Once upon a time…

That's the way most stories begin right? The best stories being with, "A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away…" but a bard far greater than I holds the copyright on that and the last thing I care to do is bring down George Lucas' wrath upon me.

We will go with once upon a time, though, to tell this story. I was raised Catholic and spent twelve years in Catholic schools. That experience was a good one for me. I was an altar boy, and went to mass, and for awhile gave thought to the Priesthood. Then I discovered the joys of the opposite sex and the Priesthood went out the window. Then I became enthralled with history and theology (as opposed to the "Religion" class I had most of my life) and began to see that there was more than one way to experience the grace of divinity.

Over the course of the last 15 years I have been on a spiritual and philosophical quest to define who I am in relation to the universe. I've pretty well got it within my grasp now and feel like it's time to start really sharing my discoveries of literature, spirituality, philosophy and life with those who care to listen. Much like any writer I bid you to follow and enjoy, but I will say this: I am not here to entertain a debate. You can read and think and ponder on my musings or you can chose not to. If you feel like you want to criticize me, you can leave. If you want to ask a legitimate question I will try to answer it. If you ask me what I perceive to be some kind of loaded bull-shit question I will mock you or ignore you, or mock and ignore you. Forewarned is forearmed.

The thoughts below were first published back in 2006 on a blog I maintained on MySpace. I've taken the time to update a bit and want to share with you the starting point in what can best be described at my philosophy, my way, my Dao.

The limitless source of the universe, the creative energy from which all of existence has spring, has placed me upon this earth to reach out to people. To explain the undercurrents of human interaction, and provide those souls seeking enlightenment with a perspective that may be of some help as they strive to expand their understanding of the world. This charge is a weighty one; I take the calling of divine inspiration to be a most serious cause. It is one that in order to avoid offending the great scholars and educators who have come before me I must commit the resources of my some times weary mind to with a rigorous intention.

There is an imbalance in this world. We are taught by our religions, our schools, our guardians and our mentors that we should strive to live a life of Virtue. Virtue is defined as "Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness". That is a wonderful sentiment, but there is a problem with it. There is a lack of balance in this definition. No one person can be "good" all of the time. We all experience feelings of hate, jealousy, selfishness, greed, sloth, lust and a whole host of human emotions that are sad to be "bad". They are not bad. Feeling lustful is not bad. Feeling hate is not bad. These are emotions that the creative source placed in us; so why is it "wrong" to feel them? The celebrated author, and man of letters, Samuel Longhorn Clemens in his writings as Mark Twain expounded upon this very point in his work Letters from the Earth. Think upon my point gentle reader before dismissing me.

The limitless source of the universe, by whatever name you call it brought about the conditions under which we have come into existence as we know it today. So, isn't it ludicrous to believe that that same grace would then condemn the very creatures which live lives based upon the desires it has imbued us with? Ah, the dilemma posed by the most common of religions. You must reject you very nature in order to find God's divine grace. Can't you hear them now: "Jesus died for your sins."

Really? Did he now? Well then, I should be good right? I can go forth and behave in the manner of Caligula or Nero or even El Supremo and "binge drink and fornicate" to my heart's content. I'm already saved. Thank goodness. I hear the argument now… "No, no, you must continue to live in the example the Jesus set for you!"

Oh, I'm supposed to work as a carpenter, live at home with mom till I'm thirty, and go out drinking with the boys the night before the cops pick me up and put me to death? It sounds like Jesus was a member of the IRA living in occupied Ireland to me, and I can live up to that example. The image of Jesus as the risen Christ, the savior of mankind and the holy son of a virgin birth is a construct of Paul. It is the view of a gentile with political aspirations who needed to set in motion a religion which would give his political aims justification. He succeeded by stealing some of the best parts of Zoroastrianism, melding it with Jewish teachings of a coming Messiah, and the continued lineage of King David. I applaud him for his creation of a faith which has been so incredibly successful in gathering adherents and in looting, plundering and dominating the globe for centuries. Why is it though that people do not see what Paul created for what it is?

The first reason that our view of Christianity can be said to be "clouded" is because we are so removed from the origin of the Christian faith that it is nearly impossible to relate to the circumstances and political climate of the time. The historical facts of the times are rarely presented without portraying the early Christians as having finally overcome their Pagan/Heathen oppressors through the Divine Inspiration of God and the acts of Martyrs. History is written by the winners. Secondly, Paul attached a very definitive reason for belief: hell. The idea of going to heaven or going to hell would certainly have been of even greater concern to man of the year 100c.e. than to the man of 2006. Why would this be? Modern man has become nearly immune to the "superstitions" that our early Christian era ancestors believed to be fact. We tend to be skeptical of that which science can not demonstrate to us, which is why half of us still can't figure out if we are supposed to eat eggs or not. Despite our tendency as a species to question the literal existence of heaven and hell, we have a cultural archetype that has been imprinted on the bulk of western society which still ties us to the concept of divinity as being dualistic and centered on the ideas of "Good" and "Evil". But, we must ask ourselves: what is evil?

We are animalistic creatures. We are here to engage in behaviors which will further our genetic code. That is the essence of our biology and the most basic building blocks of our DNA; we exist to recreate ourselves and further our clan. We are supposed to breed, carry heavy shit, hunt and gather, and generally behave the same as the cavemen did. That is the underlying potential energy stored in our genetic code. All the other "rules" we have come up with to structure societies have been a construct of men and at times in direct contradiction to our own natural impulses. We have in the last 2000 years developed some ridged social structures that are based upon social convention, politics and a need for human interaction to not lead to open warfare on a daily basis. So the first and most important credo of my philosophy is this;

One must acknowledge his animalistic feelings are healthy and acceptable. It is the choices you make in acting upon those feelings by which you will be judged.

Choice is the single most important factor in evaluating the actions of an individual.