I have just finished reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I first got turned on to this author about seven years ago when a friend of mine suggested that I read American Gods and Stardust. I fell in love with his writing style and his stories immediately. I had not read anything of his recently however and I had this book sitting on my shelf for about a year. I finally decided to pick it up and read it and when I did so I could not put it down.
This book is a companion to American Gods and takes the character of Anansi and introduces us to his two sons. One of them is an unambitious Londoner and the other is a demi-god who takes after Anansi himself. The story is the tale of how the two brothers meet following their father's death and the adventures that follow them in the days to come.
The reason that I love Gaiman's works is that in his stories we see the gods interacting with the world. They are not a far off diety who has little or no involvement with the earth or its people. The gods themselves have personalities, ambitions, etc... They are very much like you and me and are quite easy to relate to in some ways. This focus on the intermingling of the two worlds makes Gaiman's storys perfect for those interested in Druidry or other Pagan practices as he certainly has a good grasp on the ways of the gods.
blessings,
bw
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Absence makes the heart grow fonder...
This old saying is proving so true in my own life. I really started pursuing my Druid studies in earnest last fall by joining OBOD and AODA. Things were going along well but time management was really my issue. My wife had a little girl in September which means we have two kids now and I am working full time as well as in the final semester of my Bachelor's program. So a couple months back I decided I need to set my Druid studies down for a bit and get things in order and let life settle down before picking them back up and pursuing things again. My blog has also been neglected as a result of this but it has been a good thing for me as I was really able to focus on my family and also on my college studies.
What I have noticed though is that some of the practical things that I had implemented in my life were pretty easy to maintain. Recycling, using less electricity, spending time outdoors, etc... And with the passing days my desire to pick up my Druid materials and do some good reading has just grown. So this week is a week off from school and I am going to spend some of my free time catching up a bit. I have some old posts to read through on both the OBOD forums and the AODA yahoo list. I might spend some time reading one of the lessons from my Bard grade course. The really important thing for me in all of this is to notice that my desire has not waned in any way. I am still passionate about walking this path.
The beautiful thing about Druidry is its lack of theology and its openness and acceptance of all traditions. I personally have a lot of work to do on my own thoughts and ideas about the divine, about many of the ideas that come from my judeo-christian past. What has been so valuable to me though is knowing that if I decide to keep some of my christian ideas and incorporate those into Druidry then that is acceptable. Or if I decide to move totally in another direction and pursue other paths then that is also acceptable. Having that ability to walk my own path without worry about judgement is a huge factor in my personal decision to pursue the Druid path.
These days in Washington the rainy winter is starting to end and we are seeing some sunshine. I am running everyday and swimming two days a week. Physically and mentally I feel more vibrant and healthy than I have in years. It is a good time to be alive and a good time to be a Druid.
blessings of the spring sun,
bw
What I have noticed though is that some of the practical things that I had implemented in my life were pretty easy to maintain. Recycling, using less electricity, spending time outdoors, etc... And with the passing days my desire to pick up my Druid materials and do some good reading has just grown. So this week is a week off from school and I am going to spend some of my free time catching up a bit. I have some old posts to read through on both the OBOD forums and the AODA yahoo list. I might spend some time reading one of the lessons from my Bard grade course. The really important thing for me in all of this is to notice that my desire has not waned in any way. I am still passionate about walking this path.
The beautiful thing about Druidry is its lack of theology and its openness and acceptance of all traditions. I personally have a lot of work to do on my own thoughts and ideas about the divine, about many of the ideas that come from my judeo-christian past. What has been so valuable to me though is knowing that if I decide to keep some of my christian ideas and incorporate those into Druidry then that is acceptable. Or if I decide to move totally in another direction and pursue other paths then that is also acceptable. Having that ability to walk my own path without worry about judgement is a huge factor in my personal decision to pursue the Druid path.
