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Ever the Philosopher
May 14, 2008 - 5:47am — Lenelle Moïse
My father and I always argue about religion.
He is a lifelong Seventh-Day Adventist; a member of a Christian sect founded by an American woman named Ellen Gould White who claimed to see visions of God way back in 1844. I always joke that SDAs are Christians who wish they were Jews. They believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, but keep a form of Kosher Law (no pork, no shellfish). They worship and rest on the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) and hope they, too, are the Chosen People.
I grew up SDA, but am currently an aspiring Buddhist who is inspired by Vodou and besotted with the Hindu goddess Kali.
My father is brilliant but thinks like an anthropologist when he is feeling generous and like a missionary when he is not. For him, Haitian Vodou merely sustains the spirits and imaginations of starving, illiterate peasants; Hinduism is random idolatry; Christ is our one and only savior and Lord. My father doesn't believe there are or ever were any Buddhists in Haiti, where we were both born. I tell him Buddhist philosophy comes from India, Tibet, Thailand, etc, but he dismisses my interests in mindfulness, meditation, chanting and compassion as very American interests.
His is the God of omnipotence, love, fire, brimstone, 40-day floods, plagues, sacrifice, eternal damnation, homophobia and other fears. Mine is the God within you and within my own flawed, mortal self.
I believe in the collective divine. I believe that, for some mysterious, pre-destined reason, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. We can melt it down, blow it up, plant trees or make free (scandalous) love like bonobos; but Heaven, Hell, Purgatory or Whatever is what all we sentient beings collectively create here on Earth. Here and now. Now or never.
Years ago, during one of my father's very rare visits, I took him to one of my favorite meditation spots: a large waterfall in Ithaca, NY. "Ithaca is gorges." It's also rumored to be the location of one of the Dalai Lama's monasteries. It was springtime when we hiked to Ithaca Falls. Piles of northeastern snow and ice had melted to make the flow especially dense and active. The trees were in bloom all around us. Neon algae pushed up beneath our sneakered feet. A graceful heron flew overhead. We were standing in a perfect slice Paradise.
But my father, ever the philosopher, struggled to enjoy the present moment. He broke our awe-filled, contemplative quiet by continuing a debate we had started at breakfast. He pointed out an unsuspecting man casually walking across a green bridge above the powerfully cascading water. Compared to the white, rushing liquid, the man looked goddamn small. Puny. "Look at him," my father said in Haitian Kreyol, already thrilled that he was about to prove me wrong and himself right. "That fellow is like us, just a little human being..."
"Mmmhmm," I said. I knew where this was going.
"But this great waterfall..." He paused for emphasis, a Haitian Socrates, "this waterfall is like God."
"Okay," I coaxed him, eager for the punch line.
Smugly, he went on: "The waterfall can overpower the man. If he forgets how small he is and falls into it, he will certainly drown. We must humble ourselves before God because He is bigger, stronger and older than we are. God is the most powerful. He can destroy us all."
I thought of how this very philosophy — that we must fear and yield to (male) authority because authoritarians have the capacity to ruin or take our lives — is what has kept women and people of color and LGBTQs and working-poor folks marginalized and oppressed for centuries.
So, in the smart-ass spirit of everyday activism, I challenged my father: "You're forgetting that this tiny man also has power. He can gain access to oil and chemicals and pour toxins into the water which will destroy it."
My father stammered before his following reply which was delivered with an exasperated urgency. He seemed determined to convince, convert and ultimately save me from my life of supposed sinful thought and practice. Maybe he hoped that if he could prove that beautiful Ithaca Falls was Jesus, I would spontaneously fall to my knees in long-winded prayer, sincerely repent, denounce my delicious lesbian ways and marry a nice, successful preacher's son like his other daughter did. "Putting chemicals into the water would only come back to bite the man in the ass!" he shouted. Poor, sweet Pops was practically out of breath.
