Once upon a time, there lived a man who was magic or at least he looked like a man, he was very powerful and lived in the sky. He was all knowing and everywhere at the same time. He created servants to do his bidding, even though he could do anything himself with a blink of an eye. His servants had wings like birds (even though birds didn't exist yet), so they could fly around doing good deeds. The smartest servant thought to himself one day, that since the magic man was so loving and powerful and knowing, that he would overthrow him. This (not so smart) smartest flying servant went to the other servants and told them he was forming a secret army behind the magic man's back and not to tell the magic man (who knows everything) that he was doing this. One out of every three flying servants said that the sky home was the most beautiful and loving place in existence, so for sure to count them in for war against the magic man, the very same guy that had the power to create or destroy everything in the entire universe at the blink of an eye. The not so smartest flying servant said "great, what could possibly go wrong with this plan".
I'm not here to insult anyone's beliefs, I'm questioning my own. I was raised in a religious home, we attended mass every Sunday and sometimes during the week as well. My family was part of a congregation, it was part of our life. We were religious but not pushy about it, my parents believed we needed to work on ourselves being good and not try to make others something we were not. To be honest I'm not sure what I believe anymore. I remember reading an article once about critical thinking regarding stories that are supposed to be true. The article was directed mainly at stories in the media (really fits in nicely for today) but after reading it, my little brain began poking holes in every story I read that is supposed to have some truth to it. As we get older, some of us begin to see the truth about certain beliefs.
These stories no longer make sense to me, something just doesn't add up. The older I get, the farther away from tales I get. Today I am more of an evidence based type person, this is not to say that I have a closed mind, it's just that you better have more evidence than a picture of an angel on your morning waffle. Maybe man screwed up, we always do, maybe we got the story wrong. If there is a god, (and I'm not saying there isn't, cause I don't want to upset her) maybe God is too complex for us to comprehend, so we made up something that we could understand at the time. I worry about governments that make decisions based on stories from thousands of years ago. From experience every gay person can understand that, we have always known most religions are wrong about us.
I'm not sure what the answer is or what "my" answer is, every answer is different for each person. I know many people would like to wipe religion away. I'm not one of those people, I'm very cynical of society, I'm very suspicious of people. We are still pretty much a dumb bunch of monkeys in pants. It doesn't hurt to have a majority of humans thinking there is a powerful parental figure, watching over them. It doesn't hurt to have people feel that they need to treat others the way they want to be treated. Humanity needs a herd mentality, compassion towards one person, benefits all people, otherwise it would be back to the bad old days.
Like I said, I'm not trying to criticize anyone's beliefs or offend them, I am just thinking out loud. There is some freedom in thinking we are independent in the universe but to be honest, for myself there is also sadness in thinking "this is it, this is all we are", a blip in time, monkeys in pants, floating through space on a giant rock... alone.
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8 comments:
Great post! And one that I would talk about for hours over a pot of coffee or a bottle of Pinot Noir. Your questions are valid. I'm of the mind that experienced spirituality is better than blind faith. But this is such a personal thing, so intimate, it's sometimes difficult to find the right words. There's nothing wrong with questioning; in fact, most mystics I've read encourage it. Otherwise, what's the point of living. Ask, I say, but don't stay there. Look for, search for, that which speaks to you in whatever form, color, sound, or means it appears in. And when you do find it, or it finds you, ask more until you find your answers! I promise you, it's a worthwhile journey.
An integral part of growing up (and wise) is the realization you've been conned by many people for many reasons. Finding your own path is key. I hope yours goes well.
In fact, we are not alone. In addition to being monkeys in pants (and monkeys out of pants, if you read some of the blogs around here) many of our fellow fauna lead lives more sophisticated than we are willing to admit: killer whales, elephants, corvids, rats, eusocial insects. People are even saying that the trees talk to each other! But it would be inconvenient to acknowledge this, so we cling to the belief that we matter.
Your post really was thought provoking for me. As a child, I attended church every Sunday, sang in the choir, said my prayers every night. I would pray to God to "fix me", to make me normal. I now look at religion differently. I have drifted away from church in my later years for a variety of reasons. I guess it is my questioning nature, my mind wondering about how it all makes sense. All the wars fought over religion, all of the people who have used religion as an excuse to bully, as an excuse to be "holier than thou". I am an Episcopalian by birth, and I have gone to church off an on over my adult years. I remember one of my last services I ever went to was when the priest got up for his sermon and spent the entire time espousing the evils of homosexuals and how it went against the bible. After that, I just didn't want to go again. The same year I was in Greece on the island of Rhodes. I learned how the Christians destroyed all of the Greek and Roman mythological statues and I realized (in my head anyway) that one religion was simply replacing another and none of it made sense. I walked to a square in the main town on Rhodes and saw a memorial to the Jews who were killed during World War II at the hands of the Nazis that occupied Greece. I thought to myself, "How could a God allow this?" Sorry for the rambling here....your post got me to thinking!
Walter, it's interesting how many people start to question things as we get older, I guess we are wondering where we're going. My Dad was the most religious of all of us, he always went to mass, never missing it. Once, years ago, I was talking with my mother and I was saying that I always feel confused inside about wether God exists or not, my Dad commented that he feels that way sometimes as well. I was really surprised but I really appreciated his honesty.
Dr Spo, I feel any major group, religious, political, social are all guilty of this. I think more true critical thinking is needed.
Mr Lurker, are you trying to say that the monkeys with pants should be listening to the monkeys without pants? Actually I was watching a program regarding breakthroughs in science and they were talking about the meltdown of certain people when humans started to realize we were not the center of the universe. We're just a speck in a group of specks.
Michael 54, gee whiz man, take over my blog why don't you! Lol just kidding, it's a compliment to me if I get someone interested in what I'm saying, so don't worry and thank you. Wow, I know how that feels, trying to get God to fix me, trying to make deals. Now however I think, poor little gay kids, that would be like an African-American kid praying to god to turn him white, because they thought it would be easier to be white. I was lucky in that homosexuality was never mentioned in any Catholic masses when I grew up. The only negative was they did try to stop gay marriage but I had stopped going by that time, plus the Canadian Catholic church had just come through major sex scandals with boys, so they no longer held a high ground in people's eyes.
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