Friday 1 March 2013

11:35:04 AM

Just thinking out loud . . . the concept of God or a Higher Power, has nothing to do with religion per se, God is a word, simple. I was born into and raised in an anglican home where we attended sunday school, christened, baptized, confirmed etc, etc . . . I viewed the hypocrisy, what they preached inside and how they acted outside the cathedral. A huge disconnect. I went searching,. Left NZ at age 21. Returned at age 63. To me this country has gone backwards. For all the religions and number of churches and the growing number of political parties, we are polluted both physically and morally and emotionally. I totally reject religion and embrace all kinds of spiritual philosophies. Some which date back thousands of years. I love exploring, challenging, questioning. It’s rare to find a Kiwi bloke who I can share ideas with around this subject. But I do have a couple, or maybe one :) who fills the bill and that, I guess, is enough. I love diversity and while I don’t necessarily agree with what Christopher Hitchens wrote, I do enjoy his feistiness. We need more dialogue around this subject, especially for our children so they develop a curiosity and therefore  . . . creativity. A robust, creative environment would encourage people not to leave. At least not permanently. Mind you our foreign owned media doesn’t help. TVNZ is a true opiate of the masses.

I look around at the beauty or my environment, I look in the mirror, my eyes are clear and look straight back at me. God is all around me, within me, God is in the details of all life. There is no concept of a physical presence, of a heaven or hell. To me these are emotional, psychological aspects of who we are. The choices we make. Could even be karma, I really have no idea. These are my thoughts. I have struggled with them all my life and I cannot help myself :) from taking on the church in this day and age. The Catholic Church is an exemplar of my thinking. So much controversy, so much conflict and it continues today.

I quote . . .

“Two distinguished Italian theologians have called on Benedict XVI to withdraw his resignation, one arguing he ought not to resign, the other claiming a pope cannot resign.

In the latter case, when the cardinals proceed to elect a successor they are, according to Enrico Maria Radaelli, electing an antipope, an impostor on the chair of St Peter.”

I have no problem asking the question, “what would Jesus do?” and I find myself smiling at his reply. What would he say? To me he was a simple man with a strong belief, a strong faith. He had followers, ‘disciples‘ who followed him. He was a strong spiritual person with a challenging take on life. He appears to have enjoyed a concise moral compass and reflected a profound philosophy. ’Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ really sums it up. Did he say that? Who knows, much of the New Testament was written generations after he died. ‘Take what you like and leave the rest’. This gives permission for me to read and study, to embrace, reject. To create my own belief system rather than bow down to a religion that does not move with the times. It could be said, I will say it :) that change is inevitable, it could also be said that it is a higher Power aka God, who drives change. So there lies the conundrum. Are religions deaf or simply arrogant. The Universe blinks, we cringe.

The Sun, Moon and the Stars. Nature. The Universe.

They, in my not so humble opinion, rule our lives. They control the tides, our weather, even, to my way of thinking, our moods. My emotions. We react. The Universe throws meteors and other space debris at us. We like to believe we are indestructible, that we know better. That God will protect us. I ask the question, “if God is in charge then how come we are so destructive?” We struggle to come to terms with these beliefs rather than living life and allowing others to simply live their lives. And yet? Me asking these questions? Am I fighting, arguing, being naive, facetious, argumentative, a curmudgeon. Or do I talk this way to push others away, to make me right and them . . . wrong? It’s possible. And yet, so many of my intuitive thoughts, ideas, have been shown to hold a good quotient of legitimacy over my lifetime. Oh well, thinking aloud is not always going to sit comfortably with me or others. Ciao or Amen, your choice, my choice!