My Own 'Religulous'

Bill Maher may have been on to something in his film, Religulous. I've been thinking a lot about the differences and similarities of all the religions of the world...mainly the similarities and how because they want to be the "top religion" they will claim their differences are so vast, when in most cases there aren't many differences at all. Sure they may say a world differently, or have a different name for a person who has the same history in said religion, but it doesn't change the fact that it's all the same minus the technicalities.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not completely naive... I am aware that some religions share completely different beliefs and cultures that said them apart so much that it appears there are no similarities, but I would bet anything that in some way, shape, or form there is some shared common ground hidden in all the scripture somewhere. This is precisely what I intend to learn...

I wrote yesterday about how I came up with an idea that I plan to dive into more... this is the idea. I plan on taking a very long journey to learn about all the religions of the world. I'm not doing this so I can write a book, because I know my blog is not the most bestest written blog ever. (yes I wrote that sentence that way purposely, don't think less of me) I'm not doing this so that I can sit around and tell everyone how wrong (or right) they are with their beliefs, and I'm not doing to disprove the importance or power of religion. I'm simply doing this because I'm sick of sitting around asking myself the question of "Why?". Why do they believe this, what is the point of all this, how can so many people believe it if I don't?

I'm not planning on being converted here, I'm pretty set in my opinion that there is no God, there is no heaven or hell, and that religion has lost sight of it's purpose and become a reason for people to be hypocrites, hide from their lives, and answer questions in such a vague way that people end up being content with it because they feel no drive to learn the real answers.

I'm not an atheist. But I belong to no religion either. Being an atheist to me means believing there is no higher power in the universe, things just are, will continue to be, and will always be the way they are as we come and go in this world. No, I believe that there is a power, maybe not higher, but a power nonetheless that drives the universe. I think nature is the power, because it's a balance of life/death and purpose. An animal exists to serve a purpose in it's environment to keep it in balance and functioning so life can continue. A star exists to give energy to a galaxy so that it's planets can serve their purposes. So on and so forth.

I finally decided I was going to do this as I said in Saturday mass with my girlfriend and her family last week. I was listening to the priest, whom was a special guest speaker (a missionary from Africa), as he talked about the way of the Lord and the word of God. And he went on to tell the story of how he was recruited for the missionary work... and to me it came across very uninspiring, almost as if he didn't believe his own preachings that he has gone through his whole life. He talked about how he was approached and asked to help with this country in Africa, Ghana. He said how he felt no need to go to a country and preach the world of God when there would be no one able to come to listen to his sermons, he did not really want to go when he had a church at his current location in Ohio where he was known and loved. I found this almost insulting in a sense...not because he was racist or anything, he was an african american, but what I found insulting is that religions tell you always to help your fellow man and give everything you can to help others. Yet, he had no desire to get up and do his duty as a priest and help a country that was struggling with war and violence. He wanted to be wanted not pushed aside as unimportant in a country in chaos. He only ended up going because his superior told him he had to go... and he went on to say how he ended up loving it there and loved his work and felt good about what he was doing there... all I could think to myself was, "Well, no shit!"

Then I was reminded of a concert a few weeks back that I was working. It was an Indian Culture night, with a very famous Indian play from the Hindu faith called the "Mupperum Vizha" The play has nothing to do with my story, but instead has to do with the gentleman I was working with, Sridhar, who talked to me about the Hindu faith and the ways in which it works. He told me that it is basically about bettering yourself. Their religion believes in being good to one another, but the ultimate goal is to be okay with yourself and keep your soul/body pure. I thought this was very interesting, because it conflicts with so many other religions. Hinduism is about inner spirituality, whereas most others are about exterior spirituality. He literally said to me "We don't go around trying to convert anyone, we simply accept others choices and make sure we worry about ourselves first. It's a culture, a way of life... not a chore."

So my mission begins soon.... my first step is figuring out which religion to start with. You'd like simple Christianity would be a good place to start... but because it's so similar with many other religions, Catholicism/Baptism/etc., I think I might wait for those last and learn about some older religions first. I'll get back to you all with what I choose... but for now I still want to finish the Grand Design, because I feel like that is a good starting point for me. It's the complete opposite view of religion, and one that I most closely associate with. Meaning, I feel most convinced by science over religion... so finishing my current book first will help me keep my feet on the ground as I go into this endeavor.

As I said, I don't plan on being converted or my thoughts altered... I just want to understand and learn. I hope to be surprised and maybe catch a glimpse of the feeling many church goers feel (or pretend to feel) but we will see.

I obviously will be blogging a lot about everything I'm learning, almost to use as my journal for my discoveries.

