Monotheism and Hate

Does monotheism lead to hate?

One critic of religious faith that I've recently read claims that monotheism, in general, seems to foster intolerance. It's hard to argue against it in our current world climate. Judaism has done nothing to foster a resolution with the Palestinians, Muslims are blowing themselves up everyday in the name of Allah, and fundamentalist Christians feel the need to wipe out what they consider to be social liberals.

I don't know if the problem is monotheism itself, but I find it interesting that there is a move toward the extremes in monotheistic religions. On the one side we have "liberal monotheism", influenced by existentialism, that must dismiss a large portion of the scriptures upon which they are based, and on the other hand "fundamentalist monotheism" which turns those same scriptures into fuel for hate and violence.

Perhaps these extremes are what happens when people who have not had an authentic religious experience take control of religious institutions.

What do you think?

Life Is An Experiment

You can tell a toddler that he will fall and hurt himself if he hangs upside-down off the end of the couch. I've not seen a toddler yet that didn't have to find out the truth for himself. Maybe it's something built into our genes. It's just how humans learn.

I believe life is an experiment. We push and pull, give and take, crawl, walk, run all in experimental fashion...we succeed, and we fail, and we learn. We learn what music we like. We learn what diet makes us feel good. We learn what our body can do, and can't do. . .

Why is it different when it comes to spirituality?

I read an article recently that brought home the point. One of the latest studies seems to imply that a large portion of people either dismiss or don't know the fundamental teaching of their faith. I'm no sociologist, but I think one reason is that most people attending organized religious institutions trust their religious leaders to learn, know and diseminate the truth for them. Therefore, they have a limited understanding and experience of their own belief system.

Can I just be honest here? Modern Christianity does not facilitate personal responsibility, and that is a serious liability for any person seeking a spiritual life, and assures the dysfunction of the institution.

When I became a Christian I jumped in with both feet. I wanted to know God, to feel loved by God, to experience talking with and listening to God the way they did in the Bible. So I experimented. I went to church. I took responsibility for my education and went to bible college. But at some point I began to just accept what the educated experts had to say about spirituality and life. I made the assumption that people who were Christians for a long time had experienced deep connection with God, so just did what they did. I tried to cram my experience into the box for a lot of years.

The Apostle Paul said to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling". (On a side note, Buddha said "Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others" about 500 years earlier.)

I have the choice to blindly accept what "talking heads", experts, and the educated have to say about a particular topic, or I can find out for myself. I've decided to find out for myself.

When I remove the religious authorities from my life the experiment becomes my own. I own it. I begin to be aware of the beliefs and practices that are helpful, useless, or harmful in my life. I begin to see which belief systems best explain the universe as I perceive it. I take personal responsibility for my spiritual journey.

Melvin Klegerman says, "The concept of religion as a universal paradigm means that each person becomes a scientist experimenting with his or her own life, over which he or she has total control."

These are not experiences that I was forced into in order to belong to a religious club. They are not the experiences that a religious leader said I "should have". They are not the experiences of a "church father" from long ago in a distant country. They are mine!

So here's wishing you good questions, spiritual success and failure as you experiment, and a life filled with the freedom and adventure of this beautiful mystery that is life.

P.S. Yes, there are risks involved in taking personal responsibility for our spiritual life, and I may address them in a later post. But I think the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Crash and Burn

My hard drive crashed. Posting from the library.... May be awhile before I post again.

Nothing personal...

Dobson and Obama

Jon Stewart calls out James Dobson regarding his comments about Obama. I can't believe I used to listen to this guy's radio show. Funny stuff!

Click here to watch.

Chiggers

Okay, no one wants to discuss Freewill and Ethics, so what is your best chigger bite remedy?

A nice memento of my mountain biking day with Homebrewer....

Free Will and Ethics

Why Materialists Cheat

The 2008 Shift Report: Changing the Story of Our Future, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, recently arrived at the offices of WIE. Among its many other compelling facts, we were struck by this description of an experiment conducted by Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota and Jonathan Schooler of the University of British Columbia that investigated the ways in which believing, or disbelieving, in free will affects moral choices:

[W]hat one believes about free will has an important social consequence.... In the Vohs and Schooler study, [some] participants read passages from The Astonishing Hypothesis by Nobel laureate biologist Francis Crick, which promotes the idea that free will is an illusion: “Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.” Others read more neutral statements as a control condition. The results of the study showed that participants who read [Crick's] anti-free will statements were significantly more likely to cheat on several experimental tasks. If exposure to [anti-free will messages] increases the likelihood of unethical actions, then what does this same message, repeated by authoritative scientists and promoted by the media, do to societal behavior?

