Is anybody willing to be my Simon of Cyrene?

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AlanFromWichita

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am hungry for purification. I believe the Lord has opened my eyes, but yet as an infant in the faith I do not have any experience through works to calibrate and adjust my carnal mind to fully cooperate with the will of God.

So I don’t know if anybody would be willing, but if anybody can help me wash my feet, it would be greatly appreciated. If you wish for me to help you likewise, I would be delighted and honored to wash yours as a token of my gratitude.

The problem I have is although I finally realized that I am spirit, I wear the sandals of the carnal mind to stay attached to the earth, but the problem is the shoes and the feet are muddy. So if I do all I can to detach myself from all worldly belongings (take off my sandals) – coupled with the fact that the world wants to steal them so if I can’t get them off the world helps me through suffering and mortification aka “university of hard knocks” – then the washing will have meaning.

Here’s how you can help me. If you see any mud on my feet, or any that has splashed up for that matter, please tell me about it, or if it is just as easy, go ahead and wipe it. I am no longer ashamed, so I’m not hiding from anyone. I am ready to consent to go to the city on the hill which is fully disclosed. Let that which is hidden through any act of my will, be brought to light.

But where to start? Well, start in your heart. You have my permission to go ahead and use your carnal mind to think the best things, the worst things, the most interesting or boring things about me. In essence, Jesus helped me find security, which I will now trade in for a measure of faith as small as a mustard seed, and open myself up, unprotected, before God and everybody.

If anyone would indulge me in this activity, I promise I will be eternally thankful, and you will be eternally rewarded.

Now, the only thing we need is a starting point for a discussion. That is, unless this post all by itself starts one. Wherever this thread goes, I trust the Holy Spirit will shower us all with abundant blessings.

So first I will pray, then fast from the forums for at least 10 minutes of contemplation, meditation, and/or works. Then I will return and find out what I’ll do next.

Note that I mean “I” to refer at times to my true self, and others to my false self. I didn’t really notice that until just now when I proofread the post. My carnal mind has been conditioned to confuse the two, so as I’m purified hopefully my words will become less confused.

“Lord thank you for all your blessings, and for CAF and all who participate as posters, lurkers, and those whose lives we touch directly or indirectly. Please use me as you will for Your purposes, and I hereby avail myself to you. Please allow me to see clearly enough that I may become a sheep among wolves without hurting, enraging, or scaring the wolves, to be used for Your purposes. Please bless all posters and lurkers who come upon this thread in all of part, for taking my plea for help with purity into consideration. Please give me the courage and wisdom to do the same for them, if I can. In the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

Now I am going away for a while, but I will come back after at least 10 minutes, God willing.

Alan
 
AlanFromWichita said:
Here’s how you can help me. If you see any mud on my feet, or any that has splashed up for that matter, please tell me about it, or if it is just as easy, go ahead and wipe it.

You have my permission to go ahead and use your carnal mind to think the best things, the worst things, the most interesting or boring things about me.
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😃 From what I’ve seen here, you don’t even need to solicit for other peoples’ advice. We’re all very free with our opinions.
 
John 6:63 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

peace
 
Barbkw said:
😃 From what I’ve seen here, you don’t even need to solicit for other peoples’ advice. We’re all very free with our opinions.
Click to expand...
You made a great point. I was looking for people to wash mud off, but inviting them to throw some more on, all at the same time. :whacky:

Sigh. No matter how I try to be serious, the foolishness of God is always there to surprise and amuse me … and I thank you Barbkw for bringing it to me. Surely you and I are very close. :tiphat:

Funny. Evidently throwing mud at me and washing my feet are all part of the same process. I guess I need to quit micromanaging everything and trust in the Spirit’s capable guiding hands. So I guess I should adopt more of an attitude of …

[SIGN]OK, open the doors and let them all in!!! Mudslinging party! Food fight![/SIGN]

http://bestsmileys.com/party/5.gif

Alan
 
hazcompat said:
John 6:63 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

peace
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I love this. People seem to think the spirit is here to serve the flesh, when in fact the spirit created the flesh for its own purposes. Actually the spirit does serve the flesh, as it did through Jesus, but it does not need the flesh as you are saying.

Alan
 
AlanFromWichita said:
I love this. People seem to think the spirit is here to serve the flesh, when in fact the spirit created the flesh for its own purposes. Actually the spirit does serve the flesh, as it did through Jesus, but it does not need the flesh as you are saying.

Alan
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not even close.

