Just two days shy of being out here ignoring the rest of the world for five months, and I guess if I want to go three more days, a full month of eating no meat. I'm not really sure if the latter is any real milestone, but then, neither of them really are.
Despite it being August 2nd, I was waiting to get a day where I really had nothing else to report. Two days ago, I received a card from my Grandmother. It said on the front, "You're on my mind..." and on the inside it said, "...because I'm wondering what's on yours."
It was very sweet. She also wrote that she loved me and all her grandchildren, so for those of you who only know that their grandmother loves them a bunch through peanut butter sandwiches, HA! HA! (Thus explaining the January in July part. Assuming you read the blog post from last Friday.) Obviously she is on my mind too, or else I wouldn't mention her from time to time.
The rest of the post may not appear so nice to those that don't realize that I can simply state observations without malicious intent. I have been known to draw return fire from friends and family that I didn't realize were unready to accept my cold observations. Alas, it almost looks as though I am verbally attacking my Grandmother and that is, obviously, not the intent.
My Grandmother also said that before I do anymore religious commentaries, that I should read the Bible. I'm not sure I have the time these days for anything that heavy, but when does any of us have time without working hard to make the time. Honestly, I would love to read the Bible, but don't want to wade through all the bullshit. It's just too long a read for antiquated wisdom that's over 2000 years old. I understand that the vast majority of it is timeless, but I don't need to learn the exact lessons of the bible, when I could just as easily watch a Twilight Zone marathon and get most of the same lessons in a fashion that's only forty-five years outdated.
As I have said before, I don't really care to discuss religion because people are usually just looking for a fight. Sadly, they sit and talk about it all being immune to reason because it is faith based, yet they express their faith as though it were fact. But the simple fact is, their beliefs are no more valid than anyone who studies Wicca, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, and all the rest not on Gilligan's Isle.
I'll say that more simply: There's no way to convince me that any flavor of Christianity is any more valid than any other flavor, or indeed, any other religion.
Everyone seeks the means to fulfill the spiritual side of their psyche. How they do that, in the grand scheme of things, is immaterial. If a person does not seek to find something spiritual inside themselves, they are unlikely to grow as individuals. Those that leave this side of themselves in a wasteland, leave a significant part of themselves to wither and die or never be born. Fill in either metaphor as you feel appropriate. I have my own personal form of Deism and I'm happy with it. I like to think, in general, I am a good person. I seek to do the right things and I feel spiritually fulfilled by what I do.
I also like to think I'm pretty arrogant. In fact, I'm kind of proud of it because I feel better than 99.44% of the time, I can back it up. However, I am not so arrogant as to think that what fulfills me spiritually is what everyone, or even anyone, needs to make themselves spiritually fulfilled.
Please note there is no logical implication here that I am implying that my Grandmother is arrogant for telling me to read the Bible. I say this only because it is precisely the fallacious conclusion that many mundane people would jump to, especially after I've worked so hard to teach the blogoshpere to avoid it.
Back to the discussion: She's right. I should read the Bible. I should also read the Koran, Buddha's teachings, and so many more. All of them have spiritual value and one day I may need to delve into one or more of them to move to the next level of my own spirituality, but for now, I'm good.
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2 comments:
bible is not so long, really. Just the main part and the revelations should be enough. The events have no importance, they all say a few things really. And same things.
All books and teachings say the same thing. The very truth, the secret of being human. (we call this, being muslim. The term has nothing to do with the religion) So, you shouldn't exaggerate it really.
Our book says that all communities have been sent a prophet, and that Mohammed was the last of them. Meaning that the road between you and your being (soul, God, the great being, the big nothing, or whatever you call it) is open, and you can reach that on your own, without the help of any books or any guru. (the anniversary of the night that this was announced to Mohammed was just two nights ago) Of course this is my interpretation. I' sure many Muslim brothers (!) of mine would gladly sacrifice me for their "holy cause" (!) for that.
So you seem to be quite a "muslim" to me. Caring for others, trying to be honest, trying not to hurt anyone, doing as you believe, living your life and experiencing it, not going with the flow... There isn't much else in those words that your own heart will not be able to tell you, if you remain honest to yourself.
Thank you. I actually take comments like, "So you seem to be quite a 'muslim'," and "You'd be a good christian if you were christian" as compliments because I feel I understand the direction that these faiths are trying to guide people. Alas, I am not either, which for whatever reason makes me a bad person in the eyes of those who feel their faith is stronger.
In reality, I believe they are the people that I mentioned in the post. They are the people that are searching for that spiritual fulfillment and are over compensating. They are similar to little children and I don't mean that offensively. I'll explain:
Twenty-five years ago, give or take, there was a large child psychology movement that claimed that children hitting other children is a learned behavior. they insisted that children should never be hit and they will thus never learn to hit.
I know. It's stupid. Anyway, this story typifies why I dislike psychology, or at least it's claim to science. So psychologists start claiming this non-hitting concept is their scientific truth (when in actuality it was their belief) and everyone jumps on board without question. That is, until the next generation comes along and like good next generations they start questioning their dogma and seek to confirm or deny. Basically, the things the previous generation ought to have been doing. Anyway, experiments started to show this was not the case.
I don't need to be a psychologist to understand that a child is going to hit other children out of frustration and they don't really need to be taught to hit how to do it. Quite simply, you can see small children get frustrated by their condition. They lack coping skills and they lack language skills to fully express themselves. These are things that develop over time. When a child gets frustrated, they lash out. The only way to avoid this is to separate all children and see to it none of them gets physically injured. In short, deprive them of the necessary experience to cope with day to day life.
Now getting back to the spiritually unfulfilled who are over compensating. As I posted, someone lacking spiritually has an integral part of themselves that remains unborn or is currently withering away. These people can't seem to cope with their spiritual confusion and don't seem to be able to express their needs properly. Just like the little children, and as a result, they lash out, overcompensate, and metaphorically or not so metaphorically "hit".
Mind you these are just my opinions and I wouldn't dream of calling them science, but I guess I could if I had my PhD in psychology instead of Mathematics. In the end, my opinion is worth every penny of it's two cents.
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