Can't resist some churchless thanksgiving's

OK, I give up.

I've tried my best to resist the onslaught of thankiness here in the United States. Today is Thanksgiving, a national holiday. It has something to do with being thankful (obviously), but even Wikipedia can't explain the origins of what often is called Turkey Day.

For my wife and me, it's Wheat Gluten Day, as we're about to put a meatless Celebration Roast in the oven. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in a traditional fashion. However, there's nothing wrong with keeping "thanks" part of the day.

So, that's what I'll do: say thanks to those who visit this blog and leave comments on the posts.

The Church of the Churchless gets about 700-800 page views a day, with about 350-400 unique visitors. That means a lot to me. I'm grateful to be able to communicate in some fashion with that many people -- even if some simply take a glance, think "not for me" and head off to another thread of the vast worldwide web.

I've been blogging away here for a bit over six years. Sometimes it seems like there's nothing more to say, yet whenever I sit down at my laptop to compose a post, I find that there is.

Because I keep changing, learning, exploring, wondering, questioning, spurred on in some fashion by every comment or email that comes my way.

Whether I agree, disagree, or am neutral about what someone else says, his or her ideas wend their way into my psyche, adding to the ocean of information that my brain churns away on -- largely outside of my awareness.

Eventually fresh ideas and intuitions bubble up to the surface.

So I never (well, hardly ever) get tired of writing stuff for this blog. I can't really tell in what direction my philosophical and meaning-of-life inclinations are heading. What matters to me is the feeling of movement, a sensation that I'm not standing still.

Whether someone else calls this progress or backsliding doesn't matter to me, just as whether anyone applauds or denigrates your own way of living life shouldn't matter to you -- so long as you're satisfied with your choices and aren't purposely hurting others in the process.

Often I use the Google search tool in the right sidebar to find a post that I'd written years ago. Reading through it, I'll continue on into the comments and find that some people who are commenting on this blog now were Church of the Churchless visitors way back when.

"Cool," I'll think.

It's rare that a comment is left on this blog from someone I know personally. More precisely, physically. Because I do feel that I know many commenters personally. We've just never met face to face, only mind to mind.

Over the years I can sense changes in these people, whom I think of as friends in a very real cyberspace way. Like me, they're on their own journey, looking for fresh meanings and better ways of relating to the world.

As with my other friends, I may disagree with them on this or that particular subject.

What's much more important is the common ground we stand on: a commitment to non-dogmatic truth-seeking, spiritual independence, and respect for the mystery that remains when the light of human knowledge is laid against the much larger darkness of reality beyond our understanding.

Every day I learn something through this blog. Thank you, Church of the Churchless visitors, for making that possible.

Comments

[tucson]

I hope your Thanksgiving Day was enjoyable and that your gluten turkey was delectable. Our real turkey was very good and the gluten-free stuffing was great but the cranberry sauce was fantastic.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable day and that tomorrow will be enjoyable as well and so on and on.

I just want to mention that for many people gluten (found primarily in wheat, rye, barley and some oats) is an unhealthy food. You do not have to have the symptoms of celiac disease to have gluten intolerance which manifests in many ways.

Some doctors think the majority of people have some degree of gluten intolerance.

To find out if one of them is you:

http://glutenfreeworks.com/gluten-disorders/celiac-disease/diagnosis-and-testing/

[Star]

My daughter worked Thanksgiving Day and it's about family more than anything for me, so we'll have our celebration on her day off next week. It was a little odd not celebrating with a meal when the rest of the nation goes quiet, for the first time I'm aware of in my life.

It's always been my favorite holiday. I find it remarkable that we even concern ourselves with which was "the first thankgsiving" -- clearly it's a harvest festival and has been around for a long, long time as a part of human culture. I do admit that having been raised in Pilgrim Country I was indoctrinated from an early age to believe that Plimoth was the first colony on what would be U.S. soil, and that theirs was the first Thanksgiving, and I was surprised when I moved out of Massachusetts and found out the rest of the world didn't necessarily see it that way.

Perspective is so sneaky in limiting our views, we often don't question things because we aren't even aware of the blinders beside our eyes. (Horse blinders help keep horses from being frightened -- is that what perspective does for us?)

Anyway, so glad I found your blog, Brian. Hope you and yours have wonderful holidays, however you celebrate them.

[Star]

@tucson

Thanksgiving is also a gluten-free meal for us, as three of four members of my family are celiacs. It took me years to discover that unlike the use of wheat bread on the stale side, gluten-free bread is best freshly made for turkey stuffing. I consider the stuffing to be the center of the meal, so the years in which it was a disaster were traumatic, and I Snoopy-danced when I learned the trick.

Though you, tucson, probably already know this, others may not so I can't resist clarifying your comment that "some oats have gluten" to add "cross-contaminating them" since the oats themselves have no gluten in them. Oats are commonly grown in rotation with wheat, so it's hard to come by uncontaminated oats since wheat sprouts grow as "volunteers" (charming word) in the field. Some growers are dedicating their fields to gluten-free oats though; but since oats can come with their own reactions, celiacs should (of course) check with their doctors before trying even oats grown gluten-free.

[tucson]

In my comment above I did not provide the correct link to a lab which performs gluten sensitivity tests and other food intolerance tests.

https://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/TestInfo.aspx

According to their test which I did a few years back I was not gluten intolerant, but my son exhibited symptoms and the tests confirmed gluten intolerance for him. He had been having stomach pains, stomach upset and diarrhea during his training runs. Now that he is on a gluten-free diet, no problems and he has a college scholarship for running.

This is my humanitarian act of the day. As I said many people have various chronic conditions and have no idea that gluten could be the cause. Find out for yourself. The tests aren't cheap but worth it.

Many people lose weight simply by eliminating gluten which for most people means wheat bread and pasta. Fortunately there are good gluten free substitutes.

I am not afilliated with this company in any way.

Brian: this post is not off topic. It is you who mentioned consuming gluten turkey.

[Blogger Brian]

tucson, my wife felt some stomach distress after eating the Celebration Roast, so that's probably related in some way to the high gluten content. I handled it fine. Gluten intolerance indeed is a big problem for many people. Fortunately, food manufacturers and bakeries are realizing this. We often get gluten-free muffins and such to have on hand for friends who can't eat wheat gluten.

[tucson]

I consider seitan, a wheat gluten product used as a meat substitute or filler in asian food, to be evil ;)

I suggest your wife take the gluten sensitivity test. If she is gluten intolerant she will probably feel better in many ways when she quits eating it.

[Star]

Not to mention avoiding the side effects of the damage gluten intolerance can do (like increased risk of intestinal cancer, for example). More information can be found about risks here:

http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/faq.html#effects

[Mungos]

We are the Churchless Madafakazz. He, he