1 Corinthians 3:2

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready

peace
 
2 Corithians[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. [13] Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.

drbo.org/chapter/53002.htm

The flesh is of no avail. Detach your hands from the rudder of the flesh and let Our King and Lord chart your course toward the infinite shores. Be indifferent to winds and waves. He who has begun this thing in you, will see it to fruition. Jesus I Trust in You.

peace
 
Are you aware of the presence of The Holy Spirit of God within yourself. Is His presence/absence obvious in your neighbor?

peace
 
I don’t really have anything to add, and the other posters seem to be doing just fine with whatever it is we’re doing, but I do have a question:
Why isn’t going to confession and communion enough? Or why not go to a perpetual adoration site and adore the Eucharist for an hour or so? I’m trying to get myself signed up to do that locally. Maybe I’ll try to deliver hosts to people at a local hospital (that is if they’ll let me; they asked for volunteers but I might not have all the things necessary ). Why not those? :confused:
 
Pat_Albertson said:
I don’t really have anything to add, and the other posters seem to be doing just fine with whatever it is we’re doing, but I do have a question:
Why isn’t going to confession and communion enough? Or why not go to a perpetual adoration site and adore the Eucharist for an hour or so? I’m trying to get myself signed up to do that locally. Maybe I’ll try to deliver hosts to people at a local hospital (that is if they’ll let me; they asked for volunteers but I might not have all the things necessary ). Why not those? :confused:

I share in your poverty and need for teeth

CCC scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c3a2.htm#IV

1123 "The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. ,

2017 The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us sharers in his life.

2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.

peace
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Friend, I will be forever grateful for your reply. I offer you my comments about it FWIW.
hazcompat said:
not even close.

1 Corinthians 3:2

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready

peace
Click to expand...
This is one of my favorite verses. It explains a great deal IMO, about how people who are at different places in their spiritual journey can’t seem to figure out why they are drawn to different styles of prayer, different devotions, emphasize different Church teachings, etc. For some reason we want other people to be like us but spiritually we are identical; everything that makes us different is mortal.
hazcompat said:
2 Corithians[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him? So the things also that are of God no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. [13] Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.

drbo.org/chapter/53002.htm
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Wow.

:bowdown:

That could be the most awesome thing I’ve seen in seven years on CAF.

Thank you. :tiphat:
The flesh is of no avail. Detach your hands from the rudder of the flesh and let Our King and Lord chart your course toward the infinite shores. Be indifferent to winds and waves. He who has begun this thing in you, will see it to fruition. Jesus I Trust in You.
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peace
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dude, you’re way ahead of me on this line or reasoning, and I am very impressed at it; truly it is inspired, is it not?
hazcompat said:
Are you aware of the presence of The Holy Spirit of God within yourself. Is His presence/absence obvious in your neighbor?

peace
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I am aware of the ubiquitous Holy Spirit of God (that is the God whose Church is the RCC) present in all human beings, living, dead, future, or didn’t happen. 👍

Yes, but I don’t necessarily take notice of it, any more than a light beam ponders its medium. Could this be a time to call up Dr. Quantum?

Thanks again for the awesome post! :hug3:

Alan
 
Pat_Albertson said:
I don’t really have anything to add, and the other posters seem to be doing just fine with whatever it is we’re doing, but I do have a question:
Why isn’t going to confession and communion enough? Or why not go to a perpetual adoration site and adore the Eucharist for an hour or so? I’m trying to get myself signed up to do that locally. Maybe I’ll try to deliver hosts to people at a local hospital (that is if they’ll let me; they asked for volunteers but I might not have all the things necessary ). Why not those? :confused:

As long as you satisfy the requirements of the Church for parish and RCC requirements (go to Mass, do stewardship etc) then anything you do above and beyond that is lagniappe, and is IMO a gift directly to the heart of Jesus.

