You have so beautifully and REALLY described the pain and fear of your experience - and the way we talk to God when it happens to us. Keep telling your stories and helping us grow. (Even at age 75!) Thankfully praying for your continued health. God is GOOD, and you are amazing!
I just started reading our signed copy of The Mystics Would Like a Word this morning, as it finally got to the top of the pile! I'll put a post-it in the back to remind me to comment on the OOBE section after I've read it. In the meantime, keep up the good work.
Well, let's see. Where fiction is concerned, I've recently read "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, "The Quest of the Sparrows" by Karthik Sharma, both "Othello" and "King Lear" by Shakespeare (part of lit studies with our homeschool son), "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger, "Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman, and a number of short stories. I'm also in progress with re-reading "The Lord of the Rings" and Franz Werfel's "The Song of Bernadette," the latter being my #1 favorite novel for perhaps the 12th time, this time on audiobook. (Lloyd Douglas' "The Robe" is #2).
On the non-fiction side, I finished Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship, finished editing upcoming book, "Art and Spirit" by Dana Lynne Anderson and am in process with (1) The Atomic Energy Sourcebook, a 1950s tome on nuclear physics (our son is going into Physics in college come August), and (2) a pair of books about Swami Kriyananda, a disciple of the mystic Paramhansa Yogananda, specifically his autobiography, "The New Path," and a biography, "Lightbearer" by Asha Nayaswami.
Oh, and my son and I are working through Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica," in the original Latin (and with dictionary and Henle Grammar in hand)!
It's fairly typical for me to have 4-5 books going on at once.
I should add that I'm especially interested in your section on Julian of Norwich as my own mystical experience of God is in the feminine. I'm delighted to see it validated in at least one Christian mystic as I know many consider it a heresy or worse.
There is so much fear surrounding this, isn't there? It's such a shame. I'm delighted to hear that it's been your experience as well! Hildegard also referred to the Spirit in the feminine quite a bit too.
There certainly is. I got that kind of reaction last year when I workshopped the story I have on https://kiranblackwell.substack.com/p/a-matter-of-the-heart-part-2?r=2pm8fx, to the extent that I ended up removing pronouns that might trigger people differently. That goes to say, then, how much I appreciate the work you've done to emphasize the feminine aspect of the Divine. After all, it's right there in Genesis 1: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ... male and female created he them." Quite unequivocal in my mind!
So grateful the Lord spared you. I’m truly sorry for all you went through. Even now, I pray in gratitude for your healing and for your heart and all you experienced at that time.
A powerful piece. That last paragraph, YES! I've never gone through the experiences you describe here, but I have had moments when confronting my life's end I've felt a similar warm, uplifting sense of "all will be well," that there's nothing to be afraid of.
So grateful for all you’ve accomplished in these two years, since the illness!!! ♥️
“Nothing is scary”, a hard but noble truth for a chronic worrier like me. So glad you lived to tell the tale ♥️
Wow! ❤️🥰❤️
You have so beautifully and REALLY described the pain and fear of your experience - and the way we talk to God when it happens to us. Keep telling your stories and helping us grow. (Even at age 75!) Thankfully praying for your continued health. God is GOOD, and you are amazing!
Susan, you are pure gold. I want to be like you when I'm 75!
🥹
Ad multos annos!
Beautiful, Shannon. 💛
I just started reading our signed copy of The Mystics Would Like a Word this morning, as it finally got to the top of the pile! I'll put a post-it in the back to remind me to comment on the OOBE section after I've read it. In the meantime, keep up the good work.
That's fun to hear! What else have you been reading lately?
Well, let's see. Where fiction is concerned, I've recently read "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, "The Quest of the Sparrows" by Karthik Sharma, both "Othello" and "King Lear" by Shakespeare (part of lit studies with our homeschool son), "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger, "Einstein's Dreams" by Alan Lightman, and a number of short stories. I'm also in progress with re-reading "The Lord of the Rings" and Franz Werfel's "The Song of Bernadette," the latter being my #1 favorite novel for perhaps the 12th time, this time on audiobook. (Lloyd Douglas' "The Robe" is #2).
On the non-fiction side, I finished Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship, finished editing upcoming book, "Art and Spirit" by Dana Lynne Anderson and am in process with (1) The Atomic Energy Sourcebook, a 1950s tome on nuclear physics (our son is going into Physics in college come August), and (2) a pair of books about Swami Kriyananda, a disciple of the mystic Paramhansa Yogananda, specifically his autobiography, "The New Path," and a biography, "Lightbearer" by Asha Nayaswami.
Oh, and my son and I are working through Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica," in the original Latin (and with dictionary and Henle Grammar in hand)!
It's fairly typical for me to have 4-5 books going on at once.
This is quite the load! 🤩👏👏
I should add that I'm especially interested in your section on Julian of Norwich as my own mystical experience of God is in the feminine. I'm delighted to see it validated in at least one Christian mystic as I know many consider it a heresy or worse.
There is so much fear surrounding this, isn't there? It's such a shame. I'm delighted to hear that it's been your experience as well! Hildegard also referred to the Spirit in the feminine quite a bit too.
There certainly is. I got that kind of reaction last year when I workshopped the story I have on https://kiranblackwell.substack.com/p/a-matter-of-the-heart-part-2?r=2pm8fx, to the extent that I ended up removing pronouns that might trigger people differently. That goes to say, then, how much I appreciate the work you've done to emphasize the feminine aspect of the Divine. After all, it's right there in Genesis 1: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ... male and female created he them." Quite unequivocal in my mind!
So grateful the Lord spared you. I’m truly sorry for all you went through. Even now, I pray in gratitude for your healing and for your heart and all you experienced at that time.
A powerful piece. That last paragraph, YES! I've never gone through the experiences you describe here, but I have had moments when confronting my life's end I've felt a similar warm, uplifting sense of "all will be well," that there's nothing to be afraid of.
Oooo I'm glad you shared. The similarity is nice to have confirmed!
Grateful every day for your life. and reminding myself that all will be well.
I guess that's why many elders are so stoic when it comes to life's events.