Finding Faith

There are so many different religions now a days and each one of them all claim to be the worshippers of the “REAL” God. They take the approach of telling you that your going to go to Hell if you don’t agree with their beliefs and that your basically a horrible person for not going to church. Tell me what is that all about? Why are they using commercial marketing techniques like fear to get you into church for one and 2nd there are so many different types of religions out there, how are we supposed to know which one if any is telling the truth?

I say forget religion. Organized religion is like Science’s COINCIDENCE. They all claim basically the same god, but it gets undefined from there so each one of them offers their own version of how to worship and WHAT to worship. If you want to find a religion you like best and follow it then more power to you. However, I have made my spiritual decision, I am taking the personal approach to it all. I’m not going to let some organization tell me that I am wrong about how I feel and then try to stick me in a conformed mold telling me to “believe this”. Unlike science these guys are expecting me to just trust them without any physical proof and that’s a bit hard for me because I already don’t like how they attempt to suppress free thinking.

God could never expect us to REALLY find him in places like this could he? Maybe some people, but most of us probably couldn’t. It is up to us to find him out there in the world as he weaves in and out through daily lives.
Some people find him In hard times… a mother gets in a car accident and she isn’t supposed to make it, the family prays and she recovers IT’S A MIRACLE…. This family, expecting their loved one to die, suddenly was just overwhelmed with relief and a strengthened love for the lord. She was saved.

Some may ask… How come when god does something good HE works miracles but when something bad happens either the devil did it or simply “he just works in mysterious ways” I agree that both of those answers are bull shit cop-outs, they are “COINCIDENCES” are they not? I think that god DOES allow bad things to happen to people and there is nothing wrong with that at all. We are on a journey of life and beyond the every -day tedious things that we do it is our responsibility to use these bodies as vessels to carry our inner souls. Life is about strengthening your soul, its about understanding what YOU really believe in and molding yourself into who you want to be. Look back in life and name ONE THING that happened to you that you felt was horrible that you DIDN’T learn something from? Name one bumpy road that you didn’t make it out of? You stubbed your toes, you skinned your knees, you cut your elbows when you were a kid… maybe you didn’t learn a lesson at the time but those scrapes and bruises taught you WHAT pain was and gave you a real example of it. So when you got into a car accident when you were 16 and glass cut your face up you would be prepared and not shocked at the feeling of pain, you were prepped for it.

When things get really hard though… when you go off the deep end in life and everything goes horribly wrong for you I think that’s where god is present most of all. It is my belief that life on this planet is merely a way of forming our souls and getting them ready for the after life. When your soul is ready… that’s when you die, that’s when you get to leave this vehicle we call a body and live real life. So when you have pain from all directions and you feel like you are at your lowest that’s when something will pull you out of it. Maybe god’s subtle hints that he is present wasn’t enough for you so he put you at your lowest just to pull you out. The trick is to not take that for granted. Don’t think it’s a coincidence when everything gets better in your life. I’m not saying believe its god, I’m just saying believe in SOMETHING because everyone needs something to believe in and if we don’t start noticing life’s wonders then what is the point of living anyways? Listen to music and sing along, let it give you goose bumps… if you like gardening spend your afternoon in the flower bed and enjoy yourself… whatever it is that you love in this world I want you to do it. And at that moment when you feel so much happiness in such a small little aspect of life I want you to ask yourself how you DON’T believe in a higher power?

Science Vs Religion

Who hasn’t been in one of “those” arguments where the two parties banter back and fourth about how the earth was created. People on the spiritual side of things like to quote the bible. They read off quotes and facts that are posted in the good book and trust those words with everything they behold. Of course the immediate response from the other side is how can we trust the bible? I mean, to a non-religious person the bible is just a book written years ago and there is no way of proving if what the people are saying is true or not. I can see how a person can discredit what is in the bible because there are billions of possibilities of how it may have been changed or mistranslated over the years. The possibility also comes to mind that maybe religion in itself is just one big hoax, some dingbats decided to start telling stories of an all powerful creator and to their surprised it caught on and remained to exist for years after, even after their death.

