I can hear it calling me the way it used to do
So, I’ve taken a turn for the worse, or better, depending on your perspective.
On one hand, I’m still seeking and wondering and asking and concluding. On the other, the more answers and conclusions I reach, the less informed I realize we all are.
Recently, I’ve wondered what I would ask, given an audience with someone such as, “The Pope.” So many revere such a man as ultimately connected with God, yet I wonder: what does such a man wonder and conclude to himself in private? I imagine something very similar to you or me — this life-mystery we cloak ourselves in, while we fumble about trying to find meaning and purpose, is woven of a fabric none of us know aside from personally and ethereally.
So I continue to seek and wonder and ask and conclude, of my own volition. Yet, so many spiritual words guide we humans to disregard our doubt, to quash the questions, to forge ahead in faith by bubbling with belief. Knowing, deep-down that what we’ve been told is true, that we can trust, and that events work out to a greater design than we can understand.
Is it all hogwash? Like the Pope, I don’t know. Is it true? How can any one say, without knowing?
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2009/10/01 23:25 -0700Z
Yes, it is all hogwash. Or rather, it’s river-water. If it’s gold you’re looking for, you have to adopt the old panning method. Hogwash is useful stuff when you have hogs to wash. River-water has a million uses. But I think you are seeking gold.
2009/10/06 02:16 -0700Z
Well… that’s a deep subject. Get it? Well? Deep? :)
I am obviously panning (or pining) for better understanding. I suppose if I honestly believed it was hogwash, I’d not post.
2009/10/06 02:38 -0700Z
I was responding to your notion of asking the Pope something. Actually you said “someone such as the Pope”. How many Pope-like figures do we have? To be specific, the Pope is the head of a church which has its own non-democratic government. He is the shepherd of a flock, and judges his success or failure on the basis of the number of sheep under his care: the new lambs born, minus those lost to the wolves. His other constraint is continuity of doctrine. Every new pronouncement adapted to today’s world has to be somehow made compatible with previous pronouncements over nearly two millennia, counting St Peter as the first pope, as they do. Though the Pope can forget about the indefensible pronouncements made long ago that everyone else has forgotten too, such as “Kill the Albigensian heretics and be guaranteed a place in Heaven!” (I paraphrase heavily.)
Somewhere within the pronouncements of successive popes, I’m sure, lies wisdom, for truth is more easily defended than untruth.
But I think the main thing is this. Wherever the pope gets his divine inspiration from, you and I can get it too. It takes effort and dedication. But the pope is not God’s representative on earth, unless you are a committed Catholic.
2009/10/06 10:10 -0700Z
Historically, the Catholic church has made plenty of big mistakes… the biggest of which, in my opinionated opinion, has been to wholly disregard the humility and non-conformist attitude of the guy set up as the Catholic feast-table centerpiece.
I believe the “truth” of divinity and holiness, especially in relation to the most famous carpenter, is more in tune with the doctrines of people like Bob Marley. As you say, “You and I can get it too.”
The mysteries surrounding all this religion and spirituality I go on about are no more demystified, despite the best efforts of people truly seeking to understand. This, to me, is one of the roots of my personal quandary… if we are too seek and find, then why do we not find for all the seeking?
All candor aside, these types of quandaries are driving me to a state of restlessness, malcontent and melancholy. But, if I’m to believe the anti-Christ’s capitalist philosophy….. “There’s an App for That.”