Joseph B.

for the alienated

Revisado: 10-31-22

As a millennial in North America, I grew up understanding Christianity as a political movement that always seemed to be on the side of intolerance, arrogance, and a presumptive wickedness willing to connive and manipulate like narcissistic infants, if unable to achieve their agendas by straightforward rhetoric (which was often). In short, by my early 20s I associated “Christianity” with American classism, hate, hysteria, and serpentine machinations that cloaked base unexamined and unchecked disgust, as religious freedom, presented, for instance, as pretending that human rights were topics of genuine democratic debate , in the same category as tax policy, zoning laws, and whether to close dramshops before 2 am.

Baptized and confirmed, I had accompanied one of my parents to Catholic Church in my youth. However, for the above reasons, I drifted toward indifferent agnosticism. And when post personal tragedy, I began to revisit the Catholic faith of my heritage, I was ashamed and kept it a secret.

It was personal examination of the faith, of the source material, and of interpretations presented by scholars and laypeople alike, throughout centuries, who approached faith and God as mystery and saw faith as a path that fulfilled and satiated through the act of exploration, even if the so called “end” might never be achieved, and through this the realization that sedition and dissent is as deeply woven into the diverse patchwork of this world religion’s history, as are the repeated attempts to harness its tenants for conformity, earthly status, and power.

The professor’s approach in this course, is the type of work that has helped me access the comfort, willpower, and inspiration that spirituality provides. The teacher does not provide answers, and his opinions (which he always announces as opinions), are regarding his current best guesses regarding historical events, over which there is a fair amount of current academic debate.

If you believe, or want to explore the possibility, that for a brief moment in our history, the Word manifested, “the Word became man”, consider this book/audiobook, the professor presents well sourced (as well sourced as possible) biographies of the authors of each section, their historical contexts, clear and possible contradictions, all for the student to absorb and then deduct meaning for themselves.

I would say that, for those looking for very specific instructions to survive and be acceptable, and to understand oneself primarily through comparison to others, than other reading choices would likely be preferable.

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I feel better this morning

Revisado: 05-21-20

I’ve been going through the struggles associated with confronting past trauma. One of those, in my case, has been struggling to fall asleep. Last night I listened to Diddy’s Honor Yourself for the first time. I do not know how it ended, so I must have fallen asleep before it did.

I was quite riled up as I started the recording, so I am impressed that I was apparently asleep within 25 minutes. And as the review title says, I feel unusually - for me - calm this morning.

namasté, Diddy

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Needed antidote to pervasive norms on handling a depressed loved one

Revisado: 11-21-17

This is the first time I’ve heard Ms. (Dr. ?)
Perel approach family dynamics outside of one-on-one intimate relationships. In this case, it’s a couple perplexed by the onset of a serious mood disorder for their college aged daughter.

What drew me to Ms. Perel, when I first heard her on This American Life, was her ability to challenge her patients while remaining deeply and genuinely empathetic toward their suffering. As popular as the antidote:

Suffering Person: “Why me, God?”
God: “Why not?”

Is in American culture; I’ve only seen that mentality promoted by people in denial about the mechanisms of their own pain and - perhaps more relevant in a culture still so thoroughly influenced by organized Christianity’s emphasis on the selfless ideal - the pain they’re spreading to those who love and possibly depend on them.

Ms. Perel seems prepared for the fact that most of her American patients enter the room clinging at least partially to the above referenced ideal, and possesses the ability to guide these patients to a more nuanced view that appears to help them feel more compassion toward themselves and whoever else is involved.

After this first episode of Season 2, I can say that Ms. Perel appears to be able to apply her gifts to family dynamics that extend beyond the individual couple.

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