I don’t like god diaries. Mostly because I hardly ever agree with them and seldom see myself as religious. I gave up the catholic church while attending a catholic high school. Nobody was practicing what they were preaching. Nobody!
That speaking out of both sides of their mouths is what turns me off of all organized religion. “God loves you but will strike you down if you stray..” “You can only go to heaven if you believe THIS way”..
Yesterday I posted a god diary. And serendipity (there are no coincidences) has stepped in.
I found this article today:Religious fervor with evil deeds serves a false god
Some snippets from it:
Religious fervor with evil deeds serves a false god
..the “demon of the absolute,” the human craving to worship absolutes of our own making and call them “god.”
This “demon” is not the real God but the false god of our own arbitrary political or emotional needs. This demonic craving turns God into a “fictitious tyrant” who demands blood, vengeance, a purified world order, a boundless hatred — violence that creates world headlines…
..What’s the alternative to violence? The Way of the Pilgrim, he says. It’s a spiritual attitude. Pilgrims are voyagers who accept homelessness. They are free. They “move with God.” They are not stuck in any situation. Ideally, they have nothing to defend and live only to “care for everything that is,” he says.
“To become too attached to place and property is to become one who will be forced into violence in order to acquire territory and defend it.”
I am not a preacher, don’t want to preach, but I would like to share some thoughts.
What would happen if the god that many believe in is neither male/nor female? If the god many believe in was just Life? And if the god many believe in wanted NOTHING from us? If god is god why would god need anything? Why would god demand anything from us? For what purpose?
Most religions believe that there is only one god although god has many different names. If there is just the one god why does god seem to want different things from different groups of people? This never made sense to me.
I always believed that God is love. And with that belief I never bought into the HELL, the judgement day part of religion.
But I did get sucked into the FEAR part because I was so ‘little’ so ‘imperfect’, so ‘needy’ etc., compared to god.
But if I consider that God wants nothing, if God is Life/love, if we are all part of god (in god’s likeness) what the fuck am I afraid of?
We do have two undisputable gifts-Free Will and Life. Does it really matter where those gifts come from? We DO have them. We need to start LIVING again with Free Will.
I have come to the conclusion that the Politics of the day are squelching my Free Will and I am not going to ALLOW it anymore. I am not going to allow myself to get sucked into the endless chaotic circle of mindless chatter that has solved little. I WILL do what I can to change things with actions as opportunities are presented to me. But I am giving up the angst of politics. I will support those who spout the Golden Rule and actually practice it with their words and deeds. But I will not give Bushco one more ounce of my energy or time.
Well, maybe a little now and then..until I can master my new thoughts and get back to my real passion. Me/god..you/god..
What the fuck is there to fight about? Let’s get back to the real purpose of Life.
We are our own worst enemies..What goes around Comes around..What goes up must come down etc.,-The truisms are the most sensible advice.
We are FREE to do whatever we want to do. And if we ‘step’ on someone elses toes there will be a reaction. But if we practice the Golden Rule while being free to do whatever we WANT to do we will make good choices. There is no eternal punishment! Be safe, be kind and be loving in taking back your life and all will slowly get better. It just will.
It is so simple. But man have we messed Life up. I for one have a lot of hard work ahead of me while trying to get it right for me. I hope there are some like minded people here to correspond with because the reason this simplicity doesn’t often work is because one is out of step with the masses and we get kicked around, ignored and dismissed when we ‘act’ differently.
OK so now I will hold my breath and wait for the attacks. Have at it.
but a big hug, and a strong helping hand when you need it. Anytime, any where.
I don’t need a hug- I need dialog-feed back. No I have not gone off the deep end. LOL!! I am just following my ‘instincts’. When I start seeing the same old shit and no forward movement I ask why? Why is everyone Stuck? I was over at kos the other day and all the diaries looked and sounded the same, at least here there is some variety as far as topics, ideas and more open minds.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that we’re stuck and/or spiraling downward not just because of Bushco but because of the incorrect thinking. If the same thing keeps happening and nothing is changing the group think ain’t working.
I’m trying to start at square one, for myself and hope others will stop adding to the chaos and start at the beginning with me. That does sound out there LOL!!
So I guess I’ll take that hug after all. LMAO!
When your stuck in the mud, there only a few options, keep spinn’n until you hit solid ground, put some sort of traction in the rut, find something solid to pull to, or get someone to pull you out ; )
If you keep spinn’n, you may get there, but most likely your gonna tear up your equipment before you get where you wanna go.
If you put some traction in the rut, make sure it is enough to get where you wanna go.
If you attach to something solid to pull to, make sure it is strong enough, as well as your life line attached to it.
If you get someone to pull you out, make sure they know what the hell their do’n, or both will be stuck, and equipment broken.
Choices, I have made many, not all good, and not all bad, but they were mine
You, I’m sure will make yours ; )
You get it too. We are free to make any choices we want. The key is after making a bad choice, we learn, we make amends and we don’t do it again and move on.
And from that one conversation we had I know you are doing your amends and shining a light to all who have enjoyed your comments 😉 and setting a good, better example of attitude- which I adore!
Pilgrims are voyagers who accept homelessness. They are free. They “move with God.” They are not stuck in any situation. Ideally, they have nothing to defend and live only to “care for everything that is,” he says.
Do you know of Peace Pilgrim? She’s one of my heroes. She was a woman who, in late middle age, left all material possessions and began walking for peace. She depended entirely on love to provide food, shelter, and anything else she might need, which it always did with few delays. But first she went through a lengthy period of purifying herself until she became fearless.
I heartily recommend the little book: Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words
A few years ago I set out to study people who lived the experiment of radical trust, in the hope of learning how to do it, too.
