yesterday was national coming out day. i didn't know until the middle of the day so ... tada. late but not too late i hope. i'd like to offer a passage from a book i'm reading. may the shame and silence that keeps us trapped in our individual closets be quashed by honesty and love.
"There is a language older far and deeper than words. It is the language of bodies, of body on body, wind on snow, rain on trees, wave on stone. It is the language of dream, gesture, symbol, memory. We have forgotten this language. We do not even remember it exists.
In order for us to maintain our way of living, we must, in a broad sense, tell lies to each other, and especially to ourselves. It is not necessary that the lies be particularly believable. The lies act as barriers to truth. These barriers to truth are necessary because without them many deplorable acts would become impossibilities. Truth must at all costs be avoided. When we do allow self-evident truths to percolate past our defense and into our consciousness, they are treated like so many hand grenades rolling across the dance floor of an improbably macabre party. We try to stay out of harms way, afraid they will go off, shatter our delusions, and leave us exposed to what we have done to the world and to ourselves, exposed as the hollow people we have become. And so we avoid these truths, these self-evident truths and continue the dance of world destruction."
-- Derrick Jensen, "A Language Older than Words", Silence
i trust Thoreau when he said that "the only way out is through". i also trust Jesus when he said "the truth will set you free". so i've decided that to celebrate National Coming Out Day, i'd live a more reality based, honest life. mostly, i want to stop hiding truths from myself. does seem quite ridiculous.
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