posted August 14, 2006 06:27 PM         

Life, it seems, makes no sense.

This from the misguided perspectives of many casual observers..and from the over-active imaginations of our more industrial strength thinkers.

Some say life is meaningless. Others say that it is about "survival of the fittest". (The label "fittest" being applied to those who most consistently and successfully act out the part of self-serving predator. Read: "go-getter", "hustler" or even "up-and-comer")

There are those who claim that we're here to work like slaves. They say that we must smile while suffering the indignities that are heaped upon us by others, so that we can die content and receive our eternal reward.

Don't expect the kingdom of heaven to stop whatever important matters it attends to during those brief moments between an eternity of saint-scheduled meetings..just to relieve a little temporary human suffering. That's why the same great folks that brought you "Heaven: Mighty Carrot In the Sky" provided a daily supplement called prayer. We pray to remind us that Heaven's up there and we'd better not forget..nevermind that "Heaven the Abstract Philosophy" might've temporarily forgotten about us.

But that's ok...be strong. Keep your chin up. Go to work every day like a good boy or girl so as to render unto Uncle Sam Caesar that which is his.

Well, except for the 10% of your take home which, as everyone knows, belongs to some hugely famous guy named God who needs all of the cash he can get his hands on. After all, the champagne and caviar are forever in heaven..which ain't cheap. You DO want your great-grandparents to continue enjoying the "Great Orgy In The Sky" don't you? After all...they earned it. They're dead.

Cash is preferred, but alternative methods of payment are also accepted. Make checks payable to..Father Michael Dunleavy or whoever happens to read your Holy book into a microphone on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays.

(Understand that because God doesn't trust bankers any more than we do, He doesn't have a bank account. Still, who doesn't hate check cashing fees? Father Dunleavy, Pastor Steve, Rabbi Goldsteinenberg and Mohammed Akbar Shegal each independently volunteered to help God out by depositing His money. Luckily for God (and us), they DO have bank accounts.)

There are some souls that don't believe in God or meaning at all. Judging by the reactions of God's ambassadors here on Earth, the Almighty must be up for reelection or something.

By the way, if you meet a person who refuses to vote for God, it's OK to judge them.

You're also expected to hate them and do unto them whatever makes the soul-less heathen suffer. It says so in the Bible. That's how God keeps overcrowding in Hell down..by contracting out some "Judgement Day" torturing to the over-zealous and bored.

(The relief provided by sneering and being self-righteous probably helps God's "chosen ones" pass the time until they die and go to Heaven. Maybe it would be fairer and more efficient if God just let them die earlier...you know...time off for good behavior. They ALSO earned it.)

So yea, what ABOUT these folks that don't believe in God? Haven't they heard the Good News? Haven't they seen all of the huge buildings the Lord had built for us to thank Him in? (Interesting fact: The word God translates to "Lord of of Fancy Buildings and Infallible Preachers" from the original Hebrew.) It takes an awful lot of thanking to let God know how much we appreciate the opportunity to be bored silly by a guy who can't wait to tell us all of the uninteresting things he learned in seminary school. (Well, they ARE trying to save us after all. God doesn't save souls...preachers, priests and rabbis do.)

And then there's the chance to sing the Lord's praises. A 19th century karaoke performed by 500 or so off-key amateurs, whose monotone droning only slightly masks the sound of your own voice howling the lyrics to some song penned by a guy named Matthias or Günter which dates back to the Middle Ages. Who wouldn't be overjoyed by the experience?! But that's not all we have to thank God for...

There's the thrill of being surrounded by real mahogany, gold gilt, marble and other expensive materials that you don't normally get to see while living in abject poverty. I'd say thanks are definitely in order.

And then there's this:

Haven't these Godless heretics heard? Jesus was butchered so that it wouldn't matter what we do. We're forgiven..no matter what. We just have to claim Jesus as Lord and confess our most sinful sins to Father Dunleavy so that he can continue to supplement his income writing letters to Penthouse Forum. (Hey...don't forget..he's DEFINITELY forgiven. Remember, he works for God, Jesus..AND the Pope!)

Name the atheist that couldn't use a "get out of jail free" card like that? What with them being doomed to Hell and all..

Yay Jesus! (Which is really an alias for God. See, that's why the 2nd Commandment doesn't apply to worshipping Jesus. He made the Commandments...He gets to break them. It doesn't matter..He'll forgive Himself anyway. That's the nice thing about being God..or a religious leader..or being rich enough to pay off a religious leader..) Anyway Jesus, thanks for breaking up the tedium of "right living" by letting us butcher you. You're a real sport..(for a dead, disenfranchised Jew.)

Let's face it, unconditional forgiveness adds up to fun, fun fun for everyone...who believes in the Lord.
See, God (or the people who speak for Him..I forget which) won't forgive people who don't believe.

They're sinners...and God hates sinners.

(to be continued)

Love,

posted August 15, 2006 09:29 PM         

I've tried so hard. I mean I've tried really, really hard to understand, but it just doesn't make any sense.

