20050327
happy easter!
my regard for religion has only heightened since graduating and starting a full-time job. but you won't find me anywhere near my old "single, catholic young professionals" organization, though. ahahahaha. they require attending one 4-hour meeting a week. i don't have the resources to make that sort of committment yet.
but i'll avoid making jokes about my old faith community. one of my friends, a more recent veteran of that group, teased me about losing my mind because i actually joined and spent five years with them. "you moved to the states and then joined them. you moved to the states, lost your mind, and then joined them," she teased.
i read somewhere that people cope better with immigration when they practice their religion. this paper - written by someone who descends from north asia and who now lives in the u.s., and when i find the blasted pages, i will blog further about it - states that immigration so rents a person's cognitive (and other faculties) fabric that often the most effective way to cope is through the comforting repetitions of a novena, a rosary, a formula for the types of songs and images sung over and over again.
looking back now, it makes sense because repetition is easier to think about, kind of like a full circle is easier to make sense of rather than an arc - an arc has to lead somewhere, it's part of a puzzle, and the natural inclination of the brain is to solve puzzles. but when you move to another place, all the pieces of the puzzle aren't immediately available.
that article made me wonder the sincerity of my joining the group. i realized that i was made to join the group in the first place, but it was my choice whether to stay or not. i could have refused to go to meetings, only talked to them on the phone, but i didn't have the heart to break contact. i did have fun with the group, that the group gave me some of my most memorable moments. often when i look back, i have mostly loyalty for my old colleagues and the faith that we stood for.
i hate how the many unsaid things between my batch of leaders and i collected until they piled into an insurmountable height. but if anyone asks whether they should check out cfc-youth for christ, i'd tell them to go ahead. chicago's different from manila and the rest of the u.s., and the loyola university group is different from the rest of chicago. there's always something going on that you won't have time for the drama. it gets busy, bumpy and trecherous, so be prepared to ride along and drive. don't be afraid to get off when you need to. ¶ 3/27/2005 05:05:00 AM
my regard for religion has only heightened since graduating and starting a full-time job. but you won't find me anywhere near my old "single, catholic young professionals" organization, though. ahahahaha. they require attending one 4-hour meeting a week. i don't have the resources to make that sort of committment yet.
but i'll avoid making jokes about my old faith community. one of my friends, a more recent veteran of that group, teased me about losing my mind because i actually joined and spent five years with them. "you moved to the states and then joined them. you moved to the states, lost your mind, and then joined them," she teased.
i read somewhere that people cope better with immigration when they practice their religion. this paper - written by someone who descends from north asia and who now lives in the u.s., and when i find the blasted pages, i will blog further about it - states that immigration so rents a person's cognitive (and other faculties) fabric that often the most effective way to cope is through the comforting repetitions of a novena, a rosary, a formula for the types of songs and images sung over and over again.
looking back now, it makes sense because repetition is easier to think about, kind of like a full circle is easier to make sense of rather than an arc - an arc has to lead somewhere, it's part of a puzzle, and the natural inclination of the brain is to solve puzzles. but when you move to another place, all the pieces of the puzzle aren't immediately available.
that article made me wonder the sincerity of my joining the group. i realized that i was made to join the group in the first place, but it was my choice whether to stay or not. i could have refused to go to meetings, only talked to them on the phone, but i didn't have the heart to break contact. i did have fun with the group, that the group gave me some of my most memorable moments. often when i look back, i have mostly loyalty for my old colleagues and the faith that we stood for.
i hate how the many unsaid things between my batch of leaders and i collected until they piled into an insurmountable height. but if anyone asks whether they should check out cfc-youth for christ, i'd tell them to go ahead. chicago's different from manila and the rest of the u.s., and the loyola university group is different from the rest of chicago. there's always something going on that you won't have time for the drama. it gets busy, bumpy and trecherous, so be prepared to ride along and drive. don't be afraid to get off when you need to. ¶ 3/27/2005 05:05:00 AM
