Things I like: Super Mario Jesus

A marker, a post it note cube, and a little bit of creativity is apparently all I need to smile. Oh, and a ass-kicking Jesus.

Divine Guidance

Finally, a way to determine my spiritual path!

In search of Faith

Religion is such a controversial topic to discuss because it is such a personal belief that reason often has no place in a discussion. In many cases the impasse occurs because the response "this is what I believe, therefore it is true" would prevent a discussion from moving further.

And really, that's fine. That's what you would call Faith, "firm belief in something for which there is no proof" (Merrium Webster dictionary).

I approach this subject today because it is something that has been on my mind for the last 15 years or so. What is it that I believe?

I was born and raised Catholic. I wouldn't say that I had a devout household, but we (grudgingly) went to church on Sundays, I attended religious instruction on Saturday mornings and received my Holy Sacraments. I was scolded for my bad behavior "you made Papa Dios cry" (that's my Puertorican heritage coming through) but never remember being praised in God's eyes by something I did well.

So Catholicism was something I never really believed in. It was just something offered to me much like the morality stories of Aesop's Fables or Grimm's fairy tales.

As I got older and started to reflect on this more, I realized how much I disagreed with the Church and eventually all organized religion. Specifically the exclusivity of it. The 'my God is better than your God' or if you don't believe what I believe then you will not receive the rewards that await the faithful. To me, God was not angry or vengeful and I couldn't agree with any doctrine that taught that.

To be clear, I want to separate Religion from Faith. I found fault with the oppressive doctrines of Religion, but I never faltered in my Faith that there is something greater than myself that connects me with all humanity and nature.

What I'm sure will be scoffed at by many, I started giving my unformed ideas into a more tangible shape by reading and watching fiction.

The first that comes to mind is the 1999 Kevin Smith film, Dogma.



Yes, the movie is silly and fun, but with one line at the end, it encapsulated all my vague ideas into something real; "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe."

So this got me to thinking, what else is there?

My search had taken me in different directions and again fiction stories were the spark of further exploration. Dan Brown's 2003 book The DaVinci Code is a thriller having to do with the Catholic church and the secret of the Holy Grail.

I had my doubts on the celibacy of Jesus. He was a man so why shouldn't he have had a family?

But the one aspect that drew me was the patriarchal ways of the Church. Why were the women second class? Why were women not allowed to hold positions of influence?

I became very interested in Mary Magdalene and her representation as the "sacred feminine". I read Woman with the Alabaster Jar by Margaret Starbird and Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd and it really began to awaken a deeper sense of spirituality.

Nature is all about balance. Pre-Christian and Eastern religions understood this and celebrated the God and the Goddess.

The Goddess. This appealed to me. It made sense to me. Women bear children. Women create life. So with that logic, The Creator is a woman. Mother Earth, Mother Nature.

That then lead me to explore more of the ancient Goddesses of all cultures and geographies. Isis, Briget, Kuan Yin, Gaea, Tara and Chalchiuhtlicue.

Spanning time and great distances, many goddess stories are similar long before people had ways of mass communication. So how did these similar stories come about? Could it be that Man created these stories, these myths to help explain what couldn't be explained? Have these stories morphed into one another through the ages? Maybe. (See Religion Comes from Ancient Astrology and Sun Worship: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)

Or maybe it's something else.

Dan Brown again uses his fiction to expose another interesting idea. The Lost Symbol talks about Noetic Science, which brings objective scientific methods together with the deep wisdom of inner knowing to explore the mysteries of consciousness. Cassandra Vieten, Author of Mindful Motherhood, Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences could better explain:

In other words, there are several ways we can know the world around us. Science focuses on external observation and is grounded in objective evaluation, measurement, and experimentation. This is useful in increasing objectivity and reducing bias and inaccuracy as we interpret what we observe.

But another way of knowing is subjective -- or internal -- including gut feelings, intuition, hunches -- the way you know you love your children, for example, or experiences you have that cannot be explained or proven, but feel absolutely real nonetheless. This way of knowing is what we call noetic.

Humans are born knowing. It's just a matter of paying attention and listening. Intuition, instinct. Call it what you will. But that such diverse civilizations from diverse times have come up with similar stories to explain their existence could have stemmed from an embedded knowledge within us.

Common thought can have profound results on the physical world. This is The Secret, the Law of Attraction, or the power or prayer.

So this is where I am now. Contemplating this idea. Albert Einstein said:

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Now this is something that I can believe in. If we are all born with an engrained knowledge of something greater than us, if that same 'something greater' connects us all, and if a collected thought can alter the world we live in, then why do we define ourselves more by our differences than what we have in common?

I believe that the root of all faiths is to be good to yourself, be good to others and be good to the earth. It's that simple.

My search of Faith is not over. I don't think it ever will be, But I think that right now I'm the closest that I've ever been before.

Dinosaurs Explained - finally

So today's rant... It's more an expression of an open-mouthed gape.

I was checking out a different search engine and typed in the word 'dinosaurs'. One of the results came back with "Bible explains dinosaurs." Oh, I had to read this one.

What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

According to the Bible: Dinosaurs first existed around 6,000 years ago. God made the dinosaurs, along with the other land animals, on Day 6 of the Creation Week. Adam and Eve were also made on Day 6—so dinosaurs lived at the same time as people, not separated by eons of time.