Interesting. If we are told a bunch of neurons have burned in pathways in our brain that determines our behavior we are likely to be unethical.

I wonder what would happen if they would have said:

You are bunch of neurons, in fact you have as many neurons as there are stars in the universe, with potential to be as creative, beautiful and destructive as the universe itself.

Suffering

The Buddha's discovery to end the problem of suffering started with the realization that life is suffering. Now I had to think about that for awhile. I'm not that sharp, you know. Yeah, I know you know.

Anyway, what I get from this is, that as long as we are alive we will suffer in some form. Birth is a beautiful suffering event form mother and baby. Many people are tortured with mental suffering from abuse, guilt, and psychological disorders. Most of us have one physical malady or another at the least. We have lost loved ones in tragic accidents, or simply from old age. Yes, perhaps to live is to suffer.

As a species, in general, we do not like to suffer. How many inventions, rationalizations and myths have we used to circumvent or delay suffering? Air Conditioning, Refrigerators, Spinal Blocks, Multiple Personality Disorder, and thousands of drugs invented to delay death and ease suffering. . . I could go on, and all would be attempted solutions to the problem of suffering.

Here's the kicker: Most of these "solutions" cause us to suffer even deeper. For instance, a person may develop Multiple Personality Disorder (or a host of other disorders) as a way to deal with a terrible experience and avoid suffering. As we know, psychological disorders are not a path to life without suffering. We create antibiotics to cure bacterial infections, and then we overuse them and develop resistant strains of bacteria for which there is no cure. We create technology that does the "hard work" for us and we get fat and live with lower back pain from sitting on our asses all day. We extend our lives with wonder drugs to cure every ailment, and often wind up in nursing homes with little quality of life. . . Again, I could go on.

Maybe the solution is simply to do as the Buddah said, and accept that suffering is part of life.

What do you think?

Question For You

If you could have witnessed any part of the Gospels first hand, which would it have been?

Freedom and/or Paranoia?

Call me crazy (most people do), but I had some real issues with a letter that came home from my daughter's middle school stating that they were going to have random searches involving police dogs while the kids were at there. It really didn't make me happy when my daughter came home and said it was scary. Not only does it bring about visions Nazi POW camps, but they are treating the good kids criminals, which make up the vast majority of the school. I also just don't like the fact that she will have police dogs barking through the halls as a memory of her school experience.

Next, we have all these red light cameras appearing in our town with no warning. I don't like these things in the first place, but they seem to be appearing at EVERY red light in town. Then I read this article today about a town nearby putting up surveillance cameras everywhere even though the town does not have a crime problem!!! These cameras can zoom in from one mile away. The town has NO written policy regarding the cameras which allows them to use them as they see fit.

I may be paranoid, but I have to say that I called this one.

Coming soon, to a town near you....

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” -Ben Franklin (maybe)

What's your thought?

"Something religious is going on even in scientific work, not in the scientific information itself but in the commitment to the idea that the universe is intelligible and truth is worth seeking. Those are religious convictions. You can't prove scientifically that truth is worth seeking, but it's the conviction that it is worth seeking that underlies all good science. Religion lifts this up and makes it more explicit. It symbolically names that depth, that truth, that meaning, and refers to it in Western theology as God or Allah, or in Eastern thought as Brahman or Tao." - John Haught (Georgetown University)

What is your thought about why we seek truth as species?

Wahoo!!

Just purchased this. Now I need to get these.

Weirdness

We have some wonderful neighbors in our neighborhood! I've never lived anywhere quite like this.

Anyway, we were over at "the girls" house last evening, having a few beers, and we started talking about "spiritual things". We told them that we knew we were weird because we have this intense spiritual journey that most "normal" people don't seem to ever think about.

I guess I am ruined. I just can't help but look at the beauty and diversity of nature and people and see God...

Chip off the ole block?

So my oldest daughter was invited to an award ceremony at her middle school. I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but she won three awards, including the citizenship award. Here is what the citizenship award is for:

Citizenship:

WE looked for students who exhibited the following standards:

These standards include demonstrating pride and respect towards school, peers, and adults, showing maximum effort in school and other activities, and modeling a positive attitude everyday.

Internally, these students possess strength of character and the courage to make good choices on a regular basis.

The only award I ever received in Middle School was to detention every Saturday.... I love to see that her experience is so different from mine....

Happiness

I posted awhile back that I think the best way to live life is to accept what is without judging it. The fact is, I am not a good judge of what will make me happy. If my circumstances, or objects in this world do not truly bring me happiness, what does? Where does happiness come from?

