Theresa Caputo

Running notes from re-read:

I have to say, when I read this as a curious Christian, I didn’t grasp what she really goes through with people to do what she does…. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t both Christians who are more problematic than they “need” to be, and ones that doing their best…. And of course, there are “consensus Christians”, as I call them, and I guess “dissident Christians”, although I have to admit that the terms are almost as fuzzy as the old “going to heaven Christians” and “(curses labels and abuse)”, right. Almost, at least.

But yeah, you wouldn’t want to “read someone’s body language” in order to pretend that you were “talking to the dead” or whatever, but I do think it’s funny that some people try to add to the stigma of mediumship or whatever, by associating it with “reading body language”, which I guess is stigmatized (because people aren’t good at it, and) because Everything to do with the body is taboo, basically—unless it’s a materialist doctor who is or convinces people that he’s an atheist—and the old, common type of atheist, in particular, the one that everyone expects in certain situations, right~ and ultimately because the old, mainstream religion cared very little for the body, in practice, almost in toto: it doesn’t agree with it, you know…. If you can square those two circles, as people I guess subconsciously imagine that they can, because at least they’re both not rectangles or quadrilaterals, right.

But yeah: but she’s not bitter. She’s actually a very pleasant woman. She’s a woman, and not just to save spirit talkers from their gender bias. She’s a woman because that’s what she is, right….

…. It is a truth that sometimes people learn the things they learn, not from books. And it doesn’t always make for bad reading….

…. I put this with the “paranormal” books rather than my “witchy” psych books—mediumship does kinda seem to fit in to me with spiritual-science, you know, I call it: “ghost INVESTIGATION and mediumship” (caps added), although it is true that some paranormal books have more of a para-psychological investigate-the-occult-sciences feel than others, you know. Theresa must have had a lot of past life experience built up from this, because she’s a born intuitive and does not need and is unable to benefit from, books and such. (Like a sort of Regular Old Long Island Girl version of Sadhguru, who doesn’t read books: he just experiences things, and then writes about it.)

But yeah, it’s surprising how similar it can be to things like tarot I actually know something about now. (And I actually do know enough now that I notice these things, which kinda swept by me before, although I’ve always puzzled over tarot from time to time, but I didn’t play the game serious, you know, and study. I learn largely through books.) Like the images-with-multiple-meanings, and the get-what-you-need-maybe-not-what-you-want, right. Although it’s funny, I’m a fearful person, so for me, a lot of it is reassurance, but then, when I’m REALLY wound up, that’s almost not want I want! I don’t fucking know what I want—sometimes I ask that, LOL! (Sometimes when I ask a REALLY stupid question my phone acts up, you know.) And yeah: over-reliance on tools…. Theresa doesn’t use any tools at all! SHE is the tool, lol!

…. And sometimes there are kinda “life lessons”, despite (or equally, because?) they’re told in teaching stories rather than metaphysical jargon and transcendent-theological prose, right. Sometimes things are meant to happen—even though it was unpleasant, nothing you could have done could have kept it from happening. There’s this cultural belief in “Prudence” you know, in this totally unbalanced, immoderate way, like—if you’re always prudent, then nothing bad or unpleasant would ever happen. What do people suppose that life experience is, though? It’s this very churched belief: but it’s very un-spiritual, you know…. (Callous Old Man) (waves stick) If you had gone to church, you never would have been embarrassed! You shoulda been Prudent, Rocky! (You coulda been a contender! Charlie! You shoulda looked out for me!)…. ~You know, and it’s like, bat shit, basically. Sometimes bad things will happen, that you never could have learned the lesson, without…. You know, it’s like: sometimes if you go into business and make $100 billion, sometimes you lose $100 million along the way, right—and people who don’t know anything about money—who don’t WANT to know anything about money because they’re afraid of it because they think it’s “bad” 🧌, who work for some simple, average wage because they’re afraid to change jobs or take a risk, (unless it’s to take a degree without any obvious actionable content, but which makes them feel like Lord Downton Abbey who wipes his ass with quid notes because he has money and doesn’t want it, basically)…. You know, and then that (lost a hundred million on the path to unspeakable wealth) means—I mean, if you’re ill, things mean anything, right; they really do…. Money is bad and I don’t want it and I’d be culpable if I understood it and I know more about it than Bezos does because I read a book about him, right…. I mean, somebody dies and you’re not a medium that they book a reading with, you don’t tell them these things, right. But either there’s a reason why things happen, or else these three remain, right: prudence, Prudence, and PRUDENCE. ~Your pick. 😏… (altro)