These days in Washington the rainy winter is starting to end and we are seeing some sunshine. I am running everyday and swimming two days a week. Physically and mentally I feel more vibrant and healthy than I have in years. It is a good time to be alive and a good time to be a Druid.
blessings of the spring sun,
bw
Sunday, January 13, 2008
15 Minutes with Nature
This morning I woke up to a surprise. There was sunshine coming in my window. This is a real treat during the winter months here in the Puget Sound region. I decided that I wanted to start the day off on a good note and so I told my wife I was going to take a walk around our neighborhood and over to the nearby Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee. The walk is actually only about 5 minutes if I simply walk to the end of my street and cut across a parking lot to the shopping area here on the base. However I decided to take a longer route and went down several blocks and then made a circle back up to the coffee shop. Along the way I did some thinking and I learned a few things about my spiritual journey and also about myself. Several months back when I first joined OBOD and AODA I had set for myself some seriously intense goals of becoming an Archdruid in record setting time. I didn't do this out of ego but out of excitement for the path. One of the AODA Earth Path requirements is that you spend 15 minutes each week in direct contact with nature. When I first read this requirement I laughed to myself. What kind of Druid only spends 15 minutes each week with nature? So I told myself that I would spend at least 15 minutes each day in nature. Sounds easy right? I mean what is 15 minutes? Well no sooner I had I started on my path then I tripped on a giant root and fell flat on my face. That root was labeled "Everyday obligations of a normal life". Wow! Who would have thought that everyday life would take up so much of my time. What I discovered was that spending 15 minutes a day in touch with nature was a really difficult goal for me at this point in time and that even 15 minutes a week would sometimes prove a challenge. The Grand Archdruid of AODA, John Michael Greer, has written that it is better for us to take small steps that we can maintain over a period of time than to try to make big changes that don't last.
So the lesson in all of this was twofold. First, making small changes in my life that I can actively work on are the most important changes I can make. As I incorporate these small changes into my life they eventually become habit and overtime I don't really need to think about doing them anymore they just become a part of me and a part of my walk to find myself and grow closer to nature and the natural world. In time as I make more and more of these small changes they turn into something really big and before I know it my life is different, better, and dramatically changed by all the small things that have added up over time.
The second lesson was possibly an even more important one. While this is my journey and I must find my own way it is also important to listen to the voices of those who have walked the path before me. The elders of both of my Druid orders are in those positions because they have a lifetime of experience. They didn't get to where they are in a year or even five. Most have been studying and learning and growing for 15 or 20 years and sometimes even more than that. For me to get the most out of this walk I must internalize the concept that nothing that is worthwhile is simply handed to us. It took me 29 years to even discover the Druid path. That is a long time to build up habits and ideas that were not necessarily healthy. So for me to think that I will change all of that in one year is kind of silly. I will be on this path of growing for the rest of my life and there is no real need to get in a hurry. So it is beneficial for me to follow the guidance of those who have walked before me and allow the lessons to simmer inside of me just like the Cauldron of Knowledge simmered in the story of Taliesin.
15 minutes each week with Mother Nature. If each week's 15 minutes are as productive for my growth as this week's were then I will continue to reap the rewards of that time well spent.
blessings,
bw
So the lesson in all of this was twofold. First, making small changes in my life that I can actively work on are the most important changes I can make. As I incorporate these small changes into my life they eventually become habit and overtime I don't really need to think about doing them anymore they just become a part of me and a part of my walk to find myself and grow closer to nature and the natural world. In time as I make more and more of these small changes they turn into something really big and before I know it my life is different, better, and dramatically changed by all the small things that have added up over time.
The second lesson was possibly an even more important one. While this is my journey and I must find my own way it is also important to listen to the voices of those who have walked the path before me. The elders of both of my Druid orders are in those positions because they have a lifetime of experience. They didn't get to where they are in a year or even five. Most have been studying and learning and growing for 15 or 20 years and sometimes even more than that. For me to get the most out of this walk I must internalize the concept that nothing that is worthwhile is simply handed to us. It took me 29 years to even discover the Druid path. That is a long time to build up habits and ideas that were not necessarily healthy. So for me to think that I will change all of that in one year is kind of silly. I will be on this path of growing for the rest of my life and there is no real need to get in a hurry. So it is beneficial for me to follow the guidance of those who have walked before me and allow the lessons to simmer inside of me just like the Cauldron of Knowledge simmered in the story of Taliesin.
15 minutes each week with Mother Nature. If each week's 15 minutes are as productive for my growth as this week's were then I will continue to reap the rewards of that time well spent.
blessings,
bw
Friday, January 11, 2008
Life Online
It is Friday and it is almost 2pm. I am still at work. I have nothing to do but my boss likes to keep us here until 4pm to make it seem to the everyone else that we actually have a lot of work. There are days when I am overwhelmed with work but Friday afternoons are not one of those days. So instead of doing work I decided I would do a little looking around on the internet about some topics of interest to me and then I decided that I would read through some blogs.
