Bah!

I just had a conversation with someone about religion, and she bascially told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and that, because I'm young, what I think is not valid. She told me that my entire set of ideologies is going to change completely, and that I "may think I know everything now, but when I'm older I'll see how wrong I was."

Then she said that she wasn't going to lie and say that she understood some religious practices, thus implying that I was lying.

I furiously texted my go-to person when I feel the need to debate something, and he both comforted me and then rephrased her explanations in a way that made me feel much more comfortable with the situation.

Then, with a quick joke and a laugh, I was better.

Into the Light of a Dark Black Night

Fly.

This Religion/Philosophy Senior Seminar class has given me soo much to think about, and now I have to formulate a "intellectual/spiritual autobiography" that is 12 pages long.

What do I say?

Before.

I held tightly to the Methodist faith for nineteen years, was an active leader in my church for 5-6 of those years, sang in the choir, played instruments, learned Bible stories, participated in youth group activities (hell, was the president of the youth group), acted as a liaison between the adult committees and the youth, blah, blah, blah.

Now.

I. Don't. Have. A. Clue.

Hahaha. I'm okay with not knowing. It gives me something to work towards.

It does make me think of a song by the Beatles:

Blackbird

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise


When I do figure it out, it's going to be amazing and wondrous.

Nothing too profound

So, I may not know exactly what or who I believe in at this time (religiously speaking) but I do know this:

Peace

Love

Compassion

Tolerance

Equality

Are all necessary.

From the Sociology Book

The chapter I am presenting for my Intro to Sociology (go ahead, snicker) class is Religion (fitting, right?). This was in the introduction, and it really struck a chord with me:

"Religion can be the greatest thing on earth or the worst. It can be the greatest healing therapy in society, or the greatest hazard to a society's health. It can be a democratic republic's greatest good or its worst threat.

Look at the hot spots of the earth and you see religious extremists lighting the fuses--whether in Northern Ireland, Israel, Bosnia, or California. Religious extremists are breeding all kinds of "culture wars." Religion can breed all kinds of harassment, bigotry, prejudice, intolerance and deception.

Religion is peculiar. When it is not in earnest, it doesn't hurt anyone, but it doesn't do any good either. When it is in earnest, it is a most powerful force for good or evil....We Christians must face up to the fact that our Christianity has propagated, in the name of Jesus, devilish acts, bloody wars, awful persecutions, hate crimes, and political chaos...."

This is an excerpt from a sermon by Robert H. Meneilly when he was the senior pastor of the Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas.

I want to hear the rest of it.

I'm not struggling

Last week, I was in the car with a friend of mine, and we began talking about religion (probably because I mentioned that I was taking Buddhism...) Anyway, he asked if I had ever gone through a spiritual crisis.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I replied that I hadn't but that I had changed (grown?) a lot spiritually (although, I suppose that some people would say that I have moved backwards). When I first came to college, I proudly called myself a Christian. Don't get me wrong, I was completely tolerant of other religions and accepted their validity, but I knew that in order to have eternal life, I would have to accept Christ.

I grew up Methodist, and my entire family is extremely open-minded and accepting of other religions as well. Both of these things have helped me along my spiritual journey. Now, I don't know what I consider myself. I still agree with the teachings of Jesus, but a core part of Christianity is the exclusivity of it. In order to reach Heaven or to be pardoned by God, one must accept Jesus as the Son of God. Not everyone is comfortable with that, and I cannot believe that eternal damnation is in store for all of the people of other religions/spiritual leanings.

Ghandi believed that everyone is going towards the same goal--climbing the same mountain so to speak. How we get to the top (Truth?) just dependent on our cultures and beliefs. There's no right or wrong way to approach it as long as you try.