(Peacebang’s post here. Chalice Chick’s response here.)

Here’s what I hear, out and about. I hear some folks saying that going on meds is a great experience, some folks bitching about feeling dulled and deadened by their meds, and other folks asking desperately why they can’t find the right meds.

More often than not, meds change people. That’s why people take them. They’re hoping to be changed.

We experience any significant change as a loss, so taking meds, even good meds, leads to a loss. It can be a liberating loss or a devastating loss, but taking effective meds is going to take something from you. You may end up happy about that. You’ll need to talk it through either way.

Back when I read thick books, Julia Kristeva wondered if taking meds would replace the hard work of spinning your own life story. She’s a recovering Freudian, so she’s interested in you spending all your time and energy tying off every loose end in your subconscious instead of purchasing the “short cut” of meds. Sadly, there aren’t any meds yet to cure Freudianism. I guess she’ll have to find a therapy-only solution. Click to continue reading “Depression & meds: A reflection via Peacebang and Chalice Chick”

(Tagged by Kinsi. Blame him.)

1.  I have skinned seventeen deer alive in self defense.

2.  In seminary, I fronted a reggae band called “Bob Molly.”

3.  I have played hammer dulcimer, french horn, and the washing board professionally.

4.  I have published three mystery novels under a pen name.  The protagonist’s name is my real name.  He is also a lizard.

5.  I have an awkwardly placed mole.

6.  There is a warrant out for my arrest in Sherman County, Texas, for picketing low, low prices.

7.   My favorite color is blue.

Consider yourself tagged.

A hospital in Rhode Island is developing a habit of doing brain surgery on the wrong side of patients’ heads.  Remember folks, they’re just practicing.

New artist Tim Boyd is featured this month in UUCA’s art gallery, and I wanted to give him a quick shout out.  He has an extensive portfolio on his new website.  Looks like he’s still working on finishing the back pages, but I’m sure the contact info will be up before too long.  (Not that it would help: everything is sold!)

Jason Pitzl-Waters linked a few days back to an LA Times article by Mary Lefkowitz arguing that we’d all be better off going back to worshiping the Greek pantheon. Not too long ago, I read John Michael Greer’s book on polytheism, A World Full of Gods, an apologetics of sorts for the pagan community.

Standard monotheism has the problem of explaining how an all-powerful, all-benevolent, all-knowing god can allow good people to suffer. Polytheisms don’t have a god with that job description, so the question should be moot, say both Greer and Lefkowitz.

More fascinating to me is Greer’s argument that our individual experiences of the divine are better described by polytheism. Think of all the times you’ve had profound spiritual experiences. Was the context different? The content? The location? The feeling?

Greer says there’s no reason to assume each of those experiences is an experience of one all-encompassing divinity. A different spiritual experience indicates a different god.

So I’ve spent some time reflecting on some of the spiritual experiences I’ve had, experiences that were sublimely comforting, profoundly unsettling, or deeply limiting. Here are the experiences that came to mind, and the gods they link to:  Click to continue reading “In praise of polytheism”

The Southern Baptists passed a resolution passive-aggressively condemning “certain people … for divisive and destructive rhetoric at the expense of peace among the brethren.” Because the moderates took back the Southern Baptist presidency through a blogger-based campaign, this carries a certain edge to it.

We UU bloggers are a polite bunch, I have to say. I’m not sure what “peace among the brethren” means, but instances of outright nasty blogging are few and far between—if there indeed are any.

So, no, I’m not proposing we ban blogging. I’d rather we picket and petition it instead. (With apologies to Chalice Chick.)