(i ripped this off wikipedia real fast so sorry if it's lib)
In October 1776, the Public Universal Friend contracted an epidemic disease and was bedridden and near death with a high fever. Their family summoned a doctor from Attleboro, six miles away, and neighbors kept up a death-watch at night. The fever broke after several days. The Friend later reported that [deadname redacted] had died, receiving revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone". The Friend further said that [deadname redacted]'s soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the "Publick Universal Friend", describing that name in the words of Isaiah 62:2 as "a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named".
From that time on, the Friend refused to answer to their deadname, ignoring or chastising those who insisted on using it. When visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were addressing, the Friend simply quoted Luke 23:3 ("thou sayest it"). Identifying as neither male nor female, the Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Followers respected these wishes; they referred only to "the Public Universal Friend" or short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F.", and many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries. When someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the preacher replied "I am that I am", saying the same thing to a man who criticized the Friend's manner of dress (adding, in the latter case, "there is nothing indecent or improper in my dress or appearance; I am not accountable to mortals").
editorial note: I think this is a very cool story and I really love hearing it. We've been around forever and we've been doing variations of this forever. It's really beautiful
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np, life happens; same here
druqs
Yeah... I think I've probably been doing that for the past few years. At least I've mostly quit smoking in the past couple of months, so I'm pretty happy about that.
I keep coming back to the phrase "cheerful sobriety" as some kind of aspirational forever-goal, but I think I would only ever be able to get there with a lot of support from a medical system that doesn't despise me. In lieu of that being a thing, I'm not too unhappy with my current selection of aliments - I think the place I'm at with it is very understandable if I'm being fair to myself, even if it's not what I ultimately want.
It really is, stay strong for me comrade
Mine's more "white knuckled rage at how angry I am about everything" kind of sobriety so far but I'm working on it
It can be useful fuel for getting shit done and pushing myself to improve
Yeah I don't think the cheerful part can come without massive societal changes, at least for me. So yeah, it ends up being pretty rageful sobriety, if I do engage in it. It's definitely good if you can harness it for the power of getting things done