Alan
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St. Seraphim of Sarov’s Conversation With Nicholas Motovilov
A Wonderful Revelation to the World

…"that in your childhood you had a great desire to know the aim of our Christian life, and that you continually asked many great spiritual persons about it."I must say here that from the age of twelve this thought had constantly troubled me. I had, in fact, approached many clergy about it; but their answers had not satisfied me. This was not known to the Elder.“But no one,” continued Father Seraphim, "has given you a precise answer. They have said to you: ‘Go to Church, pray to God, do the commandments of God, do good—that is the aim of the Christian life.’ Some were even indignant with you for being occupied with profane curiosity and said to you: ‘Do not seek things that are beyond you.’ But they did not speak as they should. And now poor Seraphim will explain to you in what this aim really consists.“Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian activities, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. But mark, my son, only the good deed done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said: He who gathers not with Me scatters (Luke 11:23). Not that a good deed can be called anything but gathering, …”

Come Holy Spirit.

peace
 
hazcompat said:
St. Seraphim of Sarov’s Conversation With Nicholas Motovilov
A Wonderful Revelation to the World

…"that in your childhood you had a great desire to know the aim of our Christian life, and that you continually asked many great spiritual persons about it."I must say here that from the age of twelve this thought had constantly troubled me. I had, in fact, approached many clergy about it; but their answers had not satisfied me. This was not known to the Elder.“But no one,” continued Father Seraphim, "has given you a precise answer. They have said to you: ‘Go to Church, pray to God, do the commandments of God, do good—that is the aim of the Christian life.’ Some were even indignant with you for being occupied with profane curiosity and said to you: ‘Do not seek things that are beyond you.’ But they did not speak as they should. And now poor Seraphim will explain to you in what this aim really consists.“Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian activities, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. But mark, my son, only the good deed done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said: He who gathers not with Me scatters (Luke 11:23). Not that a good deed can be called anything but gathering, …”

Come Holy Spirit.

peace
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It sounds like this author is talking about taking off our spiritual training wheels and giving ourselves an actual challenge to unite our spirit and mortal parts, by asking questions that expand the mind rather than just ask for more of the same, which reinforce the limits by dwelling upon them.

About teaching kids to limit their potential, I offer the song Flowers are Red, by our brother Harry Chapin. In psychology class, they called this learned helplessness. True or not, they gave the example of a beaker of fleas with a ceiling several inches from the bottom. After a while, if the ceiling is lifted, the cloud of fleas jumps only as high as the ceiling was. This is what Jesus came to save us from. We don’t even dream beyond what we are told we’re allowed to dream. This totally nullifies our spiritual journey and is the antithesis of the work, the Cloud of the Unknowing. This is similar to the feminist concept of “glass ceiling” whereby an insitutional mindset limits progress of women, even though as individual managers, they may actually uphold their stated diversity policy which may even be one the EEOC thinks is great, but it has the same effect as if the “ceiling” were codified. After a while our brain atrophies, the universe of thought and imagination shrinks, and you are captive to your past training … and at that point only God can expand it back out through your own Dark Night of the soul, if you get to it before mortal death. If not, no fear because purgatory is here; she will get you cleaned up and dressed for the banquet.

My dad, who loved teaching and leaning both, used to say, “the problem with school is that they teach you what to think, not how to think.”

About dreaming big: The Impossible Dream, by brother Jim Nabors acting as Gomer Pyle.

About having a purpose in life: Music and Life, by brother Alan Watts.

Fruits to you, my friends,
Alan
 
Peace and all good.

The mind is a hindrance. You will need it if you leave a conversation with God to have a conversation with men.

Saint Albert the Great

On Cleaving to God

Members of religious orders have committed themselves in addition to evangelical perfection, and to the things that constitute a voluntary and counselled perfection by means of which one may arrive more quickly to the supreme goal which is God. The observation of these additional commitments excludes as well the things that hinder the working and fervour of love, and without which one can come to God, and these include
the renunciation of all things, of both body and mind, exactly as one’s vow of profession entails. Since indeed the Lord God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, in other words, by knowledge and love, that is, understanding and desire, stripped of all images. This is what is referred to in Matthew 6.6, ‘When you pray, enter into your inner chamber,’ that is, your inner heart, ‘and having closed the door,’ that is of your senses, and there with a pure heart and a clear conscience, and with faith unfeigned, ‘pray to your Father,’ in spirit and in truth, ‘in secret.’ This can be done best when a man is disengaged and removed from everything else, and completely recollected within himself. There, in the presence of Jesus Christ, with everything, in general and
individually, excluded and wiped out, the mind alone turns in security confidently to the Lord its God with its desire. In this way it pours itself forth into him in full sincerity with its whole heart and the yearning of its love, in the most inward part of all its faculties, and is plunged, enlarged, set on fire and dissolved into him.

Who would leave a conversation with God to have a conversation with men?

peace
 
hazcompat said:
Peace and all good.

The mind is a hindrance. You will need it if you leave a conversation with God to have a conversation with men.
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It is the stumbling block between the first and second halves of the spiritual life.

