Starting over

Magic carpet

The world as pure object is something that is not there.  It is not a reality outside us for which we exist . . . it is a living and self-creating mystery of which I am myself a part, to which I am myself, my own unique door.

~ Thomas Merton

Back to the woods

Have you ever written an entire blog post and then decided to start over?

Let’s take a stroll

Yesterday I wrote a long post, wordy for me (the word count was over 1,000), and this morning I deleted everything except the images.

Dwarfed by the trees

It was a post about religion.  Religion, like politics, is a subject I generally avoid on my blog.  Both subjects, it seems to me, are a matter of opinion and faith, and in some cases, based more on faith than fact.  Not that there’s anything wrong with faith.  As a song from the 80’s advised, sometimes ya gotta have faith.

One of many paths

Now, the invention of the scientific method and science is, I’m sure we’ll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understand and challenging the world around us that there is, and that it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked and if it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn’t withstand the attack then down it goes.  Religion doesn’t seem to work like that; it has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever.  That’s an idea we’re so familiar with, whether we subscribe to it or not, that it’s kind of odd to think what it actually means, because really what it means is ‘Here is an idea or a notion that you’re not allowed to say anything bad about: you’re just not.  Why not? — because you’re not!

~ Douglas Adams

One trail sometimes resembles another

I’m not of any particular religion although I was baptized and raised in one, and have studied and practiced others.  It is for that reason I decided it was best to delete and start over.  Religion and faith are very important in the lives of many people, and I didn’t want to step on any toes.  I felt sure I would no matter how carefully I put together my thoughts into words, sentences, and paragraphs.

A turn in the path can look like a dead end

For the curious minded, the post was a result of a blog post I read a week or two ago in which a young Christian questioned how atheists could have morals and/or ethics given that they don’t worry about suffering the wrath of a god or have a Biblical set of rules they’re required to follow.  My short answer to that, the answer that doesn’t require over one thousand words, is that the atheists (and people of faiths other than Christianity) I know are good, kind, and loving for the sake of it.  They help others with no strings attached.  They do it not to preach at them or require them to attend their church or convert to their faith, but for the sake of reaching out and helping others because they are compassionate people and wish to help their fellow man.

Light and shadows along the way

So, you see, I went ahead and had my say anyhow.

As above

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

The walk continues…

All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with ‘winning or losing this game of chess.’

~ Marcel Duchamp

Today’s joys:  Finally getting my eyes checked so I can get new glasses.  The folks at the eye doctor’s office.  (Everyone was really friendly.)  Another beautiful day on the Eastern Shore.  Friends.  Words, gifts, that touched my heart.