What a truly beautiful remembrance, and tribute. It moved me.
"I have to now live with who I once was..."
As do we all, in one way or another. Take heart - you are in excellent company. The person you were then is not the person you are now, and it is the here and now that matters. Cut yourself some slack - you're growing.
"...and all of the cringe moments throughout my life."
True, but the good news is that those moments don't define you. Instead, YOU are defining you, or perhaps RE-defining - nonetheless, you are in control of that process, not the other way around.
"He was there for me. So I was there for him. I can’t think of any way to spend my time that would have been more important than that."
That's because there isn't anything more important than that. If nothing else, you have your priorities straight.
Again, thank you for sharing this most intimate part of your life with your subscribers here. I, for one, am honoured.
So poignant, Sasha. Fathers are complicated. Mine was so smart, but eccentric and embarrassing. As one ages, the forgiveness kicks in, and also the love. ❤️
Sasha this is such a wonderful and beautiful tribute to your dad. None of us have perfect fathers. We get what we get and the fact that you appreciate and understand that makes you wise. You are wise And you’re a wonderfully smart and insightful writer and person. I appreciate you. I think we all feel lonely too in these times of smart phones and social media. We should spend more time with our loved ones. RIP Mr Stone. You have quite a daughter
My God, what a poignant, wonderful article ... there is a sincerity in you, a quest to be transparent that is remarkable ... I am moved, this is quite incredible ... wow ...
God bless you and your family Sasha. Thank you for sharing. A most splendid outro 🥰 My father also passed to young due to cancer. Fortunately, love is eternal and we have their presence at will 🥰 Enjoy your day and to thine own self be true ✝️🌹🇺🇸
Such a beautiful real piece of writing. It also reminds me as someone on the other side not to have Biden derangement syndrome, no matter what. The thing is with him, at this point, most things do not even need to be said.
Thank you for that. My favorite, "He wasn’t a perfect father and was a barely functioning human being, but he was kind. He was there for me. So I was there for him. I can’t think of any way to spend my time that would have been more important than that." It makes me rethink my own father, his alcoholism has taken his kindness and his being there for me, but he used to be so kind and he used to be willing to do anything for me... I think I need to hold on to that instead of the resentment I feel for him choosing vodka over his kids and wife. I'm sure he doesn't have much time left.
Reading the great theological scholars of western civilization these last few years has brought a calmness and clarity of who and why I am. Highly recommended!
I don’t have a particular religion but I do like it and find it fascinating since it helps us understand the nature of reality. This book about Satan is really superb. I read it a long time ago and I’m almost done reading it again now. If you like history you’ll like this since it is such a major part of humanity’s often dreadful history.
"Every facet of Jesus' life was dominated by his belief in the reality of demonic forces. Whether or not it makes sense or is embarrassing to contemporary thought is entirely beside the point."
“The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles- -throughout history the prince of darkness, the Western world's most powerful symbol of evil, has taken many names and shapes. Jeffrey Burton Russell here chronicles the remarkable story of the devil from antiquity to the present. In recounting how past generations have personified wicked-ness, he deepens our understanding of the ways in which people have dealt with the enduring problem of radical evil.”
Many people don’t know how to live, more and more all the time. My parents were good people but my father was always working and my mother was crippled (RA) and was always reading so I followed her path and that’s where I learned how to live. I once read a book about a Hindu saint who considered self-control basic for being human. At one point in the book he said “Discipline gives strength. A bird gets its strength from air. A king from his army. A man from his sense of discipline. Without discipline a man, be he a king or a Yogi, is but a human beast.” That made a great impression on me. I never forgot that. I live in Chicago so I see daily evidence of the collapse of internal restraints that cause more and more to behave more like human beasts rather than human beings.
I believe the wild card in our future is the exponential advance of AI which will very soon be a game changer for humanity. The best of times. The worst of times. “I do feel so alone so much of the time.” For anyone feeling lost and alone I recommend cats for company and reading about religion which will give you a good internal foundation for life. I recommend an excellent book by a physicist named Michael Guillen PhD “Believing Is Seeing: A Physicist Explains How Science Shattered His Atheism and Revealed the Necessity of Faith.” He was able to show how quantum physics supports faith and religion and even an impersonal God of “Absolute Nothingness” beyond the mind with its endless chattering and stories it constantly tells us about ourselves and about the world. He also has YouTube videos.
