Posts Tagged ‘religion’

And God made Eve from Adam’s rib…. Not from the same stuff Adam was made from—Why is that? did it run out of materials?

I keep hearing, “Don’t be divisive. Don’t let the government turn us against each other.” But the truth is, the division has been ingrained in society since the beginning of civilization—black versus white, men versus women, religion against religion, culture clashing with culture, and anything unfamiliar set against what we think we understand. Division isn’t something new; it’s the foundation we’ve been built on.

And that’s just what was visible—what people were allowed to acknowledge. Same-sex relationships were forced into the shadows. Boys who showed emotion were beaten by fathers trapped in their own hardened shells, taught that vulnerability was a weakness, that burdens were to be carried alone, or else they’d be punished for exposing an imagined fragility.

“We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Reality is far more vast and complex than we often acknowledge. We are intricate combinations of chemical and physiological reactions, capable of producing trillions of unique ways to exist. But what happens when a sheltered person, with little to no exposure to different perspectives, encounters something they don’t understand. What ensues when they’ve been taught from a book to fear or avoid it?

Let’s flip the perspective. Imagine you’re gay, but you live in a time, culture, or religious community that condemns your very existence. Home isn’t safe. Schools offer no refuge. Even your faith—the thing meant to provide love and guidance—breeds the hatred that surrounds you, poisoning the hearts of those who are supposed to love you unconditionally.

What do you do? Too often, as we’ve seen, that hatred turns inward. You despise yourself. You lash out at others. You direct your pain toward those who dare to live openly and proudly—because why should they get to be free when you’ve been beaten down, threatened, or even disowned by your own family? Some, feeling utterly alone, see no way out and take their own lives. And this happens far more often than we’re led to believe.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” – Bernard M. Baruch

Money isn’t the answer to everything. It’s self-confidence. It’s the freedom to exist. There are or were laws to stop violent behavior, shielding us from one person’s beliefs/religion from dictating how we should live and who we should worship. It should be simple. We are born, we learn, we work hard, and we have our own personal successes, whether in achievements or love with a body of power helping us where we might need that extra assistance to succeed.

Respect. Does it storm at home? We’re not conceived parents, guardians, or public authorities. The ideals, attitudes, and motivations come from a variety of minds. Love (if applicable) is where our grooming begins. Respect is earned, not freely given. In the void of intimate connection and biological understanding, compassion ceases to exist, paving the way for harsh judgment. We project internal disappointment onto others. Mirrors are not reflections of ourselves, but of what we want to be, forcing others to appear as the image you cannot achieve. Self-loathing spreads from the heart to the mind to darken our souls. Some know it as a warning. Others use the deceptions and distortions of their true selves to burden whole societies, ultimately creating ways to oppress those who refuse their misguidance. Respect dies when society adapts to false beliefs regarding skin color, sexual orientation, wealth, poverty, religion, instead of praising our eclectic differences as strengths as a whole. Pay attention to the world around you. Change is coming to create chaos before peace. Roles are played. Sacrifices are made. In the end, born from blood and suffering, a new and better world will emerge. Hate will return as the boogeyman from the past.

First, I want to point out that I struggle with the concept of “A God” You’re thinking that something happened in my life to question a divine-intersex’s existence. Yes, but it’s not what you think. The battle has to do with the use of the word vs action.

Everywhere I go, I hear, “Thank God.” A baby falls out of a three story building and lives, by a feat of heroism or—dare I say—a miracle. Who do we blame when the baby dies? We don’t scream at the devil. And what about those people who saved the baby? They are thanked but only as a tool of God. People devote many years of their lives studying ways to save human lives. Most police officers understand that their job sometimes require the ultimate sacrifice. Our military suffers the most yet when they manage to survive and make it home, God is nowhere to be seen, to ensure the healing and gratitude they earned.

Now I want to tell you a story/joke. You may have heard it somewhere before, but It’s a story/joke that’s stuck with me. I, of course, am adding my own twist to make a deeper point.

A man stood on his rooftop surrounded by rising water. He prayed to God. To help him.

A man in a rowboat came by and told him to hop in. The man refused, saying God would save him. The water rose higher. A man in a motor boat came by and told him to hop in. Again, the man refused saying that God would save him. Just as a helicopter flew to him and hovered a few feet above his head, the water rose up over the man’s ankles. A rope ladder was thrown down to dangle just able the man’s head. A woman yelled for him to climb up and instead of grabbing hold of the ladder. He pushed it away and said, “I don’t need your help. God will save me. The helicopter pilot flew away.

The man drowns and goes to heaven where he meets god. The man is furious. He yells, “I had faith in you! I had faith that you would save me, and  instead you let me drown!” God smiles and says, “I sent you a rowboat, a motor boat, and a helicopter.”

“But that was not you,” the man whined.

