want a secular service, with no mention of deities or heaven or anything that requires “belief” or “faith” of a Christian nature. I’m no longer a Christian and don’t want any attendees feeling preached to in any way, shape, or form. No preachers, no religious songs, no Bible passages.
I’m a Bible scholar but have since discovered the ruse that has been perpetrated on believers, and I don’t want to promote that any longer, now that I am convinced that CONTROLLING believers (making them into cultists) is the plan.
INTELLIGENT DESIGN
I do believe in Intelligent Design and that there is a Creator, but I don’t think anyone on this planet has the full facts on Who it is, and I don’t think Whoever it is, is a bipolar tyrant and enforcer (sending people to hell and commanding followers to utterly destroy their adversaries) in Book One (the Old Testament) and a “grace-led” (turn the other cheek, if someone asks you to walk a mile with them, walk two, etc.) master in the other one. I think patriarchal male supremacists are responsible for both books of the Bible (although they were patriarchal male supremacists of color; no one in the Bible was white!).
I’m just so DONE with anything that requires “FAITH” to believe in it. As Mark Twain wrote, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
Do I think this one life is all there is? No, I don’t, but I have no idea what form of life I will be (or feed, or consume) in subsequent lifetimes, any more than I know what form of life I have been (or fed, or consumed) in earlier incarnations. It is all a Mystery, and I like that. I want to leave here with my arms wide open for whatever comes next, whether that’s NOTHING or something I can’t even conceive of.
GUESSING GAME
Everyone on this earth plane is guessing, even those who have had near-death experiences. They “saw” what their present incarnations prepared them to see, as each of their brains did its thing based on what they were taught to expect during “life after death.”
Maybe we get to choose our own adventure! Some people believe that; that we choose our assignments before we incarnate. I’m okay with that idea. I feel awfully sure I came here wanting to learn (endlessly) and communicate what I’ve learned.
FINISHED WITH ORGANIZED RELIGION
Anyway, I’m just completely convinced now that “organized religion” (any of them) is a way to “organize”/control/manipulate people. Far right evangelicals have done the most to convince me that they don’t believe what they say they do, and that they don’t do what they say we should all do; they just want to control/marginalize/”other” other people. To them, rules are for other people to follow; they get special/exclusive privileges, having been “forgiven” and all!
The Creator — Whoever that is — isn’t a far right evangelical; of that, I am wholly convinced!!!
In Other News…
DAILY EXERCISE
Now that the weather has turned uniformly lovely, I have started walking again every morning before it gets too hot. This week will be a scorcher in the afternoon, so I walk early in the a.m. while it’s still 56 to 60 degrees outside.
Something I’ve noticed just recently is that I get really “stove up” after a four-mile walk unless I get up a lot to walk around in the hours following the walk. That’s new, but I also got new shoes that are very comfortable but not very supportive. So, today I tried other shoes and I’m not having the same issue.
Conclusion: maybe I just need to walk in something other than the new shoes. They’re okay for around the house and short jaunts, but they don’t treat the rest of me well when I walk a long way in them all at once.
WRITING WORK
As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been very busy writing for one of my two favorite clients. I have a day or two off now, though, so I’m looking to do another small project for a new client that I found on Upwork. I meet with him today via Zoon at 2 to see if we’re on the same page before I get underway for him.
He says he isn’t terribly sure about what he wants done, so that raises a red flag with me. It’s hard to hit a moving target!!! He wants his letters and website to be more humorous (the listing said he was seeking a comedy writer), but he isn’t sure what he means by that.
When I asked what kind of comedy (Bob Newhart, Robin Williams, Seinfeld, etc.) he said he doesn’t really know. His service doesn’t lend itself to a lot of humor, so we need to figure out what makes sense for him during the Zoom call this afternoon. I sent him a piece I did on DeForest Kelley for Grit and a humorous piece I wrote about job interviews, and he liked the both and thought the gentle humor/style in the Kelley piece is just about right. I agree but I want to make sure he still feels the same way.
