India made me think. I thought about, or noticed, paradox a lot. Here's a biggie: I am heavier now than I've ever been in my life. It's just a fact and a number. And I've never felt more beautiful than when I was in India. Now why is that?
I suppose it could be in part because people flocked to ask to take their picture with me. I'm fairly sure they'd not seen much like me lately. Ha. I was hanging out with people in their twenties - beautiful people by anyone's standards - and they regularly told me I was beautiful. I guess I just decided to relax and believe them.
A few decades ago I had a bit of a problem eating. I needed to closely control how much I weighed and what I ate. I was so good at that! I thought I looked good. Now when I see pictures of me, I think about how very sad I was. I'm sure that Dougie, my internist, will tell me that I absolutely must lose weight to be healthy, but I can't take that skinny boy too seriously. I mean, really, what the heck.
I am convinced that beauty actually does (I know, I know, we've heard it all our lives, but I just figured out that it's true!) come from within. I am of my creator and I know it. How could I not be beautiful?
Oh, yeah, and here's another pair of socks (or paradox, if you prefer). I had 31 hours of airplane time all together so I loaded up my Kindle with some light reading. I took Gnostic Gospels along with some of the NT to chew on again while I was up in the air. So I'm going to the ancient land of multi-limbed and colorful gods and goddesses and I'm buffing up on Christianity. I was about to say that one thing had nothing to do with the other, but I don't believe in coincidence so very much.
Spending so much time with Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs gave me the rare opportunity to delve more deeply into comparative religion, which is a huge love of mine. And get this - all believe in One God. Sure, the Hindus have that great buffet of manifestations of God, but when it comes right down to it. . . . . just One. And he Koran talks about Mary, the mother of Jesus more than the NT does. Everyone seems to agree that Jesus has it together.
And here's another twisty turny. I blame religious fundamentalists for the wars and evil that is tearing this planet apart. I make no excuses for that belief. However, I don't blame people who strive to be Christ-like, or people who read the Koran as a Book of Peace. I blame institutions that have much to gain from centuries of twisting and ruling and interpreting holy books to suit their needs. Yeah, they come in every flavor.
At one point, I asked a Hindu friend if Krishna died. Yes, Krishna died. I was a bit startled. He's sort of he big dude. I said something about gods not dying in other religions. He replied that Jesus died. And get this. I found myself explaining the resurrection of Jesus to Hindu. Yes, I did!
I'm not eating the meat these days, though I can't say it's because I believe that every Hindu god in on a cow. I just think it's not a sustainable, and therefore not a responsible way for me to live. I've tried to be kosher in some sense for a long time, not because I'm Jewish, but because if one thinks about it, it doesn't make sense to eat pigs, which are so similar to humans that we use bits of them in our bodies to repair hearts, etc., or shell fish, which are Nature's garbage disposals. I don't have a lot of trouble staying away from birds of prey, so there's that. . .
I believe there are some practical rules in religions and there are some rules that need to be considered within the context of history and culture. I don't think I should own any slaves, for example, and I'm not in favor of stoning people (with rocks, that is) or making menstruating women live outside the city limits. I'm not sure why the Sikhs believe that they should never cut their hair, although, they mostly seem to have beautiful hair, but it makes total sense that they believe people should earn their livings honorably and basically be good people.
I reckon that when it comes to religion, we all have a responsibility to read and think and wonder and question continuously. So many just blindly accept an entire menu - others are so ding dang angry about religion that they throw the baby out with the bathwater.*
Anyway, I don't profess to know the answers. But I'm having such a grand time asking questions. I'm grateful.
* Thomas, the doubting disciple of Jesus, and Mary report about many times that the water Mary used to bathe the infant Jesus was used to cure people of various problems. I hadn't connected that with the phrase until I just now used it in this post?
I suppose it could be in part because people flocked to ask to take their picture with me. I'm fairly sure they'd not seen much like me lately. Ha. I was hanging out with people in their twenties - beautiful people by anyone's standards - and they regularly told me I was beautiful. I guess I just decided to relax and believe them.
A few decades ago I had a bit of a problem eating. I needed to closely control how much I weighed and what I ate. I was so good at that! I thought I looked good. Now when I see pictures of me, I think about how very sad I was. I'm sure that Dougie, my internist, will tell me that I absolutely must lose weight to be healthy, but I can't take that skinny boy too seriously. I mean, really, what the heck.
I am convinced that beauty actually does (I know, I know, we've heard it all our lives, but I just figured out that it's true!) come from within. I am of my creator and I know it. How could I not be beautiful?
Oh, yeah, and here's another pair of socks (or paradox, if you prefer). I had 31 hours of airplane time all together so I loaded up my Kindle with some light reading. I took Gnostic Gospels along with some of the NT to chew on again while I was up in the air. So I'm going to the ancient land of multi-limbed and colorful gods and goddesses and I'm buffing up on Christianity. I was about to say that one thing had nothing to do with the other, but I don't believe in coincidence so very much.
Spending so much time with Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs gave me the rare opportunity to delve more deeply into comparative religion, which is a huge love of mine. And get this - all believe in One God. Sure, the Hindus have that great buffet of manifestations of God, but when it comes right down to it. . . . . just One. And he Koran talks about Mary, the mother of Jesus more than the NT does. Everyone seems to agree that Jesus has it together.
And here's another twisty turny. I blame religious fundamentalists for the wars and evil that is tearing this planet apart. I make no excuses for that belief. However, I don't blame people who strive to be Christ-like, or people who read the Koran as a Book of Peace. I blame institutions that have much to gain from centuries of twisting and ruling and interpreting holy books to suit their needs. Yeah, they come in every flavor.
At one point, I asked a Hindu friend if Krishna died. Yes, Krishna died. I was a bit startled. He's sort of he big dude. I said something about gods not dying in other religions. He replied that Jesus died. And get this. I found myself explaining the resurrection of Jesus to Hindu. Yes, I did!
I'm not eating the meat these days, though I can't say it's because I believe that every Hindu god in on a cow. I just think it's not a sustainable, and therefore not a responsible way for me to live. I've tried to be kosher in some sense for a long time, not because I'm Jewish, but because if one thinks about it, it doesn't make sense to eat pigs, which are so similar to humans that we use bits of them in our bodies to repair hearts, etc., or shell fish, which are Nature's garbage disposals. I don't have a lot of trouble staying away from birds of prey, so there's that. . .
I believe there are some practical rules in religions and there are some rules that need to be considered within the context of history and culture. I don't think I should own any slaves, for example, and I'm not in favor of stoning people (with rocks, that is) or making menstruating women live outside the city limits. I'm not sure why the Sikhs believe that they should never cut their hair, although, they mostly seem to have beautiful hair, but it makes total sense that they believe people should earn their livings honorably and basically be good people.
I reckon that when it comes to religion, we all have a responsibility to read and think and wonder and question continuously. So many just blindly accept an entire menu - others are so ding dang angry about religion that they throw the baby out with the bathwater.*
Anyway, I don't profess to know the answers. But I'm having such a grand time asking questions. I'm grateful.
* Thomas, the doubting disciple of Jesus, and Mary report about many times that the water Mary used to bathe the infant Jesus was used to cure people of various problems. I hadn't connected that with the phrase until I just now used it in this post?
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