The Path

I was enjoying the gentle breeze, clear blue skies and sunny weather when a song by Matishayu, “A King With No Crown”, came on. This lyric; “With these, demons surround all around to bring me down to negativity” ignited a thought. As I’ve written before I am no fan of organized religions but I do fully advocate spirituality. It occurred to me that all religions do share another common theme; the struggle to be spiritual, to follow a peaceable path in the face of chaos and disorder. Am I wrong?

Yet many of us find it difficult to pursue peace outside of the constraints of a sanctioned institution. We like belonging to a larger group. Having our ideals and beliefs defined by quantity. I’m guilty of this myself. Looking for affirmation, a literal show of hands, that my path is correct. Is this really necessary?

If the path does not trespass, harm or infringe on another it does not require affirmation from others. It already has the golden seal of approval from the highest authority. You.

We are free to walk alone or to move with the herd.

100 Right Answers

Illusion

A friend of mine recently related a story that I found some what interesting at many levels. He was having a discussion with his father about world matters and the role that religion has played in exacerbating many of the problems we currently see. His father went on the say that these things are all portents to the rapture and that he feels that the rapture is imminent. Concurring with this sentiment my friend then states that part of the problem is that everyone feels that their belief system is the correct one and will defend it fervently. Upon hearing this his father immediately got defensive and felt some how he was being told that he is in the latter group, despite the fact that his son repeated several times that he was in full agreement with his father’s beliefs.

What is it about these faith based systems that causes mankind to abandon rationale reasoning? I was often told to never try to argue with irrational people. Time and time again this has proved to be sound advice. Could it be that religion and faith based belief systems are irrational? That they can not be approached with logic and soundness of mind? Are the believers so forgone that they can not even begin to consider the very logical possibility that they just might be wrong?

All other things in life require supporting evidence before they are accepted as truth. Yet in faith based belief systems you just accept what has been taught for generations and never question its authenticity.

Long sigh. I give up.