tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post7889873863286488846..comments2024-03-18T15:17:26.003-05:00Comments on l'astronave: From Death to LifeFrescahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-14144725396877088132009-03-26T19:06:00.000-05:002009-03-26T19:06:00.000-05:00BINK: Good point, the breathing thing. I like how ...BINK: Good point, the breathing thing. I like how Buddhism used the breath as a spiritual focal point. Don't want to clog that up, no... : )<BR/><BR/>I'm glad you liked the article about Mary Johnson--it was good but pales, you can imagine, compared to hearing her in person. Still, you're right, it's both heart-breaking and heart-healing.Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-54906188114584518972009-03-26T17:31:00.000-05:002009-03-26T17:31:00.000-05:00P. S. That article you link to on Mary Johnson is...P. S. That article you link to on Mary Johnson is very moving. Her story is just so heartbreaking and heart-healing-ly compelling.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-14968984785784679242009-03-26T17:25:00.000-05:002009-03-26T17:25:00.000-05:00I think your image of a stuck drain is very apt. ...I think your image of a stuck drain is very apt. Because I know for me lack-of-forgiveness sticks in my throat and strangles me. All that tension, anger and resentment keeps me from breathing freely.<BR/><BR/>The times I have experienced grace of forgiveness it too has flooded through me, and unclogged my throat-drain, letting me breath more easily. <BR/><BR/>Given the way I breath...I guess I still have a long ways to go...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-30930526322470087122009-03-26T09:11:00.000-05:002009-03-26T09:11:00.000-05:00Thanks, Paul. Sometimes the trite thing is actuall...Thanks, Paul. Sometimes the trite thing is actually the right thing. Like when I wrote that Mary glowed--that's such a cliche, but, you know, it was just true. There are some people who seem to give off light--I wonder if there's some chemistry at work there...<BR/><BR/>Jen: Yes, I think a lot of people who experience that deep level of forgiveness do not feel it as self-generated. I mean, it may be, but it doesn't seem to come from the conscious mind, anyway.<BR/> Hmmm... maybe it's what Stephen Colbert calls "truthiness". : )<BR/><BR/>Br. McGrath made that particular painting for the Visitation sisters here in town--the original hangs in their living room, near where Mary was talking, and of course its paint literally does glow. I have a poster of it.<BR/><BR/>MOMO: Thank you, dear. Good words--polluted, haunted... yes. <BR/>(I worry a bit sometimes about the wisdom of using words that people associate maybe too much with religious doctrine--by "grace," of course I simply meant "gifted," which is what the word means.)<BR/><BR/>I very much relate to your image of cultivating the soil--sort of like mine of walking (or sitting) on a road--things that take time and are more about preparation and persistence and patience than the ego efforts we make in other endeavors.<BR/><BR/>I continue to be awed at the power of simply hearing someone's story. Mary just sitting there talking, not terribly emotionally (she tells her story regularly in her work for peace and healing), was one of the moments of my life. And while I hated reading the death penalty book, I'm glad I did, since it took me back there.Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-25756746259399900672009-03-26T08:00:00.000-05:002009-03-26T08:00:00.000-05:00dearest fresca, this is one of the posts that stay...dearest fresca, this is one of the posts that stays with me, that I keep mulling over, because it speaks so powerfully. <BR/>Forgiveness is elusive. We want to forgive, because if we can't we are haunted, or as you describe it polluted by this vile gunk, the residue of someone else's act. Mary Johnson's description of that bodily feeling welling up, you calling it grace: the idea of being washed clean of the bitterness and hate--we do thirst for it. Sometimes I think we can only try to cultivate the soil of forgiveness in what is often hard and stoney ground. I also think that the stories of others are poweful vehicles of grace, the bearing of witness that it is possible. That's why I sometimes found AlAnon meetings so powerful. I wasn't able yet to forgive, but I could see and hear others around me who were farther in their journey, and it inspired me to keep trying to make room in my heart for something that hadn't arrived yet.Lately I think I may be catching glimpses of it. Your beautiful powerful story moves me to think again of what I need to do to be open to the possibility that I may also feel that grace some day.momohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149328149132703479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-47557775874903817062009-03-26T01:19:00.000-05:002009-03-26T01:19:00.000-05:00I find intriguing the idea of forgiveness as an ex...I find intriguing the idea of forgiveness as an external force, a wind blowing through you that takes away the bitterness and pain. We focus so much on forgiveness being a personal choice, but it seems to be so often entirely unwilled.<BR/><BR/>Also, that art is absolutely breathtaking. Luminous.Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13923745480765984429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-73250426754464941542009-03-25T19:46:00.000-05:002009-03-25T19:46:00.000-05:00This story is well-told, clear and meaningful. You...This story is well-told, clear and meaningful. You, on the curb telling your story, are exemplary.<BR/><BR/>Its somewhat trite to say, but it seems right, that the road of life is long with many possible stops and turns. When your done resting on the curb, I suspect you'll have other stories to tell on down the road. Thanks for this one.Paul D Lefebvrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07634990124626126727noreply@blogger.com