“Of course it was,” God replied in a voice that projected a murmur of many tones, female and male. “Every choice you make brings you closer to us or further from us. It is not the acts thrust upon you, but the reaction to those acts that define who you are. Together we are invincible, apart we are vulnerable. That is why we test each other. We are the good actions and the bad actions that stand at every crossroad. On earth, our choices affect all like they do here, but there on, on earth, you think you’re alone and that makes you prey to fear which leads to hate which causes pain to millions who you refuse to see or know. If on earth you can see others outside of your skin, then ascension has begin. For, if you can feel beyond the limits of your body you will never feel alone again.

“What does this mean for me?”

“Back down you go.”

”Noooooooo.”

I have three children, all adults now. My twenty-one year old daughter came to me today, furious. I thought something terrible had happened and jumped immediately into the protective mommy zone.  “The world is soo unfair,” she shouted. I cocked my head at the unexpected declaration. I’m fifty, so yeah, I know the world is unfair, but I let her vent. At age twelve, my tall slim little girl was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. After two major surgeries, her spine, through not significantly curved is still very twisted, giving her the lung capacity of an eighty year old and a bladder the size of a toddler. Her outrage was for the latter. “Why, in general, are men’s bathrooms equipped with several stalls and urinals and the women’s with just two stalls with one broken forever? I have to wait on line which makes me late for classes.” Once her rage took hold, she yelled about other venues and injustices women endure every single day.

The women reading this get it. Though the rights of validity, through protests and celebrity endorsements, have moved the scales (At a snail’s pace) closer together, it will be some time before architecture, medicine, rights, considerations, man made religions, etc… catch up to nature or die. And the old narcissist fearful, cowardice men in power gently fall into a forever sleep. It will happen, unfortunately not for me in this lifetime. Not that I sit back and let it happen. I fight. I was born with sharp teeth. Maybe when I’m reincarnated….I’ll get to experience nature’s balanced world or maybe another because the narcissists destroyed the earth to make their billions just before they died.

As women continued to step up, help each other, stand strong for one another and not fall folly to the manipulations of weak, cowardly men who demoralize them with the use of politics, religion and “Cause I said so, woman!” Even though I may not be your next door neighbor, I am with you. Women make up 51% of the USA population and that’s despite how many of us are killed/devalued by boyfriends, husbands, stalkers, predators who hate women because their own personal insecurities, men who blame women for their own disgusting weak thoughts. We are blamed for all of men’s weakness. Women are the blamed for original sin. (Man-made religions do that) Thank goodness these men are dying out and men with compassion who don’t need to belittle others to feel strong are thriving. Yay for that. We do not exist to be doormats. At one time, women kept tribes nourished by producing 70% of the food consumed.

Breastfeeding is 100% natural. To all those who have a problem with a mommy feeding their baby in public…. go enjoy yourself a cigarette!!!!

Thank you for reading!

In return to learn

My spirit hungers for knowledge greater than any pain a challenge offers

Lessons are brutal

The scars I bear are the badges I display in every life I live

I chose them to lift me up or break me into little pieces of reflection

The more times I return insures deeper wounds

Greater feelings

Those around me and with me are handpicked by me

They’ll catch my tears or shove me into the hole I’ve dug for myself

and sometimes are the guides I refuse to hear

I started out a speck of barely anything

My steps forward were short and strenuous

Simple but momentous results did occur

They took on momentum the more I succeeded or failed

A diamond is coal under pressure for billions of years before becoming more

Not difficult to see the similarities

Nature is a blueprint of what we could be

Pay attention

Don’t take nature for granted

We are all part of each other

And never forget

Failure is part of learning

What makes a person follow an entity who leads them onto the path of misery? Why do mothers and fathers choose to worship a god that puts its values before the love of family? Sounds more human than divine. Nature vs nurture. Experience vs command. Is there a line you won’t cross or will you die alone because that’s what’s been written. Religions have many personalities. I say personality because there are as many religious beliefs as there are humans. And those who don’t believe are included in the protein rich, spice riddled salad.

But let’s cut to the foundation of religious beliefs. You will only believe what you already accept as true. If you were abused and debased as a kid–authority is your enemy. If ten apologies after ten beatings keeps you in love and in place, bullies need to be understood. If you have been taught that wealth and entitlement makes you smarter and everyone else stupid, you will run a country as if the rest of us should be grateful for presence despite your lack of empathy and compassion or knowing what it’s like to struggle. It’s easier for some to discard their own ideas than to make a case for their own identity. It’s too much work. And it’s not like they’re alone in their beliefs. There’ll always be someone who validates them. Same mentality. Thinking–not worth the effort. The mob mentality.

People kill for their religions. People kill at the instruction of the voices in their heads. People kill because some ignorant human thinks the best way to run a country is to create a symbolic enemy. All religions have blood soaked into the pages of their books of scripture. Blood. Money. Power. Maybe at one time, there was a religion that took our need to dance naked in the rain as an expression of peace, or encouraged loved between adults, who promoted the health and happiness of children. I–for one–would love to read that book.

You can lay bigotry, hatred, racism, open condemnation at your god’s feet, blame it on your disgust of the world around you. But guess what? The rest of us see through the divine veil you place over your heads. We know you are hate. And in the end Love will defeat you. And We won’t have to lift a finger to win.

