{"id":23865,"date":"2013-12-20T17:07:19","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T23:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=23865"},"modified":"2016-05-07T17:32:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T23:32:32","slug":"on-the-margins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=23865","title":{"rendered":"On the Margins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Winter Moon<\/p>\n

We’re in the dark period of the year, the time when the Winter Solstice stands out even among long nights as longer and deeper. Tonight, all Solstice eve, it’s 4:30 pm and twilight fell a while ago. \u00a0Snow comes down, adding to an inch or so to what we got over last night, all accumulating on top of the snows of early December.<\/p>\n

Let me demonstrate how odd my religious situation is. \u00a0When my doctor, Corrie Massie, asked me what plans I had for Christmas, without thinking, I said, “We’re Jewish.” \u00a0Now we’re Jewish in that I support Kate’s Judaism, but what I really meant was, “I don’t celebrate the Christian holiday.” \u00a0Didn’t want to start with the whole theological narrative in my doctor’s office so my unconscious answered. \u00a0Not a lie, just not the whole truth.<\/p>\n

No elevator speech for following the rhythmic cycles of nature, for celebrating not transcendence but immanence. \u00a0No quick way to say I’m an outlier here, too, standing on the margins of religion. \u00a0So often I find myself in conversations where I just don’t want to go through the whole analysis to explain myself.<\/p>\n

Yes, too much carbon dioxide is, will be a problem. The unseemly gathering of wealth threatens the fabric of our culture. \u00a0No, I’m not really a Democrat and am planets away from Republicans. \u00a0Tea Party? \u00a0Different universe. \u00a0No, I don’t use pesticides. \u00a0Yes, we grow a lot of our own food and keep bees. \u00a0Oh, and I have a son in the Air Force who now has aspirations to become a general officer, to make sure authentic folks have their say. \u00a0No, mining minerals on the border of the Boundary Waters Wilderness does not make sense. \u00a0Socialism and single-payer health \"from<\/a>care? \u00a0Sign me up. \u00a0I’m glad China and the rest of Asia have begun to grow strong. \u00a0I love the U.S.A. \u00a0Cable television? \u00a0Cut the cord. \u00a0That sort of thing.<\/p>\n

I guess I’m at an age where I’m living the life I chose and choose, yet no longer have that evangelical zeal for my decisions. \u00a0Maybe because I recognize more and more how many right answers there are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Winter Moon We’re in the dark period of the year, the time when the Winter Solstice stands out even among long nights … Continue reading On the Margins<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1450,14,17,9,100,484,1885,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-commentary-on-religion","category-faith-and-spirituality","category-great-wheel","category-great-work","category-politics","category-sierra-club","category-us-history","category-weather-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23865"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38727,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23865\/revisions\/38727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}