A Twist of Things to Come

This is a thorny, twisty subject for me, so I put off posting about it. I've given the topic a lot of thought over the years. My views are still evolving, but here is what I think, in a nutshell:

1. Religions come about as a means to improve ourselves, to achieve a sort of connectedness with something larger than ourselves or with each other. Usually, the systems we refer to as "major religions" (as opposed to tribal belief systems or cultural superstitions and mythologies -- I think this is an arbitrary distinction, but one most people make) spring up around individuals whose lives or words profoundly affect those around them. The teachings of these individuals are written and codified, at which point they start to become legalistic. Social and cultural interpretations vary on the teachings, and people become more concerned with behavioral minutia than with the more internal, spiritual distinctions.

2. I think true religion (of whatever flavor) is something that happens inside an individual. It is indescribably and lovely, but also somewhat variable and progressive. I believe that most religious teachings arise from people experiencing this, and trying to explain it to others -- a process that never fully succeeds. Moses or Christ or the Buddha certainly did their best, and I imagine some folks "got it" while others didn't (even though they thought they did).

The thing that stands out to me about religion, is that I have heard people from different religions describe the same experience. What a Christian describes as "living in the center of God's will, in a place of perfect love" seems to me to be very similar to the Oneness with the Universe described in the Vedic tradition, enlightenment in Buddhism, and so on. I tend to see it as people trying to describe the same thing from different vantage points.

I have known people from many different religions who have this love in their hearts for their fellow men. Most of my life experience is with Christians, and I have encountered more than one Christian whose presence was like cool water, who gave the impression of being very accepting and loving and very much in the moment. In all my time in Christian education, I met one -- a fellow student at King College named Rebecca, who cheerfully failed every time our fellows tested her skill at being judgmental. *g*

I remember when another friend at school chastised me for hanging with the theater crowd, the weird intellectuals and various delightfully androgynous fellows. I will never forget what she said to me, because the words she spoke sounded alien in her mouth. I knew she was repeating something she'd been told by a youth minister, or someone in fellowship group.

She said, "God has called us to have a spotless reputation."

"I gaped for a moment, startled by how ridiculous a statement that was. "God has called us to do something Jesus Himself never managed?" I did not add that I thought that was one of the stupidest things I'd ever heard, but I'm sure she inferred that from my giggles.

3. My bottom line is that doing what is really right and following the lead of the spirit is actually more likely to get you a bad reputation among religious communities than not. Why? Because true religion -- whatever form that may take -- challenges prejudice. It upsets the apple cart, and turns over the money-changers' tables. The spirit knows the difference between what is right and true and what is merely habitual or "customary."

Sometimes that is a dangerous, even revolutionary, thing. Sometimes it's not. But whatever it actually is, that is what I aspire to.

This is the Marry, Shag, or Throw Off a Cliff meme. splix gave me the following choices:

Qui-Gon
Bruck
Xanatos

All of them from the alternate 'verse of HMOWK.

This was hard, because I love them all so much. Heh. But here goes.

Marry Qui-Gon. He's tall and quiet, and he has nice hands -- in these ways he resembles my RL true love, who just the other day said to me: "I'm like a bird, conditioned to offer up the most succulent grasshoppers to my mate." He was not being lovey-dovey, but said it as a statement of fact -- one I immediately recognized as true. He would move heaven and earth for me, and I think that is the sort of spouse Qui-Gon would be, were it not for the whole Jedi gig. Anyway, who wouldn't want a Jedi for a husband? Telemarketer calls during dinner. He answers. "You don't want to sell me aluminum siding. You want to hang up and delete this number from your database."

Shag Xanatos. He has too many issues to be marriage material, at least for me. Dancing with the Dark Side and all -- that's MY job in a relationship. *g* But he's all pale and blue-eyed with that lovely black hair, and fit. Even the prosthetic wouldn't be a turn-off.

Throw off a Cliff Definitely Bruck. My Bruck spends too much time inside his own head -- too much like me to be at all appealing, despite my writerly fascination with describing his phenomenal good looks. Also, the way I've written him, he'd probably survive the fall.

Comment, and I will come up with three choices for you, if you wish.

We talked yesterday about Brazil and music and such in chat -- which was really lovely because narniadear knows from music. I'm more of an "I knows what I likes" kind of music person -- not a drop of musical talent.

But I said I'd find a way to share some Martinho da vila with her... So now you guys get to hear him, too! He has this lovely, deep voice that is both smooth as silk and slightly rough around the edges. It's utterly lovely. We have a bit of his Samba music, which combines Brazilian and West African musical traditions, I'm told. (That thing that sounds like someone squeaking a straw through a plastic cup lid? I'm told that's most common in African Samba music. I could be mistaken, though.)

I uploaded one of my favorites to imeem, and I'm going to try to play it here:


Disritmia - Martinho Da Vila

Makes Johnny Cash sound like a castrati, doesn't he?