My mother, God (or the one down there) rest her soul… was considered an innovator, a creative influencer, a woman of great inner strength, beauty, intelligence, poise, and grace. A figure to be revered, admired, and worshiped. A legend in her own mind.
In my mind, I called her something else. My Mother Superior rose above the masses, decreeing upon the land of York (where I was raised) that all religious wisdom in her Queendom shall be imparted upon her mere mortal offspring—allowing me to choose my path to righteousness.
Let it be written in stone she bestowed upon me the divine grace to chose my own final countdown –another noble sounding chapter in her ever –expanding manifesto meant to prove her magnanimity, selflessness, and sacrifice. Fearing the wrath of the Bible Belt, I nodded along and agreed to the myth. God’s honest truth? I had no say in any of it.
In reality, Mommy Magdalene managed to piss off every single church lady of all 23 denominations in the tri-state area. I went from being a Baptist to a Zionist in the span of six months. Undeterred, she talked my way into a Jewish summer camp located high up in the Colorado Rockies. I was the only gentile in the entire program. Talk about parting the Red Seas.
Eventually freed from religious persecution, I found myself on the road to perdition.. With no guidance (as if it would have mattered) I took a wrong turn and landed in enlightenment.. to the following..
However you refer to your higher power—God, Universe, Messiah, Allah, Jehovah, Lord, et al—the universal theme delivered through a priest, pastor, minister, clergyman, bishop, reverend, et al is:
Be kind. Be good. Treat everyone as you would like to be treated.
Unless, of course, your religion disagrees with my religion. In that case, GOD gave us permission to blow the living smithereens out of you.
AMEN.
This scared me straight… away from any religious associations. I remain a free agent. Keeps me in the game without commitment, freeing me from defending any religious factions. If the subject arises, I declare Spiritual. This religiously diffuses any further faith-based discussions. Kind of like voting Independent.
What a creative denomination Spirituals are. We have the Crystal sect, an Astrological congregation, the Eastern Orthodox Psychics, we even have a cult faction of Captain Kirk’s reincarnate hopefuls. Agnostic, atheist, and yoga teacher’s requests for spiritual status are currently under review.
Seven months ago I happened upon a podcast hosted by Sam Harris. He’s an author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and podcast host. His views and ideas made sense to me. Aptly enough, the podcast is called Making Sense. That week I spent with the psychic branch really paid off. And to think I was skeptical…
