Philosophy, Faith and Thought: "These are a Few of my Favorite Things"

It's day six of my attempt to maintain a list of all the things I am thankful for and I have missed day four and five; so, today, I will attempt to list three things that I am thankful for. It is interesting how many things I have that I have started to take for granted. Even as I try to list the things I am thankful for, I realize how hard it is to list. You wouldn't think that it would be difficult to list all the things you are thankful for, but it is hard to do. I think the toughest part is just thinking of one thing a day to be grateful for when there are hundreds of things that I have taken for granted. So, today, I will attempt to come up with the three things that stand out to me.

I am grateful to have a belief system that was instilled in me from the time I was a child. I am grateful that, though my beliefs may have morphed into something that was not originally what my parents intended, I still have something to believe in. I am grateful for everything my parents taught me and the faith they helped me to achieve. Some people see putting faith in something that you can't see or prove with science as a weakness, but there is no greater strength than allowing faith and belief take you to the unknown and raise you higher than you knew you could go. 

I am grateful for the great philosophers of life, i.e. Plato, Socrates, Jesus Christ, Gandhi, Laozi, Siddhartha Gautama, Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mother Theresa, and the many others. These are the people who, through their teachings, allow us to look deeply within ourselves with their words and see the possibility and the potential for much more than we think we are capable. They help us to see beyond the self and see the inter-connectivity of all life and all beings here in this life. Their words have inspired many people and will continue to inspire many more. They have taught selflessness, life, love, charity, hope, and many other things that we allow ourselves to take in and utilize for the betterment of ourselves and/or the betterment of society. 

Finally, I am grateful for the ability to think. I mention belief and the philosophers of the world, but without the ability to think for ourselves, what would be the purpose of belief? What would be the purpose of philosophy? What would be the purpose of the pursuit of truth and happiness if we are not allowed to think critically? I am grateful for the ability to take in information and meditate on it for truth hidden within the metaphors and analogies. I am grateful I am able to think for myself and find truth in the beautiful gems of belief and philosophy that are so abundant.

These are a few of the things I am thankful for...what are you thankful for?

Namaste

A Testimony of My Truths

I haven't been to church in a while, but as far as I remember, the first Sunday of the month in the LDS church is Testimony Meeting. I know I am almost a week late in sharing this, but c'est la vie. I haven't shared my testimony in so long because, at times, I spent my time living off the faith and testimony of my parents. I knew my parents couldn't be wrong and their truth had to be the truth for me too.

Since I haven't shared any form of a testimony for a while, I have decided to add my own testimony to the eternal ether of belief and faith. I will preface my testimony, however, by saying that this is my truth. This is the truth that allows me to breathe, find joy, seek the Maker of the Universe in myself, everything, and everyone around me. My truth may not be yours, but I find strength and joy in my truth. Having prefaced my testimony, I entrust my words to the eternal ether.

I would like to bear witness to truths that I have come to know. Among those truths is a belief in a Higher Power and a Great Architect. Some religions call that power Allah, God, The Great I Am, Elohim, or Yahweh. Some even call that power science. I don't differentiate between the various names given to signify the Great Creator. There is a Higher Power that gives energy to the evolution and being of all that surrounds us and to connect everything and everyone. I call that Higher Power God, though you may choose to call that Higher Power by another name.

With my belief in God, I know that there is something after this life. The next life will be a relief from the perils and pains that assail my body on a daily basis. This current life seems more the Hell than the one promised to sinners in the Bible. Also, my belief in a merciful Higher Power allows me to believe that whatever comes next is going to be a paradise in comparison to the current state of things. Though the current state of things can be full of beauty all around, paradise or nirvana awaits.

I believe in the strength of humanity over its weakness and failures. I believe we are a great people who are blessed with love, family, and friends. We are blessed with the capacity to show mercy, compassion, and empathy for others in their times of need. I believe that although we suffer, that suffering allows us to be more sympathetic, compassionate, and loving. Suffering allows us to live and not just wallow in our miseries. I believe we all have great capacities waiting to blossom that we often allow to stay dormant.

Finally, I believe in me. I don't often know who I am or where I am going, but I know that I am on the correct path. I know that I have fallen over and over, but I have still risen to try again. I know I have a capacity to be someone more than I am. I know that if I continue believing in myself, believing in humanity, and believing in God, that I will continue to feel joy and I will continue to be. I am what I am. I am continually taking steps in the present moment, not looking forward and not looking behind. I am and I could not ask for more.

I bear witness to these things as my truths. I submit them to the eternal ether and I implore you to find your truths, place them in the eternal ether, and let them lift and enlighten others. Namaste.