"You're right," I offered and said something like: "Potentially, both the man and the waterfall can destroy each other. But this would benefit neither of them. It is best if they respect each other's unique power, go about their business and agree to peacefully coexist."
"For me," I confided, "that agreement is God."
My father stared at me, a shameless heathen. "It's over for you," he muttered. "You're totally lost. You went off to college and came out lost."
The words are mean in writing. But back when I heard them, they sounded like a waving white flag. I could tell that even though he would go home and pray for my soul, Pops was a little proud of me for winning the debate. My simple argument was proof that I was no longer an impressionable little girl. I was a grown-ass woman with a controversially open mind of my own.
"I'm not lost," I reckoned, "just different." I gave his shoulder a quick, punctuating squeeze. My gesture was an admittedly awkward attempt to keep things comfortable and friendly.
After all, despite our contrasting points of view, I believe that, in the long run, we were in it together... whatever "it" happens to be.
So tell me: what do you believe?
He is a lifelong Seventh-Day Adventist; a member of a Christian sect founded by an American woman named Ellen Gould White who claimed to see visions of God way back in 1844. I always joke that SDAs are Christians who wish they were Jews. They believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, but keep a form of Kosher Law (no pork, no shellfish). They worship and rest on the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) and hope they, too, are the Chosen People.
I grew up SDA, but am currently an aspiring Buddhist who is inspired by Vodou and besotted with the Hindu goddess Kali.
My father is brilliant but thinks like an anthropologist when he is feeling generous and like a missionary when he is not. For him, Haitian Vodou merely sustains the spirits and imaginations of starving, illiterate peasants; Hinduism is random idolatry; Christ is our one and only savior and Lord. My father doesn't believe there are or ever were any Buddhists in Haiti, where we were both born. I tell him Buddhist philosophy comes from India, Tibet, Thailand, etc, but he dismisses my interests in mindfulness, meditation, chanting and compassion as very American interests.
His is the God of omnipotence, love, fire, brimstone, 40-day floods, plagues, sacrifice, eternal damnation, homophobia and other fears. Mine is the God within you and within my own flawed, mortal self.
I believe in the collective divine. I believe that, for some mysterious, pre-destined reason, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. We can melt it down, blow it up, plant trees or make free (scandalous) love like bonobos; but Heaven, Hell, Purgatory or Whatever is what all we sentient beings collectively create here on Earth. Here and now. Now or never.
Years ago, during one of my father's very rare visits, I took him to one of my favorite meditation spots: a large waterfall in Ithaca, NY. "Ithaca is gorges." It's also rumored to be the location of one of the Dalai Lama's monasteries. It was springtime when we hiked to Ithaca Falls. Piles of northeastern snow and ice had melted to make the flow especially dense and active. The trees were in bloom all around us. Neon algae pushed up beneath our sneakered feet. A graceful heron flew overhead. We were standing in a perfect slice Paradise.
Photo. Ithaca Falls. www.wikimedia.org
But my father, ever the philosopher, struggled to enjoy the present moment. He broke our awe-filled, contemplative quiet by continuing a debate we had started at breakfast. He pointed out an unsuspecting man casually walking across a green bridge above the powerfully cascading water. Compared to the white, rushing liquid, the man looked goddamn small. Puny. "Look at him," my father said in Haitian Kreyol, already thrilled that he was about to prove me wrong and himself right. "That fellow is like us, just a little human being..."
"Mmmhmm," I said. I knew where this was going.
"But this great waterfall..." He paused for emphasis, a Haitian Socrates, "this waterfall is like God."
"Okay," I coaxed him, eager for the punch line.
Smugly, he went on: "The waterfall can overpower the man. If he forgets how small he is and falls into it, he will certainly drown. We must humble ourselves before God because He is bigger, stronger and older than we are. God is the most powerful. He can destroy us all."
I thought of how this very philosophy — that we must fear and yield to (male) authority because authoritarians have the capacity to ruin or take our lives — is what has kept women and people of color and LGBTQs and working-poor folks marginalized and oppressed for centuries.