Dinosaurs could not have died out before people appeared because dinosaurs had not previously existed; and death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering are a result of Adam’s sin.

Really?? Oh and it gets even more interesting...

Did you know that before the world was exposed to sin, all animals, even dinosaurs were vegetarian? And the reason why the big dinosaurs aren't around today is simply because they just couldn't fit on Noah's Ark.

Poor Noah, looks like you needed a bigger boat.

Us vs. Them

I have come across many different variations of the 'us vs. them' conflict over the last few weeks. And I only say over the last few weeks, because thats all that I've paid attention to it. I know that it has always been there.

In my coursework, the theme has been on the sociology of education and how conflicts have existed since the founding of schools in America. In an effort to create a new, unified nation, schools served as the true melting pot. The goal of schools were to Americanize all citizens -- to create a common ideology, religion, culture, language and allegiance to their country. This of course affected those who were not of the country's majority: white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

In education, in politics, in foreign and domestic relations, in science... it seems that all conflicts all stem from religion. From one being more correct than the other. And it's usually the social elite that determined that their view was the 'right' one and that everyone else was wrong and that it was their duty as Americans to save those savages and bring them to the righteousness of their faith and all that it entails.

Education
The school system was often seen as a way to screen out members of society to determine if they would be put on the education track to advance to universities and become the leaders of tomorrow, or if they would be put on a vocational track to become the workers of tomorrow. Often these decisions were made by standardized tests. But if you consider the discrimination already in place in schools, more often than not, privileged students of middle to upper-class society were put on the college-prep track and under-privileged students of lower class society were put on the vocational track. So the gap between the upper-class elite and the lower class commoners continued to exist and become wider.

Politics
Republican, Right Wing, Christian Conservative, small government vs. Democrat, Left Wing, Liberal, big government. One provides the safety net, the other provides the push towards self-reliance.

Foreign & Domestic Relations
You hear the comments, "America - love it or leave it", "Speak English only." Historically, there has not been a lot of tolerance for different cultures in America. And around the world, our goal is to spread God-fearing Democracy whether they like it or not.

Science
Evolution versus Creationism. Advancement of medial science versus moral and ethical debates. Beating the Communists to the moon.

Everything has been passed through the filter of us vs. them. What ever happened to we?

I have to believe that it's reasonable that every person would want everyone to have access to fair and equal education. That all parties want a strong, safe, healthy and prosperous nation. That we want basic human rights, not just for Americans but for all citizens of the world. That we push the limits of human ingenuity and aspire to scientific advancement that better mankind and the environment. It should not matter if you call your guidance God, Allah, Yahweh, Mother Earth, The Creator, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or nothing at all.

As for me, this is what I believe:

• I was raised Catholic, but no longer prescribe to that faith. I blame it on Man's fallibility rather than on religion's.
  
• I can be close to 'something bigger than myself' without following a particular faith, doctrine or creed.
• Live by the Golden Rule.
• Everyone is equal: men and women; white, black and every shade in between; King and Peasant. As I tell my mom all the time, "The Pope shits, too."
• It's not who you love, but how you love. (Thanks, Kevin Smith!)
  
• Actions have consequences. Karma, fate or divine intervention -- call it whatever you want.
• You get out of life what you put into it. Hard work and determination will take you far. But sometimes a hand to help you up or a kick in the ass is needed.
• And most importantly, burgers, a beach and Bruce can solve any personal crisis.
  

I didn't have an agenda in writing this. I have no intention of starting a debate because I assume that to mean that the goal is to change mine or someone else's beliefs - and I don't really care that much.

But there are polarizing events like politics and religion, and other events that bring people together like the Olympics and the Stand Up 2 Cancer event last night, and I wonder why? What breaks the barriers and unites human to a common cause?

Why can we all just get along?

My namesakes

On my way into work this morning, a blast from the past song came up on my iPod. Samantha Fox's "I Wannna Have Some Fun". Come on, you remember her, the English model/singer from the late 80's.

Well hearing that song brings up memories of a tidbit of silly information on me.

I had gone to CCD, which is like Sunday school, except it was on Saturday morning. It was pretty much a social event since you got to hang out with your friends from school for an hour on the weekend. You stated in first grade and went all the way through to 8th grade where it all culminated with Confirmation, where you receive the sacrament of the Holy Spirit.

The best part about Confirmation was that you got to choose your Confirmation name. I didn't have a middle name so I thought it would be cool to finally get one. And it was all my choice!

Typically you would select a proper Christian name from the Bible. Friends had chose Mary, Elizabeth, Theresa. Not me. I chose Samantha. I wanted a rock star middle name and at that time, the coolest slut was Samantha Fox. (Lita Ford was also an option, but 'Lita' just didn't sound right with my name.)

Not to ignore my first name, it also has a story.

My dad was a fan of Claudine Longet, a popular singer/actress/dancer from Paris of the 60's and 70's. She was married to Andy Williams and later dated skier "Spider" Sabich. She was later arrested for 'accidentally' killing Spider by shooting him in the back, but was acquitted because of mishandling of evidence and other police blunders. She then later married her defense lawyer who left his wife and children to be with her.

So there you have it, folks. I'm named after a homicidal beauty home-wrecker and a bimbo slut.

Where does your name come from?