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Posted by peter Chamberland
January 2, 2022 -
204 views
"I am thine Inmost Self. I gaze out upon thy world of coloured lights from the Darkness behind thine eyes." (Temple of the Vampire: Vampire Bible) ….
"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." (1 kings 19:11-12)
We as human beings have advanced intellectual instincts that can sometimes be positive and sometimes be our demise. We have a natural understanding about right and wrong on many levels, and sometimes life becomes confusing about finding the direction of how to handle ourselves. We lose our footing and we get confused. As one interested in religion I can say that I've been confused before about where to settle down. What to take in and how to gauge what actions to take, and I've made mistakes before. I am far from perfect.
However, through this process I've made tremendous strides to reach this plateau in life. After long distances up a very large mountain, huffing and puffing as I climb even cliffs that seemed straight up.
When investigating religions of all different sorts one asks how do you decide where to go and make your decisions? And the most solid answer that I can not stress enough is that all religions contain some truth, but all religions are ultimately wrong. When you look into the fact that we are human beings, when we have arms and legs, eyes, ears, and a nose, and so forth, we stand upon earth with our two feet surrounded by plains mountains jungles and forests, do we literally experience the presence of deity as a form of a man before our very eyes, face to face? Or is their something more that reaches out to us from behind the pages of all sorts of various texts to strike a chord within us and evoke holiness in our midst?
Many would claim that people see god face to face. Some would say within the astral realm others would say literally. I am more a believer of the astral proportions, but the debate still goes on about personal interpretations and such. I've had spiritual visionary experiences where I've felt that I've seen deity. But that does not make me god. It defined a point in my life where I became interested in spiritual studies. Where I wanted to find everything I could about what happened, now twenty years later here I am as a minister.
I can say that actions about the specific directions don't really matter as much. Like when a person does a baptism, do they have to be fully immersed, or does a simple anointing make the difference? Do you have to cover your head during worship, or is that only the females? The intentions are what counts. And I suppose that's why I get frustrated so much that spiritual thinking like the ten commandments on state Capitol property just diminishes the value of those statements because people don't really think about it or second guess it. In all actuality does it matter that someone puts a cross on a church? Does it matter what translation of the bible they use? Technically when the right intentions are in place, it does not. What matters is endorsing the feeling of appreciation for being alive as a human being and respecting and fostering compassion for all existence.
Don't get caught up in the technical details about it all, but don't be afraid to reach out and experience something that might be to your benefit. Don't diminish down to lukewarm just because someone doesn't want to hear it. Don't give up your purpose and the experience of existence.