So, in the smart-ass spirit of everyday activism, I challenged my father: "You're forgetting that this tiny man also has power. He can gain access to oil and chemicals and pour toxins into the water which will destroy it."
My father stammered before his following reply which was delivered with an exasperated urgency. He seemed determined to convince, convert and ultimately save me from my life of supposed sinful thought and practice. Maybe he hoped that if he could prove that beautiful Ithaca Falls was Jesus, I would spontaneously fall to my knees in long-winded prayer, sincerely repent, denounce my delicious lesbian ways and marry a nice, successful preacher's son like his other daughter did. "Putting chemicals into the water would only come back to bite the man in the ass!" he shouted. Poor, sweet Pops was practically out of breath.
"You're right," I offered and said something like: "Potentially, both the man and the waterfall can destroy each other. But this would benefit neither of them. It is best if they respect each other's unique power, go about their business and agree to peacefully coexist."
"For me," I confided, "that agreement is God."
My father stared at me, a shameless heathen. "It's over for you," he muttered. "You're totally lost. You went off to college and came out lost."
The words are mean in writing. But back when I heard them, they sounded like a waving white flag. I could tell that even though he would go home and pray for my soul, Pops was a little proud of me for winning the debate. My simple argument was proof that I was no longer an impressionable little girl. I was a grown-ass woman with a controversially open mind of my own.
"I'm not lost," I reckoned, "just different." I gave his shoulder a quick, punctuating squeeze. My gesture was an admittedly awkward attempt to keep things comfortable and friendly.
After all, despite our contrasting points of view, I believe that, in the long run, we were in it together... whatever "it" happens to be.
So tell me: what do you believe?
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48 Comments
I, too, have been thinking of religions...
...and their many contrasting forms...
The chics @ HIREHEELS.COM were thinkin' bout this too:
Tale of 2 Trinities
I loved your story, as I do
I loved your story, as I do all your posts. I wasn't brough up with any organized religion and spent some time early in life trying to adopt one of the two that my parents had grown up with. Neither fit for me. When I went to college, a coment by one professor made me see a difference between religion and spirituality. He said that MAN created god in his image! Wow! I began to adopt this idea as a truth for me. Man is a rational being, forever searching for answers, meanings, reasons. What better way to explain our existance then creating a god with similar features. Also a good explanation for the vast number of religions. Man satisfying his need for answers that fits his way of life. But, for me, spirituality truely connects us. It is never so clear to me as when someone I know and love, including pets, dies. Knowing that a speaking, thinking, loving being was here one minute and gone the next? Physically gone,but forever ingrained in my life, my mind, my heart, my spirit. I have learned and gained something from everyone I have ever encountered (some are negative, but most positive). I think that when we really connect with someone, have feelings for someone, it is spiritual. When we see ourselves in others, in our environment, or across the world, it is spiritual. When we have a similar thought, at the same moment, or generaltions later, it is spiritual. When we work together to solve problems in our own backyard or across the world, it is spiritually driven. Thus, to me, religion is man's way of trying to figure out spirituality. ATK
Lenelle - loved the story
The thing is… maybe we're not be meant to know what the Ultimate Truth is here on earth. We debate it, fight over it and kill for it. But, when you consider all the strongly held, devout religious beliefs in existence, there’s a reason why it is referred to as “Faith”. For all we know, Life may be an immense, experiential classroom designed to mold and shape our souls, both individually and collectively. I tend to believe our primary purpose in a lifetime is to search for and rediscover who we really are. Stripping away the persona and allowing our authentic selves to emerge and be present is difficult. Cultivating our capacity to love and be loved may be the most significant and sacred thing we do as human beings.
Intuitively, my gut tells me “we are all in this together”. No exclusive “religion/church” to join, no “pre-determined chosen people” just Humanity struggling to evolve and transcend. Our very existence is due to a mysterious “Life Force” that animates every living thing on this planet. Maybe God poured out Its spirit into the world and that’s what this “Life Force” is. Whatever it is, I do believe it deeply connects us in ways we may never fully comprehend.
