Most of my issues with religion stem more from people than the idea of God. Every soul on this planet is precious and beautiful, and collectivelly we are the light of this planet in my opinion, but it's unfortunate that some men are sick. A sickness of the mind in my opinion is the cause of all the social issues we face as a species, and all of us are infected in varying degrees. It's what causes us to care more about being right than being loving.

Thankfully, there is a cure, and it is love and harmony, virtues worth more to me than all the religious authority in the world. Life is about loving each other, not because God says to or else go to hell, but because that is our nature. Others would say otherwise, but in my experience I've never met a person who was bad because they were evil. I've heard my whole life we are creatures of sin and darkness, unworthy of God's love, but in the next breath they say God loves us anyway despite this curse. God has no need for us, and he'd be perfectly in the right to destroy our darkness. So something has to make us worthy, and the reason is we're not the darkness, rather, we're the light in the darkness.

I've said this before, but I'll say it once again. The power of love is the power of God, and we have this power within us all. We are at our very core light. Down to your cells, then the molecules and then the individual atoms, and down one more and you find energy, and energy is light. Let your light be your love, and together we can do anything.

May you find the Spirit of God within you and everyone you meet. Until next time.

New Story Concept

Good to be back home and out of the desert. Having lots of time to write, which is great. Came up with this new story concept for you guys, kind of a preview if I can get this going anywhere. Hope you like it.

A Parting Gift.

Taking a break from the blog to be with family. Hope to be back in January, but I wanted to leave you all with something. New intro to a new story for my favorite character. In the meantime, I'll be finishing up my book while home for a few weeks. I'll check in when I can, maybe posting as I can. I hope you all stay safe and God bless you all.

Drake Files: Chapter Four

K prompted Drake to go along with the request and act like he didn’t know what was going on. It wasn’t a stretch since he really did have no idea. All Drake had was that his parents told him to trust K only. So he went back into the classroom and retrieved his belongings, keeping S on the line.

As he walked down the hall, he quietly asked K, “What’s going on here? And where are my parents?”

“I’ll explain everything later,” she promised. “For now, though, you need to trust me. Describe everything you see, and just be prepared to follow my lead.”

“I really don’t have a choice, do I?” Drake asked rhetorically.

“Not if you really want to know what’s going on,” she answered.

The Simplest Religion

Before I get into this, one thing I should clarify is my definition of "religion". I feel like that is one of many words that can have different meanings among many different peoples. Religion could mean a belief in a god or gods, or any higher power, or religion could be a set of practices specified by a scripture or collection of writings. My good friend Merriam-Webster defines religion as an interest, belief, or activity that is very important to a group of people.

This is how I see religion as an institution, any religion you could think of. Religion is man trying to fix himself, recognizing his shortcomings and providing a standard to reach in order to overcome those shortcomings. I think this is incredibly difficult to do, because you have to check your ego on a regular basis, overcoming pride and submitting yourself to an ideal higher than You. This takes a great deal of practice, a lifetime in many cases, and is a great achievement to strive for.

The beauty of mankind is that we have the ability to interpret wisdom in our own individual ways. An issue I have with religions as most people see them is that they try to teach "one path", and they all say theirs is the "right" path. I think that shows how religion is a man-made institution, because it has that ego inherent.

So what do I think is the simplest religion? The simplest religion is You. See what you want to be in life and become it, and never stop becoming more. Develop your own morality, wherever you think you are, and build up from there. Be the best you because you want to be the best you, not someone others say you should be. Choose your teachers and mentors based on what you want to be and grow in.

Most importantly, share what you've found. You never know when something you find works that works for you may work for someone else. New perspectives are what allow us to grow together.

Is this atheistic? I don't think so, but that depends on your definition of atheism. I would say this is spiritual, meaning it is not part of any established "religion". A quote I've come across recently by author, holistic health/New Age guru Deepak Chopra I think would be a great capstone for this post:

"Religion is belief in someone else's experience. Spirituality is having your own experience."

So, if you want, let me know what you think in the "Contact Me!" box to the right. Still have not had anyone try to reach me with it, and I'm curious if it works. God bless and good luck on your individual path.

So it came to my attention this week that people couldn't make comments if they didn't have an account with Blogger. I apologize, but have set up another avenue to comment to me any comments.

With this, there are going to be some changes. I'm more or less going to limit myself to one or two posts a week, seeing as my free time and internet access are going to start being choppier than before. I'll be limiting myself to writing and opinion, along the same topics I've talked before. Be sure to try the new tab to the side to send me any thoughts you might have.

Thanks to all who've followed this blog, and I hope you continue to follow as I get better at this blogging thing. I wish you all the best and blessings.