Reflections

Nature's God Church Blog

Archive for February, 2009

Many “true” paths

Posted by Reflections on February 28, 2009

What is the way, the truth and the light? How do we achieve enlightenment or salvation or perfect happiness? I think there must be many answers, many paths. In the rock opera Jesus Christ, Superstar Pontius Pilate asks, “But what is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We both have truths. Are mine the same as yours?” These are excellent questions.

Who am I to deny that Gautama Buddha and his followers achieved and do achieve enlightenment? Many Christians, Jews and Muslims find their faiths incredibly fulfilling. Many of them have died for their faith. How much more committed to a path can you be? People have found deep inspiration in many religions and philosophies. The truth? Different paths work for different people. The ultimate, single truth? I’m not sure that exists, and perhaps it won’t until there is ultimately a single person left to find it.

Some people are comfortable believing exactly what other people believe. They become convinced that some set of beliefs represents the ultimate truth. They are content to become part of a collective consciousness. To some, losing the ego or the self is something they will work their whole life to achieve. They are driven to become part of something greater than themselves. That works for them. That does not work for me.

That is not to say that I do not enjoy companionship or a sense of belonging. I do. That does not mean that I do not place high value on selflessness, especially selfless service. What I am uncomfortable with is two things: the concept that there is an ultimate, perfect truth that is true for everyone and that the group is much more important than the individual.

I see absolutely no evidence that there is a single path that is true for every person. I believe we must each find our own way. It is natural that we would look to the experience of others to see what has worked for them so that we do not have to find out everything for ourselves. It is natural that we initially adopt that which those whom we love and respect believe to be the correct path. It is part of human nature to want to belong, to seek fellowship with others. There are many things that we can achieve collectively that we cannot achieve individually. But we are strongest when our efforts are additive, when each individual contribution to an effort increases the total. If we take ten people and add up all their ideas, we can end up with ten ideas. But when everyone is forced to think alike, we end up with one idea, not ten. Nine ideas are lost in the process. If we take the ten ideas that ten people contribute, we may decide that one idea is the best of the group, but even then, if all ideas were considered, the group still placed value on the contribution of each individual. When a group decides that only one set of ideas has value and rejects all other attempts to contribute, the value of individuals is diminished, sometimes to zero.

I think that any objective person can look around and see that there are many people choosing many paths, and we can see that these paths lead to happiness for so many people that there cannot possibly be only one true path. I think you have to close your mind to the evidence to not understand that. And when groups impose their will on individuals through force, and when people are required to walk paths that are not of their own choosing, the group is diminished every time it strips its members of their individuality.

Respect and consideration are important companions on our journey, because our paths will cross with many others on the way to our destination. Along the way we may wonder why some people choose the path that they do. We can even warn them when we see that the path they are following leads to danger or disappointment. But we should keep things in perspective. Others may see our own path leading to a bad end. We cannot choose another’s path and should not, anymore than we want them to choose ours.

So as you pursue the path that you believe to be true, keep your eye on your goal, wave if you see me, share with me what you have seen and done on your journey, and then do not be surprised when I continue on my own path instead of following yours.

Posted in Deism, Life, Philosophy, Religion | 3 Comments »

The Master of My Soul

Posted by Reflections on February 16, 2009

I subscribe to a mailing list that brings me an inspirational quote most every day. Today’s set me to thinking. The quote comes from Albert Ellis, a psychologist of some note who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, which is like psychotherapy, Stoic-style (which explains somewhat why a quote from him would appeal to me). I think the quote is one that should everyone in America should read today. “The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.“

Those are powerful words. I am very much a student of Stoicism, but one concept embraced by the Stoics I reject, and that is their notion of fate. I have used the signature “Defiant Stoic” in discussion groups, because although I think the Stoics got very much right, and I do believe we should accept the things we cannot change, I do not believe there are all that many things that are beyond our ability to change. And I believe in free will, not fate.

For the most part, people are too quick to give up, and worse, many shift blame when the failure is entirely theirs. When we become adults we are supposed to put away childish things. Being irresponsible is childish. We must stand up and say, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” When we are knocked down seven times, we must get up eight. Whining and pointing, shifting blame and ducking responsibility are the only types of exercise some people get. Given the choice between someone who is hard-working, plodding, methodical, open and honest about their limitations and someone who is talented, executes brilliantly, but is overconfident and shifts blame when he/she inevitably drops the ball, I’ll take plodding every time.

