Weds 5am "solitude"

after peddling I went to the grocery store... in the parking lot I looked up and noticed what I assume is a really bright planet in the sky... I think the night sky is my religion... my connection to the universe... makes me think of two things... books I've read and a song... a book is like an idea... several books convey the idea... and the lyrics to this song...

And each one there
Has one thing shared
They have sweated beneath the same sun
Looked up in wonder at the same moon
And wept when it was all done
For bein' done too soon
For bein' done too soon

the idea in the books is that life is a solitary experience... that we really LIVE and DIE alone... that even when packed into a college football stadium with 100,000 screaming cheering fans, we are still alone...

makes me think about growing up... maybe there were four kinds of Catholics...
1. infrequent unknown behavior...
2. strictly follow the line but live in the secular world and pray but also live...
3. live your religion but in the secular world...
4. pursue a religious vocation...

1. is a pretty pitiful group of people... 2. is the way I was raised... that is the way the majority probably are... 3. is rarer... the very religious secularists... and 4. is of course the nuns and priests etc...

the other idea from many many books is about thought and language and categories... and that the human process of language and thinking creates false dichotomies... that every cut or category or distinction is a false split from the UNITY of nature and existence...

and that makes me think that in the above fourfold scheme, I am a 3...

that the thing to do is merge the religious and secular back into one... but not in the sense of the super devout Catholic... rather in the sense of outrage that there are all these false religions all of which are man made, and there are all this secular political and social systems that are all man made and arbitrary...

that life is life... that "spirituality" is really respect, awareness, participation, sharing, etc...

that the invention of GOD is such a manipulation...

but I don't mean to be negative... the important thing is what... HAPPINESS of course... and how does one find "Happiness" ???

well, like everything else, and I know you aren't expecting this, but HAPPINESS is a by product... HAPPINESS simply put EVOLVES...

:)


makes me think of two songs...

----

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

----

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

----


well, I am trying to tie this all together and end up with some kind of existential unity...

:)

which brings me to two more ideas from books... one, that the interesting thing about humans is that our dilemma is to create MEANING... and that we really have three basic needs to make ourselves happy...

something to do...
something to love...
something to hope for...

and I think for most people, the three answers come the easiest with a job, marriage and a religion that gives us hope...

the tricky thing about evolution is that if something works, it works... hence false religions provide a useful service cause the hope provided is real, even tho its basis is myth...

but that is true of everything... evolution is pragmatism in motion... :)