I woke up from my nap at about midnight. And, for the heck of it, I pulled out the Gideons Bible in the bed stand and opened it for the first time in perhaps over a decade. My eyes fell on Psalm 30...
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A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the House of David
I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
* * * * * * *
Now, before I go back to bed for a few hours, I'd like to say something about religion and spirituality, since the subject has come up many times here in Missouri (being the most Christian of the places I have wallked through).
I take a great risk by doing this, for many obvious reasons, not the least of which is that some of my strongest supporters have VERY intense feelings and opinions about these subjects. But, I feel that I should make a comment on them so that the people I have recently met, and those I am about to meet, more clearly understand my very Personal view. If this thread goes overboard with negativity BELIEVE ME I will pull it immediately off of this timeline.
Anyway, here goes...
I read the entire New Testament when I was only about 8 to 10 years old. And some of it I read several times.
What impressed me about it was not Christianity as a faith--not at all. And, though I appreciated having the story of Jesus given by the Bible, it was not the Bible itself that I learned to devote my thoughts toward.
Instead, it was Jesus the person (be he God or Man). His hyper-focus on his mission; his ability to stand unfazed by his critics; his absolute selflessness; and most of all how he loved his friends and this world so entirely that he was willing to be nailed to a tree for it. That was pretty much all. And for a little kid like me, it was enough.
I want to say that I am not a label. In other words, I am not a Christian, Jesusonian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jew, Agnostic nor Atheist, etc.
THESE are labels.
If other people want to wear ANY of these labels I fully support that. I think belief systems of any kind are the only TRUE and natural human right we have.
I DO believe in what many people would call God. I'm not shy about admitting that fact. But I would NEVER...EVER...expect anyone to believe in the same things nor in the same way that I believe. THAT - in my humble opinion - IS the problem that separates us from each other--that is: expecting others to believe what we as individuals believe, and then to look down upon people who don't.
I listened carefully the other day to a conversation when I was at McDonald's in Salem. A young "Christian" man was having a conversation with an older "Jewish" man. They were very kind to each other and were careful to not offend each other in this short exchange.
The Christian - who seemed a bit uneducated, or perhaps slightly too circumscribed by his religious education - said he wanted to rent a closed store downtown and turn it into a coffee house and Christian reading room. The Jewish man - who seemed highly educated and very well spoken - said that was a "great idea!" and his tone was very supportive.
He paused a moment diplomatically and then said, "Maybe even a Hebrew and Christian reading room?"
The Christian man looked at him suddenly and said, "Well, I don't know much about Hebraic writing. Jesus is my Lord and Savior."
The Jewish man, still being diplomatic and with excellent timing, said "Well, Jesus was great man even for we Jews."
The Christian man replied, "He is God." To which the Jewish man (and I turned to look at him) simply smiled and nodded. I knew that his nod was not one of agreement but, rather one of wise understanding.
The Jewish man then changed the subject, commenting on the current war-fad of the year, the battles with Isil in the Middle East, perhaps something they might both find common ground on. And they did.
They both agreed that Islam was the scourge of our time and that they should all be killed. I almost gasped out loud.
Here were two "religious" men, dressed in their labels and arrogantly defying one of their common Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not kill.
But it didn't stop there.
The Jewish man then spoke about the Pope and Catholicism, remarking upon the child-sex scandals in that church and what a travesty they were. He also commented on how the lack of Papal support for birth control kept the so-called "Third World" in chains of poverty and ignorance.
The Christian man said, "Catholics aren't Christians." This time I almost laughed out loud. I imagined what the people in Washington, MO, a largely Catholic town where I had just spent two weeks would say about that comment.
The Jewish man simply smiled and did the same exact nod.
Can you see by this example, just what I mean by what separates us?
Therefore, let me say that I honor the Yahweh-God of Judiasm, the Jesus-God of Evangelistic Christianity, The God of other Protestant denominations, the Trinity-God ("sancta trinitas unus deus" - Holy Trinity, One God) of Catholicism and most of the rest of Christianity, and the Jesusonian God of the my Urantia Book friends and the Alah-One God of Islam.
I also honor the many Gods of Hinduism--as they are ruled by Brahman, the Nirvana of Buddhism, the Life Force of Universalist Unitarianism, the Universe of Pantheism, the Natural World of humanism, the Uncertain Source Love of Agnosticism and even the Human Love of Atheism. Heck, as a geek I even honor the Force of Star Wars! ;-)
If I have left out any social religions, I deeply apologize.
But ***I*** believe in ONLY my personal Spark within, accepting that every one of us has this same Spark (even atheists can call it "the self" and not capitalize that word if they want of course) and its Personal Central Source (I ask their forgiveness for my capitalization of those words). I don't label it when I think about it. I don't name it when I consult it. And, I don't need other people to believe in it for my own happiness and satisfaction with living. I will avoid telling them about it unless asked (except in the rare example of this little essay).
When I think back to my early Bible studies, I remember that Jesus' greatest "social" message to his friends and followers was actually a PERSONAL one: "The Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU," and when asked about this kingdom by Pilate, Jesus replied: "My Kingdom is not OF this world." Even Pilate - one of the greatest enemies of Christian tradition - appreciated THAT.
There is no way to write what I have written above and remain non-hypocritical in, at least, *someone's* eyes. But I have mentioned some of this before and I wanted to clarify my views again. My method of explaining this is not complete by any standard. And I genuinely hope to evolve it and become better at delivering it in less than a few thousand words (you know me by now, and that distinct handicap of mine!). I wrote out the Old Testament verses above because they mean something to me PERSONALLY. Very much, actually.
Nevertheless, Iwallk for ALL people. I love them ALL. I do not judge people by their belief systems. I am interested in these systems. And I am happy to hear about them as long as they are not being pushed down my throat.
I am positively phobic of having people want to adopt mine. Do Not Do It, Please.
It would be impossible anyway, because we can ONLY have what we believe inside our own individual souls be our Guide--or in our "selves" if some of you don't believe in souls.
I hope to have answered some of what has been asked of me in this regard, and I sincerely appreciate you taking it as ONLY my view, so that you may better understand what motivates and inspires me.
MY THREE PURPOSES
1. Most of what I am trying to do on this mission - on this journey to find the new and Real America - is a social and cultural one. In that way it is exclusively for YOU--ALL OF YOU and anyone who wants to come along with me. My friends!
2. The secondary effect of all of this wallking and writing, communing with ALL whom I come in contact with, is an experiential growth in what I have so-often called my own soul. As you have heard me say time and time again: I want to learn to wear my soul on the outside. I WILL wear my soul. And if I am successful, you WILL actually "see" my soul--with your own soul--or self.
3. And finally, the tertiary effect, and one that I only fantasize and speculate about: I hope and yes, pray, that through LOVE in Action, a New Advent (an event that will quicken spiritual perception - being meant here as non-socially religious understanding) will Spark on the outside whatever commonality in morals that each of us holds on the inside - the Greatest Part of our selves: our desire to love and support each other - bringing us back to being the ONE thing that connects us as we are; as a species.
One Race--the Human kind.
One Family--the loving and trusting kind.
One Planet--the peaceful, clean, healthy and beautiful kind.
See? These are ALL ONE THING.
When any of these three numbered purposes begin to become more apparent - apparent to YOU and not only to me - I will have accomplished my mission.
The Spark will have caught on.
Until then? IWALLK.
Love to ALL!
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