My Short Spiritual Journey, Part 1
OK, typing this out it got to be way longer than maybe it should be. So I’m posting in reverse order so that it can be read straight down the page. Why not one big post? I don’t know. Maybe I just want to do a series. So here it goes anyway...
PART 1 - Why Am I Writing This?
Many people, including the Hip White Guy linked on the right, have written about their spiritual journeys. Some end up believing is some higher power. Some end up believing in none. Some change their belief systems within particular faiths or change faiths. Some that change come back to where they started. Those are all over the WEB and one can find them with little effort.
There are many things that keep this near the forefront of my mind. I read Andrew Sullivan daily and his Catholicism is a major component of his writing. I’m a bit of a political junky and the influence of fundamentalist Christianity is everywhere. To steal a term from a coworker, I am a bit of a “lay science buff.” Science books (not school books per se) are one of the staple genres in my reading habits. Science Fiction/Fantasy* and current events also rank high.
Just this weekend Jehovah Witnesses were canvassing my neighborhood. I didn’t realize when I answered the buzzer but I spent a minute talking to the two that came to my door. The conversation was brief. They offered some pamphlets and I said I wasn’t interested. When I asked why I identified myself as an atheist. The old lady in the group who had said nothing spoke up saying that was strange. I responded that I thought her belief in all-powerful bearded man floating in the sky was strange. I wouldn’t allow her companion to come back and “talk to me some more.” It would have wasted each of our times. So I think back on my 35 years and I try to recollect how I got this point. How did I get to be in the minority of people that don’t believe in a higher power?
*Side Note, way off topic: If you aren’t pining for George R.R. Martin’s next book in the Fire and Ice saga you haven’t read the first four books. I know most everyone swears by Lord Of The Rings, but for my money Martin’s series is by far and away the greatest Fantasy novel series I’ve ever come across.
PART 1 - Why Am I Writing This?
Many people, including the Hip White Guy linked on the right, have written about their spiritual journeys. Some end up believing is some higher power. Some end up believing in none. Some change their belief systems within particular faiths or change faiths. Some that change come back to where they started. Those are all over the WEB and one can find them with little effort.
There are many things that keep this near the forefront of my mind. I read Andrew Sullivan daily and his Catholicism is a major component of his writing. I’m a bit of a political junky and the influence of fundamentalist Christianity is everywhere. To steal a term from a coworker, I am a bit of a “lay science buff.” Science books (not school books per se) are one of the staple genres in my reading habits. Science Fiction/Fantasy* and current events also rank high.
Just this weekend Jehovah Witnesses were canvassing my neighborhood. I didn’t realize when I answered the buzzer but I spent a minute talking to the two that came to my door. The conversation was brief. They offered some pamphlets and I said I wasn’t interested. When I asked why I identified myself as an atheist. The old lady in the group who had said nothing spoke up saying that was strange. I responded that I thought her belief in all-powerful bearded man floating in the sky was strange. I wouldn’t allow her companion to come back and “talk to me some more.” It would have wasted each of our times. So I think back on my 35 years and I try to recollect how I got this point. How did I get to be in the minority of people that don’t believe in a higher power?
*Side Note, way off topic: If you aren’t pining for George R.R. Martin’s next book in the Fire and Ice saga you haven’t read the first four books. I know most everyone swears by Lord Of The Rings, but for my money Martin’s series is by far and away the greatest Fantasy novel series I’ve ever come across.
posted by LP Cards Fan at
4:27 PM
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