Losing your religion?

THE moment I utter, “Yes, I do read the Bible, and I have one beside my bed,” I know I'd easily invite a weirded-out gaze from a number of my “enlightened” acquaintances. “So are you going to preach to me now?” But then, what would they say if they see a Gardnerian Wiccan pendant co-existing with a Christian crucifix and Hare Krishna beads on my writing desk; beside are LPs of Ozzie Osbourne's “No Rest for the Wicked” and Led Zeppelin's “Houses of the Holy” and cozily lounging among stacks of secondhand books are Mao Zedong's “The Red Book,” Anais Nin's “Delta of Venus,” and a Sanskrit version of Kama Sutra. I also have a Che Guevara-styled beret and the obligatory pop culturized t-shirt of his Benicio del Toro profile (sic). And so on and so forth...

          According to a Pew Research report, the percentage of Americans who are not affiliated with any religion is on the rise, a third of Americans under 30. Not hard to believe that. We have grown doubtful and wary and suspicious of so many things—yet it is very convenient to google a certain data or info and adhere to it. For me, Biblical words, such as (Matthew 9:21): “If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole,” or (1 Corinthians 13.4): “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud,” are sublime words that inspire us to do good—same as a Lakota elderly's espousals of the spirit of the buffalo or what Ayn Rand probably inferred in her objectivist epistemology. Of course, it depends on how you/we paraphrase certain pronouncements. Words, teachings, beliefs, truths, wisdom. We pick up or harvest the good stuff, we reject what we deem as evil.

          The human mind, I believe, has the ability to filter these stimuli and just retain what works for him/her as an individual—in pursuing good deeds for one's self and the humanity at large. We criticize Christianity and other traditional faiths and say we are atheists and pagans—but aren't these sets of beliefs and behaviors, as well? In the northern mountains of the Philippines, they pray to wooden gods called anitos—in parallel wavelength as how the Tsimshian in British Columbia and native Alaskans pay homage to the totem pole. Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity, Socialism, Paganism. Beliefs, sets of adherence and surrender that draw patterns of our life and living. I condemn Spanish Catholic friars who grabbed lands in colonial Philippines, in probably the same disenchantments that former devotees question their faith at their time (ie Martin Luther and Robert Cochrane vis-a-vis Christianity and Neo-paganism, respectively).

       

Personalities as imperfect entities, human reflex and response question the spiritual validity of a faith. It is embedded in humanity. Many so-called spiritual leaders are amassing millions with their “churches,” but if a person's faith is deeply embedded in him, he will look at these dalliances as individuals, not as a whole. For, I don't believe in accepting payments for sharing spiritual thoughts; capitalism then enters the “church.” But many of us these days condemn Catholicism etc as instruments of manipulation and control—as though other sets of beliefs aren't prone to such things as well. I covered a “spiritual gathering” in Orange County CA that charges $85/head for a 4-hour lecture with healthy snacks; attended a 2-hour “wellness and love” seminar in upstate New York, presided by a dude with an assumed Tsalagi/Cherokee name, that “imposed” a $25 minimum “love donation” to step in; and so on and so forth. Bottomline, we have to read and experience more before we criticize or ridicule other people's system of obedience and discipline. A good person is a good person; it is all about practice, not what he/she preaches or says.

         So I read the Bible, Bhagavad Gita and I read “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight”--only the first books though—and I time and again revisit “Catcher in the Rye,” “The Fountainhead,” Sun Tzu's “The Art of War,” Paulo Freire's “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Alvin Toffler's “Future Shock,” George Orwell's “Animal Farm,” Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World,” and “Blue Highways” by William Least Heat-Moon as Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Muddy Waters, Maurice Ravel's “Bolero,” and Sufi whirling dervish trance swing by. The world is beautiful in its transcendent diversity. I'd like to enjoy differences and savor moments, than continue building and fortifying barriers up front. Now, do I hear, “You are so fucked up, dude! Here, have some joint!” Oh well.