DREADLOCKS, MARY AND DALAI

"I don't think of myself as a spiritual writer, I think of myself as someone who writes a lot about faith and spiritual issues." So states Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies and Plan B, two spiritual journey books absent from Christian bookstores, supposedly, because of their dark humor. Lamott finds laughter an innate part of spirituality. She refers to it as "carbonated holiness" in her interview for the Life of Meaning this week.
The child of atheist parents, and an addiction to drugs and alcohol, Lamott began her prodigal return about the age of 30 when she encountered what she refers to as the form of Jesus coming into her life. Now an evangelical, single mother and community activist for women's rights and AIDS, her writings seem to speak to those who "ran screaming for their cute little lives the first chance they could" from their religious and fundamentalist upbringings. Armed with dreadlocks, a Mary Medallion, and a bracelet blessed by the Dalai Lama, Lamott expresses her life to contemporary folk about contemporary issues of living in the spiritual. From the "Lives Well Lived" chapter, here are some of Anne's comments.

"You can tell that you've created God in your own image when he hates all the people that you do." (quoted from a Jesuit priest)

"People grow up and find they are left with an act, then a tragedy or piercingly beautiful piece of music happens and something inside them comes fully to life."

"I can't start to censor myself to make anybody more comfortable...all I can do is share what I think are the important stories of my life."

"The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty...I am definitely a work in progress."

"Jesus said, 'I will keep you company, and I will be here if you need me.' That's what I try to be in the world."