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Heather L Davis's avatar

My brain is melting a little. Great post. Especially “Pray like no one is listening.” That works on so many levels.

Chad O's avatar

Yeah I sorta wanna become a street artist and post it around town. Not sure what art to pair with it, if I wanted to do a stencil or wheatpaste!

Emily Conway's avatar

"In the words of Le Guin: “To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.” Love this. As someone who still likes to wrestle with what's unanswerable, I appreciate the reminder!

Adam Wilson's avatar

Hi Chad, thank you for writing this. Perhaps you know Andrew's work at Bog Down and Aster. He and I discuss these themes often, and I'm glad to know you're out there listening for the animism in the Gospels.

Chad O's avatar

Wasn’t yet familiar with Andrew’s work! Thanks for the rec. Looks good.

Emilio Silva Schlenker's avatar

Beautiful. Thanks

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Nov 19, 2024
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Chad O's avatar

I'm very lucky that there are churches near me that fit where I'm currently at. If I didn't have that, I think I'd have left church a long time ago too. (I actually shared my first Scientific Animism post with my pastors! One of them met me for coffee to talk about it, and I've referenced our conversation in some of my posts! She delivered a beautiful eulogy at the tree funeral I organized, and she subscribes to this Substack!)

I also here you on the trauma being too recent to stand being in church. Glad you found a mutual aid group to join! I'd love to hear more about what that looks like in practice. Like, what are your meetings like?

When I met Antonia Malchik in person this past spring, she recommended your Substack to me. She spotted some overlap in our themes.

It warms my heart to know that you've been carrying the animist gratitude prayers with you. Thanks for reminding me to read your post! (No break in etiquette detected!)

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Nov 19, 2024
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Chad O's avatar

That sounds good!