On the same note though, we can’t exactly trust a scientific explanation of the creation of our world either. I think that it’s a lot of time assumed by people that science can not be wrong in this day and age since we are so “advanced.” Think for a second though, how the HELL can any scientist tell us that the world all happened from a big bang? Were they there to see it? Sure, we have scientific evidence that the universe is constantly expanding… but how long has it been growing like this? It is said that the universe has always been this way and I believe that’s an awful brave thing to say when we have really only been able to study space for the past 50 years. How do we know that this expansion didn’t just start in the 1900’s? On top of all of those “What Ifs” we really need to think about how enormous the universe is and ask ourselves how they really know what is happening at the end of space and time. If it is true that they can really measure the entire universe then I ask why the fuck cant we cure aids… aids is A LOT smaller then the universe.

To wrap all of that up into simple words:

Science and Religion BOTH require you to have faith, you would be foolish to believe that either are flawless. You can not COMPLETELY explain to me in scientific detail how this world works and if you try I will prove you wrong and its simple as that. Likewise you can not completely trust a spiritual belief. We have our scientific beliefs because we are shown examples of their existence so we feel confident that these things are “real.”
Finding faith, however, is a bit more difficult In this day and age for several reasons.

1. Organized religion preaches so hard and overwhelming that people are either scared INTO church or they are drove away all together.
2. The ego of today’s people ( especially Americans ) is that we are a mighty force and that if we cant explain it or prove it then it must not be real.
3. Dreaming is “for children”… we feel pressured into being realistic and we shut off our free thinking feeling that we are inferior for believing in some fantasy like god.

I get so upset at people who tell me I’m wrong when I tell them that even their scientific explanation isn’t enough to prove an event to me. For example I love the fall colors, to me it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Why is it that I can find beauty in death all around me? How is it that leaves and wind and cold rain coming together become amazing to me? Ok here it comes I’m going to get the answers to the miracle I am experiencing. Well the human brain finds comfort in certain colors and blah blah blah and when get its rainy the leaves get wet and the color is brighter and your brain sees that…. Sure. Great. Keep going. Ok. I know WHY my brain likes the colors now, I know WHY I like it when it rains, and I know WHY fall is so awesome now. For most people they will say science proves it and leave it at that not asking any more questions. ME THOUGH… I want to know why our brain was programmed to like these things… what is the scientific reason that fall colors are the same ones that are calming to the human brain? Explain to me why the rain makes these colors brighter? How come rain doesn’t fade color? Most importantly explain how my human brain is equipped to enjoy this series of events that “just so happens” to come together? So I suppose that these mind energizing events all happening at once is nothing more then a simple coincidence? Define coincidence. To me the word coincidence is just a way of saying “I don’t why” and not making it sound that way.

These “COINCIDENCES” are where faith comes in to play and where you can begin to find spiritual stimulation and it all begins with looking closer at everyday things and to not stop asking questions. I understand following scientific fact, but In this case they can’t explain something so they offer the theory of coincidence but IT IS just a theory. We can’t be afraid to explore our own theories and ideas, without wonder and imagination then we are nothing more then mindless robots in a purposeless life.

The SIgn

I want to experience a moment of clarity where a person is suddenly enlightened and every mixed up uncertainty about life magically fits together like a giant jig saw puzzle. I desire a sense of hope in this failing world, something even the smallest of size to enter my life and be that driving entity that puts me to EXACTLY where I want to be in society.
I am a dreamer and will never argue that fact and also am very optimistic when it comes to those “shades of grey” we face in life, but I am grounded enough to understand and know that I’m not going to get this magical message from a higher power to make everything suddenly right in life.
SO WHAT DO WE DO? How can we take on this task of “putting this world together” and studying it piece by piece while at the same time functioning as a normal member of society? I say the answers have been put right before our very eyes, but we have been so brainwashed by the “scientific facts” that our brains don’t get that chance to dream and hope like they used to. When you were a kid your imagination was wild and crazy, you came up with dreams of “flying like Superman” or living on the moon. No one ever told you that you were wrong or that you couldn’t do something because you were just a kid and they wanted you to grow up with the belief in you that anything was possible.
Then all of a sudden that child is an adult and he KNOWS he cant live on the moon and there is no way for him to fly so he puts all of those silly childhood infatuations away. He finds out the sky is blue because of color diffusion, that magic trick his dad used to do was a hoax, and without money he “cant” try and run for the President Of The United States. I agree some of those things are true but It’s incredible how over the passed 100 years the world suddenly became wonder-less. Miracles can be explained by scientific theory and coincidence can be broke down and studied and be put into numbers and probability. Every where you turn someone is trying to crush your hopes of an improbable desire and there is no way to stop it because “Science Explains it…” Well guess what? Science once told us that the world was FLAT, science once told us that you cant catch an STD off of a toilet seat, and science assumed and believed that cloning wouldn’t be possible. What’s my point? My point is actually in the form of a question for everyone… How can you let ANYTHING stop you from dreaming, especially something as ever changing as scientific “fact.” I’m not saying everyone should go jump off of a skyscraper and try to fly or anything foolish like that, however I think we would be a lot happier as a society if we allowed ourselves to dream every once and a while

