Final thoughts of the day 2

During my many times of contemplation, I have often felt low and spiritually exhausted by the depths of man's sheer inhumanity to man. This inhumanity grates upon my nerves and stabs at my innermost consciousness like glass shards penetrating into my brain. Just reading the daily newspapers can cause my mood to nosedive as I take in how someone has just killed or maimed an animal for fun, or tortured some innocent human being, or murdered somebody for their training shoes!

Entire forests, the Earth's natural respiratory system, are being cut down for profit, pollutants and toxins fill the air and threaten extinction of every living soul upon the Earth, and yet so many seem to care not one iota and it continues on with no thought as to the outcome of these puerile actions of man.

Kinda reminds me of an old Cree Indian Proverb which goes something like:-

"Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will the white man realize that he cannot eat money."

It never ceases to surprise me how callous and cruel we, as a species can actually be. We are a species that is capable of such beauty and such creativeness and yet this is how the majority of mankind chooses to carry out their lives. Our relentless pursuit of financial gain and profit whilst people are starving and struggling to survive makes me sick to the core and yet sometimes, in the midst of all of this a day will come along that will fill me with hope once again.

Today was one such day....

The location was the cellar bar of a local Plymouth pub, the event, a small gathering of like-minded individuals enjoying a glass of ale whilst singing folk songs of love, freedom and fun times come and gone.

As I sat there enjoying the atmosphere of this place and listening to these pleasant and playful compositions, it suddenly dawned on me that not all of mankind is filled with the inane desire to corrupt, strip and maim. This small group of people, in whose company I spent this particular evening welcomed me regardless of who I was, I could have joined in and sung along with them of course but my confidence has never been of a level that would enable me to indulge in such things.

Just for a while though, the utter madness and the angst of the outside world all around me seemed so distant, it was really very nice in fact and I found myself wishing that I too could play a musical instrument and just join in. Needless to say however, I never did learn to play the guitar that my mother bought me for my twelfth birthday, unfortunately it was stolen from my garage along with a number of other personal belongings by some toe-rag youth before I could get around to this.

It actually pains me now to know that that guitar is very probably in said toe-rags bedroom, classified as his own personal property now and there is nothing that I can do about it. The law is an ass, see earlier post...... This said however, I don't want to go on another downer right now as I finished this day on a high, I wish to lay my head on my pillow in the same frame of mind.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, the folk night at the pub. This folk night that I speak of is actually run by a really nice guy by the name of Joe, if you were to meet him I'm sure that you would not fail to like him as I truly believe that through talking with him on a number of occasions now, there isn't one solitary bad bone in the man's body.

Actually, if you met him you might say that he looks rather unconventional compared to some in that he sports a very full beard, invariably wears a floppy brimmed hat or a flat cap and has trousers which are often held up by a pair of braces, not a common site in these parts I might add. It all gives him a certain character anyway, Joe oozes mellow, he is so laid back as to be pretty much horizontal and I must say that it was an absolute joy to spend some time listening to the songs of both himself and those of his compatriots tonight.

These are actually the times when I feel that the world is not such a bad place after all, that not everyone in it is so selfishly driven and so single mindedly greedy. These are times when I have hope again and when I look to the future with the thought that man is not such an absolute waste of flesh after all. It's people like Joe that give me faith again, nothing seems to phase him and even though I suspect that he may not suffer fools gladly, he always has an ear for those that need it.

I shall sleep well tonight, the effects of ale no doubt assisting in that ;-) But I cannot deny that I'm already wondering just what horrors tomorrows paper will bring.

Adieu

Religion

Hmm, I guess sooner or later it had to come to this. It is said that when a group of people sit down together & chat in a room, the subject will invariably come around to Politics & Religion, so, without wishing to go against the grain anymore than I usually do (fat chance of that) I now wish to write a little bit about Religion. I've kinda done politics all along anyway so onto Religion.

Religion. What is it? Is it truly the word of God? Is it the law that actually does govern the universe or is it just a collection of stories & anecdotes from the people that were around at the time Jesus Christ lived?