It has come to my attention that I spend a great deal of time on the computer. My job is entirely computer oriented. I work in the Navy but everything about my job is on the computer. I have three computers at my desk. One is this one I am writing on now which is just a normal computer connected to the world. I have two others that are connected to various military and secure intranets. So from about 7am everyday until 4pm I am sitting at a desk and doing something on a computer. When I go home at night I spend some time with my family, eat dinner, put the kids to bed and then find myself back on the computer from about 9pm to midnight. I am going to school full time so I spend an easy two or three hours a night on homework. Then I like to spend some time reading my email, catching up on the news, reading the new posts on the OBOD website and doing some blog reading.
So this is the strange conundrum that we nature lover's find ourselves in. I think Phillip Carr-Gomm actually mentioned something about this in one of his posts on his blog awhile back. More and more information is available for us online which is fantastic. We are able to better educate ourselves, connect with others of like mind when we are geographically isolated and keep in touch with friends, family, peers, etc...all through this amazing world online. As a full time student, father, husband and a man with a career the internet has been a lifesaver in allowing me to get my degree by taking distance learning classes. Even my discovery of Druidry came through a Google search of alternative spiritualities in which I discovered the OBOD website and later the AODA website.
But the problem is this: So much that we can gain is online and yet any time that we spend in front of a computer is taking away from other activities that could help to build our spirit. The weather here lately is not very nice so going outside isn't a real great option but I could certainly spend some time reading a book or meditating or something along those lines. As a Druid in the Bardic Grade of OBOD and a Druid Candidate for AODA I am encouraged to spend some time each day in meditation. This is really the heart of the modern Druid spirituality is discursive meditation. Yet some days I find that after everything is said and done I am just too tired and I fall asleep trying to meditate.
It is a strange and interesting dilemma that we as a people who are in love with nature have connected so well online and developed enormous online communities and yet this time that we spend online takes away from time we could spend in other activities. I think that I am going to try to maybe spend a little less time online in these coming weeks and see if I can't crack open a book or spend some time listening to some good music or maybe even try to meditate before I fall asleep. I think I can do without reading about the war in Iraq for a few days and I certainly don't need to see the latest Hollywood scandel.
Don't get me wrong, I think these blogs are awesome and if you look at my blog list to the right you will see that it has grown. I think it is an important thing for us to stay connected and informed but I also know that I at least need to get outside a bit more or spend some time with a good book.
Yours under the virtual oaks,
bw
It has come to my attention that I spend a great deal of time on the computer. My job is entirely computer oriented. I work in the Navy but everything about my job is on the computer. I have three computers at my desk. One is this one I am writing on now which is just a normal computer connected to the world. I have two others that are connected to various military and secure intranets. So from about 7am everyday until 4pm I am sitting at a desk and doing something on a computer. When I go home at night I spend some time with my family, eat dinner, put the kids to bed and then find myself back on the computer from about 9pm to midnight. I am going to school full time so I spend an easy two or three hours a night on homework. Then I like to spend some time reading my email, catching up on the news, reading the new posts on the OBOD website and doing some blog reading.
So this is the strange conundrum that we nature lover's find ourselves in. I think Phillip Carr-Gomm actually mentioned something about this in one of his posts on his blog awhile back. More and more information is available for us online which is fantastic. We are able to better educate ourselves, connect with others of like mind when we are geographically isolated and keep in touch with friends, family, peers, etc...all through this amazing world online. As a full time student, father, husband and a man with a career the internet has been a lifesaver in allowing me to get my degree by taking distance learning classes. Even my discovery of Druidry came through a Google search of alternative spiritualities in which I discovered the OBOD website and later the AODA website.
But the problem is this: So much that we can gain is online and yet any time that we spend in front of a computer is taking away from other activities that could help to build our spirit. The weather here lately is not very nice so going outside isn't a real great option but I could certainly spend some time reading a book or meditating or something along those lines. As a Druid in the Bardic Grade of OBOD and a Druid Candidate for AODA I am encouraged to spend some time each day in meditation. This is really the heart of the modern Druid spirituality is discursive meditation. Yet some days I find that after everything is said and done I am just too tired and I fall asleep trying to meditate.
