Stuff I Believe

What the hell. Let's get all philosophical and metaphysical right from Jump Street.

I believe things happen for a reason (or more than one reason). We may not ever be able to find out what the reason(s) is/are, but it/they exist(s).

I believe that one of our primary purposes for being here on Earth is to care for ourselves and for each other.

I believe that we are all part of a universal knowledge/consciousness, one which has been called many things (including "God"), and that where we run into trouble is when we try too hard to set language to describe that consciousness. It's like the story of the six blind men and the elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant#The_story) - we can each describe our experiences and knowing of this consciousness/power/whatever, and within the context of our own experience and the language we use they make sense, but they cannot possibly approach an accurate description of the whole. There are those who spend their entire lives studying this consciousness and have many more words to use in their descriptions, but those words are still the ones THEY choose to describe whatever this "thing" is, and can't mean precisely the same thing to anyone but them. Limiting the Universe to one concept, one name, one gender, one image, in my view, just simply can't be accurate. Likewise, limiting the acknowledgement/homage/worship/study of this consciousness to one path, one conclusion, one pre-written menu of acceptable ways to be and live (or even 50 or 100 or 1000 or 10,000)... how can that possibly work?

I believe that there is a place within each of us where pure Spirit exists, free from all external influence and earthly need. And when I am fully present in that "place" within me, I am fully in the presence of Spirit/Consciousness/Universe/whatever. When I let go of ego entirely and exist only in the moment, that is the place that I call "prayer." And when I am in that place and interface with others who are also there in the Spirit and free from their respective egos - well, in that space is where the things people call "miracles" occur.

I believe that whatever this consciousness/power/knowledge is, it doesn't care what you call it. In fact, why would you call it anything? You're part of it. I'm part of it. Even calling it "it" is ridiculously limiting, but since I'm blogging here, and blogs are made of words... I'm sort of trapped. *smile*

I believe that another way we get into trouble is in believing that Spirit/Universe/God/whatever is separate from us, which is, in my view, precisely opposite from the truth. Once I begin thinking of this Whatever as separate from me, I have removed myself from nexus and into ego.

Okay, moving away from that part of the discussion - I believe that souls who have existed are still present in the Big Whatever. Oh, and just in case I haven't stood things enough on their ear, I believe animals have souls, and they're in there too. Whether or not souls get "re-used" in new bodies... I don't know. Not sure if it really matters to me very much.

Maybe that's enough for now. Hope I haven't scared everyone away.