I happened across this video that attempts answers some these questions from the point of view of psychology. The bottom line is that we make ourselves happy, and science proves it.

Mat 5:8 "You're blessed when you get your inside world--your mind and heart--put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/97

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

I happened across this video and found it very interesting. If you are interested in a place where spirituality and science meet, you might find it interesting too. I haven't had a stroke (as far as I know), but I think I've become a lot more right-brained lately.

I couldn't help but think of the following verse:

Mat 10:6-7
But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Seems to be slow to load. Here is the link.

Live the Questions Now

...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet

American Beauty

In 1999 I was in the middle of institutional Christianity and never saw American Beauty. I kept coming across the movie in blogs and different things I've read, so we decided to rent it. Interesting timing....I guess it was blacklisted because the the guy tries to seduce his daughter's friend.

Never mind that the seduction was part of Lester's spiritual awakening, and that he never actually went through with it! (Please see the post below about not being able to judge "good and bad" without all of the information.)

I was struck on MANY levels how similar my life has been to Lester's in the last couple of years. A long, painful realization that I am loved, that I am whole, that life is beautiful...

I guess I could be pretty pissed off
about what happened to me,
but it's hard to stay mad when
there's so much beauty in the world.

Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing
it all at once and it's too much.
My heart fills up like a balloon
that's about to burst.
                 
And then I remember
to relax...      
and stop trying
to hold on to it.
                 
And then it flows
through me like rain,
and I can't feel anything
but gratitude...
                
for every single moment...
of my stupid little life.

You have no idea what
I'm talking about, I'm sure.
                 
But don't worry...
               
You will someday.

-Lester

Resistance is Futile!

I have come to a place in my life where I am not sure I am the best person to judge what is good and bad in my life. I tried to explain this to a friend the other day, but it’s hard to explain ideas that have taken years of life experience to form. I guess I could call it “The Principle of Non-resistance.” It is simply accepting what is, without judging it. I think Jesus implies this way of life in the way he lived, and what he taught, and it has brought peace in my life.

Let me give some background. Those who know me, know that I like to ask questions about life, and you can read my past posts for some of the struggles I’ve had with Institutional Church and with my personal relationship with God. I just could not figure out for the life of me why, if God is a personal God, interested in blessing those who are His, he would not heal His own. I could not understand why I could pour my heart out in prayer for children who were losing their mind in the BD classroom I worked in, and it would have absolutely no affect. I could not understand how I could have sacrificed a good career and friendships to enter full-time ministry and it turn out so badly. I could not understand why a large number of “sold-out Christians” had to use such great effort to conjur up an experience with God that should flow naturally if we have His Spirit in us. These are a few examples of what I was seeing in life.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I had a part in all these issues that I am more than willing to own up to. But hey, I’m just a mere human. Fallible. Weak. Ignorant. God should be able to overcome any of my petty weaknesses and make these situations “right”! But He either doesn’t work like that, or chooses not to make them “right”. At least not my idea of “right”.

At the time these things were excruciatingly painful. I resisted them because I could not understand how a loving, personal God would allow them. All of the situations I’ve mentioned above have been instrumental in making me who I am, and coming to an understanding of life that is non-resistant and peaceful. While I was in the middle of the storm I could not see the sunshine on the other side. I could not see the blessing. So, who am I to judge the situations in my life? How can I possibly label situations as good and bad when I do not have all of the information? Why would I want to when labeling brings discontent, misunderstanding, frustration, anxiety and depression?

I think this is what Jesus was getting at when he said, “ Do not resist evil” and “Let your Yes be Yes, and your No be No.”

So here is the understanding I’ve come to. God has a reason to let the universe unfold as it does. Accept what is. Resistance if futile.

Mat 5:37 Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.
Mat 5:38 "Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.'
Mat 5:39 Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.
Mat 5:40 If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it.
Mat 5:41 And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.
Mat 5:42 No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
Mat 5:43 "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.'
Mat 5:44 I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer,
Mat 5:45 for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best--the sun to warm and the rain to nourish--to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.
Mat 5:46 If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that.
Mat 5:47 If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
Mat 5:48 "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.


Mat 6:31 What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving.
Mat 6:32 People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.
Mat 6:33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
Mat 6:34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Questioning Everything?

I was with some friends and we were talking about our spiritual journeys. One person said that she had to give herself permission to question EVERYTHING.

Is that okay?

What if the questions you ask make people you love scared or angry?

What happens when the answers are not considered "orthodox"?

What happens when the answers conflict with institutional versions of "the truth"?

Hello Angry Christians

I used to be one of the people he is talking about.... While I don't agree with everything he says, I think we could have a cup of coffee now.