Religion
What are you? What am I? Does anybody really know? What does it matter? Should we even question it? So many questions, so few answers. It's a belief thing. Do you or do you not believe?
My mother was raised Catholic. But when she was in her 30s the Catholic Church angered her so much so that she converted to Lutheranism.
My father is a mystery, I don't think he's a real believer, definitely not a practicer.
I never really thought about it much until recently.
I was raised a Lutheran. But one day several years ago I realized I'm not Lutheran, I'm not even Christian. And I don't like to lie or pretend. Ya see I can't accept that Jesus was the Son of God. And that he sits on the right hand of God the father and that there is anything special about this guy. Yes I believe that he lived and he had a lot of good things to say and ideas to share. But that this one person is somehow apart from the rest of us I can't buy. And what about Mohammed, and Allah, and Confucius, and Buddha, and the Dali Lama etc., what about them? Oh it gets even more complicated but I won't bore you.
I'll tell you what I do believe.
I believe that we are all in this together, including the fishes, birds, bugs, & trees, etc. (I have met birds and dogs that had a better and bigger soul than some people) Just because you're at the top of the food chain does not put you at the top of the righteousness chain.
I believe that there is a force in this universe that is so good it just blows my mind. It's everywhere and nowhere. You get to glimpse it and feel it every once and awhile and it is grand. Maybe it's God, maybe it's Luke Skywalker, maybe it's just the collective righteousness and pure love that ebbs and flows about. But one thing is certain to me, it is there.
I believe that everything you need to know along these lines is already in you. All you have to do is open your mind, be honest with yourself (truly honest) and accept the reveled truth.
I believe that the universe wants you to succeed. It wants you to see what you are turning your mind from. (Hence the saying whenever God closes a door he opens a window).
I believe that you have to live it, not just talk it.