Nathaniel Hawthorne and Me

Or; Why all my friends are saints and mystics

A perfect lie can live forever
The truth don't fare as well
It isn't perched on lips mid-laughter
It ain’t the kind of thing you tell
Like there’s no baby in the king cake
Like there's no figure on the cross
They have gone the way of all flesh
And what was found is lost
Yes, it is. Yes, it is
Yes, it is. Yes, it is
Yes, it is. Yes, it is
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. —Father John Misty, “Mahashmashana”

Recently, a couple of new readers expressed some interest in a note I posted hastily that used the phrase “Christian shamanism.” So today, I’m going to write about that, densely, abstrusely, dialogically. This will be the kind of post you get lost in. Most will never finish, and the ones who do will have missed the point.