It is a strange and interesting dilemma that we as a people who are in love with nature have connected so well online and developed enormous online communities and yet this time that we spend online takes away from time we could spend in other activities. I think that I am going to try to maybe spend a little less time online in these coming weeks and see if I can't crack open a book or spend some time listening to some good music or maybe even try to meditate before I fall asleep. I think I can do without reading about the war in Iraq for a few days and I certainly don't need to see the latest Hollywood scandel.
Don't get me wrong, I think these blogs are awesome and if you look at my blog list to the right you will see that it has grown. I think it is an important thing for us to stay connected and informed but I also know that I at least need to get outside a bit more or spend some time with a good book.
Yours under the virtual oaks,
bw
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Life is a Lesson
Well I turned 30 this past week and it seems to me that this is one of those ages which is kind of a turning point. While we are in our twenties we still hold on to that youthful exuberance of our teenage years. It is easy to remember highschool and the life that we lived at that time. We can convince ourselves that we are still young. In the week coming up to my birthday I did a small examination of my life and where I am. I realized that I am not old but I am not young. I am at an age where I can no longer get away with certain things because I can't make the claim that I don't know any better. However I am not quite old enough to be wise. It is an in-between place and I am unsure how well I am going to fit into it. I suppose these days will tell.
I want to share a shameless plug for my druid order OBOD. If you have not yet listened to the Druid podcasts then I highly recommend that you do so. They are available from download on the OBOD website and usually about 1 per month is being released.
blessings,
bw
I want to share a shameless plug for my druid order OBOD. If you have not yet listened to the Druid podcasts then I highly recommend that you do so. They are available from download on the OBOD website and usually about 1 per month is being released.
blessings,
bw
Friday, January 4, 2008
New Beginnings.
It has been some time since I have posted here. These past couple of months have been a very busy and trying time for me. I am making an attempt to finish up my college degree and with good fortune it will be completed this coming August. The effort is taking up quite a bit of my free time however and I fear that my Druid studies have suffered for it.
With my families holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday and my son's birthday) all within the span of the last two months it makes for a very busy time. In addition I made an effort to observe the Druid celebrations at the Winter Solstice. I made a short trip home to Missouri to visit family as well and so all of my available free time has been allotted to "things" or "activities" all of which seem to just take time and not really feed me spiritually.
In the last week of December however I was able to sit down finally and go over both my OBOD studies and my AODA studies. I spent a whole day writing and meditating and just kind of catching up on things for myself. It turned out to be a positive jump start for me.
Yesterday was my birthday and I gave myself a little gift of a meditation and study room. Our house is too small to have a space set aside for that in the house so I took a corner of our garage and hung up some curtains to square off the corner. I put a small altar and bookshelf inside as well as a chair and some other small things including a little space heater since there is no heat in the garage and things tend to get quite cold. It is very simple and very basic but it is a small space just for me to go to be quiet and spend some time with myself and my thoughts and my books. Much to her credit my wife did not make any comment when I told her what I was doing! I think she has accepted the idea that I am serious about this path and she isn't interested in bothering me anymore to test my willpower.
I made a couple of decisions this past week which I am pretty excited about. First, I changed my AODA spiral from poetry to Divination. The poetry was just turning out to be very time intensive and I was getting discouraged. This path is not about discouragement and I know that our Grand Archdruid, John Michael Greer, is very correct when he says that small changes we can make that will last are better than big ones that don't. He was talking about changes in our life related to the Earth Path but it applies here as well. So having set out on this spiral of divination I chose Runes as my method and it has been interesting so far as this is my first exposure to divination.
I have also been having a lot of ideas in my meditation about long term possibilities for my Druid Path. These are nothing that are going to happen in the immediate future but it is interesting to think about long term possibilities and what might come to pass. I have been really inspired by Alferian's work that he began with the Avalon Center for Druidic Studies http://www.avaloncollege.org/. Although the college is closed at the current time, the concept is a magnificent one and I think that the only reason it might not have succeeded at this time is that the world was not quite ready for it. However we are seeing tremendous growth in Nature Spiritualities and pagan ideas and a wider acceptance. I think in 10 years time or maybe even sooner, the idea of a college for Druid's will really catch on. I don't know necessarily that this would be a physical campus, although that would be kind of cool also, but definitely a system of correspondence courses, etc... Who knows what might come about in the years to come.
