A couple weeks ago, I wrote about growing out of some specific ideas about God that I grew up with. But the way I see the world was fundamentally shaped by the faith of my youth and by the bible. I still refer to and think about the bible a lot. I like it more now than I ever have, actually.
I tend to describe my stance as spiritual, instead of religious. I grew up in a non-religious environment, I could see it around me in the larger community in many forms, but not in my family home.
As a result I have no particular religious philosophy, no specific idea of 'God,' nor do I know many passages from the Bible, but I think I look at the world in a similar way as you do. I particularly like the last part of this piece with all the bullet points. This is close to how I see the world and wish the world to be.
Just over a year ago, I went out and bought a larger font Bible. The one my parents gave me as a child, I could not read! I stuck with the King James, the one I grew up with, partly because I love the cadence, and I love Shakespeare's language (and realized Shakespeare's was really Tynedale's) and had just completed a read of David Teems bio of Tynedale. I finished the read a few weeks ago, and am going back through the NT mostly because--what can I say--it's Christmas time. It's been quite a year with this. A year of healing about my anger as a teen, and the weird ways I was brought up--and the good. It's been a year to reclaim and make anew, and find my own way. The ancientness of the book really sits with me, and makes me hopeful. It's not an easy book. It's dynamic and demanding and then wraps me up in something so hard to define. Sometimes it feels to be more about being open and accepting instead of always trying to pin down and understand. Recently I read a list of the people most likely to live with some degree of Keats "negative capability" (capacity to live with mystery), and the list was "artists, scientists, and religious people." And it made me laugh aloud in wonder.
I tend to describe my stance as spiritual, instead of religious. I grew up in a non-religious environment, I could see it around me in the larger community in many forms, but not in my family home.
As a result I have no particular religious philosophy, no specific idea of 'God,' nor do I know many passages from the Bible, but I think I look at the world in a similar way as you do. I particularly like the last part of this piece with all the bullet points. This is close to how I see the world and wish the world to be.
Thanks for posting this.
Thank you, Vicki. It’s good to connect over bullet points.
I describe myself as religious but not spiritual because 1) it messes with people and 2) it’s kind of true.
Eloquent, Jeff👏. I formed ideals on life flowing within me and without me. That enormity is overwhelming me now and that’s the Juice 🧃
That's the juice!
Just over a year ago, I went out and bought a larger font Bible. The one my parents gave me as a child, I could not read! I stuck with the King James, the one I grew up with, partly because I love the cadence, and I love Shakespeare's language (and realized Shakespeare's was really Tynedale's) and had just completed a read of David Teems bio of Tynedale. I finished the read a few weeks ago, and am going back through the NT mostly because--what can I say--it's Christmas time. It's been quite a year with this. A year of healing about my anger as a teen, and the weird ways I was brought up--and the good. It's been a year to reclaim and make anew, and find my own way. The ancientness of the book really sits with me, and makes me hopeful. It's not an easy book. It's dynamic and demanding and then wraps me up in something so hard to define. Sometimes it feels to be more about being open and accepting instead of always trying to pin down and understand. Recently I read a list of the people most likely to live with some degree of Keats "negative capability" (capacity to live with mystery), and the list was "artists, scientists, and religious people." And it made me laugh aloud in wonder.
'Sometimes it feels to be more about being open and accepting instead of always trying to pin down and understand.’
If more people read the bible like that, the world would be a better place.
♥♥♥
This is awesome Jeff! I can very much so relate to these thoughts.
Love this.
This is great. Love it.