TRULINCS 23038076 LUMMUS, ALLAN CRAIG - Unit: BAS-T-A
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FROM: 23038076
TO: Clf Prison Ministry, The
SUBJECT: mp 99 Most Commented Post
DATE: 05/07/2017 05:44:31 PM

mp 99 Most Commented Post - Letter to My Higher Power (mp 44)

I got another reply to my Letter to My Higher Power post. It is one of my older posts (2012), but it is far and away my most commented upon writings.

After rereading it, I like the voice that I used. It is a more direct conversational voice than the one I normally use. Most of the time, the tone is more cool and objective like a lecture. When I write for an audience, I need to think about tone more. This is direct and unpretentious, honest, vulnerable. It is my voice when I have my defenses down, not concerned with image management and self-promotion. It is the voice I look for in others.

The question is why is that not my go-to voice? Some of it is training. University teaches a passive objective voice for formal communications. It actively discourages active voice that is open about their biases and limitations. I learned too well. One of my teachers encouraged reading what one writes out loud. I think I should use that advice to capture a more direct honest prose.

On the content, I am struck by the number of AA-ism in the text. I was going through the steps at the time and it shows. Honest text comes with a particular context that reflects a historical reality. Today, the letter would have been less AA language and more openly and unapologetically humane. I don't feel the need to explain or justify my humanism now. The letter would still maintain the concern with present centered living from my drama practice, my secular humane dharma practice.

My Higher Power still resides in the context of reality (present moment, conditioned, fluid and open) and in a community of fellow travelers who keep me sane, connected, and whole. The daily prayer is that I fully live in the moment and in relationships with those who lift me up and move me toward wholeness, with the knowledge that I will not always be present and will act in ways that express my brokenness. I know that even when I fall, I can always make a change the next moment and not differently, more humanely.

mindful prisoner | betweenthebars.org | allan lummus 23038076 | po box 1010 bastrop, tx 76402