The president has decided, on his first day, to strip people of their healthcare benefits. Why? We are talking twenty million people going without healthcare. Republicans want it repealed, but they are the ones who created the Affordable Healthcare Act, best know as Obamacare. He deleted policies on the LGBT and Environment. What does that mean to our friends and family in a same sex marriage? Will he attack their ability to adopt? Will he destroy years of evolving and put us back into the dark ages where men tell everyone how they should act and who they should be and where they are best placed? A person is best revealed by his or her actions.

Religion has NO place in our government. We are made up of many different faiths, including those who do not have a god. One man cannot tell us when, or where we chould pray, or be or act because his god tells him to. We cannot follow any man that believes a persons sexuality is criminal in a response to the unncontrollable matter of nature.

And what about his supporters? Do they not see what he is doing? How is he making us strong by killing people who need medical care? What about his greatest lie..er um statement about jobs? Why wasn’t his first act as …president, to bring his families manufacturers back to the USA and give thousands of people jobs? Is it to difficult? Not profitable? Well welcome to the reason other companies outsource. I thought he was going to make us “great” again.

And yet his first act is to sign the ACA repeal.

I still want to see his tax reports. I haven’t forgotten about that. And no one else should. I see people who hate Obama post horrible things about his leadership. Most of these people live very comfortably. Have enough money to buy private healthcare and are not affected by anything this man promised. They complain, but I truly wonder what it is they are complaining about? Their nice house? Their substantial bank account? Their ability to do whatever they want, within reason?

How do these people rationalize Trump’s blatant lies? He’s on the news saying that everything he said were campaign tactics. Do you know what that means? Nothing he says can be seen as truth. Talk about two-faced, only he shows both, and laughs. I’m terrified. I really am. Not for me though. My life won’t be affected, but I have two daughters and a son who have many more years on this earth and what this mentally ill man does, may affect them.

I will tell you this…If I die anytime soon….The white house is going to get its first malevolent, pissed off poltergeist. My main focus will be to make Trump go bald and delete all his money. Have to hit him where it really hurts.

I have my beliefs. I think I know what I would do in certain circumstances, but am not 100% sure. No one is. My beliefs do not “Trump” your rights and beliefs. I feel superior to no one. I rarely make promises. Too many interfering variables. In my opinion, the chaos theory is alive and well and a factor no one can control. Pretending to love under the terms of psychological hate is the rudimentary basis of a repressive soul. I don’t know everything. I feel around and hope I get it right. If right ends in whole happiness, I came close. If right ends in the destruction of my initial goal, then I failed to understand and I try again, differently. Forgiveness is key to escape misery. What people say and do represents who they are and has nothing to do with you. We are our own entities fighting for stability, peace and happiness. No ones end game is the same. The belief that what is right for me is right for you is immature and disastrous. To have a solid grasp on your beliefs’, you must take the journey to find yourself. It’s a difficult and bloody road to traverse, but at the end you will be confident, understanding and compassionate to those fearful and refusing to take that first step. I fight. I’m a warrior soul. It’s what I know. It’s who I am. To fight a battle properly, I seek information from both sides of the front line and instead of taking sides, I listen for the truth to speak to me out of the thunder of war. War has three truths. The opposing perceptions and what is truly the cause. That third truth is why the war started. To get both sides to listen, there needs to be a cease-fire, a silence. Sometimes you have to be that silence, that reprieve that cleansing breath. You have to be on the highest mountain looking over the fires and explosions, where breathing is hard and thinking even harder, to really see. To really feel. To Really know what is happening. Otherwise you’re just another screamer, accuser hater, and simply part of the problem. We all have the skills to help. To understand. To be compassionate. It’s a choice.

I vow to be me and continue being grumpy, but only until that first sip of coffee. To be annoyed by slow drivers. To fidget nervously in crowds. To appreciate the unique dynamic of my family. To watch and learn about people so I can be more understanding. Walk in other people’s shoes to gain new perspectives. To only allow me to edit my life. To live like I am the star of my award winning movie. Make decisions by what I know plus what I feel. To promote positive energy my way and not the way others want me to. I vow to continue being happy and confident just by being me. Thank you.

We have a personal moral code no matter race, culture or religion. Killers kill. Lovers love. Fighters fight. What we do is who we are. Words are significant when followed by action. Actions followed by words are deceptive. The absence of self preservation is an extreme mental disorder. Hate and passion are dangerous when dictated by a source outside your heart/mind. Be aware. Don’t be part of a mindless mob that follows someone else’s beliefs. You’re important. Your heart and soul are real. For us to unite as a nation of peace and prosperity, be the individual you are. The universe made you who you are for a reason. To follow another is to turn your back on self awareness. Parents, clergy, police anyone and everyone in authority are human. Don’t discount what you think because others have different opinions. Refuse the waves of hate, bigotry, racism etc. I am a woman. I am a mother. I am a wife. I am an author. I’m a warrior. But first and foremost, I am me.