Sunday, November 23, 2008

In Memory of Maggie



Our family dog suddenly moved on to the next realm of existence yesterday. It's been couple days of dealing with grief, digging holes, and thinking about the impermanence of life. Here's a few observations:

Life is ultimately unsatisfactory.

Death is so quick, casual and non-discriminate that it leads me to believe there is something on the other side, though I don't have enough information to know what it is with certainty.

It broke my heart to have to carry the carcass of a being that was once fully alive.

I don't grieve for the being that has died, but for myself.

Time is short. Nothing is certain. Love hard. Love Deep. Love as long as you have breath.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dedication to Reality


Some would call my spiritual quest foolish, heretical, dangerousw ... I would say that it is merely a dedication to reality and the truth. I am rereading The Road Less Traveled and I wanted to touch on the chapter on Discipline.

Peck says the our view of reality is like a map. They lie somewhere on a continuum of true and accurate to delusional and false. The better map we have, the better choices we make, the more we are able to experience peace, hope and love. So, get a good map, have a good life.

The problem is that we are not born with maps. We have to make them and that requires effort. Dang it. There is always a monkey wrench, isn't there ....? And to make things worse, reality is not static, it is always changing. So, we must continually revise our maps. Double dang it. (Can you tell I tend toward laziness?)

Many people stop revising their map at some point in their lives. I am blessed/cursed to not be one of those people. Why do people stop revising their maps? Pain.

It is painful to revise our maps, it entails "letting go". We must let go of our old beliefs, attachments, theories, questions that have become so comfortable. In fact, we may even view them as our "self". None of us wants our "self" to die, but if we are going to have more accurate maps, die it must. Some people are not willing to suffer, so they stop revising.

"...we must continually revise our maps, and sometimes when enough new information has accumulated, we must make very major revisions. The process of making revisions, particularly major revisions, is painful and sometimes excruciatingly painful. And herein lies the major source of many of the ills of mankind."

Peck says that some will actively or passively ignore the new information in order to preserve their comfort and avoid suffering.

"We may denounce information as false, dangerous, heretical, the work of the devil. We may actually crusade against it and even attempt to manipulate the world so as to make it conform to our view of reality. Rather than to try change the map, an individual may try to destroy the new reality. Sadly, such a person may expend much more energy ultimately in defending an outmoded view of the world than would have been required to revise and correct it in the first place."

I've burned a few maps in the past couple of years. There is suffering involved. In fact, later in the book Peck says that depression is a form of "letting go". Been through that too...but there are new maps. New places to see, new information to learn, new experiences to be had, new people to interact with....

Go make a map!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Whipping Post Nirvana

I'll follow up with some more on True Freedom when I have a chance. . . I love the dialogue! Thanks for participating....

Music is big part of my life, and I don't talk much about it here, but that's going to change. . .

May I just say that under the right conditions that "Whipping Post" from The Allman Brothers Band live album "At Fillmore East" may be considered a spiritual experience. 22 minutes and 44 seconds of heaven.

This is not the album version, but you'll get the flava of some down-home hippie jam band music!

Monday, November 17, 2008

True Freedom

I've come to some conclusions and started asking other questions in my quest. For those who may not know me, these comment come from someone who was very involved in institutional Christianity and has chosen to compare the religion I was raised with to others in an open-minded fashion. These are the semi-scientific, horrifically random thoughts and experiences, nothing more.... It's okay to not agree.

Can you say you are free when things, or people make you angry, miserable, or irritated?

Can you say you are free when situations make you depressed?


Can you say you are free when you crave, desire and obsess about what you do not have?


I spent a large part of my adult life being told Jesus had set me free. Yet, in institutional religion I experienced very little actual freedom. I wonder if institutional religion has a right definition of freedom (that could be debated), but it's ecclesiastical structures (Catholic or Protestant), and it's practical theology, cause their attendees to substitute rules, obligations and trust in hierarchy for true freedom?

True freedom is in the mind. As long as we are a slave to our anxieties and fears, as long as we allow ourselves to be manipulated by people and objects of power, as long as we are afraid in any way to question the structures and people we give authority to, as long as we are unaware that these subtle and not-so-subtle manipulations take place, we are a slave.

Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Joh 10:10

May I just say, that I have found VERY FEW EXAMPLES of anyone in institutional Christianity that I would consider a good example of this verse.

For all of the crusades and preaching, for all of the Sacraments partaken, for all of the hymns sung, for all of the money spent, Christians, as a whole, do not seem to be morally or spiritually superior to adherents of any other religion, or people of no religion at all. In fact, they appear to be far less spiritually advanced then adherents to other religions depending on the criteria (Buddhism or Jainism comes to mind). I have to ask myself why?