For me, “Religion” and “Spirituality” should not be associated. Religions are divisive in nature. There’s always an element of exclusivity. Us vs. Them. I believe mankind’s proclivity to usurp sacred principles to gain leverage, power, and control over people/country/nations has corrupted every single religious institution in existence. History is full of examples where religion is the root cause for some of the worst crimes of humanity. I struggle with anyone who honestly believes the Bible has not been corrupted and tampered with by mankind over the millennia. How could it not be given mankind’s nature? The Bible has been used for centuries to justify the worst forms of discrimination. To justify the oppression of women and elevate Man’s prominent and dominate position. To me, religion is nothing more than man-made ideology and dogma.
Anyway, since time began, there has always been someone, usually a male authority figure, who is more than willing to tell you what GOD is/wants/demands. Some follow blindly because to do otherwise means they would have to think for themselves and question what’s been taken for “truth” for centuries.
concur, great points...
except i don't knock the religions that fulfill so many ... there's negativity - but many people have found God through religion.
i know beautiful people of all religions ... to each her/his own.
i don't make blanket judgments against religion, in itself, as being incompatible with spirituality, because that makes me no better than people who negatively judge others' spirituality on the basis of those religions.
i don't blame the religions for the evil that men do in religion's name.
Beautiful, Colorado Fan.............
Well spoken....... If women, such as those who have so eloquently expressed themselves here, were actually taken seriously by our "spiritual" and "faith based" institutions.......... well, what a different world it would be.
PEACE and LOVE
We really are living in
We really are living in historic times. At least in the US, Europe and a few other progressive countries, women and men can challenge these ancient, closely held belief systems without fearing for their lives. Even today, in many countries, verbalizing these types of ideas would be the death of us. Thankfully, more and more people are beginning to seriously question doctrines erroneously held as Truth. Finally, people can grasp the injustice of it. We still have a long ways to go. Ideologies are deeply ingrained into our psyches. Unfortunately, there are women who cling to these belief systems as strongly as some of our male counterparts and that allows it to continue even to their detriment.
FAITH!
Hi,
I thought this blog was so uplifting and thought provoking, in the way it was written and I must compliment you for this!!
Religion has played a huge part in my life, both in a positive and negative sense. I have been cut of from nearly all of my extended family due to them choosing and adhearing to the rules of their religious sect, living their life according to the "Exclusive Plymouth Brethren". I have to stipulate that I have always respected their choice and anyones for that matter, whatever their chosen religion is!
I am of the opinion that religion is an individuals choice and I do not belong to any one religion but I am spiritual, have very deep FAITH in God and this I feel has always been an innate part of my personality, this is such a blessing and I am aways thankful for this. I can't recall a time that I have not depended on my faith both in good times and bad!! Indeed I can not imagine what my life would be like without having faith or spirituality.
"To LOVE another PERSON is to see the face of GOD"!!
God Bless
Julie :-))
Faith Is An Awesome Journey ............
Jesus Christ, is my Lord and Savior. I am a proud Christian. A Christian who happens to be a lesbian. I see no issue with that. My God is a loving God. A gentle God. A gracious God. A God of compassion and understanding.A God who understands that the most precious " human" quality, is our ability to understand "true" right from wrong. We know human suffering..... is wrong, we know love.... is good. These are basic "human" qualities. I truly believe that all women and men are born with love in in their hearts. With open ,and accepting souls......... then, organized religion re-programs our "natural" way of thinking. We are taught to fear "the wrath of God", and to "burn in hell". This is very sad. Humankind is naturally, so beautiful.
I was raised as a Mormon. Extreme, to say the least. But, I did take away from my faith a tremendous respect for family. And, love. Love is the great equalizer. Without that, nothing else really matters.
