I first read Pete’s stuff when I began to more publicly deconstruct (maybe 3-4 years ago) and although I highlighted every page furiously I remember thinking to myself, “I have no idea what to do with this. But I feel like whatever it is … it’s really big.”
So the first thing I wanted to share in reflection of this episode is that the stuff that isn’t meaningful to you or helpful to you NOW might be both meaningful and helpful to you LATER. This is important for those of us who find ourselves in a place of deconstruction because we’re constantly consuming information.
Right?
I mean, you name it …
Books.
Articles.
Videos.
Podcasts.
… It’s almost like we can’t get enough and so as we come across more and more voices and hear more and more thoughts we begin to categorize things as either “helpful” and “not helpful”. I know this is true for me and so I can only assume it’s somewhat true for a few of you, as well, and what I’ve learned is that I shouldn’t toss out that “not helpful” bucket too soon because some of it might prove to be both meaningful and helpful somewhere down the road.
Bookmark those videos for a later date.
Put that book somewhere on the back of the shelf.
Download that podcast for another time.
Store the article in a folder.
… Because somewhere down the road in 1 or 2 or 3 or 10 years from now it might fit somewhere in the jigsaw puzzle of your journey that hasn’t quite come together at this current stage in the game.
Secondly, I’m forever intrigued by Pete’s idea that sometimes the key to making a fresh and renewed discovery about the Divine is to strip away all that you assumed to be true. I love this because I feel like it perfectly captures what my journey has been about.
Hell?
The cross?
The End Times?
Tithing?
Church?
The Bible?
LGBTQ?
… Let’s just rethink it all. Let’s assume that everything I assumed to be true about those things isn’t as concrete as I was told and let’s take it all back to the drawing board.
Taking it all back to the drawing board didn’t happen all at once, of course. The journey has been like peeling back an onion. If the “onion” is the “deconstruction process” and the “layers” of the onion are the various “topics” we tackle as we deconstruct.
Well.
Sometimes I can peel and peel and peel one topic after another without any tears at all and sometimes I can peel just a few topics back (or maybe just one topic!) before I need to run to the sink to wash my hands and dry my eyes so that I can come back to the onion again and tackle the next layer.
Hell was a pretty quick layer for me.
The cross, though, took some time and involved a lot of tears. It took months before I could pick up the onion again after grappling with that one because I felt like rethinking that would change everything. (And it did.)
Tithing and the church went quick.
The Bible took more time again as did LGBTQ.
BUT.
As hard as the process was and as many times as I had to run to the sink to dry my eyes and wash my hands … the journey has been worth it because as Pete said in the episode, once I arrived at what felt like the deepest darkness I was greeted by an immense light that has provided guidance and mercy and love and grace like I’ve never known.
Atheism For Lent, friends. Who’s in? We gave away 3 tickets, but if you still want to join in it’s $45 on his website. Go check it out HERE.
✌️
Glenn || PATREON || BUY ME A COFFEE