We call on God

We use religion to help us deal with the things that are too great to handle on our own.  We don’t know where to turn but we feel the need to cry out for help.  We’re too stubborn or proud to ask our family and friends, so we call on God.  a cheating husband, a lying child; God help me forgive.  We don’t ask for advice.  We don’t ask for support.  We ask for God.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.  It’s the mantra for those with problems beyond their control.  We don’t all believe in our own ability to overcome crippling adversity, so we call on God.  A traumatizing childhood, a loss of life or limb; God help me to get through.  We’re afraid to look weak.  We don’t know where to look at all.  We look to God.

God grant me the courage to change the things I can.  We know that something has to be different but we don’t want to feel like we’re doing it alone.  We need to feel protected and no one, no matter how much they love us, can protect us from everything, so we call on God.  A teenage mother, a battered wife; God give me a sign.  We need to believe everything happens for a reason.  We need to believe we have a destiny.  We need to believe in God.

And the wisdom to know the difference.  God is a coping mechanism, and for many people, a necessary one.  We cannot be judged for relying on that tool anymore than we can be criticized for using a different set.  None of us can know what goes on in another’s mind. Call on God. Call on Bob.  Who cares?  Isn’t the most important question this: Why aren’t we calling on each other?

The wisdom of human experience is beyond comprehension.  If we must call the collectve knowledge of everyone who has ever lived by the name of God in order to get people to listen, so be it.  We cannot allow a name to separate us from the idea that our strength lies within ourselves and those around us.  It is their knowledge and experience that will help us live better lives.  If we don’ ask for it, we are already in hell, and no God can save us.

Fear Not

I wanted to write something beautiful and poignant because today is a sacred day in which we should honor those who served our country but all that came to me was disappointment.  I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment in the American people but I find it futile to voice it because I know they do nothing and say nothing about this illegal and immoral war because they are afraid.  They are afraid of upsetting civil order (as Thoreau suggested with a different war in a different time) by speaking out against the war because they’re afraid of being labeled as traitors (or non-supporters of the troops), mostly because their government representatives have taught them to be so.  They’re afraid to read too much or be perceived as knowing too much because they don’t want to be labeled as too smart (or liberal).  They’re afraid to speak negatively about anything (especially politics and religion) because they don’t want to be labeled as cynical.  They’re afriad to admit that it does matter if they don’t vote because if they fail to fulfuill their responsibility as citizens to choose what type of government they will have, they will feel no ownership when the time comes to criticize it.

Fear not.  The men and women we choose to honor today gave their lives in service to this country (or for what they believed to be service to this country) so that we would not have to be afraid of our enemies foreign or domestic.  We mourn their loss and should honor their memories not with BBQ’s but by using the freedoms for which they fought.

We should all be afraid of this number: 4,080 US Soldiers killed in Iraq, 30,112 US Soldiers wounded in Iraq

Nearly Half

I heard a report on NPR that nearly half of all Americans are on some sort of prescription drug.  While the story tried to convince us that it’s a good thing because it means that we have had major advancements in medical technology and science, I tend to think that it has more to do with pharmaceutical companies making billions of dollars on health care that many Americans have to pay for out of their own pocket.  I highly doubt that so many Americans would be on so many drugs if the government was footing the bill. 

Our health care system has become a money making industry and has strayed so far from its original intent that I wonder if doctors have forgotten the “do no harm” part of their oath.  Easy health care doesn’t mean it’s good health care.  Prescribing a pill instead of diet and exercise doesn’t do anyone any good, especially since we’re in this particular health care nightmare of rampant diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure because of what we eat and our propensity to sit on the couch rather than go for a walk.

Science and Jesus

If you believe in the evolution of religion and that each new religion that is created relies on those before it for their fundamental truths, then it might be easier to accept that as the human mind expands its capabilities, new and viable religions will form to accommodate the most intelligent among us.  If you can’t fathom that, then maybe this – as we learn more and more about our brains, some of the basic principles of major religions come into focus more clearly.  The call to love unconditionally and forgive unconditionally particularly fits this mold.

As advances in psychology continue, we frequently learn that the things we find unforgivable in others may not be the end result of free will as much as they are a product of the warped chemistry within our own minds.  When we take a moment to recognize that we cannot truly know what lies inside a person’s head, we give ourselves the opportunity to stop judging for a moment and forgive the faults, large and small, that we may find personally unforgivable.  Depression, obsession, defiance, and deceit all could be the result of bad brain chemistry, and while we should not forget what people do to us lest we be burned a second time, we should at least try to forgive their transgressions, whether they ask for forgiveness or not.  Unconditional love IS unconditional, after all.

The Unfunny Truth About Scientology

I think this speaks for itself, but I find Scientology disturbing.  I am of the opinion that L. Ron Hubbard may have been disillusioned by Hollywood and the corruption therein and came up with a “religion” to watch the crazies destroy themselves.  I also believe that the “truth” of the 8th level of Scientology is that it’s all bullshit.  I should mention that while living in Clearwater I was in the hotel where Lisa McPhearson died.  The place had a really eerie feeling about it.