Organized religion, for the most part, has become a place where most people no longer feel comfortable. Whether it's the churches compulsively judgmental, deprecating and disparaging attitudes towards those who are different. Or, simply their intolerance towards change, progression is lacking in most organized religion. Those factors attract those of a like mind, and that is inexcusable.
I am a woman who's faith guides her daily. A woman who loves God, and the awesome power behind his love.
I am also a woman who knows when the Rapture comes.....it will be stunning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace :-)
I must admit...
Jesus is my homeboy! Anyone who hangs out with Mary Magdalene has to be cool...
I deeply appreciate all of you A) being "out" and B) putting your faith "out there" for us to read. The spiritual diversity of this community, no doubt, makes us stronger.
OneLove, Lenelle
jesus is my boi, too :)
this sort of feminized/andro male is the only type of male i can usually identify with...
*not* the ego beasts, especially when it comes to my "God" figures.
outside of all aspects of the Feminine Divine, i'm also partial to the buddha, YHWH, krishna, allah and/or whatever other form God has chosen/will choose to walk through the earth in.
My Dear Lenelle..............
Thank you for sharing from your heart. It is awesome, to be able to express ourselves. To share our love of God, without a fear of reprisal.
I hope that this freedom will, eventually, be a global experience for people of all faiths.
I can't help but feel that right now,God has a tear in his eye for "humankind".
PEACE & LOVE :-))
The secret is to begin by knowing that you have already arrived
I'm not into organized religion, but I am very spiritual. I spent a lot of time in the Catholic church growing up, but was also exposed to a variety of different religious ideologies. I'm probably most influenced by Buddhist philosophy and Native American spiritualism.
"Religion is a spiritual journey, not a press conference"
We are One
I believe that we are one with the source (God). I think of it as God is the light bulb, and WE are ALL the light, which showers the room, not separate from it but of it and inextricably linked to one another.
And I believe you Lenelle are a gifted writer.
"that agreement is God."
I look forward to each blog you post; and you never disappoint. Thank you again.
Quaker
I believe the same, that there is God within all of us, that we are not separate.
I formed my own beliefs, and they just lead me to The Society of Friends.
.....
I believe that God is Love. Love towards everything. And he is not a man, he's a feeling of happiness, love, spiritual strongness. Everything is beautiful. And that feeling is stronger than ours and greater than our Universe.
That was deep yo'!
I was really impressed with the way you handled the situation. Had that been me (and maybe this is because I am still too immature) I would have lost my temper and it would have become a much more hostile situation.
As for what I believe in... well, I just want to see who else gets this...
I believe in LANTERNS, DUCKS, LIZARDS, FLOWERS, and ATHENA
n_n (keep the secret)
Spirituality Over Religion
I think it's becoming more and more common for people (myself included) to live a more spiritually aware life rather than picking a religion and sticking with it. I agree that God (or what I tend to refer to as The Universe) is everywhere, in everyone and everything. The Universe doesn't judge anyone and instead conspires on all of our behalves, wanting only what’s best for us. Instead of being taught to fear God we should be taught the importance of seeing ourselves in others and living peacefully with each other since we all come from the same divine source.
~*~Michelle~*~
Holy wow!
You have officially freaked me out! We are seriously leading parallel lives or something. I kid you not, I was a baptized seventh day adventist!
WEIRD.
Prior to that I was a catholic in Haiti.
Now, I am full of spirits! I am inspired by Vodou, buddhism and Medusa before she was appropriated by greek spirituality and turned into the wack ass athena.
the man is the waterfall...
they are both mostly water.
just as we are of the same essence as God.
we are One.
This weekend I'll look at
This weekend I'll look at the stuff my sister sent and see if there is any references or other information and let you know.
Oh the great religion card
I touched on my religious beliefs with a blog on my thoughts on the marriage topic. I could go on and on with the ones that start quoting the bible. One that shuts them up is to catch them in their own words. They seem to like the book of Proverbs (“the laws of the land”).
