Over the past week I've had so many enriching, totally open conversations with Pieter, and it's been very valuable to me. These kind of relationships, where you connect with someone mentally and spiritually, for me personally, acts like a mirror so that I can see exactly where I'm at internally. It's a beautiful thing.
I love sharing my experience and perspectives, and I think by now it should be obvious that I could care less what other people think about me. I'm just being me and sharing my experience. Being open with our feelings is how we all learn and grow.
Right when Pieter started talking about religion I agreed completely with everything he said, like how there are bits of truth in every religion but the problem is the human ego. We both believe this whole idea of a punitive condemning God was simply a creation of man's own projected fears. If I were trying to manipulate and control large sums of people, I would use the fear of the Lord. It really does setup the perfect environment for blind faith. And it seems that is what so many of these extremist groups are doing. Teaching whatever nonsense they teach, that a certain peoples need to be annihilated, or whatever it is, all "in the name of God." Or rather the mindset that says, "if you don't do this God will punish and condemn you in the eternities." All those poor suicide bombers or other people in those situations that truly think they are doing Gods will. It's messed up.
But the fear of the Lord seems to weave itself into most religions, which I don't understand at all. As if our divine completely loving & accepting creator would have any need to stoop all the way down to the level of fear to help us become better people. Seriously? God is love, not fear. What frustrates me about religion is how it makes everything seem so black and white, and some ideas that claim to be eternal truth but feel so wrong inside of me. Life is not black and white. People are not black and white.
One of those ideas that frustrates me so deeply I want to scream, is that Gods eternal plan is for man to be married to a woman. Period. End of story. No discussion. I'll share a story that illustrates my point, and a story that I believe is happening to thousands if not tens of thousands of people all over the world.
Imagine for a moment you are born gay or lesbian. And you are born into a very religious environment. Around the age of twelve or thirteen, you start to feel a strong attraction for people of the same sex. Now, here's where you are spiritually torn into two. You've been taught your whole life that God's plan is for man to be with a woman. Period. End of story. No discussion. And at this point in your life you haven't had any open discussions about sexuality or being gay, etc. The last thing you do, especially if you are a dude, is talk about these kinds of things. You have these feelings for other people of the same sex, but it's confusing. You start thinking, "what is wrong with me?" And it goes on and on. Those beliefs that man is meant to be with a women are ingrained into your nervous system, into your brain at this point. There are a lot of outcomes that could happen at this point, but one of them is shame. Shame. The most destructive force in the universe. And from my understanding, is literally the lowest level of consciousness a person can experience. The lowest. At least guilt is adaptable. Guilt is saying I made a mistake, whereas shame says I am a mistake.
Some people in this situation may be eaten away by shame and confusion for many years, leading to drug abuse or other addictive behaviors, because shame feeds addiction.
Some may try so hard with such good intentions to change. You know like change the way they are biologically hardwired, as if that's possible. Those people may go into a straight marriage because they believe if they don't they are going against Gods plan, yet miserable the whole time because they are not attracted to their own spouse. Man, I feel for those people and I'm not even gay! I think there is way too much sympathy going around these days, and not near enough true empathy. Sympathy is like you are walking down a street, see someone in a hole, and say "oh, I'm so sorry for you" or some other meaningless bull shit and go on your way. True empathy is walking down a street, seeing someone in a hole, and jumping in with the right tools, and saying, "I feel you. I'm with you. Lets get out of this muck together."
How could a marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman be any less sacred and beautiful in the eyes of God? That's like saying God sees white people as more sacred and beautiful than africans, or asians, or hispanics. Can you imagine such a condemning, judgmental, unloving God? As if He would say to a happily married gay people, "You know what you're doing here is against my eternal plan for you, right?" "What you are doing violates my law."
Why is it that everything surrounding sexuality religion fails to bring true clarity and true acceptance? How long is it gonna take for everyone, including every institution, to drop all the prejudices and judgement, and just accept each other?
I love sharing my experience and perspectives, and I think by now it should be obvious that I could care less what other people think about me. I'm just being me and sharing my experience. Being open with our feelings is how we all learn and grow.
Right when Pieter started talking about religion I agreed completely with everything he said, like how there are bits of truth in every religion but the problem is the human ego. We both believe this whole idea of a punitive condemning God was simply a creation of man's own projected fears. If I were trying to manipulate and control large sums of people, I would use the fear of the Lord. It really does setup the perfect environment for blind faith. And it seems that is what so many of these extremist groups are doing. Teaching whatever nonsense they teach, that a certain peoples need to be annihilated, or whatever it is, all "in the name of God." Or rather the mindset that says, "if you don't do this God will punish and condemn you in the eternities." All those poor suicide bombers or other people in those situations that truly think they are doing Gods will. It's messed up.
But the fear of the Lord seems to weave itself into most religions, which I don't understand at all. As if our divine completely loving & accepting creator would have any need to stoop all the way down to the level of fear to help us become better people. Seriously? God is love, not fear. What frustrates me about religion is how it makes everything seem so black and white, and some ideas that claim to be eternal truth but feel so wrong inside of me. Life is not black and white. People are not black and white.
One of those ideas that frustrates me so deeply I want to scream, is that Gods eternal plan is for man to be married to a woman. Period. End of story. No discussion. I'll share a story that illustrates my point, and a story that I believe is happening to thousands if not tens of thousands of people all over the world.
Imagine for a moment you are born gay or lesbian. And you are born into a very religious environment. Around the age of twelve or thirteen, you start to feel a strong attraction for people of the same sex. Now, here's where you are spiritually torn into two. You've been taught your whole life that God's plan is for man to be with a woman. Period. End of story. No discussion. And at this point in your life you haven't had any open discussions about sexuality or being gay, etc. The last thing you do, especially if you are a dude, is talk about these kinds of things. You have these feelings for other people of the same sex, but it's confusing. You start thinking, "what is wrong with me?" And it goes on and on. Those beliefs that man is meant to be with a women are ingrained into your nervous system, into your brain at this point. There are a lot of outcomes that could happen at this point, but one of them is shame. Shame. The most destructive force in the universe. And from my understanding, is literally the lowest level of consciousness a person can experience. The lowest. At least guilt is adaptable. Guilt is saying I made a mistake, whereas shame says I am a mistake.
Some people in this situation may be eaten away by shame and confusion for many years, leading to drug abuse or other addictive behaviors, because shame feeds addiction.
Some may try so hard with such good intentions to change. You know like change the way they are biologically hardwired, as if that's possible. Those people may go into a straight marriage because they believe if they don't they are going against Gods plan, yet miserable the whole time because they are not attracted to their own spouse. Man, I feel for those people and I'm not even gay! I think there is way too much sympathy going around these days, and not near enough true empathy. Sympathy is like you are walking down a street, see someone in a hole, and say "oh, I'm so sorry for you" or some other meaningless bull shit and go on your way. True empathy is walking down a street, seeing someone in a hole, and jumping in with the right tools, and saying, "I feel you. I'm with you. Lets get out of this muck together."
How could a marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman be any less sacred and beautiful in the eyes of God? That's like saying God sees white people as more sacred and beautiful than africans, or asians, or hispanics. Can you imagine such a condemning, judgmental, unloving God? As if He would say to a happily married gay people, "You know what you're doing here is against my eternal plan for you, right?" "What you are doing violates my law."
Why is it that everything surrounding sexuality religion fails to bring true clarity and true acceptance? How long is it gonna take for everyone, including every institution, to drop all the prejudices and judgement, and just accept each other?
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