Nietzsche
The Four Noble Truths:
Sermon -
Religious Direction
By Veronica Gomez
Although today's sermon was inspired by the controversy brought about from the Vatican regarding the book, “The Golden Compass,” I can honestly say it's taken turns from there which I never could have foreseen.
I had heard of the controversy just before Christmas, and being the person I am decided to buy not just the book for my children, but the trilogy, as well as take them to see the movie. The movie lacked a great deal of the book, and the book was like any other fantasy book I might have read, or might not have read… but I couldn't really find the cause of the chaos declared by the pope, i.e. “to kill god.” Neither in the book, nor in the movie did I see declarations of the author, an atheist, trying to force people to 'kill god' or turn away from god. In the last part of the book, there was a brief reading from Genesis, regarding the story of Adam and Eve and the beginning of time according to many Catholics and Christians, but nothing saying 'turn away!' I'll not tell more incase you want to read the book, and this is not a book report.
But believe me… I was looking.
Just a brief bit of information on myself, other than what you may know, or see of me… I was raised strict Byzantine Catholic. We pray differently, repent differently, bless ourselves differently, and hold completely different masses from Roman Catholics. My families history is deeply ingrained in the Byzantine religion ~ from which, you can see by my presence here, I have strayed. But if you ask me… I have been found.
Coming out Unitarian was not easy in my family, and to this day I have to take snide remarks and a little verbal abuse from those who thought they knew me best, and are too frightened to ask about my religion. I feel like I had been living a lie, as a Catholic. Every question I asked as a child, which was never answered but merely brushed aside as me being insolent, left me feeling like I was a heathen, like I didn't belong anywhere. I was merely a sinner in the eyes of my Catholic family, because I questioned our beliefs.
This brief, but important history of myself might help those who are wondering what I could possibly have to say about religious direction. Starting from one point and ending up at the complete opposite point of the spectrum, I have seen and experienced a great deal of religious direction.
After leaving the church, I wandered for a bit with no direction at all. Actually, I didn't wander, I stood completely still spiritually, lost… confused… I still had my morals, my ethics, but couldn't find a place to fit. I found myself reading about many religions. Pagan rituals, Native American Spiritual beliefs, Wicca Beliefs and Buddhism caught my eye the most, and solidly intertwined with Humanists beliefs as well as some of my Christian background. How could this be possible?
How could I take bits and pieces of a religion and make it work in my life? Wouldn't that contradict what each of those religions encouraged? Catholics suggest you have no other god but 'him.' Pagans believe in respecting Mother earth and generally, it is acceptable to believe in any divine concept, so long as that concept represents life-affirming qualities. Wiccans worship The One, who is both gods and goddesses, but we, as humans, put The One into human terms. We give the divine emotion, gender, tangibility, a voice, etc., that The One really doesn't have. The One is not only the creator of the Universe but The One IS the universe. Buddhists worship the great Buddha as a teacher and example, and do not hold godly idols at all. With so many choices each claiming to be the right way for those that believe, I had much to consider.
Flash forward to a few days ago. (pause) My father is entering a stage of life or rather, a stage of death that will be harder on my heart and me than nearly anything else I've been through. Which god will make this easier for him? Which god would not let him suffer, which belief system should I choose to make his transition easier? Or which Human beings can help him, my family and myself through this? The religious direction here in any translation always comes to the same magnetic north… hope. Perhaps that was a message the Vatican couldn't decipher in the Golden Compass?
Underlying all the religions is a beacon of hope in any form. Something we humans long for when we really don't know what else to do. When we really don't have the answers to what will make us and others feel better, we always have hope.
Like the wind, hope or religious direction circles all of us at certain times. Blowing north one day and south another… and each of us will tell stories of how the wind whipped our umbrellas upside-down, and tossed our hair differently; and then there are others who will swear that same wind cooled their day, blew the leaves out of their yard so they didn't have to work so hard, or gently tossed the snow on the horizon of hills to make it look like winter ghosts in the distance, and they'll find solace in that.
Which direction was right? For the wind, one might say it depends where you are standing. I say for religion, it also depends on where one is standing. My father is currently standing at a great precipice. What might he see; a black hole, a bright light, a kind and benevolent spirit or a powerful and judgmental being? What if, (just thinking here) what if my father has glimpsed and seen what's on the other side? What if it isn't an almighty, vengeful god as he was brought up to believe? What if it's a surge of energy that rejuvenates him, and astrologically propels him to another life? That would be a shock, let me tell you. I'd bet his religious direction might change if that happened.
My family learned what they were taught, and practiced what they learned. One stray sheep, (ahem…) found another way in religion, and grew up to ask this question;
When it comes to religion, is there a wrong direction? Whether a person lives for rituals, spiritual guidance, humanistic truths, scientific answers… who are we to say, if they are following their hearts, they are wrong? Why would we want that responsibility either?
I wouldn't want the responsibility of ever having to tell my family their beliefs or religions are wrong. I'm not sure if I can justly say that. I clearly don't have the answer of what is right at this time. I only have the pure knowledge that my path at this point in my life is correct for me. Without a question, I'm a Unitarian Universalist.
After reading the principles and learning more and more about UUism, I can say that for my parents to baptize me Byzantine Catholic was like them trying to baptize me Republican… it's just not going to stick. My religious direction was not the same as theirs ~ my hope and faith in humanities choices for the world, in the earth and it's elements and sources, hope in a larger spiritual picture than I could ever know takes me off their path; onto a path where the wind still blows.
From their view, the wind on my path is a horrible gale, almost tornado like, gusting through my hair, whipping life around me in a crazy frenzy… from my point of view, my religious direction has seemingly walked me into the eye of that tornado, sure there is a great wind around me, I call it life, and where I stand there is calm, I feel safe, I feel as though I belong where things move around me busily finding their place and I get to be lucky enough to see it happen from this point of view.
Note
to one and all, I do NOT believe that Uuism ought to be compared to a
tornado, unless you are looking through the windows of my family.
As I mentioned, religious direction is the wind of hope that everyone
gets to breath at one point or another. The world has a wonderful way
of never allowing one person to directly see what another person sees.
It's impossible. Two people cannot stand in the same spot and have the
same angle as each other, in the same moment but yet, both can claim to
see the same thing, or two standing very close might claim to see
completely different things.
Consider
your hopes, consider the wind, and consider religious direction ~
despite the Vatican's cries for turning away anything not catholic,
you'll find a magnetic north.
Final thought;
A thought from Voltaire, French Philosopher and writer, “If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him.”