With the New Year well into full swing, and more time down in the greenhouses getting ready for spring planting season sales, I’m back to my introspection, and lots of…. well, just plain thinking.
Over the holidays, I did a bit of reading for pleasure, which I haven’t done in quite awhile! As my husband calls it, I “devoured” the Pullman series (The Golden Compass et al), which in all actuality, I found VERY entertaining, and very interesting. Because with all the hype, I have a very, VERY hard time believing Pullman is an atheist, as he has proclaimed to the world over and over again. Actually, in a lot of write-ups, they say he is “atheist and agnostic.” Huh? That’s like saying someone’s Catholic and Protestant. You can’t really be both — you have to be one or the other. And after those books, I don’t believe either. What I DO believe is that Pullman doesn’t believe in the Catholic-inspired church (including Protestants), or rather, the politics and control exuded by any organized religion. With that, I have to say I agree.
However, I am about as far from being atheist OR agnostic as could be. I’m devoutly devoted to God, and have no doubts whatsoever about us being a part of something much, much larger, and much, much more eternal. But I have never believed in “God” as an elderly, brooding, jealous, enrageable old man sitting on a throne. which is probably why I really had fun with The Amber Spyglass and the personifications in the battle that ensued!
If you look at our universe, it is easy to see that the universe is infinitely large, as well as infinitely small. I think God is something we don’t really comprehend in our conscious human minds, because “it” (I would never say God is in man or woman form, how very hubris of us) is so big, and we are just individual cells that are part of a much, much bigger whole. And as we are a part of it, we all ARE it… and we all have the capability to tap into powers that are much more extraordinary that we’ve yet to discover. THAT evolution is what I believe is our destiny. Pullman’s books talk about “dust,” basically elementary particles that make up universal consciousness, and that’s completely non-atheist to me. It’s really stating a belief in what a much, much bigger thing we’re a part of.
Which is why (even though I was brought up Episcopal) I hate what the symbol of Jesus Christ has generally become. The Christian Church has made it a cop-out — someone we should idolize and look up at at the altar (forget about the 10 Commandments when it’s convenient, regarding idolatry) because we’re just losers. What I really believe is that Jesus’ soul — as completely evolved, and in tune with the Universe/God — came here in that short lifetime to provide us with divine inspiration. I believe that Jesus tried to teach us that we all have the capabilities he had, and that we all need to learn how to tap into those capabilities. I think he was trying to help tap us into our next stage of evolution. And more than 2000 years later, we still haven’t gotten it yet.
Because we’re spending so much time fighting over who is right, and who is wrong. Pullman did a good job at poking fun at the whole afterlife thing, too. That, regardless of what everyone THOUGHT would be redemption and heaven, EVERYONE just went to a bland, gray underworld without their soul (though I have to say the one thing I did have difficulty with is how a soul could be separated from a person, since I believe that it’s the soul that MAKES a person, and not a robot), without being able to break up and assimilate back into the Universe (or “Dust”) and Universal Consciousness.
I think maybe a better separation could be the EGO and the SOUL, because I’ve always believed that it’s the ego that causes all this fighting, disagreement, and competition for ultimate power. Because what I’ve had problems with from very, very early on is the Church trying to tell me what I should believe and not believe, whether or not something seemed as plain as the nose on my face. And other churches, temples, and organized religions telling THEIR followers what they should believe and not believe. All of this fight for political and social power makes us forget that we’re all part of the same thing. That’s how we lose our unity. And I think we lose our power. Because if we were unified, we could combine our energies for evolution and probably take our entire species to the next level. But we can only go so far, because there many, many are people who honestly believe that “God” would care who lived on what land on this tiny little planet. It’s like I would care whether an oxygen cell floated around in my arm or in my leg — as long as it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing for my body, why should I care?
Not that I’m saying that we’re all the same and no one is better than another — quite the contrary! The Church preaches that we should be humble and put everything and every ability aside to be a servant of God first. How could that really make any logical sense? For our continued evolution and the betterment of our Universe and God, wouldn’t it be logical that every one of us do the ABSOLUTE BEST THAT WE ABSOLUTELY CAN, maximize our strengths, and improve upon our weaknesses? Regardless of the shield the Christian Church has made of Jesus, I do love Jesus Christ, because I want to BE like him, I want to be the best I can be — yet, the Church would find a statement like that blasphemous. Because though Christians can generally believe that Jesus and God are one, they cannot see how that completely shows us how WE are one with God.
Anyway, regardless of our personal religious beliefs, we do know there are things that are Universal, regardless of the fact that they are all intangible: Love. Good. Light. And is there really Hate, Bad, and Dark? Of course — there has to be! If we didn’t have black, how would we ever comprehend what white was? So maybe THAT was what the creation of the ego really was.
There are so many books out there today, with people telling stories that depict their beliefs. There are also many books out there today with the authors trying to uncover the truth (and their personal truths), and there are many, many different perspectives to which we weren’t formerly privvy. So, what I say is EDUCATE YOURSELF! Read about a lot of different beliefs — not just those that coincide with your own. Because sometimes, you’ll find something strikes a chord you never knew was there. And maybe that’s what we need to do, to get away from religion for politics and power and more towards our true spiritual evolution. I tell my children… LEARN! GET EDUCATED! Don’t just believe what someone tells you — research it, FEEL it, try it on for size, and assimilate it into your being! Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, Buddhism, Scientology, Astrology, Numerology, etc., etc., etc. – I won’t limit their knowledge to one religion and expect them to believe what I believe without letting them think for themselves! Besides, if we take away the ego, and look at the universal ties we all have, even scientifically, there are many, many things that most of it all has in common, and putting it all together WITHOUT the ego might help us with the evolution we so desperately need to achieve.