Why is it that the people that have accepted the freedom of Christ choose to live in such small ideological boxes? Why is that any criticism of a denomination, or a particular religion is met with such hateful resistance from people that should be full of peace, joy and love? If, after all, they have a benefit that Non-Christians don't have: the One True God living inside of them.

I have to conclude that:

1. Either the forms of Western Christianity that I've been exposed to simply are inadequate to help people live in true freedom.

2. The concept of "Christ within" is simply false. After all if Christ really lived within His people, should not at least a majority of the members live freely, with joy, peace and love?

3. Perhaps Western Christianity has completely misunderstood what Jesus was talking about and has evolved into something it was never intended to be.

4. All of the above?

5. Other reasons I have mentioned. Feel free to enlighten me....

Paul said, "Christ has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop attaching yourselves to the yoke of slavery again." Gal 5:1

What are the benefits? What does it mean to stand firm in freedom? What is the yoke of slavery that people are ATTACHING themselves to? I can say that this verse means something entirely different to me now then it did when I was immersed in institutional Christianity.

Why would people who have been granted FREEDOM by God allow themselves to be slaves to religious concepts, hierarchies and habits? In my personal experience it is a multifaceted answer. I was ignorant. I was lazy. I was deluded. I lacked a concept of personal responsibility for my own spiritual life. I wanted the easy way out. I was willing to let the pastor, priest, tradition, community tell me what was best for me spiritually, whether or not it actually worked for me. I put all my eggs in my tradition's "spiritual basket" and then defended it to the hilt when someone questions it. When I was confronted by the kind of people like me, who ask the hard questions, I either got angry, or blew them off as people who were lost, or did not understand. I did these things because I had self-identified myself with that particular tradition. I was a slave to a concept that existed only in my mind.

So, what is true freedom and are there beliefs or practices that help us attain it? Or, do we already have it and are deluded into thinking we are not free? Is freedom in the mind or external? I don't know....maybe I'll post more later....

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Religion - Missing the Point

The Catholic "religious leaders", being placed in positions of moral authority by their flock, now have the audacity to tell people how they should vote. Not only that, but threaten them with hell if they voted for the wrong person!!! Article here.

The priest said that Catholic's vote for Obama was "material cooperation with intrinsic evil". Ugh, and raping little boys is only deserving of priests going to retirement homes for the rest of their Catholic service?

Please don't get me wrong. I am not anti-Catholic. But I do think that just about all of Western, organized Christianity has become completely irrelevant. It is unable to do the thing that our world needs most" help people on the spiritual journey of life. This is just another adventure in religion missing the point.

Religious people give all kinds of authority to the people they see as "leaders". Then the leaders have the obligation to tell, persuade, cajole, threaten, guilt etc. to get the "flock" to do what the leaders think is right. It happens all the time, in just about every form of organized religion, but it has reached idiotic heights in western Christianity.

Perhaps we should quit placing ourselves under the authority of "leaders", and learn to trust ourselves when it comes to spirituality.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Beer of Life

Not that I need another reason to drink beer, but. . .

However it is a little disconcerting that even beer is getting genetically modified. IS NOTHING SACRED!!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

America's Swan Song

I don't blog about politics much. While I relate to politics and nationalism in a drastically different way than I used to, and I really only care in as much as these issues effect personal freedom. But, I am still aware of what is going on in our country.

I have no "faith" (see my last post) that US government is the answer to fix the core problems of our country. The core problems can only be fixed by personal responsibility, discipline and spirituality. Unfortunately, times aren't bad enough for the majority of people to resort to those drastic measures.

Here are few things that I think confirm the challenges of a country that is in the last stages of democracy and capitalism, or in other words that we are late stage Rome.

The government is scared to death of this financial crisis. I assume they know more about this crisis than I do (maybe that's a bad assumption). They are concocting all kinds of schemes to keep people consuming and spending, which is why we are in this financial mess in the first place. I think there is a chance that no matter what the government does this house of cards will fall anyway.

Most of the governments solutions to the financial problems are Socialist. The government now is in charge of a huge portion of our nations wealth. They have mismanaged our tax dollars to the tune of $10 trillion, so I'm sure they can do a good job of managing all these new assets...

We just elected another President who bought and promised his way into the position. But, already the promises for "change" look like hollow words.

My 8 year-old's school has decided to teach them about the details of drug use. My 8 year-old needed to taught the details about huffing glue, cocaine and assorted other drugs that he knew nothing about previously. That will get him good and curious! So, the state is now taking it upon themselves to parent our children without our approval or knowledge.

