Into the water again

I am thinking that if ever we do go to the Duran family reunion for Christmas, and if we skip the usual, boring, staid, predictable Bible devotion on Christ’s birth, as if we’re all in first grade Sunday School, and if, by some miracle, I was allowed to sort of lead the devotion, which I doubt because Mama Z and Papa Z hate to be outshone, but if ever, I would ask this question: “How does your relationship with Christ look like from where you are now?”

The long form of the question is, and as you can see, it’s really directed to Mama Z and Papa Z more than any other persons, which I hope they’ll burst into a monologue each that would suffice for this year’s family devotion: “You’ve been walking with Jesus far longer than any of us in this room. What does it look like from there? From your spiritual vantage point, what have you learned about God for sure? I guess what I’m really asking is, what do you now know about God that you didn’t know when you were our age that might encourage us to keep walking with Jesus?”

I hope I remember to recite that question in that exact phrasing. I actually am genuinely curious how they would answer this. And I hope they’d be honest and not be superior.

I am beginning a journey of The Artist’s Way again, because today, 19 September 2025, I am so depressed, and have been for the past two weeks. What I really want to do is to finish reading all of Anne Rice’s novels before we leave for New Orleans in October. But I guess I need TAW. I’ve asked Argel for an I Ching reading, but he’s still in class in Benilde, so I’ll have to wait for his reply.

I got the idea for my Christmas question from the Introduction to The Complete Artist’s Way compilation. My intention for this round of TAW is true shadow work, real dark shadow work. Let’s see if I get to do it.

There are several addictions and dopamine compulsions that have plagued me as an adult, and really now I don’t mind blogging about this because it is 2025 and nobody, as in nobody, reads blogs anymore. 

I wish to recommit myself to daily morning pages, yoga, breath work, writing practice, lectio divina, vipassana, and a weekly artist date. I also hope to add nightly journaling and a quick yoga. I don’t know. I’ve been thinking. I know how it feels to be off-centre, to be dazed, to see the whole world through a grey haze. But when I do my practice, I feel more alive, alert, awake to the colours of the world. Can that Consciousness actually be my normal? And is that what it means to enter the flow of a creative life? And can it lead me to a life that’s free from addictions?

And so here I am. I will commit thirteen weeks to The Artist’s Way, another thirteen weeks to Walking in this World, and another thirteen weeks to Finding Water. If I have the stamina for it, I just might tackle Vein of Gold. Well, we’ll see. Thanks for reading.