Wednesday, August 18, 2010
walking the line
it's kind of annoying. religion is so deeply personal. I love it, though. Most of it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
:)
I've been posting some little things here, lately.
Not that I don't think moshiach is more of an abstract concept, but whatever gets people to do good in this world is fine with me. Any redemption I need will only come daily from conscious, daily practice, not from a dude on a donkey and buildings coming loose from their moorings.
Unrelated, sort of: getting a good place in olam haba seems silly to me. I'm not worried about the afterlife. A more sensible mythology might be that if you do good while you're on earth, those who love you will be well-taken care of after you die. 'Cause what good is living large in olam haba if your loved ones are dealing with a world of eek in your absence? That would be like watching a nightmare. Not for me, thanks.
Not that I don't think moshiach is more of an abstract concept, but whatever gets people to do good in this world is fine with me. Any redemption I need will only come daily from conscious, daily practice, not from a dude on a donkey and buildings coming loose from their moorings.
Unrelated, sort of: getting a good place in olam haba seems silly to me. I'm not worried about the afterlife. A more sensible mythology might be that if you do good while you're on earth, those who love you will be well-taken care of after you die. 'Cause what good is living large in olam haba if your loved ones are dealing with a world of eek in your absence? That would be like watching a nightmare. Not for me, thanks.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
From Elsewhere (A Secular Place)
from a note to a friend about the idea of going away over YK (I'm likely not; watch, I'll find religion. lol.). I added some returns to make it easier to read.
As you know, part of me digs the spiritual, and I dig taking the month before the holidays as a time for introspection and thinking about how things have gone and where I want them to go and all that s, but I have stuck around and been around for holidays because it might be my [relative]'s last for about five years, now ...
... (today's 7 years since my grandpa died; I think of him every day, and was thinking jahrzeit is stupid [for those who remember the dead daily], so I looked up what it's all about, and I learned folks who go to pray in public say [a memorial prayer that's actually an affirmation of faith; kooky Jews] the mourner's Kaddish, in addition to lighting a candle.
(And I learned that lighting a candle is a custom from other faiths, but I kind of like the idea of singing a song that makes you feel like (ooh, child, things are gonna get easier ... ), and I like the idea of shining some light, figuratively or literally, on a day that might otherwise have some extra boo in it.
And that's me. I learn what it is and take the parts I like and make them mine, sometimes in my own way. And I don't believe God's a man with a beard in the sky, but when we all get musical goosebumps, that's bigger than all of us, and if anyone wants to call that God, that's fine with me, 'cause I totally believe in that.
As you know, part of me digs the spiritual, and I dig taking the month before the holidays as a time for introspection and thinking about how things have gone and where I want them to go and all that s, but I have stuck around and been around for holidays because it might be my [relative]'s last for about five years, now ...
... (today's 7 years since my grandpa died; I think of him every day, and was thinking jahrzeit is stupid [for those who remember the dead daily], so I looked up what it's all about, and I learned folks who go to pray in public say [a memorial prayer that's actually an affirmation of faith; kooky Jews] the mourner's Kaddish, in addition to lighting a candle.
(And I learned that lighting a candle is a custom from other faiths, but I kind of like the idea of singing a song that makes you feel like (ooh, child, things are gonna get easier ... ), and I like the idea of shining some light, figuratively or literally, on a day that might otherwise have some extra boo in it.
And that's me. I learn what it is and take the parts I like and make them mine, sometimes in my own way. And I don't believe God's a man with a beard in the sky, but when we all get musical goosebumps, that's bigger than all of us, and if anyone wants to call that God, that's fine with me, 'cause I totally believe in that.
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