Nuance Quotes Quotes

“Immiscible with the Congregation

I am a drop of oil in this bucket of water.
We are immiscible
about the immutability, Infallibility,
and inerrancy of their ideas.
They live in the polarities
of good and bad, heaven and hell,
a god and a devil, Christian and not.
But life is too nuanced, history too complex;
my mind is too neutral to mix.

Are there any more drops of oil in here?
Someone that has actually looked into the water
and can’t be mixed into the multitude?

Each week, the congregation is baptized in the idea that everyone needs an outside entity.

What I need is to know myself.
To be
aware of the arising of the mind.
To notice what is appearing
and to watch it dissipate.
To know
that I am not the trail of thoughts
that I get caught in.
I need to watch thoughts arise,
To let them go,
and to pay attention
to the thread.
What I need is not outside,
but it’s not necessarily inside either;
it is the awareness itself
of what is happening
in both places.

What I need is what is.

That is my salvation. That is what I need.
I am saved with each moment that I am aware.

Amen.”
― Eric Overby, Tired Wonder: Beginnings and Endings