The first thing is mind + control. The mentality of finite ownership I have x amt of control, if I give an inch I'll lose a mile. I have a cookie jar, if I give a cookie, you know the person will want another & another. It's a slippery slope from accommodating change to being asked to accept it.
It takes two. The feeding off of each other is IMHO the problem. If you don't believe in a common god, you can't bestow the blessing or achieve it! Right now, I am in Florida serving a hospiced loved one in a terminal situation. All anyone can bestow upon me is gratitude.
For an Atheist, blessings aren't available or achievable. Why can't we establish simple gratitude as all-powerful? Because a fantasy of heaven and a fantasy of better than now has to accompany the fragile mind, or they won't do what I am doing every minute of every day
until this family member dies and I can go back to NYC. Accolades should be enough: patience, kindness, intuition, love, all these things are greatly needed right now, but somehow, god taking the suffering (which he hasn't) is the ultimate desire above all other desires.
We want her to die. This is horrendous living, but we have to call it "pass." And bad and good blessings from above have new meaning according to who is doing the work! Well, guess what, I am doing the work, in-home hospice has helped, and god has zero to do with it! Sorry to vent, but I trust you.
I have gone through this. My Mom had Vascular Dementia. All you can do is love them more. Helpless yes. And watching them suffer brings a lot of emotions. I'm so sorry. I lost my Mom 5 yrs ago at 93yrs. I miss her everyday.
I'm so sorry. It's so true. The work is exhausting and never ends. I have been lucky, and of course, others say blessed, to be here many times, at end of life, for many. I think it's lucky because the joy is incomparable in a way only you can understand now that you went through it.
Exactly.
I'm agnostic. I'm the wait and see person. I just can't get on board with human created religions. I think it's arrogant as a faulty species to assume any 1 faith is the right one. 🙂💙
Geoff inspires me so much! At 1st, I was hardcore Atheist, but some strange thing happened to me recently, like a year now. Someone who hurt me terribly died. Honestly, I could have cared less and had no idea she was close to death.
At that precise moment of death, in a dream, and I never recall dreams and have no idea what this dream was except that I knew we were talking a long time. I sat up like the Exorcist girl and shouted out loud, "it's ok, I forgive you!" It was an out of this world experience.
Since then, I have been intrigued. I come from very religious, very spiritual, clergy filled family who I love dearly, but thought they were all nuts to believe such nonsense. I still do. But it happened...
Sorry to hear what you're going through. I think one of the many problems with the prevailing cultural christianity in America is that it avoids the meaningful subject of suffering. I wouldn't judge god's limits by them. Doing good works in Simple Gratitude ⬇️, I love that. bsky.app/profile/hand...
Love you!! You are the bestest!
It absolutely paralyzes people, especially conservatives who also connect merit to blessings (good things).