I finished reading "The Druidry Handbook" by JMG and it is just filled with good information. Certainly not a book to be read once and set aside, it will become a ready reference in my library. I am also continuing to pursue the OBOD course of studies and I am about 1/4 of the way through my Bard grade. One of the really exciting things that I had happen this week was in one of my Rune readings. The reading was done on New Year's Day and I asked for some guidance for the coming year. The reading told me that this year would bring some closure in current projects (thank goodness) and growth in spiritual projects. So I am excited about the coming year.
Many blessings.
bw
With my families holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday and my son's birthday) all within the span of the last two months it makes for a very busy time. In addition I made an effort to observe the Druid celebrations at the Winter Solstice. I made a short trip home to Missouri to visit family as well and so all of my available free time has been allotted to "things" or "activities" all of which seem to just take time and not really feed me spiritually.
In the last week of December however I was able to sit down finally and go over both my OBOD studies and my AODA studies. I spent a whole day writing and meditating and just kind of catching up on things for myself. It turned out to be a positive jump start for me.
Yesterday was my birthday and I gave myself a little gift of a meditation and study room. Our house is too small to have a space set aside for that in the house so I took a corner of our garage and hung up some curtains to square off the corner. I put a small altar and bookshelf inside as well as a chair and some other small things including a little space heater since there is no heat in the garage and things tend to get quite cold. It is very simple and very basic but it is a small space just for me to go to be quiet and spend some time with myself and my thoughts and my books. Much to her credit my wife did not make any comment when I told her what I was doing! I think she has accepted the idea that I am serious about this path and she isn't interested in bothering me anymore to test my willpower.
I made a couple of decisions this past week which I am pretty excited about. First, I changed my AODA spiral from poetry to Divination. The poetry was just turning out to be very time intensive and I was getting discouraged. This path is not about discouragement and I know that our Grand Archdruid, John Michael Greer, is very correct when he says that small changes we can make that will last are better than big ones that don't. He was talking about changes in our life related to the Earth Path but it applies here as well. So having set out on this spiral of divination I chose Runes as my method and it has been interesting so far as this is my first exposure to divination.
I have also been having a lot of ideas in my meditation about long term possibilities for my Druid Path. These are nothing that are going to happen in the immediate future but it is interesting to think about long term possibilities and what might come to pass. I have been really inspired by Alferian's work that he began with the Avalon Center for Druidic Studies http://www.avaloncollege.org/. Although the college is closed at the current time, the concept is a magnificent one and I think that the only reason it might not have succeeded at this time is that the world was not quite ready for it. However we are seeing tremendous growth in Nature Spiritualities and pagan ideas and a wider acceptance. I think in 10 years time or maybe even sooner, the idea of a college for Druid's will really catch on. I don't know necessarily that this would be a physical campus, although that would be kind of cool also, but definitely a system of correspondence courses, etc... Who knows what might come about in the years to come.
I finished reading "The Druidry Handbook" by JMG and it is just filled with good information. Certainly not a book to be read once and set aside, it will become a ready reference in my library. I am also continuing to pursue the OBOD course of studies and I am about 1/4 of the way through my Bard grade. One of the really exciting things that I had happen this week was in one of my Rune readings. The reading was done on New Year's Day and I asked for some guidance for the coming year. The reading told me that this year would bring some closure in current projects (thank goodness) and growth in spiritual projects. So I am excited about the coming year.
Many blessings.
bw
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Working Through My Thoughts
This is a post I made on the OBOD Druid-Christian Forum. I am trying to work through personal issues about my past Christian walk and my current Druid walk and find out how they meet if they do.
Well I am working through the Bardic Grade of the course right now and have been hanging around the boards for a few months. I am at a point where I am really trying to figure out where exactly my past fits into my present and how it all is going to mesh and fit with the future.
I was raised a Roman Catholic. All of my family is still Catholic. My wife is a Catholic. I lived in a monestary as a Benedictine monk for a couple years before I left and ended up getting married. I have a lot of Catholic history in me. Yet for all that time I was never happy and never found peace in my spirituality.
I pretty much didn't have anything to do with God or church or spirituality for about 5 years or so. I would go to the occasional mass with my wife but that was just to go through the motions. I started finding myself again about a year ago when I discovered Druidry. My spiritual side reawakened and I started to feel alive again.