But it is also your greatest asset, once the Lord sees fit to allow your mind to resume what it was like before Adam ate the apple. Free and happy, without opportunity to ever experience true human drama.

My psychiatrist told me that my only first goal (for 10 years) was to attain a calm and clear mind. I did that, and the Lord healed me, and the travel from extreme to “normal” taught me a lot along the way.

god loves to play peek-a-boo. now you see Him, now you don’t. black, white. day, night. summer, winter, rain shine, past and future. dead or alive, ecstatic or miserable, coming or going, sleep awake. everything. As a “bipolar” I had a great deal of chance to experience extremes in several dimensions, and was able to extract the essence that stays common across those dimensions and what varies by individual. This is how one find his identity.

Alan
 
The Imitation of Christ…Thomas a Kempis
THE ROYAL ROAD OF THE HOLY CROSS
TO MANY the saying, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,"19 seems
hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire.” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly
now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the day of judgment.
This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the
servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will
draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. …
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything
depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy
cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a
higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange
and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some
suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find
the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in
your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you
and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you
cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills.
For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly
to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the
passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like
himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where
you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and
shall always find yourself. Turn where you will – above, below, without, or within –
you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you
would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal
where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it
unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you
have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier
one. …
To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to
subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be
despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on earth – this
is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you
trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from heaven and the world and the flesh
will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you
are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ. …

Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to
have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On
your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for
even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not
worthy to be compared with the glory to come. …

If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than
suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the
disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If
any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow Me.”
When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be
the final conclusion – that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of
God.

peace
 
hazcompat said:
The Imitation of Christ…Thomas a Kempis
THE ROYAL ROAD OF THE HOLY CROSS
TO MANY the saying, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,"19 seems
hard, but it will be much harder to hear that final word: “Depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire.” Those who hear the word of the cross and follow it willingly
now, need not fear that they will hear of eternal damnation on the day of judgment.
This sign of the cross will be in the heavens when the Lord comes to judge. Then all the
servants of the cross, who during life made themselves one with the Crucified, will
draw near with great trust to Christ, the judge. …
Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything
depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way of the holy
cross and daily mortification. Go where you will, seek what you will, you will not find a
higher way, nor a less exalted but safer way, than the way of the holy cross. Arrange
and order everything to suit your will and judgment, and still you will find that some
suffering must always be borne, willingly or unwillingly, and thus you will always find
the cross.
Either you will experience bodily pain or you will undergo tribulation of spirit in
your soul. At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you
and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you
cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills.
For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly
to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the
passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like
himself.
The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where
you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and
shall always find yourself. Turn where you will – above, below, without, or within –
you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you
would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.
If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal
where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it
unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you
have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier
one. …
To carry the cross, to love the cross, to chastise the body and bring it to
subjection, to flee honors, to endure contempt gladly, to despise self and wish to be
despised, to suffer any adversity and loss, to desire no prosperous days on earth – this
is not man’s way. If you rely upon yourself, you can do none of these things, but if you
trust in the Lord, strength will be given you from heaven and the world and the flesh
will be made subject to your word. You will not even fear your enemy, the devil, if you
are armed with faith and signed with the cross of Christ. …

Drink the chalice of the Lord with affection it you wish to be His friend and to
have part with Him. Leave consolation to God; let Him do as most pleases Him. On
your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider them the greatest consolation, for
even though you alone were to undergo them all, the sufferings of this life are not
worthy to be compared with the glory to come. …

If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man’s salvation than
suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the
disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: “If
any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow Me.”
When, therefore, we have read and searched all that has been written, let this be
the final conclusion – that through much suffering we must enter into the kingdom of
God.

peace
Click to expand...
I love this:

If you carry the cross willingly, it will carry and lead you to the desired goal
where indeed there shall be no more suffering, but here there shall be. If you carry it
unwillingly, you create a burden for yourself and increase the load, though still you
have to bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will find another and perhaps a heavier
one. …

This is beautiful. It’s like a challenge to see who can remove the physical self first – a willing soul with human body attached, or (a) death of the body. Doesn’t matter when we lose it; whenever that is all heavens and earth shall rejoice, past present, future, and/or none-of-the-above. Even non-existence will rejoice, I tell you, over one human being willing to entrust its will to chance, order, or whatever.

Friends have been urging me to read this book for years, and now I can see why.

Alan
 
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