Godeologies

I. Introduction

I just attempted to tackle the difficult subject of politics. So, feeling a sense of bravado I'm gonna talk about religion. I consider my self to be an agnostic. I don't associate with any of the modern religions yet I share some of the principles they hold, mainly the pursuit of truth. Science cannot answer all the questions a human may ask. If you know me one of my favorite movies is Waking Life, and there is a scene in the movie where the characters talk about a "Holy Moment." (skip to 3:30 for the Holy Moment dialogue)

Everything around us was created by something, every moment in time is a miraculous manifestation of time and matter so it is "holy". Similar to these characters I don't normally think about life in this way but ever so often I am reminded of what I have been neglecting. My holy moments might occur to me while listening to really good music or I'm sitting outside on a clear night next to a campfire with friends (A listing of holy moments below, and please add your own in the comment section). The Holy Moment is a feeling I could not describe but at times it can be overwhelming.

II. Distinction

There is a difference between religion and spirituality. I think spiritual thought arose because of a human desire to understand. You know the saying "With great power comes great responsibility", well humans have these huge brains to contemplate and alter our environment, but what greater responsibility is there than to reflect on mortality and the afterlife? Deep reflection is my interpretation of spirituality. Which leads me to the important distinction between spirituality and religion... in recent history humans have been conditioned to believe that we are in control and religion arose as a way for us to control the inevitable. So you see spirituality was the Question and religion was the Answer. Being aware of the fallibility of the bible (discussed in III): the realization is that humans are the authors of religion and, therefore, I maintain that the Question has not and can not be answered. Christianity is, of course, not the only religion and I will discuss why I am unable to adhere to others later.

III. Foundation

I grew up regularly attending catholic church. I was even confirmed, which for those of you who don't know is sort of a graduation into adulthood from the perspective of the catholic church. As my religious beliefs matured the faults of Christianity made a significant impact on me. Aside from the disgusting behavior of certain priests (who are supposedly the pious leaders), I discovered the true foundation of Christianity. The bible is our history book to Christianity, yet there was no bible until 397 AD. 400 years is a longtime to maintain credible interpretations. Throughout the history of the church political leaders have ingrained their own interpretations of Christianity in the bible. Much of the changes these men made in the bible were a method of control or were selfish manifestations. Did you know there was a Gospel of Mary Magdelene? Unfortunately it's been lost to time. And so it is hard to distinguish "true" scripture (especially since translators of the bible apply their own interpretations as well). If I was willing to admit the original bible was "the word of God" how would I know which part of the scriptures are God's, a monk's translation, or a politician's propaganda? I have to believe God would not have wanted his words to be manipulated in this way, therefore I am not bound by the bible nor Christianity. So what about other religions? Maybe Christianity is wrong and another one is right. If there really was a True religion it would have manifested itself in all cultures around the world, there would be no "guess and check". Instead different cultures have different religious beliefs. This leads me to believe individual cultures created their own interpretations of religious principles, echoing each respective cultures norms and ethos. However, I have found it difficult disqualifying Buddhism. After reading a bit about Buddhism it appears that Buddhism is more philosophy than theology. I guess the question becomes how do you define a religion?

IV. Interpretation

My interpretation of God arose from a logical train of thought. I remember asking my Mother about this when I was maybe 7 or 8-if God created the universe who created God? The innocence of children can be a profound demonstration of human nature. Mom (not being an immortal supreme being) was unable to answer my "simple" question, so I adopted my own interpretation of God. God is my word for an unknown Force. God could be one Being, a Man, a Woman, a whole group of Beings, an Ether, or some indescribable thing. At some point our universe began. Something(s) started the sequence of events that led to our universe. Nothing can come from nothing so my definition of God is the thing that started these actions to create something. Nothing in science disproves the existence of my God and it is here where science and religion (or should I say spirituality) can meet at a happy equilibrium. Stephen Hawking has some interesting ideas about our origins, but this cannot answer the question: Where did the universes come from?

V. Conclusion

One thing I didn't talk about was the amount of killing done in the name of religion. The problem is that people will never be able to agree on religion, so the killing will continue. It's difficult for me to understand why people willingly participate in such tragedies for such uncertainties. Obviously there is no uncertainty in the minds of these religious zealots, and this is probably due to rigid adolescent conditioning. My beliefs described here accept that there is uncertainty and as humans that's the best we can do. Another thing that becomes clear is that I don't know enough about Eastern Cultures. I think at some point in the future I would like to gain first hand knowledge of Buddhism. Not too sure where I would go for that so if anybody has some ideas throw'em out there.

My Holy Moments

• Driving along I-90/94, or Wacker Drive, or Lake Shore Drive past the Chicago skyline
• The moment an airplane gains elevation on take off
• Looking at the stars
• Waking up in a tent
• Staring at a large body of water
• Finishing a really good book
• Waking up on a Saturday morning
• Family gatherings
• New Years Parties
• Attending an outdoor concert or music festival
• Making people laugh really hard
• Traveling