Why do our religious leaders (and their followers) claim to side with Truth...when the words of their own prophets(those that haven't been "lost in translation") contradict their version of Truth?

When those words are studied individually, they rarely resemble the rantings of madmen. Definitely not the sorts of madmen that one would have expected to defend and spread the "crazed anal theologies from the world of the weird" that most of their modern day "disciples" suggest they did.

This is as true of Buddha's words as it is of Jesus'. They are rational, peaceful, loving words. They are wise words and deep words with many levels to them. Words that DON'T jump to ridiculous conclusions.

On the contrary, although these visonaries often described what only they understood, in words which may seem abstract and absurd now, perhaps it's because there was no other way to communicate it at the time, in that society...using that language.

Maybe it’s because the people they were trying to communicate those concepts to, had difficulty understanding such ideas when there was nothing in their culture, technology or experience with which to compare those ideas. If those same words are reread in the context of what we've discovered since then, few of the ideas seem mad or absurd at all. But there's something even more surprising...

When taken as a group..throwing out those concepts over which there is disagreement..a surpisingly coherent picture emerges. A picture formed by the individual discoveries and subsequent teachings of mystics whose life spans, cultural environments, and educational backgrounds were nothing alike. Shared are the concepts of:

Reducing the ego or self.
Giving.
Concern for others.
Reduction of the tendency to cave in to physical cravings.
Focus on the positive aspects of any situation.
Abandonment of pursuits which offer only material gains.
Establishment of control over personal thought processes.
Exploration and development of the internal, not the external.
Living in the present moment. Forgiveness.
Unconditional acceptance of life.
Immmersion in and appreciation for the natural world.

These same speak of "the kingdom of heaven", "nirvana", "oneness", "bliss consciousness"...

So what if, in contradiction to what each of our DIVIDED religious sects would have us believe, there IS a common Truth among religions? What if that truth is based upon the individual discoveries of great prophets and teachers?

What if these great ones actually DID find out what it is that we're supposed to be doing while we're here...by tapping into the universal flow or the Tao or the Will of God, (or whatever you would call it)?

What if each faced the task of
communicating ideas to a people that didn't have adequate words to describe those ideas?

What if these Evolutionary Pioneers were explaining a complex process which triggers profound changes in the human organism?

Not an aquired or even modified "morality", though. More like the effort put forth by an infant that ultimately results in its ability to crawl, then walk, then speak. A very real change. Evolution of the individual, into another, more viable state of being. What if they taught an unheard of self improvement method to average folks?

What if their words spoke of both real and abstract concepts which became chained to a vocabulary inadequate to the task of describing those concepts? And what if that culture, (or those people), then "took the ball and ran with it"?

What if the people themselves shaped their own ideas, from those true words,into ideas that they COULD comprehend.. regardless of whether or not the conclusions they formed made any sense at all?

Would it matter that their new understanding contradicted what they had always believed? What if, hearing and feeling the truth in those words, people then clung to them as eternal truths, without ever REALLY understanding the original concepts behind them?

What if these words written in a language inadequate to convey their meaning, became the vessels which gave birth to our modern notions of religious truth?

What if, after centuries proudly embracing these wild notions as our Truth...it's too hard to stop believing them now?

Too hard to lose face? Could it be that it's too hard to admit the possibility that perhaps many things done in the name of our beliefs..were done in the name of a fairy tale concocted by people who have long since died? Concocted in an attempt to make sense of words that they didn't quite understand, but couldn't turn away from because the power of truth behind those words was too compelling not to be acted upon?

What if it's too hard to accept the sensible beliefs of another when they don't match our own beliefs, (which have never REALLY made much sense to us either), because to do so finds us accepting a badge of ignorance..or even worse, finds us accepting the role which we, weilding and shielding our ignorance, have played in the commission of countless crimes against our fellow human beings..brothers and sisters all. Most would prefer to die living lies..regardless.

Many would think to themselves or chide out loud, "nobody knows until they die..so WE'LL see who’s right when the time comes." Many would firmly believe in their correctness. And they would do this not just to placate their need to be right..for some take even greater pleasure in believing that the other guy is wrong..and SOME DAY will know it.

Contrary to popular belief, bloated egos aren't always full of themselves. Some egos find such profound emptiness inside that they stop looking within at all..instead becoming insatiable gluttons with an almost cannibalistic taste for the self-esteems of others.

What if...instead of helping people turn toward the path of their own personal evolution...modern religions, because of a dogmatic insistence on spreading nonsensical beliefs...have actually acted as a barrier to that evolution?

How many have heard the words and answered the call, only to find the explanation accompanying those words so fraught with hypocrisy, contradiction and abstract absurdity as to be distasteful? If it is objectionable to such a degree that folks feel they are imposing too heavily upon themselves.. then they will turn away.

Many that move on are incredibly jaded..horribly confused..frustrated to the point of becoming irrevocably lost to true words because of an association with lies and the people who ignorantly spread them.

Say the word "God" to one of these and know that God is not a choice they will be considering anytime soon. God's just a frustrated kid sitting outside a Sunday school classroom waiting for regular service to start. God burns people in eternal fire..God picks the wings off of flies.

