Parakalein

I recalled sitting with an atheist in a coffee shop who announced to me, "you know I am an atheist".

Her religious orientation and ethnicity was Jewish but she had become an atheist.  She expected a response of judgment form me.  I had been working with polarized parts of me.  I had begun to understand that the part of me that is a believer is not the only part in me.   There is a skeptic or doubting part in me as well.  There are multiple parts in me.  They help me to connect to others. All those parts are loved.

I said to her, "I get it as I have an atheist part inside of me that thinks all this religious and spiritual stuff is bull___."  She looked at me in amazement.  What followed was a delightful conversation about atheists parts in both of us.  Connection is the context for communication..

Skeptics are not born they are made.  I do believe that we, all, are made in the image of God.  In us all is a desire to know and a self that is of goodness, kindness, peace and harmony.  The way to speak to the skeptic is to embrace the skeptic.

The Beloved embracing the Beloved.  A world of peace and community.

Imagine.