Each day that goes by and I stop thinking about what the answers are to the big questions in life, I feel relieved. These invisible chains of confusion and burden have finally released me. It is only us that make our lives complicated. Granted, the people with power have contributed greatly to making our lives complicated. In general, I have taken great notice to how we get so caught up in trying to figure out the truth that life passes us by...
If you are easily offended, please discontinue reading. This is your only warning. I take no responsibility for those that interpret this personally. This is my reflection.
I've learned an interesting parallel between Santa Clause and God recently. Our parents tell us this big, old man stuffs himself down our chimneys, eats the cookies we set out for him and leaves us gifts. We try to wrap our minds around this concept, can't make sense of it but believe it must be true because the rest of the world is telling us it is. Our parents even leave us fake evidence of eaten cookies and empty milk glasses. Well, telling us if we are good enough, we will receive gifts is a form of manipulation. Whether you mean to manipulate your kids for bad or good is irrelevant. Manipulation exists any time you can control someone's thought in their ignorance. Some kids who think like me ask how this Santa Clause ordeal works and when we find out the truth,we are extremely upset that everyone we knew is part of this scheme, thinking this short-lived joy somehow benefits us.
Strange how religion seems to be an adult version of the Santa Clause paradigm. The explanation of God, Ala and whoever else is believed to exist is just a complicated version of Santa to me. I will never argue with someone and say they don't know who God is or that they don't know what they're talking about, but to me, I don't think anyone really knows the truth. We like to avoid cognitive dissonance because it is harder to think about what we can't understand. We can change the dissonance by altering our perspective on a situation. There are several ways to look at one situation. You can choose to accept God because if you don't, you fear the punishment. You can accept God because you really do believe and don't question his existence. You can accept God because you feel like a respectable person by doing so. You can not accept God because it doesn't satisfy the answers to your questions. Well, it's much harder to reject the biblical teachings of God because that means you are fessing up to not understanding and you do not receive comfort in faith or have false hope.
So where do you get comfort? I never knew I would reach this place that I am at now, but the real comfort for me comes in not arguing with myself about sin, communion, worshipping the unknown, or following rules. Peace comes by not feeling conflicted with yourself by what men tell you and certainly by not fearing what scriptures instill in you. Scripture talks about those who fear God are safe. I just have to roll my eyes at that one. Why would I want to fear the creator who made me? Better yet, why would I want to return to someone I fear? That's already a psychological form of manipulation. I must fear the creator who made me. Should we fear our moms and dads? That would be unhealthy.
If the Muslims are right, I've really upset Ala. If the Catholics are right, I am going to hell for not keeping the rules. If the Mormons are right, I won't make it to the highest degree of Glory to be with my family forever. If I don't fear God, I guess he won't be very happy with me and I will be punished in some way. Goodness. I don't exactly have a beautifully painted picture of the after life. I'm probably better off not understanding any of it. How can you punish someone who just doesn't get it? Perhaps I am a "retard" in the matters of God, thereby making me a disabled soul.
Santa gives children joy through their imagination. God also represents joy as well as hope and eternal life to those who believe. If Santa starts squeezing down chimneys and a virgin gets pregnant, then I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. Until then, I am not wearing the chains of fear, burden, confusion and false hope. In the same way that baby birds do not question whether they should fly or not, I am simply stepping out and flying on my own. Gosh darn it, the view from up here is pretty darn fabulous. It's pretty freaking awesome to be flying around and seeing all the different views in absolute freedom of thought.
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