Divinity (Photo credit: Dimitri N.)
The story is alive and well.
What story?
It doesn’t really matter . . . just pick one. I am referring to religions and spiritual paths.
ALL of the major religions, (and most of the lesser one’s, too), had their beginnings in stories that were written long before you and I ever took form in our current body. For all intents and purposes, all of it is nothing more than mythology.
Now, don’t get mad or indignant . . . I’m just pointing out that your God did not sit down and write the story through which you came to know Him/Her/It. The power of the God you know was a bright, shining seed of truth that came along, and then volumes of written material was built around this seed after the power was no longer walking and teaching among us; that doesn’t necessarily make it untrue. Mythology, invariably, has some basis in truth, even if only vaguely, through the expression of larger archetypes that influence our experience of life.
Did Jesus exist? I believe that He did. But know this; He didn’t write a single, solitary word about His life or what He thought. All that we know of Him was recorded, years after His death, by others. I don’t know where you come from, or who you know, but it is a fact that humans sometimes “spin” things in ways that suit their agenda. Again, I AM NOT saying that this occurred in your religion – there is no way that I could know that – but one would be wise to keep this in mind. The exclusion of the role of women in many male-dominated scriptures ought to be a red-flag for any thinking person.
The same is true of the Buddha. He never wrote a single word of his philosophy for anyone to follow; others wrote down what they recalled him saying – and there is a lot of writing that conflicts with other writings, just as in the Bible. I’m only scratching the surface, here.
What about the Druids? They were an oral culture – they made a point of not recording their beliefs and rituals in writing – it had to be memorized. We have no writings from ancient Druids regarding their truths – most of what we know about them comes from the writings of Julius Caesar. And frankly, he was more than a bit of a villain himself, so I would be hesitant to take his word as unbiased and true. After all, he was perfectly OK with feeding Christians and slaves by the thousands to lions in the Coliseum for sport, and he somehow found the ritual sacrifice of a human as abhorrent; an odd dichotomy of morals and ideals to say the least.
And what of shamans and “medicine men” of myriad and diverse, indigenous cultures, effectively wielding power from visions and oral transmissions from those that preceded them in the role.
Throughout the history of mankind, “Gods” and “Goddesses” have been added and subtracted, denigrated and revered, yet the power has NEVER changed. All of these myths are based around some kernel of truth – some gem of eternal wisdom – one that many spend their lives trying to get to; reaching for that singular truth.
Drum roll please . . . this is the part where you might expect me to reveal what I believe to be that “kernel of truth.” Well, that isn’t going to happen, because I don’t know.
What I DO know is this: there is a great power, available to you and me, whatever “myth” we have chosen as our personal touchstone for knowing Divinity. Miracles happen, people are healed in ceremonies, things happen every day that can only be attributed to something greater than all of us.
But there is one, common denominator for those who live in and experience this power, (via whatever story to which they have chosen to hitch their wagon), or were brought up to believe, and that is FAITH.
No matter the house that you choose to play in . . . whatever or Whoever you envision Divinity to be, He/She/It appears to respond to that, ONE thing – FAITH.
I could write for hours about this if I wasn’t so tired – and so inadequate, at times, to express the “cathedral-sized” concepts that the unseen power that we know as God places in my head.
As I always do, I will ask you to do one thing – meditate upon what I have said, and see what is given unto you.
Many Blessings To All…
LOTD