The Good Old Days

In life we never seem to appreciate something until its gone away. Much like most things are, this is a most frequently used phrase when speaking of a failed relationship or a passing loved one, but It goes much deeper then that. With each moment that passes each of us sit in quiet envy of “a better time” or “the good old days” never fully understanding that each passing moment will most likely one day fit into that category. Think of the different places you have lived as you’ve grown and how each location seems to differentiate each chapter in your timeline. I know I have personally been many places in my twenty four years on this planet, and it never fails me to think about a previous year and how much more exciting I thought it to be then the present. “I wish it was like that again”... I would catch myself saying. Then as another year passes and I move on to a different existence and somehow find myself thinking about how much better the previous year had been. Although at the time you may not believe it, each moment of our lives we are living in “the good old days” and if we could somehow teach ourselves to look at the present for what it will one day mean to us, then I believe we would all live much happier and more rewarding lives.

First Site...

Is it crazy to think that you could fall in love at first site? That someone could overwhelm your heart and soul so much that you instantly find yourself wanting to get on one knee and spend the rest of your life with them at very first glance? Some say its hormones, because you don’t really see the person for who they are. To me that makes no sense. My mom to me is my nurturer and parent, while to her husband or mother or brother she is a completely different person… how can you EVER know someone completely when they are actually a hundred different people depending on how they look at them? Is it acceptable to only say that you love them when they (to you) become a person you’ve come to relate with and understand? When do you reach that acceptable point in time when “your allowed” to be in love with them? People constantly evolve in your heart, otherwise they don’t stay around… The girl you crush on, becomes the girl you like, the girl you like becomes the girl you date, the girl you date becomes the one you love… and when you look back at all these different stages in your relationship it almost seems like you were with a completely different person each time. That being said… maybe its not possible for you to love someone as a close companion and mate at very first glance, because to you he/she isn’t that person yet, but you could easily fall… head over heels for them as the person they are in that first stage of it all. And as you grow closer and they transform slowly… there would be ways to fall in love “at first site” over and over and over again until the end of time… think about it.

What A Joke...

Love is a joke. Yes I said it… L-O-V-E is a joke. I suppose many would argue that statement, especially those people who are currently blessed with its company and are living in complete euphoria and aw of its power. Think about it though, even those of you who’s heads are floating amongst the clouds… what is a joke? The first thing that would come to the mind of most is “something funny or laughable” or “something NOT serious.” Sure that would describe one attribute of that four-letter word, but there is much more to it then that. Think about when something horribly ironic happens to you and all you can manage to mutter out of your dropped jaw is… “Is this a joke” Think about that horrible day you went threw and your friend came over armed with a clever and side splitting joke to tell… think about how it brightened your mood. It is Shock, it is laughter, it can ease a tense situation, yet bring discomfort to another if used improperly. It is summed up into a simple definition, yet words can’t even start to describe the power of its presence. Tell me is love any different? Love is a joke.

God Anyone?

We live to chase impossible goals; unaware of the fact that fate follows us just the same. We are blessed with gifts from the heavens nearly every second of our lives, yet we are too lazy to obtain and understand the “glasses” that allow us to see these treasures. It’s funny how we drive ourselves insane over something that will never be, yet never seem to admire the things that are already true. So this is the world that were living in, the one that somehow we have come to accept as normalcy. Religious groups threaten eternal damnation if you don’t follow their definition of “truth” yet we scream that we are a free people. Am I supposed to believe that I’m going to burn in the fiery depths of hell according to 1,000 different religions, or that I will live in a perfect paradise according to 1 of them? The math in my mind tells me to find the similarities and to do my best to follow as many of their practices possible to better my odds. But, if I’m following faith with my head instead of my chest then I’m already too late…