Namaste

I'm not much for religion. I got fed up with the hypocrisies I inevitably found no matter where I went. After searching for years, I finally gave up on finding a place where I felt I could belong. The single exception to that is a Unitarian church I attended in the small town where I once lived. Circumstances forced me to move into a nursing home in a different city, and I'm no longer able to travel, even to a restaurant or to go shopping. I've continued to follow my personal principles and values, for which I credit my parents. They brought me up to be a decent person, and I've always been thankful to them for their patience and wisdom. But I haven't been religious in an awful long time. I'm still not. I guess I'm too much of a maverick to blindly follow, well, any kind of dogma. I have to see for myself and make up my own mind. I'm not afraid to ask questions, either. Some people think that means I'm a troublemaker. They're usually people who prefer sheep to wild horses. That's not an exact analogy, but it'll have to do.

So I didn't give a lot of thought to religion or spirituality. I did finally realize that I believe in God, for lack of a better name, but I will bet almost anything that how I envision him/it/her is nothing like anything you will find in any religion, anywhere on earth. And I believe that we, as humans, are here to learn and advance our souls, kind of like life is a school. As spirits, which is our natural form, we know everything, but as humans, most of that knowledge is out of our reach. And I don't care what preachers at those megachurches say, they don't know any more about God or our spirits than we do.

We're here to learn through experience, not through some person who gets rich by saying that God talks to him. No matter what your concept of God may be, do you really believe he/it/her cares how many belongings anyone has or how big anyone's bank account is? If you believe, as a Christian, that's how God judges us, then you need to take another look at your Bible. This is particularly true, I believe, for most politicians who claim to be Christians but then pass laws that effectively go against the teachings of the New Testament, especially the Bible's teachings of Jesus.

And I do believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a man who actually existed. From what I know of him, he is a person who is worthy of deserving deep love. However, I can't honestly claim to be a Christian, the main reason being that I cannot believe that following him is the single pathway to what we call Heaven. I believe that our higher power, however one envisions him/it/her, consists of the vibration we call love and that, because we, as souls, are made of that same energy, that no place like hell could possibly exist, nor could any soul be given into an eternity of torture. If we are like children to this loving higher power, which some call The Source, then that higher power would have too much love for us to cast even a single soul out of Heaven, no matter what their beliefs or actions. Rather, I believe that, like children, we are shown our errors and go back to "school" to continue educating our spiritual selves. This is what a loving parent would do. Casting souls into a place of eternal torment would accomplish nothing. The only logical reason for believing it exists is for leaders to control people through fear. Fear is an extremely effective way of controlling large numbers of people and is still used by various leaders, religious extremists and many politicians, not to mention many others, such as abusive parents. This is what I have observed. Perhaps if you look around with a critical eye, you will see what I mean.

We have free will. I believe that means that anyone reading this is free to believe what they want. The purpose of writing this blog is not to convince anyone that their beliefs are wrong, but as a tool for me to use while I learn, evolve, and search for enlightenment. I could be utterly mistaken in my beliefs, or I could be right on course for my soul's advancement. In any case, these thoughts are not meant as gospel of any kind.

I hope any readers will look upon my writings as food for thought and not as something I claim as carved in stone. I am on a journey of learning. I invite you to walk alongside me for awhile. But you are always welcome to follow your own path as you wish.

Namaste.