So here’s the deal:
I’ve been blog-absent for a while. For all of my avid followers, I apologize. But the thing is, I’ve been reading this book:
…and it has changed me. It has shaken me at my foundation. It has met me at a time in my life when everything was coming together–a cozy home in a quiet neighborhood, finally away from the homeless traffic of our old ramshackle streets–and thrown me off my axis.
I’m not sure exactly what to do with this, but I know that I can’t ignore it and that I must take action.
Some ideas in the book that really hit me are communal living, commitment to living in the rough areas of town, anti-consumerism, and overall: lovingkindness.
A few of my favorite quotes:
“There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” (Okay, that was actually Gandhi.)
“If you have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor.”
“When Jesus speaks of fear he talks about how we can fear those things that can destroy our bodies (like guns and knives), but he says we should fear all the more those things that can endanger our souls… and those are the more subtle dangers, and the suburban demons – like insulating ourselves from suffering or cluttering our lives with possessions while others live in poverty. These are the things that can destroy our souls. We are more scared of the suburbs than of the ghetto.”
So we’ll see where this takes us. I’ll keep you updated.
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Cassandra