The department of permanent renewal
Page 110CHAPTER 9
The department of permanent renewal
A religion of Change is instructed never to repeat itself; a familiar practice acquires new meaning without new branding.
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1 And I shit you not, the Department of Permanent Renewal reviewed the Society’s monthly gathering.
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2 It found that the moon had appeared before.
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3 This was judged an unacceptable failure of innovation.
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4 The Department recommended a different moon, an improved horizon, and a new meaning for breath.
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5 The keeper asked whether last month’s gathering had helped anyone.
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6 Several said that it had.
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7 Then the Department warned against complacency.
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8 But a participant replied: I return because I notice something different within a familiar practice.
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9 Another replied: I do not wish to return this month.
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10 The keeper made room for both answers.
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11 Thus they changed what required changing, retained what remained useful, and left the sky outside their procurement process.
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12 For honoring Change did not require despising recurrence.
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13 Neither did recurrence require obedience.
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14 And the moon rose without a launch campaign.
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Honoring Change need not mean despising recurrence.
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TRY IT Return to a useful practice, or choose not to. Notice the reason.
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READING CONVERSATION Letter 25; pp. 51–52.
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CHAPTER 10
Equal measures for the light
Two experiences receive incompatible standards of belief; an observer asks what the accounts actually establish.
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1 An observer entered a room and felt afraid.
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2 The clerk said: Now thou hast discovered what the world is really like.