First you ask them if they believe that you have to take a whole book of the bible not just a passage. They will 99.9 percent of the time say yes. Then you tell them you will see them in hell because that same book says, “tho shall not shave hair from thy body.” It also goes on talking about eating the meet of any animal that is cud chewing and split hoofed.
My sister went through a class in seminary that was on controversial issues. She was fine with me being gay after that class. I haven’t read the material she sent me but she said that in every place that it talks about homosexuality in the bible it is talking about a minor male and an adult male. Not two consenting adults. If anyone knows more about this I would like to hear it.
Guess I just can’t see my God looking at love in a negative way.
I would like to hear about it too....
If someone knows about it i would appreciate it.
A Theology post its not better just because you write a million words. I find pretty interesting what your sister told you :) Thanks E.B.B.!
------------------------------
"You have an inferiority complex and it is fully justified."
every place that it talks
every place that it talks about homosexuality in the bible it is talking about a minor male and an adult male. Not two consenting adults.
Isn't that what the priests do?
No wonder homosexuality is confused with pedophilia - it is taught that homosexuality is what we refer to as pedophilia. I wonder if there was a transcription error back before 400 A.D.?
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
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back in the day
when they wrote against homosexuality in the NT it's accurate when referring to older males with younger male lovers not being acceptable... and not consenting adults (which could be inferred as approved because it wasn't written against). Old Testament references in Leviticus said you shall not lie with a man as with a woman.. so some orthodox jews who are gay interpret it as OK if you have sex standing up instead of horizontal...
i had/have somewhere a bible with the greek and hebrew available to reference for specific words.. it changed the way I see modern interpretation of passages when I could research it myself.... pretty twisted out of context (as we know).. but it's good to see it with my own eyes and not just feel it in my heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i loved her nuts... my hero flattened in disgrace.. squirrely.
http://www.ourchart.com/node/400573
Which would be very accurate
Which would be very accurate to say, because Ancient Greece and the like, actually accepted the role of an older male being sexually active with a younger. It was a very wide accepted practice in that area. But it was under consent of that relationship.
The washing of the old practices to align and bring forth a new millennia, was undoubtedly forced, through coercion and ultimately death. This force of reaching for a new meaning and bring us together is coming into alliance again.
I don't think Christianity will be around, like it use to be - just like the Judaism washed through - but these are actually one in the same and are all of the same principle - and stacked onto one another. Including Islam. The powers that be, 3 are in deed 1.
I read, and still have the book, by Bruce Feiler, Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths And it's quite fascinating at how the evolutionary processes take us on this spiritual journey through man and his ability to connect and transpire his own existence into this very world and the very world into his own existence.
it's quite scary how it is all relative..
http://zeitgeistmovie.com/main.htm
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
The understanding and
The understanding and evolution of this whole encapsulated idea is indeed not encapsulated - and in constant churn - even within us all, because we are constantly changing and constantly evolving - and it's a relationship. A personal relationship - and it will always feel provoked when confronted and constrained to a collective relationship, in the way it has been taught and forced upon.
There is a collective relationship, because the more I feel and more I piece, the more I see "god" is the collective energy of us all, in which we are connected to. Our deep energy is in 'heaven' and in us at the same time, and our deep energy - the soul, is part of the collective that is 'god'.
But to have a constrained relationship, like a group religion - trying to have a relationship with the collective that is inside of us, it alters, because it's not really a good connection...because we must be one in order to reach that collective - and no one can show you that way to become one. A person has to connect to their own energy first.
And when you connect to that energy, you can connect to everyone....no one can get to 'god' through other people, one must take that inner journey...alone. We all have our own path.
MY understanding of the whole idea is based on 'science' because we are energy and the laws of energy is part of that whole construct.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qlomn1Hc_VM&feature=related
Hope and believing...projects and programing...changes and makes real. It's deep...
one indivisible particle ...entangled, but yet separate...one object...we are 'god'.
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
Last semester...
...I had a two-hour anthropology lecture followed by a two-hour religion lecture. I think somewhere along the way, the two meshed together and canceled out any spiritual desire or faith I had flailing around in my system.