Our state, and most others, continues to take their peoples property under eminent domain laws, and force the public to spend money just defend their homes.

And most damning, Americans continue to be happy to relinquish their freedom in return for "security and peace". We continue to look to the government to solve our personal problems.

I would take the time to find supporting links to all of these issues, but they are easy to find. These are interesting times we live in. . .

Monday, November 10, 2008

Faith

I was having a discussion with a friend who is preparing to exit the IC. I was trying to explain where I am on this crazy spiritual journey and he said that it sounds like I am discounting anything that requires faith. He is right, depending on how you define "faith".

I came across this interesting site called Live Real that gives lots of definitions. If you think you do, or don't have "faith" I encourage you to read all the descriptions on the site. I'll throw a few out there that I thought were interesting:

It is "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence for things unseen."

It is another way of saying that you have no proof.

It is an act of imagining the way we wish things actually were, and stubbornly insisting that it is that way, regardless of any amount of evidence to the contrary.

It is the effort to try to make yourself believe in something you really don't.

It is a concept of something that people resort to when they suffer or get themselves into trouble.

Whatever it is, if you have it, you'll be OK; and if you don't have it, you're in for a lot of pain and suffering.

An emotional state of conviction manufactured by emotional speakers at lectures, rallies, revivals, and crusades; in other words, it is the result of a successful sales pitch from a charismatic figure.

Ambrose Bierce: "Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel."

It is a polite way of saying "Please shut up, and stop asking me questions I don't have the answers to."

It is a deep inner state of being which gives one a profound and unshakable trust in life.

H. L. Mencken: "An illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable."

A state of confidence which tends to be shattered by inevitable tragedies.

A weapon of defense against not-knowing; also a philosophical trump-card one pulls as a means of telling folks who are asking difficult, complex, or disturbing questions to basically shut up.

Something called up when faced with a question or situation that one does not understand or cannot solve, which in normal circumstances, enables one to easily rationalize one's failing to put forth any effort to understand, or even attempt to understand even the problem, much less the solution, and so enabling one to relax into a comfortable security of believing that high-ranking spiritual figures are on your side in doing so.

It is an word that describes a process of insisting that you believe in a statement, phrase, or position, and refusing under any conditions to consider, question, or doubt anything contrary to it.

Another word for "inner strength."

An intuition that there is an Answer to The Problem of Life.

Something that is preserved through avoiding, dodging, and hiding from doubting, thinking, and objective analysis.

Something that is arrived at after an intense period of doubting, thinking, and objective analysis.

"I discovered later, and I am still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in lifes' duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God. Taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer



Sunday, November 09, 2008

Christianity At Work

Another great example of the power of Christianity....Here.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Questions

In his book "The Road Less Traveled", M. Scott Peck says that the spiritual journey is about learning new things. For us to learn new things we must be willing to let our old thoughts and preconceptions die. "To develop a broader vision we must be willing to forsake, to kill, our narrower vision." Letting part of myself die is not comfortable, it is not easy, but I agree it is a necessary part of the journey.

Peck continues, "We begin by distrusting what we already believe, by actively seeking the threatening and unfamiliar, by deliberately challenging the validity of what we have been previously taught and hold dear. The path to holiness lies through questioning everything."

Herein lies the problem. Questions hurt. They are scary. They take us to unfamiliar places. But, on the other hand questions make us alive, and may lead us to beauty and peace. Our institutions (government, schools, churches) teach us that asking questions and alternative points of view are dangerous. Just a few examples: look at the rhetoric against the Libertarian Party, school programs like DARE that serve no purpose but scaring children, and fear that churches have towards eastern religions just to name a few.

What kind of questions do you ask? Where do you draw the line in asking questions? What if you know there was nothing to fear on the other side of your questions? Really, how could there be anything to fear. On the other side of your questions and doubts, in your own experience, you will find truth. That's not so scary....

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

My Election Day Prediction

Like you really care...

I predict that no matter who gets elected, the supporters will be sorely disappointed in a couple of years.

We had a little college girl come to our door to try to persuade me to vote for Obama. I politely let her know that my leanings were toward smaller government, less taxes and more freedom and she quickly ran away....

I have no illusion that politics is a solution to the core issues of our problems as a nation. Americas problems are greed, aversion and delusion and will only begin to be addressed when a large number of individuals begin to see themselves, their families, their communities, their state, their country and the world from an enlightened perspective.

Now I'm going outside to enjoy a cigar and the fall colors and know that no matter who gets elected, or what happens in our country, I am free.