There has been a lot on my mind lately. My summer has been a fast pace whirlwind of new folks and new experiences. As I have met all these amazing new people and talked with them and listened to them tell about their beliefs and their experiences it has helped me better define some of my own.
So... on my mind lately... are my ideas about religion.
I have for some time identified religiously as a Druid. Calling on the original meaning of the word "one who learns", believing that the journey of a truly spiritual person is never ending. That it is our responsibility to continually learn and adapt to new understanding and new experiences. I have also leaned strongly on something I was told early in my own journey. One of my first mentors told me "there are many paths that all lead to one end." This single piece of information has grown and changed as I have but it has continued to influence my beliefs. One conversation I had this summer came back around to this and for the first time in all my years of study I truly understood its importance.
In talking with an older trans gentleman I met this summer, our conversation was turned towards religion. While he is a Christian he has a very open mind (Yes, I know, many do. However, even more, it seems, do not.) The result of the conversation went something like this.
If there is one truly loving and all-powerful god, would He not choose to appear to each of his children in the form that would most benefit their existence? Therefore, the Gods of all cultures may be the same. If God tells his children that they can become as He is, then does logic not follow that there would be others who are like him, already? Does he not have a mother and father of his own? Brothers? Sisters? Aunts? Uncles? Cousins? Therefore, there may be more than one "god". And, if it would benefit His children to see deity through more than one form, would He not allow His brothers or sisters to help Him raise his children? Because we are "made in the image of god" we also know that there must be a Goddess, because it takes both male and female to create. On that logic, does it not also make sense that God would choose to protect the Goddess when a human society treats women with disrespect (Anglo-Saxon) and watch her flourish in a human society that reveres women (Native-American). Every religion tells stories of “miracles” and “magic”. There are stories in each culture of abilities that cannot be explained through science or current knowledge. Can we not then conclude that each of us contain a potential for the “unbelievable” that we choose to embrace by one word and shun by another.
The conclusion I came to as I went over this conversation in my mind is that we all believe in something. If we can take away the words, and the suspicion, and the stigma, we all believe the same. If more of us can open our eyes to the wonder that exists, no matter what it is called, perhaps we can learn to love as “god” intended, and embrace our brothers and sisters, and reach our greatest potential.
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--Jenn
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