My family always migrated from church-to-church when I was younger, typically sticking around in the Pentecostal religions. After my parents divorced when I was around twelve, my mom actually started going to a SDA church with some family friends, and I went with her for awhile, until I got kicked out of Pathfinders for having boys over at my tent in the middle of the night...yeah. Irony is oh-so-priceless.
It seems like the more I learn about religion in general, and the more arguments that I find that defend homosexuality, the less faith I have overall. That bugs me, but at the same time I feel liberated, as I don't need religion to function on a daily basis. I believe in me, and that's all that matters.
When all else fails, I often put a little Whitman into my diet.
I waver between atheism and agnosticism
Of all the religions out there, Buddhism makes the most sense to me.
Your friend,
Rusty
[lesbian humor; what a concept]
+ + + + + + + +
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
I really
hear your voice narrating when I read your words.
and I love that idea:
"God is the agreement"
I have had my ups and downs
I have had my ups and downs as far as religion and faith go. I was raised a Christian but I don't belong to any religion anymore. With that said I do believe in a higher being, but not quite sure if I want to call that higher being God or give it a name for that matter. I just believe in something much more powerful than myself.
Then comes my biggest puzzle, if there is a higher being, is it male or female?
Dizzy
Organised religion
I have faith but do not like to put it into a paticular religion as religion is the cause of most of the ignorance in our world. I am kind of buddist in my thinking as i believe in karma and thanking my guardian angels and believe you should listen and try to respect other peoples believes and then argue about it LOL.
I believe that God is
I believe that God is neither man nor woman but pure enlightened energy and that energy is in all things and everywhere always. I believe that God is not a judgemental being. Humans are the judgemental ones, not God. We were given free will and what we do with that free will is what matters. We are here on Earth to learn, to learn from eachother, and to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes. The hope is that when all is said and done in this life time we have become better human beings from the lessons we have had to go through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."
What I believe
I believe in the capacity of human beings to hope.
I believe in bombing the Vatican :)
I know this is not the kind of answers you probably wanted to elicit but still... my Italian friends will probably agree :-P
It's the main reason behind Italy's backwardness in gay rights
Isn't the church
the typical guise that most 'homophobes' hide behind before they start bashing gay rights? I think it usually falls somewhere between preaching/quoting the bible and just before they start to wipe the sweat off of their brow and upper lip...
******
"Change is created by those whose imaginations are bigger than their circumstances." Unknown
Haha...
...your subject line made my day, =).
www.fonfreaka.blogspot.com
Clear Example
Leaving God and everything aside, this is a clear example of how religion ruins faith. I have so much to say on this topic and feel it rising up. However, for the moment I shall restrain, except -
Growing up in church and all that entails … I never understood the unsaid viewpoint of the motivation behind God’s creation ... meaning the relationship God planned to have with humanity was never about domination but rather a deep craving for an intimate and loving connection from someone that has complete free will to choose love. You know? And if we are indeed God’s creation, I understand this craving.
Personally, yes I believe in God. Looking inside of everything, you can see God everywhere – utterly beautiful sometimes. For example, this weekend went to a museum and the work of this artist … some of the work, you can see God there in her pieces and it touches your soul.
Anyway saying I believe in God, what exactly does that mean? Well, lol that can take sometime. But I question everything. Exploring, learning, challenging, question, growing – this is best part. One of my many fun questions to ask is: why can’t both creation and evolution be true?
Peace & Love,
P~
I believe
that you are one brave woman!! ;) Starting a topic on religion definitely takes stones...it is one of those hot topics (if not the hottest topic)that starts wars, drives otherwise mild-mannered people to do crazy things, and generally works people into a frenzy!
Having said that, I honestly believe that we are all universally connected and that God or Allah or Buddha, etc are all one in the same - a divine powerful being, not any better or worse or any more right or wrong than the other.
I also believe in the importance of being present in each moment...I would have quietly savored the waterfall with you for several minutes (at least). It's lovely!
