tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058130272770450817.post8874511756868037477..comments2024-01-11T13:53:07.856-08:00Comments on LOVE OF PLACE: Radical RenaissanceSharman Apt Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12444979747241831933noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058130272770450817.post-12346968914000700372011-01-19T21:30:12.851-08:002011-01-19T21:30:12.851-08:00You voice a full view - thank you! Glad to hear it...You voice a full view - thank you! Glad to hear it all.Cirreldanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058130272770450817.post-59690008036017589482010-07-06T23:41:21.560-07:002010-07-06T23:41:21.560-07:00I wanted to tell you: I just finished "Standi...I wanted to tell you: I just finished "Standing in the Light" a few minutes ago. I've been working through it for about three and a half months, give or take. Usually I am more of a speed-reader, but I could tell right off that your book was going to take a lot more time and care. I wrote notes as I read, considering my own world as seen through your words. My world is so different--urban, fast-paced, stress-filled, uncertain, and anything but serene. And I am in the midst of upheavals, twenty years old and trying to find my career path, trying to find out what I think about the world, trying to understand my place in the universe.<br /><br />I have to thank you. Your book didn't just define pantheism; it showed it as well. I read it partly because I had no idea what "pantheism" meant, and I am exploring all kinds of philosophies and worldviews and so forth at this time. Within the first few pages, I was intrigued. By the time I was halfway through, I was calling myself a pantheist. You just--kept saying everything that is in my head, and then some. I have so much to think about, and it feels amazing. I didn't even know there was a word for how I look at the world. I didn't know how to be an atheist (which I am) AND look up at the stars and feel a rush like nothing else. I had thought I had to give up my awe at the universe if I were going to be a Proper Atheist. No more. I think the universe is amazing. I am excited to live in it. I wrote down the last line ("...when you live in a place, eventually you will see all its wonders") and that piece of paper now lives on my wall.<br /><br />Thank you for opening up a new way of thinking for me. I can see now that I am still a part of nature even though my feet know asphalt and my eyes know skyscrapers. "Nature" is not just when I get some time to go camping. Which, incidentally, I will be doing this weekend. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it--I think it will be that much more breathtaking post-reading.Kitnoreply@blogger.com