11 Comments
Aug 22, 2022Liked by Rob D

Perhaps "the choir" benefits from your preaching. I do.

The world seems to have moved on, in recent years, from routine clinical insanity to stark raving fucking mad. Many of the folks who frequent this 'stack do so, at least in part, for the comfort they take in knowing that they're NOT insane - that there are others who share their world view. Which is no small thing.

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Rob, congrats on reaching a milestone with your stack! I enjoy your reflections. They are calm, measured, and thought-provoking. I think that having an audience of like-minded folk can be helpful. For one, we feel less isolated. That's quite important these days. But, for another, we can share what's working (and not working) with one another and all get stronger. The latter is the upside of a collective. I know we're all fighting this notion of "the borg", but shared knowledge is a boon. That's the way I look at substack.

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What frustrates me as I opine here weekly, are those who seem to have given up. 

Or the people who acknowledge that there are problems but who shoot down every potential action step.

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"Preaching to the choir." There's a sort of snide undertow to that, isn't there? I think people sometimes use phrases they haven't really thought about so much... Seems to me that "preaching to the choir" implies that there's no congregation, just the choir, who are there as sort of "employees..." As someone raised in the Christian Church and is no longer part of it, but still friendly to those who are, I think the choir is a great metaphor for the People, generally. Some of the choir is there because they have one love above all others: Music. Some are there because it's a way to get attention and stand out a bit from the rest of the congregation. Some want to be part of a designated "task force" of a kind. So, the choir is a mix of more than voices... The preacher stands for leadership, authority, knowledge, or even a focus for power dispersal, and can be a positive or a darker kind of presence, depending on the kinds of motivations of that person... I've seen leadership that is very ego-driven, control-oriented, loving, contemptuous, weak and unorganized... So often leadership is simply about growth and not much else, which ends up being more of a show than anything else...

I've also seen a few preachers who were centered, hard-working, intent on finding Light and steering others toward it by means of kindness, understanding, and compassion. And you're one of those kind, Rumble Rob. ^_^ Leadership doesn't always have to be something the one leading has been SEEKING to do, nor something that is considered a job, but it's usually something one does out of a sense of responsibility, or from a place of connection to others in the pursuit of clarity and a desire for Right Action. That's the kind of leadership I see in you. Keep it up, as long as you want to do it. I quite like your way. Cheers.

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A garden requires constant thought as the environment is always changing, be it weather, pests, diseases, even soil conditions, and more. Its always a challenge when gardening naturally without the aid of chemicals and machines, its quite rewarding to figure it all out on the fly.

I think its similar to preaching to the choir with the twist of preaching becoming reports about something being different with a different response than the same message all the time.

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deletedAug 22, 2022Liked by Rob D
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