After a recent post where I documented a terrible thing my father did to me as a young boy, a family associate accused me of living in the past. A summary of his criticism could fairly be paraphrased as, "You will never be happy unless you stop reliving these past memories and forget about them. True happiness can only come through living in the present." He then proceeded to tell me that the only real happiness can come through faith in the living God and the love of Jesus.
An then it occurred to me that he himself was a self described "Born Again Christian." And I thought to myself and replied back to him, "Isn't forming your entire personal life around an event that occurred 2000 years ago the most profound example of living in the past that exists? And isn't THAT practice the most damaging psychological experience possible?"
Funny, I have not yet received a reply. (for updates: see comments)
copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer
I received a reply, but I cannot repeat it here for reasons that I prefer to not disclose. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the educational and civil dialog; a rare and hypnotic indulgence.
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