Today is all that matters. James Allen says that "Mind clothes itself in garments of its own making. Mind is the arbiter of life; it is the creator and the shaper of conditions and the recipient of its own results. It contains within itself both the power to create illusion and to perceive reality. Mind is the infallible weaver of destiny; thought is the thread, good and evil deeds are the warp and woof, and the web, woven upon the loom of life, is character."
So as you think, therefore you are. I stopped ritualized prayer many months ago, at first I felt guilty, like I should expect some bad things to happen or some kind of punishment. But as I continued to read authors like James Allen and Joseph Campbell I began to see that I simply see prayer as something entirely different from Christianity, like Campbell says, "Religion is a metaphor, it's when its taken literally that we get into trouble." I have never believed in a real "Garden of Eden" or the flood or other myths. I pretended I did, because if I didn't then somehow I disqualified myself for the benefits of this God that Christianity espoused was so interested in "saving" me. Christianity starts you out with a strike against you, says we are "born into sin" and we need saving. That's convenient for them, now we have to spend the rest of our lives making up for something we did not do. "Jesus died for our sins" Not mine. Or yours for that matter. This was thousands of years ago we are talking about. Question everything, what you choose to believe will shape your destiny. I can believe in being good and righteous and selfless without attributing it to an English speaking deity that is most often portrayed as a bearded white old man in the sky. There is no reward in Heaven, Heaven and Hell are inward states that exist within us as we go about our lives. The choices we make in dealing with them either continue our suffering or alleviate it. What I say out loud in prayer better match what my innermost desires are because those are what is pulling things toward me, not prayer. If I have bestial desires in the back of my mind, those are what I will be unconsciously acting upon, not what I say I want in my life through prayer. So what I profess that I don't want I end up with, and what I say I really want eludes me, I know because I have experienced it. It has taken me decades to put words to what I actually have experienced. I credit the two writers I mentioned above for writing those words in a way that finally resonated with me, I have discovered many others that are saying the same types of things, I see connections that I missed before, it has given me renewed purpose and vigor in other readings that I engage in as well, because what I am looking FOR, I am looking WITH, I bring meaning to my life, I don't need to try and "discover" the meaning of life, I already have it, it's what I bring to it. Education should create a sense of teachability within us that makes us ask questions and seek answers in life not just in textbooks for assignments. Joseph Campbell says that "When you are on YOUR path doors will open up for you that would have remained closed had you not set out on this path" That is how I feel about they way my life has been unfolding this past year, which coincidentally is my Senior year in college. I feel awakened, I have always felt a bit of this awakening but I did not pursue it as I am now, for it is fluid and dynamic, not static or stationary, there is no end to the learning, and that's the good news. I am never bored, nor ever will be if I keep seeking, I am not awaiting a destination, I am in it for the Journey.
Tailspin is a book by Jean Zimmerman about the Navy Tailhook Convention that happened in 1991, Twenty-four years ago. It shows the complexity of what can happen when career (religious) choices by males and females step outside whatever is considered gender (religious) normal. This is a great conversational motivational tool for young adults as they will step into the status quo and must decide whether they will tolerate it or decide to take the harder road of changing it to what they want it to be, it is their future.
ReplyDeleteTailspin is a book I choose because, when a young adult is in the classroom, or a non-traditional classroom such as the Internet, it should be a time of building and looking towards the future. It should be a release from the realities that may face young adults when not in school. The books that were available through my local public library, out of the approved class list, are superior reading for young adults who may benefit from addressing issues they daily deal with.
However, my opinion is that since statistically the young adult’s personal daily life can be extremely stressful, their reading should give them an escape. It should lead them on a tour of how their 12 years of publicly paid for education can give them better lives and careers. The books should by their reading give relevance as to why history, math, and science are necessary. Books need to be the kind that make students want to hold discussions about why these events happen and let them give their ideas on how to keep them from happening. How citizens have voted before is history and is effecting our young adults today, many of these young adults are not voting for years upon turning 18 and into adulthood.