“We know that if missionaries destroy the myth of a people, they destroy them. They degenerate. They are lost. And no civilization can live only from welfare. It needs a myth to live. Great civilizations, when they were flourishing had a living myth. And I think that the myth on which we have lived, has degenerated.” Marie-Louise Von Franz. Carl Jung’s closest collaborator.
“Logic is not all. One needs heart to follow an idea. If people are going back to religion what are they going back to? Is the modern church a place to give comfort to a man who disbelieves in God? How can we draw inspiration to support these two pillars, science and religion, of Western Civilization so that they may stand together in full vigor, mutually unafraid. Is this not the central problem of our time? Richard Feynman. Physicist
Seva, I believe people are seeking what they have always sought, which is ‘contentment’. This is the secret to life but it is also to most of us (myself included), elusive to grasp. There are times we can, and other times we can’t. For me, God (a ‘Father’ for all of us) provides meaning amongst a lot of meaninglessness
“Infinite and finite, complex and simple, He is nature above nature, being above being. Maker of all, he is made in all, Unmoving, he enters the world, Timeless in time, unlimited in limited space, And he who is no thing becomes all things.” Eriugena, medieval theologian.
“We feel ourselves to be outsiders, uprooted, in exile here below. We are like Ulysses who had been carried away during his sleep by sailors and woke in a strange land, longing for Ithaca with a longing that rent his soul. Suddenly Athena opened his eyes and he saw that he was in Ithaca. In the same way every man who longs indefatigably for his country, who is distracted from his desire neither by Calypso nor by the Sirens, will one day suddenly find that he is there.” Simone Weil, French mystic. 1909 - 1943
What a truly beautiful remembrance, and tribute. It moved me.
"I have to now live with who I once was..."
As do we all, in one way or another. Take heart - you are in excellent company. The person you were then is not the person you are now, and it is the here and now that matters. Cut yourself some slack - you're growing.
"...and all of the cringe moments throughout my life."
True, but the good news is that those moments don't define you. Instead, YOU are defining you, or perhaps RE-defining - nonetheless, you are in control of that process, not the other way around.
"He was there for me. So I was there for him. I can’t think of any way to spend my time that would have been more important than that."
That's because there isn't anything more important than that. If nothing else, you have your priorities straight.
Again, thank you for sharing this most intimate part of your life with your subscribers here. I, for one, am honoured.
Eloquent...heartfelt...poignant...honest...all the things I’ve come to expect and look forward to in your writing. Thank you once again, Sasha.
So poignant, Sasha. Fathers are complicated. Mine was so smart, but eccentric and embarrassing. As one ages, the forgiveness kicks in, and also the love. ❤️
As always, Sasha, heartfelt and sincere. You father's life was a true slice of Americana.
That was one hell of a drum solo. Buddy Rich had nothin' on dear old dad.
Sasha this is such a wonderful and beautiful tribute to your dad. None of us have perfect fathers. We get what we get and the fact that you appreciate and understand that makes you wise. You are wise And you’re a wonderfully smart and insightful writer and person. I appreciate you. I think we all feel lonely too in these times of smart phones and social media. We should spend more time with our loved ones. RIP Mr Stone. You have quite a daughter
Beautiful memorial to your father, Sasha....
Thank you....RIP Dad
My God, what a poignant, wonderful article ... there is a sincerity in you, a quest to be transparent that is remarkable ... I am moved, this is quite incredible ... wow ...
You are so right. A brilliant piece of writing.
God bless you and your family Sasha. Thank you for sharing. A most splendid outro 🥰 My father also passed to young due to cancer. Fortunately, love is eternal and we have their presence at will 🥰 Enjoy your day and to thine own self be true ✝️🌹🇺🇸
Such a beautiful real piece of writing. It also reminds me as someone on the other side not to have Biden derangement syndrome, no matter what. The thing is with him, at this point, most things do not even need to be said.
Thank you for that. My favorite, "He wasn’t a perfect father and was a barely functioning human being, but he was kind. He was there for me. So I was there for him. I can’t think of any way to spend my time that would have been more important than that." It makes me rethink my own father, his alcoholism has taken his kindness and his being there for me, but he used to be so kind and he used to be willing to do anything for me... I think I need to hold on to that instead of the resentment I feel for him choosing vodka over his kids and wife. I'm sure he doesn't have much time left.
