I do too. Thanks, @muth you have always been a wonderful woman… Thanks. I know I said I wouldn’t really get into it but you did happen to hit a soft spot of mine. Hopefully, I can find a novel or two on audio. I have been using https://www.audible.com/ for well over 10 yrs now. Nobody can beat em. IMO.
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I can’t do the Audible. I get too distracted by other things, but I can lose myself in a good book. Must be conditioning after 40+ years of reading. I might have to relearn how to enjoy a good story as the eyesight is starting to really fail me.
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Don’t I know it. I started “listening” to books when I was an over-the-road Trucker. I remember wanting to pull over and read this book I was totally into. Well, I couldn’t. I would read like crazy when I was stuck somewhere but when I was driving I was very bored.
I would put a good book on and I could drive for hours and hours. I drove 1200 miles once. I know… bad idea and illegal as hell. My average was 720 miles a day and all because I didn’t want to pull over. I mean I had a good book.
At first, though, I would buy cd’s and that got expensive quick. 20 dollars for a 6-hour book? screw that.
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You’re too kind, Dan, but I appreciate that and thank you 
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I’m supposed to be making some juice but I couldn’t resist. My Confirmation with the Catholic Church:
When you turn 12 years old you get “confirmed” by the church bishop. I had already been through Holy Communion and was dreading another ritual. I asked my mother what the purpose of Confirmation was and what was going to happen? She said you can’t get married until you’re confirmed. The Bishop will be sitting in a chair. You will bow down on your knees before him and he will extend his hand. You will kiss his ring and then he slaps you in the face (but not too hard) 
I told her I didn’t need it, I wasn’t getting married. I’m sure, like most parents, she rolled her eyes and off to Confirmation I went.
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Don’t you have to go through a catechism before you can be confirmed? Anyway, I remember some of my friends being “confirmed” and they always got money. I’m talking hundreds of dollars here, which for a 12-year-old seems like quite a lot. I could be confusing rituals here. I mostly remember them getting money and me wishing I could go through it and get some money. I didn’t realize that it’s mostly your family and friends that give them money and if they are poor you ain’t getting 
So, did you ever get married? I’m pretty sure I was the only one in my circle that stuck to that. I have never been married and I have no children. I know that I do not have any at all. I must admit that I am perfectly happy with my decision.
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Oh yeah, my catechism story is above towards the beginning. You also had to have received Holy Communion. I think I remember getting a bit of money from family members. Maybe that’s how i bought my first surfboard. Mostly I remember the humiliation and anger of having to kiss his ring and getting slapped in the face. Dayum, I was pissed about that for a long time. Oh and no, like you, never married, never had children. I thought of adopting once.
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I like to listen to radio plays. I remember getting a heck of a deal for Star Wars Ep4 and The Lord of The Rings radio plays for $1.00 from Humble Bundle a few years ago. There are a few really good sci-fi/horror plays on youtube as well (or there used to be. Not sure if there still are or not). I would download them to MP3’s and put them on a usb stick and listen in the car.
Good times
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My mother decided it would be a good idea to do the Holy Communion thing and celebrate my grandparents 50 year anniversary and vow renewal together. I remember wearing the whitest, stupid-est tuxedo. I’ve always hated being the center of attention and there was just no way out of it that day.
I gave up on organized religion shortly after so I didn’t have to go through any more of that. For my first marriage my future wife wanted a church wedding and after the priest told us of all we had to do, I said “nope. Not going through that again”. Found a Lutheran minister (I think he was Lutheran. It was a long time ago and best forgotten) who would do it and all we had to do was show up on the day of. All subsequent marriages have been civil marriages (the ceremonies were civil. The marriages were anything but)
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LMAO! Thanks for sharing that, LM. Feels good to not be alone. I don’t remember what I had to wear. Hope it didn’t involve some sort of veil or something. Oh how weird and creepy it was. When I was old enough and more worldly I likened it to an S&M scene. 
Confirmation, that is. Holy Communion was a whole other matter. First you had to go into the confessional box and confess your sins but i was so young I didn’t have any so I lied and said I ate a hotdog on Friday . I must have had a nice priest because he said I must have just forgot it was Friday…go and say one Hail Mary . Then when it came time to receive the host one of the boys spit it on the floor because he didn’t like the taste, lol. Everyone was saying he was mentally ill. Lol, could it be that the whole thing was absurd? I’m surprised we made it out relatively unharmed…I think. How are you?
