Between the Bars: Comments on 'Letter To A Higher Power'https://betweenthebars.org/posts/commentfeed/64272018-12-31T11:18:36ZComment2018-12-31T11:18:36Zdanielle/people/show/24690tag:betweenthebars.org,2018-12-31:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/24690'>danielle</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 5 years, 2 months ago.</span>
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WOW. this is so profound! I went through the same type of doubt about god and religion when I was in my teens. I grew up in a semi-religious household. My siblings still go to church these days. I however do not. It is my belief that I don't need church or bibles to have a personal relationship with God. Sure, I pray every night with my husband and son.... I want to introduce my child (and husband for that matter) to the loving God that I know. And to teach them that praying to god doesn't need to follow some format with fancy words and ritualistic gestures... hands clasped, head down, tithing every week to the church. Sure, church is great for some. But I am of the belief system that I don't need to go to church to foster a relationship with God. He is all around us, he is everywhere. I talk to him whenever I need to. Simply put, like I said to my 5 year old son, "praying is a fancy word for talking to god. You can do it anywhere, out loud or in your head. God loves you just the way you are, just talk to him once in a while". Your writing style is so beautiful and clear. I really enjoyed reading this!
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Comment2017-03-07T15:14:57ZJustin@/people/show/12184tag:betweenthebars.org,2017-03-07:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/12184'>Justin@</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 7 years ago.</span>
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Well said
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Comment2016-12-03T00:56:22Zsbj/people/show/10792tag:betweenthebars.org,2016-12-03:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/10792'>sbj</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 7 years, 3 months ago.</span>
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Thank you for sharing this. I grew up without any religion and then one day in my twenties I felt the presence of God, but it was such an unexpected and unknown embrace that I didn't know quite how to handle it. So to make the feeling more sensible and I guess comforting to myself, I tried to shape this inexplicable force of love into a grand-fatherly figure (ha, complete with a German accent like my own grand-father), but this only worked for a spell until then my soul saw through the charade. Eventually I gave up on trying to label and categorize this higher power of love and let my heart take over. It was then that I realized this power, however unknowable, was always with me and in every thing, indestructible, inviolable and eternal.<br /><br />Peace and love be with you,<br /><br />Susie
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Comment2016-12-02T11:02:18Zmahakala22/people/show/10766tag:betweenthebars.org,2016-12-02:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/10766'>mahakala22</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 7 years, 3 months ago.</span>
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Mr. Lummus, <br />Thank you so very much for sharing your humanity with all of us. I am so moved by your clarity, and honesty. <br />I too am not religious but feel in my heart and soul that there is something more than just physical existence that binds and expands the universe.<br />I wish you well and hope that you will soon get out of prison.<br />I'm so glad I read your letter at the beginning of my day. The change in perspective I feel is similar to after a yoga session.<br />Peace be with you.<br />Alison
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Comment2013-02-04T21:25:47ZErica/people/show/6612tag:betweenthebars.org,2013-02-04:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/6612'>Erica</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 11 years, 1 month ago.</span>
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My fiance emailed me the between the bars link and I randomly clicked on a post just to see what was on here...and it was yours. I admire your journey to figure out how to go through life - how to reach for your best self...and I'm taking inspiration from it. Thanks for your wonderful writing, for sharing your very personal story, for explaining so beautifully how someone can be spiritual, yet not religious in a traditional sense, and for working so hard to be the person you know you can be. It's easy for me to fall into phases of my life where I allow stress to overwhelm and I am anything but mindful. I'm going to take some of your writing to heart with me as I go through a relatively challenging time in my life over the next few months. Thanks...<br /><br />- Erica
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Comment2012-11-30T11:03:20ZNatasha/people/show/6308tag:betweenthebars.org,2012-11-30:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/6308'>Natasha</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 11 years, 4 months ago.</span>
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This was beautiful. I hold different religious beliefs than you but I can certainly still recognize that. I admire you for finding peace and enlightenment in less-than-ideal circumstances. The world needs more people like you.
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Comment2012-10-26T21:48:15ZMackenzie/people/show/6058tag:betweenthebars.org,2012-10-26:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/6058'>Mackenzie</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 11 years, 5 months ago.</span>
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Thank you for this. I honestly enjoyed transcribing it.
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Comment2012-09-25T20:46:27ZLisaNez/people/show/5824tag:betweenthebars.org,2012-09-25:/posts/6427/letter-to-a-higher-power/comments
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<a href='/people/show/5824'>LisaNez</a>
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<span class='comment-date'>Posted 11 years, 6 months ago.</span>
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Wow, Allan, this is so profoundly and beautifully written. What you have stated here is what Pema Chodron's Noble Heart is all about: May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, may you find happiness and the causes of happiness. I think Noble Heart would indeed be a fine addition to the library.<br />In Noble Heart, Pema teaches meditation techniques: return to the out breath, discipline (label your thoughts "thinking"), have a sense of openness, and to meditate without expectation, with out hope of fruition. This is to train our minds to be in the present. To realize that our minds are so much huger than the constant discursive, cause/effect, little mind that we mostly live from. <br />I just finished listening to Noble Heart today (it took me 2 months), and plan to listen again, there is so much to it, I feel like the first time through I just let it wash over me and a few things stuck, but there is a lifetime of learning to be done from here. <br />You are a true inspiration to me Allan! That you can find the peace of the present moment in prison is monumental.<br />Would you mind if I posted this on Facebook? I know that it is very personal, but I also know that it is very inspirational and could be helpful to people who are struggling. <br />Please let me know, thanks.<br /><br />Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. It is just my limited technological ability. But now I think I have this figured out.<br /><br />I am back in Memphis right now. I took 3 traveling assignments: Amherst,MA, Chattanooga and Knoxville. I enjoyed the traveling, and 2 out of 3 jobs. I didn't like the Knoxville job, mostly because I was supervising physical therapy assistants and not allowed the time to do therapy treatments. It was very frustrating to stand by and supervisor mediocre treatment sessions, when I wanted to be treating the patients myself! I won't take a job like that again! I put my house up for sale 2 weeks ago. Once my house sells, I plan to go back to travel therapy. Oregon is definitely on my list! It is nice to be home for a while though. I've gone to church the past few Sundays. There are new faces, old faces, the awesome little choir and Burton's brilliant sermons.<br /><br />Keep meditating, Keep writing.<br />Blessings to you,<br />Lisa
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