Today I’ve been soul-searching, wondering, “Why do people fight over religion?”Why don’t we just support each other and in the end allow our unbridled souls to get down to the real heart of the matter.If we are all seekers of truth, the contrasts may be striking, but how beautiful the light which encompasses our different aspects!
The world, it seems, is breaking down into essentially two factions:Fundamentalists and Everyone Else (moderates and progressives).It also seems that even as the fundamentalists lament the fact that they continue to be prevailed upon by the moderates and progressives, it is they who are initiating the persecution and in many cases, the violence.
People are being persecuted for their beliefs.Gentleness and love are being attacked by hatred and darkness; anger and ignorance.Each of us deserves to have the opportunity to search and find our own truths, and we all must search for these truths in our own way.And while these ways may be different between people, unless they are harming people, we must make room to allow for individuality.To do any less would be to cause people and ourselves to lie even to ourselves and each other.We can’t fake our own truth any more convincingly than we could fake our passion.
I find tremendous wisdom and humility in people who say they are lost.In my world, I feel lost in many ways.I feel more at home in the soul realm, and much less here in the material.And don’t get me wrong, I do like opening presents, as well as giving presents, and I would love to have a bathtub with lavender bubbles.But in the end I can’t bring myself to truly care about any of that, because things in and of themselves have no meaning beyond the materials they are made of.It is the thought, the love, all of the circumstances surrounding “it” that gives it any significant value.Some people might call this sentimentality.I would prefer to see it as a blessing that a giver bestows upon an object for its recipient.So, too, are the gifts for the homeless or the destitute where it is not merely the clothing or the money themselves that have significance.It is instead the love and the blessings that come with those gifts that encourage the recipient to make good use of them…to put themselves in a place where they, too, can give and continue to spread the blessings.
This I believe:Jesus came to bring each of us Christ consciousness, and to reveal the true meaning of love by the way he lived.Through his actions he united mysticism and religion, so that the two have new meaning.And so, in the end, he shows us what it truly means to love, and the tremendous role that it plays in our faith, in our connection to God, and our connection to each other.
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
Adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate:only love can do that.”--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