Good luck to you on this journey of a lifetime (or a thousand lifetimes?).
“To become too attached to place and property is to become one who will be forced into violence in order to acquire territory and defend it.”
I’ve learned that this doesn’t just mean warfare between nations and with guns. When people are scared about bankruptcy, for instance, about losing their houses, or just not being able to pay the electric bill this month, we can do terrible violence to our own bodies in the form of ulcers, for instance, and/or to people around us. We can take out our fear on our families, or on telephone bill collectors, or on the waitress who doesn’t bring our coffee fast enough. All because of our terror of losing the physical things we believe we have to hold onto.
You get it! Tell me how you got it.
Most of the time I only “get it” intellectually. I would dearly love to get it at the experiential level, and I’m working toward that all the time, but I can get very scared when I’m in a financial bind. Then I cling to my house on the prairie as if I thought it was the answer to everything. ha.
One of the ways I practice this stuff is to try to be aware of what I do and think and to inquire of myself: is this thought or action reinforcing clinging and fear or is it reinforcing habits of letting go and peace? A Course in Miracles has been helpful to me, as have many other sources of wisdom.
As you can probably detect, one of the ways I try to get it is to study people who do. I am equally interested in hearing about the journeys of people, like you, who want to get it as much as I want to get it.
Get it, get it, get it, it begins to sound materialistic, doesn’t it? 🙂 Maybe I should be saying, instead, “accept it, accept it, accept it,” or some such.
I have to start by saying that I might have read into your words some of my own agenda, but I think I understand what you are saying and am with you 100%. One of the “modes” I go into very regularly is to try to step back and take a look at the big picture. In other words – where are we, how did we get there, and where are we going. Being trained as a therapist, these days I’m seeing that all of the dysfunction that we are assigning to individuals are really symptoms of our diseased culture. So I spend time thinking about how our culture is: AD/HD, depressed, eating disordered, etc. Lately I have been thinking that foundational to all of this disease is that the culture is what mental health professionals call “attachment disordered.” We are all so alientated from each other and therefore do not engage in the “conversation” that is necessary for the development of our humanity/voice/identity/concscience. Dogma and greed come in to fill the void.
I like the idea of “pilgrim” as it relates to not attaching to dogma. But I also know that I need a “home” to belong to where the conversation can take place.
I need a “home” to belong to where the conversation can take place.
EXACTLY!! That is what I am trying to inspire and searching for also.
I like the Pilgrim idea, but I have almost zilch trust in anything, anyone right now. And I use to trust everyone until they lost it. Because we’ve been lied to, by both sides now, and I don’t like being lied to. No honesty no trust.
So I get back to god. How can anyone trust a god that the fundies of any religion have created? THEY created. How can people live like that?
I think you do have quite a bit of trust in at least one place–yourself. How many people can say that? Not many! I’ve noticed that you are fearless in putting up diaries that might be controversial. What that says to me is that you trust yourself to be able to handle whatever comes, or at least you’re willing to try. I admire that.
I guess “they” live like that because they have to. The god they created is one who gives them the particular measures of comfort they need at this time. I don’t fault them for that–I’m old enough to have believed in some pretty ridiculous things in my time!–but I don’t put any credence in it, either. I don’t see their god as anything but a creation of their needs, but then I think most of us create gods of one sort of another and then defend them as if our lives depended on them.
And the blogs are a safer environment LOL! I am thick skinned (have the disease scleroderma which I must have some how manifested to PROTECT me from the onslaught of barbs.) As I see this dis-ability as a gift. It has given me the ‘ability’ to speak up, out, loud and often.
I do trust my instincts although I use to not listen to them. And I am God as are you so what’s not to trust:-)
I am God as are you so what’s not to trust:-)
lol! Indeed.
“How can anyone trust a god that the fundies of any religion have created? THEY created. How can people live like that?”
I think you are probably asking this rhetorically. Since I was raised in a funamentalist Christian family and community, and have left that all behind, I could write volumes about it. But don’t worry, I’ll spare you the drama of that. Just know that as I spend time with my family now – I see the pain and isolation they feel (and I can remember feeling), but they are not likely to change. I’ve gotten over being angry with them (although I do occasionally feel angry when I’m with them) and can just see that they are really lost and voiceless people. The beginning of change for me was in learning to trust myself – then starting the conversation with others.
<ican just see that they are really lost and voiceless people</i>
This kinda makes my heart hurt, because Democrats are supposed to be the voice for lost and voiceless people.
I could qualify this a bit by saying that they don’t have a “personal voice.” They have a script (ie, dogma) that they can read from, but nothing that really comes from their own soul. Unfortunately the script they are reading from is being heard loud and clear these days in this country.
Thank you! Your diary inspired me to order a new copy of Peace Pilgrim’s book, as the one I used to have was borrowed. And while I was at it I ordered two other books that look juicy. I’ll let you know!
I am ordering a copy of Peace Pilgrim as soon as I finish this comment. Thanks for telling us about it.
Oh, cool! If you like it, maybe we could talk about it in another diary.
I ordered it and should receive it next week. I found the website all about her.
Peace Pilgrim
Again serendipity to me. You have no idea how often I have contemplated being homeless-some due to past financial issues, but it never occurred to me to do it as a mission. And should the lights go out if Bush keeps this crap going we may all be in that position someday. Can you imagine a world where we are all homeless, bringing peace and love to each other daily? Some how it sounds like LIFE as it should be-one for all and all for one.
What a vision, Rosee. That would turn us all into veritable Nelson Mandelas, people who walked in inner peace no matter what the outer circumstances, and it’s those people create miracles where they go.
Thanks for the tip about the website. It hadn’t even occurred to me to look for one!