Fact, Fiction, or Something Else?

Let’s talk about beliefs.

Respectfully.

As if that’s something that could ever happen. Not in this PC Principal world.

Let’s all get our laughs out and then let’s get back to being at least a tiny bit serious here, people. I get that everyone’s freaking out because Nostradamus apparently predicted Trump and economic downfall and sequentially the end of humanity, love, reality, and sanity in 2017–not quite sure if sanity even existed in the first place–and I get that everyone is terrified because 2016 seems to be throwing names into a hat, plucking them out, then squashing them to death day by day. I get that someone set up a gofundme account to keep the deathly hands of 2016 away from Betty White’s neck.

BUT.

Let’s be fucking serious here. Fuck’s sake. You’re all crazy. All of you. Coming from someone who is also very, very, VERY crazy, and very, very, VERY proud of it, that’s probably not saying much.

I believe I’m being followed by demons. You believe an angel saved your son from drowning. Some people call you crazy, some people call me crazy. We’re on an even ground here. Let’s shake hands and agree not to argue. 

If there’s one thing that irks me, it’s this weird, diabolical concept that one belief exists superior to another. In the past, I had many friends who were Christians. I had some Buddhist, Atheist, Jewish, Catholic, friends. I grew up in a house that regurgitated the word of God without really understanding what the words were saying, and as a result I found Taoism and am more inclined to find spiritual connection in my native american ancestry. That doesn’t mean I’m a heathen and dislike God. So if that was going to be your comment, stop typing and walk away from your computer slowly.

Because, if you know anything about religion, you’ll know the majority of them believe heavily in a creator of the universe. Even science has developed the Cosmic Mind. So we can all agree that we believe something, someone, or some kind of entity (whether that be some spooky, conscious matter bursting into existence out of nowhere or ethereal force or intelligent spirit) created the universe. Look at that. Something to agree on. So why can’t we just stop there?

I feel people are inclined to believe that their belief is correct not because it is factually correct, but because they believe it. It’s like some weird ego boost. Because what they believe has to be right. Perhaps they’re not meaning to be this way on purpose, in fact most religious people I meet and speak with are very opening minded. They believe what they believe, they are proud of it, but they welcome other’s beliefs too. They don’t sit out on the street corner like the morons over here, protesting a mosque in development.

FACT: you don’t have to agree with someone to respect them.

FACT: you don’t have to undermine other’s believes to keep the faith in your belief alive.

FACT: Regardless of what you believe, we are a tiny amount of people on a tiny planet in the middle of a universe larger than our mind can comprehend.

QUESTION: Why waste all this time and all this life shooting missiles, debating, and ruining other’s happiness for the sake of a belief that COULD very well die with you? With all of us, in the end?

So when someone comes up to me on the street babbling things that could be a result of an altered state of mind, or a mental struggle, or a belief system, or a drug, I don’t discount them on any words they speak. Not because I believe what they’re saying, but because they are saying it and I don’t have the right as another fellow human being to label them as damned, disgusting, insane, stupid, or any other negative connotation to those words.

 

I understand certain religions have doctrines on how you’re supposed to live, and I respect that. Just don’t be a dick about it.

You all know me pretty well by now: I’m very blunt and, at times, emotionally inconsiderate. Sometimes that works to my advantage, others times not to much.

At eleven, I had a friend–SHOCKING, I know, it gets better–and this friend came from a devoted Christian family. I went to church with her. One day, I got saved.

Saved is the term they use to describe being a new believer and follower of Jesus Christ. You accept Him into your heart, essentially. Some will say I was brainwashed: I was not. I was not your average eleven year old, I had a very clear understanding of things around me. I’ve spent the majority of my life with my mouth shut, observing. But, I was not like these other Christians. I was not a follower, as they were, and I wasn’t convinced I believed in Jesus Christ, either.

What I had always been sure of, as a child, was my spiritual connection to the universe itself. Whether some see that as God, or enlightenment, or an endless list of Gods and Goddesses mattered not to me. So I took part in this saving because of the spiritual value, not the religious aspect.

As a result, I acquired this book from them called a “New Believers” bible. I found it the other day after about ten years of not seeing it. And on page 973, there is a page called “Aren’t other religions just as good as Christianity?”

And that disturbs me. Because it’s putting a spiritual connection one has with whatever their belief is on a pedestal. It becomes less about spirituality and more about superiority. More about this thing people seem to call “Truth” . . . without ever really defining what truth is.

The page goes on to talk about Buddhism and Muslims. They don’t degrade the religions, but they don’t give them justice either. They say, on the subject of Salvation, that “Buddists believe salvation is by self effort only. Hindus believe you achieve salvation by devotion, works and self control. Muslims believe that people earn their own salvation and pay for their own sins.” They go on to say “Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins. If people turn from their sins and follow Jesus, they can be forgiven and have the hope of being with Jesus in Heaven”.

I copied that all verbatim. I see no problem with self effort for salvation. I see no problem with achieving salvation by devotion and self control, or earning salvation and owning up to their own sins. None of that seems to be a big deal to me. Why is it to everyone else? Is this really the kind of stuff we’re arguing over?

All these philosophies and religions have wonderful values and teachings, but rather than think about the messages and gain a sense of spiritual calmness from them, we like to nit-pick and claim our set of values is higher than those other sets of equally fine values.

I would say, in response to this book, that there are no religions as good as Christianity, because Christianity isn’t good. No religion is good, no religion is bad. It all just simply IS.

And that’s not a bad thing. It’s not a good thing. It’s just a thing.

I feel for those stuck in the fire of the religious wars across seas. And I feel worse for those not in the war who look down on those in the war. In fact, I feel bad for every person who thinks any portion of man, including thoughts, including beliefs, feelings, writings, teachings, are any kind of superior at all. That’s what I call delusional.