Hope

Night creeps up
   a dark, foreboding cloud
      darkening the world in which we live.
Some would fear,
   but for the hope that a brighter day
       comes.

Hope is something necessary,
   without it, everything is dark
and pain seems never ending
Hope is the balance
Between knowledge and faith
     giving light to us
         shining on the unknown.
            finding the stepping stones ahead
               so we don't fall in murky water.

Keep hoping. Keep believing
One day
    all will be better
         light will prevail.
Keep hoping that you
     will one day be safe
        in someone's arms.

Keep hoping.

What My Spirit Needs

What is the spirit? Where do we come from? Where are we going? What happens after this life? What is the purpose of this life? As we struggle to answer these questions, either from day to day or at the approach of death, we all come to terms with some aspect of our spirituality. From Hinduism to Buddhism, from Christianity to paganism, or from atheism to Judaism,  humans struggle to find the answers to the questions of life and the afterlife. But the true question that often gets asked is, "Who has the truth? Which religion is the right religion for each one of is? And is there a single religion that contains within it the truth?"

The truth often seems subjective. One truth seems to be more true to one person than it is to another person. I have been raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and at the age of eight was baptized, wholly immersed under water and then raised up spiritually cleansed of original sin. I went on a mission to the Tokyo North Mission when I was nineteen and struggled to teach people what I believed to be true. I felt like I was pushing my beliefs onto others and felt I was committing my own kind of sin. I struggled for ten months on my mission (a mission usually is for two years for men), but I felt alone and forsaken during a period of my life that was supposed to bring me closer and closer to God. I, however, felt the furthest away from Him than I have ever felt in my life. I was confused, alone, and just wanted out. I wanted that part of my life to be over, so I took thirty-seven Prozac pills, hoping that someone would listen and praying that the pills wouldn't kill me.

After getting my plane tickets home and living a semi-nomadic life, going from home to home because my parents were on their own mission in Manaus, Brazil, I still felt alone and forsaken. Beside feeling alone, I felt like I was a failure. The one time in my life that I had committed to God and I had failed to stay the whole two years. The weight of guilt on my spirit continued to be weigh on me. I was a sinner and an abomination to God. All I wanted was for life to be over. I just wanted to start over or end it all.

Over the years, I have lost my the faith of my childhood. I have not been to church in a long time and only find myself praying to God when I feel like the world is crashing down around my shoulders. However, in my struggle to find myself in the arms of God, I have looked into other forms of spirituality (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc.) and have still not found that one gospel that feels like home to me. There are parts of Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity that ring true to me. But how do I take parts of all three and make them central to my beliefs about life, love, and God?

During my search for truth, I was reading from the poetry of Rumi, a thirteenth century poet. In The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, I discovered there are lots of spiritual metaphors and allegories that began to roll off the pages. In the poem "Moses and the Shepherd," Moses chastises the shepherd because the shepherd gives human qualities to God because "such blasphemous familiarity sounds like/you're chatting with your uncles.../The shepherd repented and tore his clothes and sighed/and wandered out into the desert" (165-66).

After the shepherd abandons his prayers and wanders into the desert, Moses hears God's voice chastising him. God says:

You have separated me/from one of my own. Did you come as a Prophet to unite/or to sever?/I have given/each being a separate and unique way/of seeing and knowing and saying that knowledge./What seems/wrong to you is right for him./What is poison to one is honey to someone else./Purity and impurity, sloth and diligence in worship,/these mean nothing to me./I am apart from all that./Ways of worshiping are not to be ranked as better /or worse than one another./Hindus do Hindu things./The Dravidian Muslims in India do what they do./It's all praise, and it's all right./It's not me that's glorified in acts of worship./It's the worshipers! I don't hear the words/they say. I look inside at the humility (166).

God chastised Moses because he took a man from his worship because Moses believed that how the shepherd was worshiping was wrong and he strove to fix the shepherd's wrong worshiping habits. However, to God, it wasn't how the shepherd was worshiping Him, but "it's all praise, and it's all right." God is not looking at how and what the people say when they pray, but He "look[s] inside at the humility" that the worship shows.

When I read "Moses and the Shepherd," I realized that it's not how I worship God, but that I do worship God. It takes humility to turn to someone that you don't know, a higher power, and turn to Him for strength, putting faith in Him no matter how hard life gets. God isn't looking at how I worship him; He is looking at the humility in my heart. So, if I am Christian, Buddhist, Taoist or take properties and teachings from all three, it doesn't matter how I worship. Truth is truth and what might "seem[]/wrong to you is right for [me]" and "What is poison to [you] is honey to [me]." My spirit needs what is right for it and no one else.