My own kids were not immune to this malady, but now that they have kids of their own, they are maturing, and shift they blame much less. it’s a hard habit to break, and some never break it. I don’t talk politics here, but it is obvious that blame is a huge part of the political game. That is a childish game both for those who play, and for those who actually believe anything a politician says.

I grew up in the Army. I was 19 when I joined, so I certainly wasn’t grown up before. The Army makes you memorize a lot of things. One useful bit of knowledge is knowing the maximum effective ranges of various weapon systems. Knowing whether the enemy is within the range of your weapons (and whether you are in range when they return fire), is a very useful thing to know. Failing to know or to take this information into account can be fatal. But another thing we learned was that the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters. West Point cadets are initially allowed four responses only: “YES, SIR”, “NO, SIR”, “NO EXCUSE, SIR” and “SIR, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.” Making excuses is basically dishonest.

I don’t think that there is any kind of destiny other than the kind we control ourselves. Life deals the cards, but we play the hands. Remember that you can win with a pair of deuces. It’s all in the way you play the game. You can blame the dealer, or you can learn how to play better. If you always choose blame, you will always be a loser. Be the captain of your fate.

Posted in Life, Philosophy | 1 Comment »

The Good Earth

Posted by Reflections on February 8, 2009

I spent the past several days working on an essay for the Deist.info website that I am updating. I posted a copy on Beliefnet. I am pretty happy with it. I believe an expanded version will eventually end up in the Contemporary Deism Project. All this means that I have been behind the computer far too many hours. I am not 100% yet after a complete tear of my right biceps tendon, so my physical activity level has been somewhat hampered. But this weekend was different. I got out and worked in the garden. I had forgotten how much I miss getting my hands dirty preparing the soil and cleaning up our home environment.

Nature is all around us, even in an urban area. We only have a 70′ by 130′ lot in a fairly new subdivision. Our home is situated on a limestone hill with very little native soil. We have raised garden beds in back and quite a number of trees, bushes and flower beds. The heat and drought were brutal last year. We lost a lot of plants. Bushes that had survived the harsh conditions over the 12 years we’ve lived here did not survive the hot and dry conditions we faced in 2008.

Nature will not be ignored. We live in Central Texas. Non-native species find it difficult to survive here. Every time we fight nature, nature wins. Our drought conditions continue. Watering is a continuing necessity. There is not nearly enough rain. Our tomatoes just burned up last year. We got almost nothing. Even the basil wilted in the heat.

We do want a garden this year, but we will be prudent. I spent Saturday emptying the compost bin onto the big garden bed and then turning it. The bed was very dry. I broke up the big dirt clods into small ones, hoed and raked and got the bed ready. Then this morning the new plants went in: spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli, kale. Our cool weather garden is in. The middle bed has a few strawberries and flowers. We will put in a few tomato plants in mid-to-late March. The small bed is our herb garden: rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, chives.

Fighting nature on a large scale takes enormous resources. Even keeping our yard and garden beds alive is a challenge. Cooperating with nature as much as possible makes a tough job just a bit easier. We are planting cool weather crops, because is winter, and the weather is more likely to be cool than warm. I expect another frost or two, even if tomorrow’s temperature is supposed to be in the upper 70s.

But whether the future will be warm or cool, dry or rainy, this weekend was all about balance, cooperating with nature. It was an opportunity to work the soil, get my hands dirty, remove the undesirable elements from our environment, add the desirable and be one with our local environment. I have a lot to do before I can consider our home and gardens to be one with nature.

That does not mean that I cannot be one with nature as I work in the yard and the garden. I have to be careful. I did about as much in one weekend as my healing biceps tendon will allow. Two days of gardening and yard work have tested my limits, but there is a sense of satisfaction where there was only frustration before. I’m back. I have to be sensible and careful, but I’m back.

I have to get a lot dirtier before I’ll consider our garden anywhere near ready. There is composting to do. There are things to be planted. There is soil to be tilled. Nature is protesting, but much less than before. Spring is around the corner. Renewal.

I am ready. I’ll have to pace myself, but I’m ready.

Posted in Deism, Life, Nature, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »