LIGHT BULB

Wow! What an evening last night!

I got a call from a relative in that extended family I mentioned in yesterday's post followed immediately by the viewing of segment 7 in Bill Moyers' series called Faith & Reason. The juxtaposition just blows me away. Whoever or whatever may be the actual nature of that thing I sometimes call Cosmic Mind has a really cool sense of timing and an amazing sense of humor.

The relative is a faithful member of the same Christian religion in which I grew up. It's working beautifully for her and clearly satisfies her spiritual needs. The interviewee on the Moyers' show was Pema Chöndrön, an American Buddhist nun. Her religion works for her, too.

I asked my relative how I was coming across in this blog. She has been reading it (don't know how long) but has never commented. She said that I came across as ...searching. The way she said it led me to jump to the conclusion that 'searching' was a bad thing. (MY stuff, not necessarily hers - I didn't check it out.)

Here's my REVELATION: (Multi-faceted, no particular order)
- It’s the search that is important, not the answer.
- My thrashing about for answers is about my own need for drama and wanting to be ‘made special’ by some kind of cosmic communication.
- There really ARE (at least) Nine Billion Names of god. Which one I choose (or don’t choose) is probably irrelevant to you.
- NO ONE actually KNOWS who/what/where god is until s/he experiences it after this lifetime is over. What that person believes about it is her/his own belief system about it.
- A belief system may be inherited (by default or by thoughtful consideration), or it may be rationally chosen after careful research and/or experience.
- I still have ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to some things that sound like fundamental Christianity.
- What others believe about my experience is none of my business, but may make interesting conversation. (if we can avoid having expectations for each other)
- True ‘fundamentalism’ seems symptomatic of a closed mind regardless of the form that fundamentalism takes: religion, politics, whatever.
- I’m better served, spiritually, if I remain flexible and open to the possibility that I may be totally and completely wrong about ALL matters spiritual and by attaching nothing to that possibility.
- We all, each of us, have the potential of embracing fundamentalism in one realm or another.

There will be more on this subject, of course. It seems enough for now that I can (at last) RELAX. My current spiritual task is to manifest the best, kindest, most peaceful spirit I can manage in any given moment, and to model that in my heart, my behavior, my speech; indeed, in ALL aspects of my life. Doing that will also require that I translate my former angst into actual spiritual practice. For me, that will be more meditation and further exploration. If I need further revelation it will be provided. Hallelujah, amen.