Total Pageviews

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Thoughts on Spirituality: Of Mystic Predisposition

First and foremost, happy Easter to my Jesus-centered friends and family. Tidings also to my pagan friends and family, celebratory joy to you as well.

Check out (yeah, I know it is an article from The Guardian), please forgive me as I realize there is rudeness at the end of the article.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism

Recently Robin asked if I consider myself Christian, if I believe in Jesus. The answer to that, like many things in my life, is complex...it is more of a journey along a story path rather than a direct yes/no answer.

To answer the question, I have to acknowledge that first and foremost, fundamentalism in my recent activist life has done much to encourage me on paths away from the "Christianity" most of them profess and towards secluded wooded paths more inclined to a spirtuality I have had since childhood.

Since young, you see, I have had more of a proclivity towards questioning... towards looking for the divine in the secretive places... to observing it in the flight of a butterfly's wings, or the breeze on a nice day. One might argue that I have the predisposition towards mysticism in all its shadowed glory. A more accurate representation might be that I am one of the wanderers.

I don't know where God or the Goddess (or however the Divine wishes to define itself) is.
Here is what my life experience has told me though.
  1. I have spoken with the Divine Embodiment of Love and Creation. I did so before I transitioned about transition itself. The answer in simple straightforward and loving tones was "You are my child, however you are...you are part of me"
  2. The divine lives in each and every one of us. Simultaneously, great darkness lives inside each and every one of us.
  3. When I die, I hope that others say of me "8 out of 10 times" she listened and followed the whisper of the Goddess. Sometimes, sometimes, the reason I do things are for one of two reasons.
    1. I possess some amount of knowing or instinct that is 12 steps ahead and tells me, "this is the way this is done"
    2. I have been instructed by the act of love, or the whisper of the divine, that this is the action to take.
  4.   I have doubts, I have questions...and that is ok. That is part of how my wandering spirituality works. I will not find all the answers this life. I don't need to.......remember that the journey itself is part of the win.
I don't know if Jesus was the Son of God, the Song of the Divine, or a really smart, compassionate, activist rabbi of the masses. I honestly don't think it matters. I don't believe that my absolution, resurrection, or salvation in the next life depends on it.
I don't believe in a divinity that arbitrary, the one I wish to seek for is compassion and love itself and accepts, heals, and resurrects all.
I also take a hard look at the metaphysics of the supposition.

If Jesus died for the sins of mankind, then all are forgiven. No strings attached (despite what some denominations may preach). The metaphysical act of sacrifice negated the metaphysical act of disobedience that created the concept of sin. This, at once, freed the world of its burden.

Most of what we call "sins" are really guidelines for how we should treat each other in love and community, how to structure a respectful society. From this perspective, to hold one's eternal soul hostage over them is contrary and not in keeping with a divinity that embodies love and second chances.

Hence, if you believe in the resurrection, if you believe in the risen Christ, then redemption itself says to the throw the concept of sin out the window and work on living together.

As I said though.....I have the predisposition of a mystic.....or moreso the wanderer......what the heck do I know, .....we are the wise fools of the spiritual realms.

Have a day of harmony, joy, and peace....and live into that as you try to make it "stick" in your family and community.