Ok, I may or may not be right on all of this but here are my own views...

Let's start with the Bible. What is it? Is it the word of God or an interpretation of a God system by man himself. The Bible is indeed a book written by man, NOT God so with that in mind I would have to say that at first glance, the Bible SEEMS to be simply a collection of stories set out in book form to show mans interpretation of a God system & that therefore, by definition the interpretation will be flawed.

I mean, let's face it. If the sentence 'Send reinforcements, we're going to advance' can end up as 'Send three & four pence, we're going to a dance', within fifteen minutes along a line of English soldiers in a world war one trench, then think of how much of the original message of the bible would be lost over a timespan of two thousand years!

How many principal Religions are there in the world today? Five, Six? Each of those Religions proclaim that theirs is the correct one and that everyone else's are false and wrong.

Well they can't all be right can they.

How many Christians actually practice the words of the Bible today? Answer, hardly any. Why do I say that, here's a few reasons why.

"It is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Well, that means none of the Christians or the Jews are getting in to Heaven then doesn't it because I've yet to meet a poor one. So let's move on...

"Let him amongst you without sin cast the first stone."

Doesn't that translate to something along the lines of - 'It isn't up to you to punish the bad, that's up to God himself' and yet still our judicial system continues to punish and execute criminals all the time, in the name of God. It's like their saying -'Well, we believe there's a God, but just in case there isn't, we'll punish you anyway...

"Thou shalt not worship false idols."

OK, so that's the Catholics not getting in either then isn't it since they worship the Virgin Mary, i.e a false idol.....

"Forgive those that trespass against you."

Hmm, I stood outside a Church a while ago and saw a poster on it's outside wall. It read - 'Private parking, any vehicle parking here without authority will be clamped and a release fee of £100 charged'....

So, I Guess that means that turn the other cheek and forgive those that trespass against you doesn't apply in this particular church then uh?

*Shakes head in disbelief*

Explain to me why women are never seen as equals in any of these Religions. Way back in history, were you aware that God (known to the Jews at the time as Yahway) actually did have a female counterpart, but that this was rubbished and abandoned at the time because men wouldn't tolerate a female as being equal. Man (the species, not the sex) was supposedly created in Gods image, surely then God, by definition must be both Male and Female and that therefore each of the sexes must be of equal importance.

So that's all your middle eastern Religions out then isn't it, Muslim in particular I think.

I have always wanted to ask a Vicar or a Priest - Would they do this job for nothing just as Jesus's original disciple's did? I think I know what their answer would be and yet, if they really believed in their God then surely they would be preaching the word free of charge wouldn't they?

Err, not a chance...

So that's the Clergy not getting in to Heaven either since their only doing it for the money and are therefore corrupting the original messages by accepting that money. They are little more than Judas was to Jesus when he betrayed him.

What about the Catholics? I really can't understand them at all. Their missionaries travelled all over the globe attempting to convert people to Catholicism. The Bolsheviks come to mind here since those that didn't wish to convert were considered corrupt and had their heads duly chopped off! There's a famous picture some place that shows a smiling Catholic priest standing next to a huge barrel of human heads, this being all that was left of those poor souls that wouldn't convert.

How very religious of them....

Moving on further, when a native American Indian was once asked to convert by missionaries, he asked the question, 'How can I take your religion seriously, you murdered your own God and nailed him to a cross'.

You gotta agree that he had a point there...

With all of the things I say here, you might ask if I myself believe in God and the answer to that question would be yes. I believe there must be a creator of a sort and that that creator by definition could be classed as a God. Whether he is the same God that they speak of in the Bible or any other religious text however, I'm not so sure since I don't consider any religious book to be the true words of God himself, since they are all written by man and therefore prone to human error.

Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it's a question as to whether any of us believes in God anymore, I think it's more a question of whether he/she believes in us. I mean look at us, would you want to invest time and energy into a species that causes nothing but chaos and destruction in the world?

Hmm, I sense another flood coming......

Maybe I should build a boat ;-)