Reading the great theological scholars of western civilization these last few years has brought a calmness and clarity of who and why I am. Highly recommended!
I don’t have a particular religion but I do like it and find it fascinating since it helps us understand the nature of reality. This book about Satan is really superb. I read it a long time ago and I’m almost done reading it again now. If you like history you’ll like this since it is such a major part of humanity’s often dreadful history.
"Every facet of Jesus' life was dominated by his belief in the reality of demonic forces. Whether or not it makes sense or is embarrassing to contemporary thought is entirely beside the point."
“The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles- -throughout history the prince of darkness, the Western world's most powerful symbol of evil, has taken many names and shapes. Jeffrey Burton Russell here chronicles the remarkable story of the devil from antiquity to the present. In recounting how past generations have personified wicked-ness, he deepens our understanding of the ways in which people have dealt with the enduring problem of radical evil.”
“The Prince of Darkness.”
Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History.
Jeffrey Burton Russell
“He didn’t know how to live as a normal person.”
Many people don’t know how to live, more and more all the time. My parents were good people but my father was always working and my mother was crippled (RA) and was always reading so I followed her path and that’s where I learned how to live. I once read a book about a Hindu saint who considered self-control basic for being human. At one point in the book he said “Discipline gives strength. A bird gets its strength from air. A king from his army. A man from his sense of discipline. Without discipline a man, be he a king or a Yogi, is but a human beast.” That made a great impression on me. I never forgot that. I live in Chicago so I see daily evidence of the collapse of internal restraints that cause more and more to behave more like human beasts rather than human beings.
I believe the wild card in our future is the exponential advance of AI which will very soon be a game changer for humanity. The best of times. The worst of times. “I do feel so alone so much of the time.” For anyone feeling lost and alone I recommend cats for company and reading about religion which will give you a good internal foundation for life. I recommend an excellent book by a physicist named Michael Guillen PhD “Believing Is Seeing: A Physicist Explains How Science Shattered His Atheism and Revealed the Necessity of Faith.” He was able to show how quantum physics supports faith and religion and even an impersonal God of “Absolute Nothingness” beyond the mind with its endless chattering and stories it constantly tells us about ourselves and about the world. He also has YouTube videos.
“We know that if missionaries destroy the myth of a people, they destroy them. They degenerate. They are lost. And no civilization can live only from welfare. It needs a myth to live. Great civilizations, when they were flourishing had a living myth. And I think that the myth on which we have lived, has degenerated.” Marie-Louise Von Franz. Carl Jung’s closest collaborator.
“Logic is not all. One needs heart to follow an idea. If people are going back to religion what are they going back to? Is the modern church a place to give comfort to a man who disbelieves in God? How can we draw inspiration to support these two pillars, science and religion, of Western Civilization so that they may stand together in full vigor, mutually unafraid. Is this not the central problem of our time? Richard Feynman. Physicist
Seva, I believe people are seeking what they have always sought, which is ‘contentment’. This is the secret to life but it is also to most of us (myself included), elusive to grasp. There are times we can, and other times we can’t. For me, God (a ‘Father’ for all of us) provides meaning amongst a lot of meaninglessness
“Infinite and finite, complex and simple, He is nature above nature, being above being. Maker of all, he is made in all, Unmoving, he enters the world, Timeless in time, unlimited in limited space, And he who is no thing becomes all things.” Eriugena, medieval theologian.
“We feel ourselves to be outsiders, uprooted, in exile here below. We are like Ulysses who had been carried away during his sleep by sailors and woke in a strange land, longing for Ithaca with a longing that rent his soul. Suddenly Athena opened his eyes and he saw that he was in Ithaca. In the same way every man who longs indefatigably for his country, who is distracted from his desire neither by Calypso nor by the Sirens, will one day suddenly find that he is there.” Simone Weil, French mystic. 1909 - 1943
Somehow I’ll Find My Way Home - Lyrics.
https://youtu.be/jyfeuRtkqgw
“Is the modern church a place to give comfort to a man who disbelieves in God?”
Poignant. From the heart. Thank you for sharing your voyage and his story.
Thanks for that Sasha, and another confirmation that Love conquers all in the end, and in the eternity which has no end.
Beautiful and moving.
God bless you Sasha. Especially today.