Words Are Limiting

If I had to say what was underneath all of our problems here on earth, I would give the credit to evil, yes, I said it, evil. Our perception of evil is interesting, no longer do people see right and wrong and when someone does something hideous to another human being, it is not evil, it is simply mental illness. We’ve developed a new language to disguise the black and white duality in which we exist and we have become a muddied gray of inconsistencies and untruths.

I’ve heard it said that all the world’s problems are caused by religion, the wars, the inquisitions, the witch hunts, slavery, oppression, pedophilia, abuse and on and on, and most people believe that religion means belonging to a religious organization. But according to the dictionary, religion means - Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe or a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. So anyone that believes in a higher power, or God, is religious. And according to the growing popular belief system, anyone who believes in God is the problem.

I often read intellectual debates of those trying to disprove the existence of God, but I tend to find most of them circular and in the end, it comes down to a simple difference of perception. I know God exists because I see Him everywhere. I see Him in the faces of the children who come to our gigs and dance and giggle. I see Him in the smooth wrinkles of the elderly. I see Him as the ocean ebbs and flows, in the trees that contain too many greens to name, in the birds nesting trustfully, in the flowers that return every year like a promise. I see Him in wildlife and in the instinctual wisdom of animals, I see Him when a human being expresses empathy and compassion towards a stranger, I see Him, I always have. And my seeing Him doesn’t come from rigid religious training, I wasn’t raised in a church or by Bible thumpers, I simply came into the world knowing that above all else, He is real.

My knowledge of God goes beyond the books and the organized religions and the semantics, words are limiting and cannot, in many cases, express the basic truths. We are pretty arrogant these days, educated and self-esteemed beyond measure and we carry our belief systems, either for or against, like a billboard on our shoulders, daring another to comment. I’ve had both Christians and Atheists attempt to convert me and have been informed of my lack of understanding and ignorance by both sides and yet this subtle tug, this small beam of light in a gray world will not be denied.

If I had to label myself, something I loathe to do, I would say I am a follower of Christ’s teachings. Although I always knew of God’s existence, I did not understand Christ until 2003 while I was recovering from the loss of my only child and from a surgical mistake that left me bedridden for months. I did not go seeking Jesus, he found me and I grew to understand the words “born again”. I did not join a church and attempt to convert others because I understand how infinitely personal the change is, it not something to be found looking outside of oneself, but by keeping a focus inside. It is not something to be found by saying a certain prayer and it is not something to be found by spending more time in the world, but less so.

There is wrong and right and good and evil in this world, but it is not my job to judge others, only my job to judge a situation for myself and decide if it is taking me closer to God or further from Him. If we believe that life ends here and we are worm food, we have no need to strive for anything more than control, money and material possessions, but if we believe, as I do, that there is something after this life, then we must stay on the narrow path. And the path is not as clear as organized religions would have us think, it is hidden, that is why we were instructed to seek.

As I see the manipulations we endure down here I understand that evil is real and not a mental illness or a sickness. As I see the manipulations I wonder how any of us will survive. We have been well taught that the real truth only comes from the government, religious organizations, science or the media. We believe that we must have a middleman, an expert, to explain the truth to us. We have lost our way, have become dependent upon our leaders and we have learned that it is far easier to give into peer pressure than to think for ourselves.

It is my belief that this journey through life is like a staircase, each time we move forward we will see, learn and experience disturbing things, the trick is to overcome the fear and take another step. We must challenge ourselves; we must seek beyond where others have found their truths. And above all else we must not be blinded by arrogance, popular opinion or fearful conclusions. Some say we only get one chance at this life, but I have a feeling we get many, too many to stay blind.

Keep Seeking