SENSE AND NONSENSE

Musings from The Nineteen-eighties. [Before I Joined A Religion]

I discovered these lines on yellowed scraps of paper in a bundle of musings I had typed out on an old manual typewriter back in about 1983. I had been following the writings of Charles Lindbergh, world-famous pilot, and in later years, an environmentalist. His writings had been featured in serialized form in the Readers Digest magazine. I had also been reading books by a woman named Vera Stanley Alder about what she referred to as “The Ancient Wisdom.” All interesting stuff for a woman like me, raised in the bush, and never having paid much attention to any kind of philosophical or religious idiom. But I did consider myself as a Christian, after having read parts of the Bible from time to time.

Organized religion is often regarded with fear and/or distrust. The distrust stems from the tendency of the church elders and priests to dictate certain rules and to solicit money from its members. The fear is invoked by the mysticism shrouded around the interpretations of the religious writings. God (or Gods) are most often depicted as all-powerful beings who are somehow situated in a spot above the earth where they can peer down upon us and keep track of each, and every individual mistake made by man.

Language is a poor communication tool, and many words have changed in meaning over the years. I strongly believe the word “fear” in “fear the Lord” (from the Bible) is meant to mean “respect”

My dictionary says one definition of fear is: “The reverence or awe felt for God.” If this is so, the whole idea of being afraid of God and intimidated at the thought of punishment for our sins, is wrong. It may even be the cause for the wrongdoing of those who are naturally rebellious and have, for one reason or another, gotten their kicks from defying authority of any kind.

My favourite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastics. There is one word in there that is frequently used, but I believe is not meant to be interpreted as it is. The word “meaningless” reflects a note of despair in modern day usage. I think the phrase “without meaning” or “without importance” would be more in line with what the author intended to convey. The message in Ecclesiastics is meant to be a comparison between what man generally regards as of importance, and the insignificance of it compared to the spiritual way of life; of living as we are meant to live (in harmony with one another and all other creatures.)

My youngest daughter refers to God as “a feeling.” I believe her definition is apt. When God is referred to as “Him” it is not meant that He is a male being. (My trusty dictionary – one definition- defines He to be: “one of unspecified sex.”)

God is sometimes referred to as “Mother Nature” but the term does not denote femininity as such.

The word “Mother” is apt in one sense. It can mean: “that from which others have sprung” (Oxford dictionary) and denotes a sort of completion, which in my mind is what God is.

God is a completion, but his various components are in a constant state of change. God is the Whole: The Spirit which abides in each one of us (animals, vegetables, mineral, etc.) We are the pieces of a 3-dimensional jig-saw puzzle which, because of the 4^th dimension (time) are in a constant state of change in relationship to one another. Each change necessitates changes in adjoining pieces of the puzzle….

PS would love some feedback on this blog. Thank you. By the way these musings are not necessarily what I believe now. But I do like the metaphor of the jig-saw puzzle…