Just Kidding....Gommy knows everyone else can't always be wrong.....But it has come to Goms' attention lately that people are fiercely protective of whatever they were fed, along with their pablum, while they were forming (or more correctly, having formed) their belief systems. Emphasis on 'belief'....cause we ALL should know that what we believe is based on the faith that what we were taught is the right dogma, religious bent, prejudices, biases......you get the point, right?
Take for instance the Christian belief. Christianity makes up 33% of the worlds' religion. Does that mean the other 67% of the world is going to burn in hell? Don't think so....that is not the God I choose to believe is a loving God. Just as parents don't disown or worse, kill their children for not following our directives....I doubt that my God would do the same with his creations.
Goms may have an advantage here in that, as I have said many times, Goms was raised a 'visitor' when it came to churches. My mother took me to many different persuasions of churches and/or synagogues while growing up. As for my Dad, he had given up on religion at a young age while he was self- teaching himself and read the Inquisition of Spain and came to realize how many people were killed in the name of Religion. He decided he didn't want to be a member of that club.....There were other factors such as being ex-communicated for divorcing because it was church doctrine that you could not divorce and be in the church no matter what.....and that kinda made him mad at the whole idea of religion too. But as I went from church to church to synagogue, it became quite clear, quite early on, that different things were being taught in my Sunday School classes.... depending on which 'facility' we were attending that week. It was all 'sorta' the same, at least in the Christian churches, but there were some things that seemed to have been tweaked and even though I was a youngster....it made the little girl in me start to ask questions. Quietly and only to myself at first and while I was young. But as Goms grew older and could examine things more extensively for myself, I understood how the saying that, "Born a ______(fill in the blank with your own affiliation), always a ____(repeat)." could come into being. If I had only gone to one church/synagogue all of my growing and belief forming years, it would have been very difficult to have anyone change the way I had been told to think (believe).
We all understand the concept of 'brain-washing', but don't think it should ever be applied to our being taught to believe the way our parents, community, society, church, etc. have told us the way things are.......and that their belief is the way that it is in this world and beyond. I am a parent, and I surely wouldn't tell my children that I know for certain what is on the other side of this life. Annnnddddd......I'd like to know how the ones that profess to know, actually do know.
Now, Goms isn't saying religion is a bad thing....it helps us to think there will be consequences for how we lead our lives in that there will one day be a day of reckoning. And it can be of enormous help when our moral compass wants to veer off and be naughty or even evil. But when religion, dogma, bias, etc. are taken to the extreme and becomes derisive......that is when it becomes dangerous.
Goms has come to my own conclusions that there is a God/Universe Creator/Being, that is greater than us and who did indeed create this wonderful world we are fortunate enough to be sampling. The part where I am positively, without a doubt SURE that what I think is absolute.....sorry, can't go that far. And when I'm told to have 'faith' when some of my questions can't be answered, it just doesn't sit all that well with Goms. Sorry folks, I just can't drink the Kool-Aid on some of the 'folklore'......
This is not to say that Goms doesn't believe in prayer....because I have seen it work many times myself. There are times that we might not think this is so because it didn't turn out the way we 'wanted' or asked for a certain outcome....... What does happen when we have surrendered and given in or given up trying to do things the way we were doing them, and seeing that we weren't doing a very good job at it, and we let go of the oars and ask (usually it is more like begging) to be taken to where we are supposed to be for our own good, is when we see our real prayers answered in a way we could never have imagined. Goms has had this revelation personally and the enormous pressure you feel when you give it over to the Higher Being/God.....cannot be put into words. You just somehow know.....and your spiritual side is born. This is probably what the people who say they have 'heard the word of God' mean. It isn't His actual voice...it is a beautiful feeling that you have been 'heard' and the feeling of being surrounded by PURE LOVE! At least this is how it was for Goms. I repeat...this is something I experienced personally, not something someone 'told' me would happen. And Goms thinks you may have to have experienced a deep hopelessness or loss to find yourself in this place.
Another thing that is mind puzzling to Goms is why we can't see that the farther away we are from the spectrum of living a certain way, or a different belief system, or acting a certain way or be unlike someone's skin color, or someone elses custom being different from our own..... etc., we tend to bristle against it or become afraid of it. When this happens to Goms , I usually tend to question it more about why I feel so threatened or afraid of the other end of the particular spectrum. Foreign things may sometimes make us feel like we don't belong to that click or club and so many people then take that opportunity to make fun of the custom, belief or habit that is foreign and somehow they think it makes them....what? Better if they make fun or ridicule a whole class of other humans? NOT!!! But, they are probably making fun of us too....and sadly, that is the human in us all.
We really don't have to be afraid of our difference, we can embrace them. And even if we aren't Christians, we could try to live our lives Christ-like and that would make it pretty darn difficult to judge others, be hateful towards anyone else, condemn someone for having a different skin color than we do and just might prove to make us to be gentle with ourselves, the Earth and everyone we come in contact with. It also seems puzzling to Goms that while some people don't have any problem being friends with Jews ( who outright deny Jesus), they find it unsettling to remain friends with those who have questioned their Christian upbringing. Wuz' up with dat 'friend'???
This is what has been praying on Gommys' mind this week. Gommy is trying to be open-minded about letting everyone have their own system of beliefs, customs, skin color, habits, etc. and let Goms continue to search and question away. We don't arbitrarily have to be afraid of differences......different isn't bad....it's just different. You wouldn't want a mosaic to be all one color tile or it would just be a bathroom shower wall....and not a beautiful piece of art to enjoy! We can all be a beautiful tapestry of differences......Let's sing it together guys......."Kum Bay Yah, Kum Bay Yah......There now, doesn't that feel better? It's worth a try and it couldn't hurt, right boys and girls? So, have a Blessed Sunday and week ahead and be grateful for each second of each hour of each day we are given.....Hugs and Mush ((^o^))