Side note, I battled a huge spider today in my basement. I hate spiders.... I hope heaven doesn't have any. Of course by joking about it, I will be sent to hell, where as of this moment there is a swimming pool full of them waiting for me! Hope I don't forget my goggles!

As Tobias Funke from the show 'Arrested Development' said once "LET THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGIN!"

A Field Report

I sit here in Barnes and Noble, sipping on coffee and enjoying a delicious toasted spicy southwest style chicken flatbread sandwich, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere surrounded by books of fiction, fantasy, mystery and music from my iPod making everything feel very safe. Yet I my mind can't help but wander to the sear terror I know that is happening right across the street at the PetSmart...more specifically one of the grooming rooms where right now as I type, my 9 1/2 year old golden retriever is going through what in her mind I'm sure is the most horrifying experience of her life.
So I sit here and chuckle to myself because I know in 3 hours or so she will be reunited with me and soon to be safely at home with everything that makes her feel safe surrounding her, but the current reality at this exact moment in time is that to her, this will never come to be. in fact, if she can remember who I am at this moment, and by remember me I don't mean recognize me when she sees me again but I mean that she can literally conjure up an image of me in her mind, i'm sure her feelings go from love to anger and the persistent thought of "WHY!?". Because, lets face it, the moment I handed her leash handle over to the groomers, in her mind I was abandoning her to be left with hose monsters who will try to strip her of all her fur while they trim her hair, drown her in chemical water (soapy water) and try to cut her paws off as they cut her nails. It doesn't matter what anyone there says to her to try and calm her or no matter how many times they will pet her (her favorite sign of affection) she will still see these people as the monsters that haunt her in her darkest nightmares. Yes, my dog has nightmares....many of which shr has woken up from howling in the middle of the night...much like most of us have nightmares we wake up from screaming after a traumatic event as taken place. People lose sleep after someone they know dies or have witnessed a dea, soldiers have nightmares for years or life after being on the front lines of a war, and my dig has horrible remembrances after veing groomed.

People share the same fears my golden has, but you'd probably never think of it too often. What do you think people's biggest fears are in life, and no I'm not talking phobias, because phobias are really just extensions of everyone's greatest fear, death. Scared of heights, because the fear of falling to your death. Fire, the fear of burning to death. Water, drowning. Spiders, eaten. Same things for snakes, etc. But the biggest fear after death, in my opinion is being alone. This could literally be alone as in only person left in the world, or more figuratively as in no one to love and be loved by, no one to trust and confide in, no one to listen to you and talk with. This fear starts off even before e fear of death is instilled in the human mind I think. My reasoning for this is simply...babies. Babies, because they don't understand the world, can't grasp their own mortality, hence do not realize there is a line between life and death. Their lives are only preserved from death bynthose you take care of them, the parents. Babies don't know what will kill them... Like chemicals in bottles, knives, cars on streets, dangerous animals, etc...but they do know what they recognize, such as a loving, friendly face that has cleaned them when they "make an uhoh" or feed them when they are hungry. So there is nothing scarier to a child than the fimilar faces disappearing. The questions arise in their heads, "Where did they go?" "Will they ever come back?" "Do they not love me?" because let's face it, we are reminded every day until the day we die that the world is a scary place....so imagine the fear in a child who knows nothing about anything.

I witnessed this fear here today, when the table right near had a mother with her two children. The oldest child, maybe 8 years old was very polite to his mother, a rare site these days, but he was very active and wanted to explore the store, while the other child was was no older than 1, depended on his mother much more than his brother did. Yes, the older child still needs his mother for the portion of his life, but he was not dependent the same way this baby was. The mother sat there and answered every question the oldest child threw at her, and fed her youngest child at the same time. So when the oldest wanted to get a drink, she walked up to the counter her son to pay for his drink which he was very excited to place the order by himself, but to the youngest child, who was "trapped" in a high chair, this was the scariest moment ever. The mother was no more than 20 feet away, but this baby instantly began crying as his mother walked away from him, because this baby though "My god, this is the end." (granted the child as no concept of god, but you get the point)

Yes, you could argue that the fear is linked to the ultimate fear of death....but again with no real concept of death, the child is scared of what he does understand, which is his mother there to care for him.

With all that said, I can say that anyone who claims they aren't scared of being alone is a liar. We are a social species, we thrive and grow off of interaction with others.


I always find it funny how I think for a while about what I am going to write for my newest blog, but when I actually sit down and write it it ends up being something completely different. I have a bit of an adventure I plan on going on here soon, something I have cooked up in my constantly running mind while I was sitting at my girlfriend's church. So yes, it has to deal with religion....and subject I constantly come back to, maybe because I find it interesting or maybe because I find it too easy to debate and contradict.....or maybe both. But I'll go into it more on my next blog.

Until then....keep it real!