This is my favourite piece of yours yet, Jason. Tremendous poem and heart-achingly beautiful essay underneath. Sorry for your loss. You have done your parents and father-in-law credit with this post.
I love this haiku, Jason. Thank you for sharing it with us as well as sharing with us about your grief.
I have recently read a book, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54883035, Ladder to the Light, which is by an Episcopal bishop who is also an elder of the Choctaw nation, and it startled me to read your post and realize that your description of the traditions of honoring elders in your former faith and that you saw in Taiwan has a lot of similarity to what he describes about kinship traditions extending to ancestors in the Choctaw religion.
Thank you. I think this too is my favorite one yet.
A lot of what you have described as your recent spiritual experience, seems to be strikingly similar to mine at the moment. I grew up in the LDS church, and have left, but value spirituality greatly still. I’m in the process of redefining what that means and looks like for me, personally. But it is very comforting to know that I am not alone in that redefining stage. (at least that’s the feeling I had while reading!) Especially when I’ve come to similar “conclusions”. I hope to lead a life of peace and compassion, ultimately enjoying every present moment as the miracle that it is!
Just lovely, really. Good luck the next few days!
This is my favourite piece of yours yet, Jason. Tremendous poem and heart-achingly beautiful essay underneath. Sorry for your loss. You have done your parents and father-in-law credit with this post.
I love this haiku, Jason. Thank you for sharing it with us as well as sharing with us about your grief.
I have recently read a book, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54883035, Ladder to the Light, which is by an Episcopal bishop who is also an elder of the Choctaw nation, and it startled me to read your post and realize that your description of the traditions of honoring elders in your former faith and that you saw in Taiwan has a lot of similarity to what he describes about kinship traditions extending to ancestors in the Choctaw religion.
Thank you. I think this too is my favorite one yet.
A lot of what you have described as your recent spiritual experience, seems to be strikingly similar to mine at the moment. I grew up in the LDS church, and have left, but value spirituality greatly still. I’m in the process of redefining what that means and looks like for me, personally. But it is very comforting to know that I am not alone in that redefining stage. (at least that’s the feeling I had while reading!) Especially when I’ve come to similar “conclusions”. I hope to lead a life of peace and compassion, ultimately enjoying every present moment as the miracle that it is!
You do your ancestors well; you truly live.