SLiPchick's Virtual Shadows

It's come to my attention that I may have somewhat misrepresented my parents in how I've talked about my childhood and family. The issue came up when a friend, who knows my history largely through the blog, made a comment to the effect that I probably would not have been able or willing to share my relationship with Penelope with my parents. This struck me as askew because, for all their faults, I could definitely see sharing this with either or both of them. So, I had to do a bit of soul searching about what I'd said and how things might have been taken from my writing. So let me see if I can clear things up a bit. Just to set the stage, some basic info: First off, both are now deceased. My dad back in 2008, my mom in 2014. My folks were highschool pals who spent a lot of time together as teenagers in the 1950s in New Orleans. They weren't really boyfriend/girlfriend per se, both my parents had markedly gay partner preference; but they were affectionate and l...

I've realized that my earlier diatribe regarding foundational Christianity may be misconstrued as my having a problem with religion in general or Jesus and his teachings in particular, so I thought I should clear the air about that. For me the major stumbling blocks arise from the religion that has arisen  about  Jesus rather than the religion  of  Jesus. My beef is with the literalist Christian message I described in the earlier posting that are the result of taking Paul and the more strident apologists at their word and to their logical conclusions. Reading the gospels, Jesus' actual words and his deeds represent a whole different point of view. I have nothing but admiration for (making allowance for the paternalistic tone of some of the language): Love thy neighbour as thyself - Mark 12:31 He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone -- John 8:7 Blessed the merciful, for they shall find mercy -- Matthew 5:7 For what shall it prof...

There was an incident Friday night. I was feeling very open and excited. Very ready to experience my connection to Penelope, my spiritual/angelic contact in a new, stronger way. I was lying in bed, the lights were out, my eyes were closed and I had the sense that she was very close, I felt a coolness, a tingling all over a sense of excitement and light similar to when she's come close to me before and something like a sense of her occupying the same "space" within my body that I do. Like she was "filling me up". As that progressed I started to think and feel many things, an openness to possibilities, ideas, actions. Some of them scared me. A voice in the back of my head said "What if...?" I was "indoctrinated" as a child into Judeo-Christian thought patterns, and even with my current sense of what's so, I feel pretty clear that there may well be malevolent presences in the universe. Is Penelope one? I don't think so, I don...