By the way - the arguement with your father sounds like me with mine, except you can replace the topic of religion and philisophy with LGBT...it ain't pretty!!
******
"Change is created by those whose imaginations are bigger than their circumstances." Unknown
I know that it is so 1990 but...
I still agree with a couple of quotes from Marianne Williamson:
"It is ultimately not the belief in God that matters, it is the experience of God that matters. And that is our love of each other."
“To say that you believe in God, I think, it may or may not mean a whole lot. To be willing to forgive other people, to reach out to other people, to bless other people, to see the innocence in other people, to love other people -- that, to me, is the experience of God, and I think that's what matters on the planet, and I think that is what God is asking of us.”
V
p.s. I hope the woods are being good to you.
The God I believe in
The God I believe has no corporeal form whatsoever, is neither man nor woman (although I sometimes find it expedient to refer to God as "Him") and has no race. My God is the alpha and the omega and all that lies between the two. As a mere mortal, I struggle daily to submit completely to God. I believe submission to God is the only path to freedom and happiness. Let me make this clear: I believe complete submission to God and God alone -- not man, woman, child, money, religion or any earthly entity -- is the only path to freedom happiness.
My belief may or may not jive with any established religion. I don't know. I don't believe in religion. I do, however, believe 100% in God.
There's a thin line...
Nicely put
Nicely put
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Belle - a tribute to Jennifer Beals
Then God said, “Let US
Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness……”
Those words found in Genesis 1:26 of the Christian Bible have always intrigued me. In God’s “own words” he states in the plural – not in the singular. From the very beginning there was not the belief in ONE – but the belief in a plural state of those with the ability to create.
We have taken the “creation” from an all encompassing goodness and turned it into a living hell with our absorbed self destruction. We were given all that we needed – free for the taking – until we gave mortal value to it all. We all could be living in those houses of glass lined up on those streets of gold.
I choose to live in my own bodily house of glass, built on my life street of gold. I choose to be the best I can be, in a world I didn’t create, and strive to become a part of the plural good – those who love as I do.
Nothing but love
Tex
Ditto on that!
I couldn't have said it better.
*Please do not use that self help jargon on me. I will barf*
Like, you I believe that God is a part of who we are.
The God in one of us is the same as the God in all of us. We are all connected. In reality, there is actually no place where God stops and you start, and no place where I stop and you start. I believe that we access this part of us, this God, by peeling away the layers of emotional baggage and ego that serve to separate us. God is already there. There is no 'finding God'. There is only finding who we really are.
As a young girl, I once had the thought that 'what if the beautiful dream I had at night was reality and this life on earth was actually the dream?' As an adult, I have come to believe that this is true. This here, is the dream, not the reality of who we are...
Cheryl
and this
is why we are friends... i like the way you think and believe...
yes... friends
and somehow connected, despite the geography that separates us...
I believe....
I believe that no matter what your religion/belief is, it doesn't give you the right to slander,degrade or be disrespectful to someone of another religion, race or sex.
thats a difficult Q
and my answer would be to long and complicated especially in a language that isn't my native one.
but let me give you one line to think on :
I believe in Me
and i can assure you when i say
"that it don't mean the way it looks or sounds" !
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maybe this explains some ?
one source : pure energy
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written (copyright) by : mdw / K I T
ENLIGHTENING
What you see is what you get
but I am not what you see,
for my true spirit or my soul
lives deep down inside of me.
The body is a house
a temple or a dome,
for it is a shelter
or just a place ... called home.
There comes a time that I will have to leave
I know I can not always stay,
for some day I'm ready to move on
and then ... I will be on my way.
But that will not be the end
I am sure I will return,
for a new home will be found
much more lessons I will have to learn.
The circle of life will go on
that is one thing that I do know,
the reason why I will continue to transform
and try to spiritually grow.
Then there will be nothing els left
simply ... just me,
no man / no woman or what ever
just pure energy !