I had a disdain for religion well into my twenties. It seemed that people used religion to persecute, to blame, to pander, to threaten, to intimidate and to avoid responsibility for their actions and their predicaments. It seemed to me that people ought to give up on their religions and take a little more responsibility for themselves, their families, their friends, their environment and their world. Whatever God they believed in was doing a piss poor job.
...stuff i've discovered
...stuff i've learned from ...stuff i've ripped off |
In my late twenties, though, I started waking up to the universe. First, Peter Medoff died from AIDS. Peter Medoff was one of the most incredible, powerful, loving, playful and good hearted men I had ever had the pleasure of getting to know and growing to love. I couldn't figure out why a man so good to the world had to die.
I wondered if I would be ready to face death with the courage that Peter had.
I wondered if I would be able to greet death knowing that I hadn't done anything of significance on this planet.
I wondered if I could welcome death tomorrow, knowing that I had done my job.
Then I had a spectacular motorcycle accident and realized that my time on earth was not yet over but if I was going to fulfill my potential I had better get started. But what should I do?
So I started studying. I read about Zen Buddhism and about Chinese spirituality. I read the Celestine Prophesy (didn't everybody?). I went to the woods and did drugs and discovered a few things that resonated with me. The first was my discovery of the meaning of life.
Then I learned and discovered and ripped off a whole bunch of other stuff.
My journey is unfolding before me...