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I came out OK I suppose. Mom’s family were devout Catholics, Dad’s was lax Baptist and I was raised thru the early years by my aunt who is devout Mormon. Early on I realized they were not for me by coming to my own personal truth that what they all believed, could not possibly be right.
In any case, I’m a non believer but would never impose my beliefs, or lack therof, upon anyone. At the end of the day, if your beliefs make you kinder towards your neighbor, I’m good with that.
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Love it. You are a non-believer but live like a “believer”. The one thing that all monotheistic religions have in common?
" Love g*d with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself." It goes on to say. " if you do these things, you will see the kingdom of Heaven."
It’s all about love. It does not say if you believe in jesus or mohamad or buda or satan. I find it interesting that my spell check wants me to capitalize all of these names except satan or the devil if you will. Well, he, she, it does happen to be the god of the earth.
How much slack do you think I’ll get for saying that eh? 
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That is interesting. I didn’t know that “spell check” (should I capitalize that?) was religious.
Yeah, I think that was the point buddha was making when everyone wanted to worship him and he told them to knock it off He had to keep pressing the point, you are all buddhas, which simply translated means “One whose eyes are open.” or one who is enlightened. That could potentially be anyone of us. From what I can gather, I’ve been talking to all buddhas here 
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jesus or mohamad or buda or satan
Islam actually believe in Allah as God, and muhammad was only a messenger.
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Yes, and christianity is supposed to believe the same thing and some sects or should I say “denominations” actually do still believe that. I am most definitely do not know enough of Islam to know for sure how they believe. I do know that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the same G*d. It completely blows my mind that we would rather kill each other than celebrate our differences.
Here is something I used to preach that got me in trouble A LOT. It’s funny now…
Anywho, Every nation and culture worship the same Gd. If there is only one Gd as these three religions proclaim then it stands to reason that EVERY body worships the same G*d. They merely worship differently as their culture dictates. It does happen to say that in their very own scripture.
I just thought of something as I was deciding on what word to use for the bible. They (christians) call it the “word of g*d” and there are some that actually worship a book. Actually, I would say they all worship this book. The crazy thing is that I or you or David Koresh or the preacher down the road Can make it say whatever we want it to say and there will always be sheep ready to follow.
Don’t really know where I was going with that.
Brilliant! 
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I know just a wee bit about Islam. The Harvard Divinity School welcomed different religious groups to use their classrooms for introductions and discussion meetings. The Buddhist and Islam meetings happened on the same night.
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Hear hear! For some it seems to be an innate fear of differences. Rather than basking in the joy of a colorful world they seem to prefer the safety of commonality.
I have a thought…The written word (and sometimes just the spoken word) have been interpreted for the convenience and benefit of the interpreter. That’s how different sects/denominations branched off from original teachings. I know that the original teacher of buddhism, Shakyamuni (also known as Gautama Buddha or Siddhartha) predicted this and sure as hell it happened. We see all kinds of buddhist sects today. And may I add that some of the buddhist priests benefited financially by charging a fee for prayers! Humans are in a constant battle between their fundamental darkness and their enlightened selves. But this is as normal as the universe containing positive and negative energy. Can’t exist without it.
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That is the unadulterated truth. That is the very understanding that let me be comfortable in my own skin. If I “sinned” I could get over it.
One of my favorite movies is Natural Born Killers. My favorite part of the movie is at the end when they asked him if he felt bad for murdering all those people. I’m paraphrasing here but the essence is " why would I feel bad for doing what I was created for?"
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Yeah, that last line is chilling because it forces you to accept the darkness that exists as sure as the light of day.
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Wow guys this thread has taken on a new life. I needed a little shot of this truth-telling. Just to sit back and watch some folks open up with fearless HONESTY. No political opinions …zero fucks given. Just saying what you think/feel/experienced takes some bravery these days …high fives all-round. YOU DID IT! YOU FIXED HUMANITY …well for me tonight.
I’m recovering recently from hearing a personal political opinion …like how Dude was looking forward to “the One Party System” (please don’t respond, I almost backspaced over this) I had to share because it felt like getting stabbed. My response? I took one step back, paused for effect, then took another step back and paused … looking me up and down, he asked, “What are you doing~!?” I looked up to the sky and said, “Lightning…”
Heh, not that I believed it, but sure hoped he did …or at least was pained as I was from the exchange. So thanks for being civilly honest open and brave …the topic doesn’t even matter so much, eh? Sitting here in my home I see Human Beings and that little stabby hole is healed. Is it this easy? 
:Holy_Shit:
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