To speak the names Jesus, Moses or Mohammed to these is to order their minds and hearts snapped shut.

Bible, heaven, temple, Torah, Quran, scripture, sin, Creation.. "love thy neighbor".. "do unto others".. "judge not".. believe. These words they may never trust again.

What if it is the well-intentioned PREACHER who leads his flock astray due to a lack of understanding. Add to this an insistence on protecting his position as a respected teacher and advisor. What of the ego that grows daily as others turn to him for
answers? Perhaps its reasoning goes something like this:

If so many others respect his words and beliefs, looking to him for guidance.. if so many have done so for so long.. what misguided FOOL would contradict his words or beliefs? Only ignorance would refuse HIS
guidance...(or so he begins to convince himself.)

And isn't his reaction telling?

Will he smirk? Will he shake his head? Will he offer to come to your house for some extra-congregational instruction? Somehow he must defend the stance he has taken... somehow it must be imposed upon those who haven't, or they will be disregarded.

What if God(Tao, flow, the all) never made ANY of the ridiculous claims that are attributed to God? What if, as usual, the problem with religion and the reason for the bloody trail it has left through human history is caused by the same factors that are behind MOST problems that leave bloody tracks through time...

Misunderstanding, miscommunication and fear of being wrong.

Love,

posted August 17, 2006 03:28 PM         

In this third part, let me take the time right off the bat to apologize to any of you who may have been offended or even taken aback by the tone of that first piece. Really unleashed the beast there...huh? Nice to see you smile at something written by these hands again Petron. Missed it, brother.

So why the show? Not sure...it started like this...

Ever been looking for one thing and found another? Well that's what happened. While looking for every use of the phrase "son of man" in the Old and New Testaments, I ran across this interesting parable:

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling in a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each acccording to his own abilities; and immediately went on his journey.

Then he who had received five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant;you were faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them. His lord said Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'

But his lord answered and said to him, ' You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have recieved back my own interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

What seemed so interesting about this parable, is that it reminded me of something that Professor Seward said in "The Zodiac and Its MYsterious" which was that astrology describes both inherent character traits (talents) and character flaws. He goes on to assert that for every flaw that we learn to overcome, a new talent will emerge from the depths of our personalities.

This parable seems to speak of money, but as years of study and observation have taught me, when religious texts mention money or treasures...they AREN'T speaking of gold and currency, but of things which have positive spiritual or emotional value. Furthermore, when these same mystics speak of DIRT or the GROUND, they are speaking of this material plane..the earthen dirt objects which spring up and crumble around us and the kingdoms of men which glorify these things.

The story speaks of 3 servants...all born with a certain amount of talent given by the Lord. This literally is money, but symbolically it is the inherent good qualities with which we are all born. In the story, it is noteworthy that two of the servants, although possessing different amounts of talent, are both rewarded equally for using their talents to increase their talent..ie to improve themselves. Meanwhile the one servant who was posessed of the least, chose to bury his talent in the dirt (aka the material world and its materialistic activities) and was rebuked by his Lord. The moral of the story appeared to me that day as this:

Do not waste the talents with which you have been born on the pursuit of material things. Do not bury that which is the best of what you have to offer in some dark factory, or boring office, seeking out the filthy lucre that such industries seek of you. Rather, seek to improve yourself. Use your time here for those ends, and you will be amply rewarded. Evolution already knows how to bury things in the dirt. It is called evolutionary failure. What evolution seeks and has ALWAYS sought...is to rise UP from that dirt and beyond it. The animal that ignores its evolutionary advantages perishes as surely as its predecessors born without those advantages. When we expend our uniquely human gifts in the pursuit of the same goals as our animal predecessors (procreation, domination, material survival), we become that evolutionary failure.

THere is a beautiful world outside the offices and the factories and the pursuits of our individual desires for wealth and control. There is a kingdom of heaven that awaits NOT the dead, but the living. This is the step that evolution/the flow/tao/the will of God awaits from us. We prove ourselves viable in this material plane...by using our innately human talents to rise ABOVE this material plane.

God HATES sinners folks.

And its a sin to be inside on a day like today, with all of the wonders that gave rise to our most magical mythologies awaiting our turn away from the endless, empty, dirt-gathering routines of the modern industrial complex.

And its a sin to turn away from the opportunity to interface with the people that surround us, those that we've never met...and those that we still don't know.

These negligences on our part are mortal sins...destined to hide our talents in the dirt and return us to the ground from whence we came.

These three writings represent the incomplete acceptance of ONE such servant of his responsibility to the flow, to evolution...to the Will of God. A chronicle if you will...of an attempt to discover more talents than were originally endowed by the universe which created me.

Love,

posted August 18, 2006 03:57 PM         

An exerpt

...Do not exchange your spiritual peace and the possibility of eternal bliss for the temporal, decaying goods of this world. No matter how grand and secure they look, they will die when you die. Death may come in your next step upon this earth, and all your dreams of this world will evaporate.

Ibn Arabi, 1204

Indeed and still true in 2006!

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~