I think the thing I am struggling with most is how to balance my past beliefs with my current beliefs. It is such a tough road because Mainstream Christianity and the Roman Catholic church in particular do such a good job of "indoctrination".
My thing is this: I don't have a problem with Jesus or God or the Holy Spirit. I don't have a problem with the saints and angels or Mary. For me, these are the easy things to reconcile. God is god is god. Whether that be in the form of a man or a spirit or a flame or whatever. Diety is diety. What some call saints or angels is just the same as gods and goddesses by another name. The manner in which they appear to us is just the manner that they know we will need.
I don't have a problem with magic or ritual. The Catholic church was filled with both.
My problem is people and the harm that has been inflicted by people and the institution. If my parents knew I was studying Druidry I would be disowned. My wife knows but she hates it and doesn't see how I can think it is ok. All that I have ever experienced from Mainstream Christianity is GUILT! Don't do this, don't do that. If you don't do this your going to hell, if you do that your going to hell. Frankly, I find nothing Christian about Mainstream Christianity.
So here is my conundrum. I don't know how to move forward on my new path while holding onto the things I value from my Christian path. There are some aspects of my Catholic faith that I love and as others have mentioned in one of their posts it definitely taught me to value ritual and magic. The thing is that Catholics just don't see it that way. They can't see that what they are doing is beautiful and it is magic and that it is ok to call it that. My wife and I have two kids. I imagine we will raise them as Catholic because both of our families are Catholic. I don't have a problem with this as long as I can ensure they don't suffer the same negative aspects of it that I did. I expect to attend mass with my wife so we have that family connection. I just want to find a way to practice what I feel to be truth without having to deal with all the associated guilt that comes along from years of indoctrinated crap. It mystifies me why any religion that has so much beauty and power would ruin it all by strangling its believers.
bw
Well I am working through the Bardic Grade of the course right now and have been hanging around the boards for a few months. I am at a point where I am really trying to figure out where exactly my past fits into my present and how it all is going to mesh and fit with the future.
I was raised a Roman Catholic. All of my family is still Catholic. My wife is a Catholic. I lived in a monestary as a Benedictine monk for a couple years before I left and ended up getting married. I have a lot of Catholic history in me. Yet for all that time I was never happy and never found peace in my spirituality.
I pretty much didn't have anything to do with God or church or spirituality for about 5 years or so. I would go to the occasional mass with my wife but that was just to go through the motions. I started finding myself again about a year ago when I discovered Druidry. My spiritual side reawakened and I started to feel alive again.
I think the thing I am struggling with most is how to balance my past beliefs with my current beliefs. It is such a tough road because Mainstream Christianity and the Roman Catholic church in particular do such a good job of "indoctrination".
My thing is this: I don't have a problem with Jesus or God or the Holy Spirit. I don't have a problem with the saints and angels or Mary. For me, these are the easy things to reconcile. God is god is god. Whether that be in the form of a man or a spirit or a flame or whatever. Diety is diety. What some call saints or angels is just the same as gods and goddesses by another name. The manner in which they appear to us is just the manner that they know we will need.
I don't have a problem with magic or ritual. The Catholic church was filled with both.
My problem is people and the harm that has been inflicted by people and the institution. If my parents knew I was studying Druidry I would be disowned. My wife knows but she hates it and doesn't see how I can think it is ok. All that I have ever experienced from Mainstream Christianity is GUILT! Don't do this, don't do that. If you don't do this your going to hell, if you do that your going to hell. Frankly, I find nothing Christian about Mainstream Christianity.
So here is my conundrum. I don't know how to move forward on my new path while holding onto the things I value from my Christian path. There are some aspects of my Catholic faith that I love and as others have mentioned in one of their posts it definitely taught me to value ritual and magic. The thing is that Catholics just don't see it that way. They can't see that what they are doing is beautiful and it is magic and that it is ok to call it that. My wife and I have two kids. I imagine we will raise them as Catholic because both of our families are Catholic. I don't have a problem with this as long as I can ensure they don't suffer the same negative aspects of it that I did. I expect to attend mass with my wife so we have that family connection. I just want to find a way to practice what I feel to be truth without having to deal with all the associated guilt that comes along from years of indoctrinated crap. It mystifies me why any religion that has so much beauty and power would ruin it all by strangling its believers.
bw
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