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EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Our Campfire Palaver on
Christianity
Later that night just before dusk Neo was running around in his
Australian Aboriginal wilderness garb (The loin cloth). He had speared some pretty
good size fish in the mountain lake.
He had
built up the firewood in such a way that would light easy and
sustain through the night with little attendance. He was looking
through his ruck sack what I thought would be his matches.
I said, “No worries mate, I got some stick matches.”
He said, “Have faith mate, I don’t need matches.”
I felt foolish and said, “Oh right you don’t need them because
you are going to use a fire bow and drill?”
He said, “Na, not when I got one of these.” and he pulls out an
automatic fireplace lighter.
While the fish were cooking, I thought of another question that
had been chewing on my mind, since I had known him.
I said, “Remember that conversation we had about leaders and
their followers?”
He said, “Yeah!”
I said, “I wanted to ask you what you meant that out of all the
leaders that we named, you said that Jesus was failed at his
intended goals.”
Neo said, “Yeah, I said, that…what about it?’
I said, “How can you say that he failed when out of all the
leaders he made the most impact, he is worshiped worldwide and
known worldwide more than all of the other leaders.”
He said, “Yes he is the most widely known leader and yes his
life and death has certainly caused quite an impact on cultures
and religion, but to be more accurate it is the way that people
have interpreted his life and passing that has impacted people
in a way that in my estimation it is not what he would have
wanted.”
I said, “Are you telling me that you are not a Christian?”
Neo said, “I am saying that I am a devout Christian, and a
devout Buddhist and a devout Taoist, and I am a devout Muslim
and I am a devout Sufi, and a devout Hindu, and a devout
pantheist, I am a devout Jew, but most of all I am a devout
Christian.
I said, “Wait a minute, how can you be devout on all of those
religions.
Neo asked, “Are you a Christian?”
I said, “No I am agnostic.”
He said, “Why?” “Don’t you believe that Jesus existed?”
I said, “Sure I believe that there was a historic man named
Jesus or who we called Jesus, and I think he was possibly a very
spiritual leader, a healer, and even a rabble raiser, but that
does not mean that he was the son of God.”
Neo said, “How do you know he wasn’t, do you think it is
impossible that he used supernatural energy to heal people or
produce miracles?”
His question brought back the memory of Neo working on Gladys.
I said, “No, I believe that some people are able to tap into
energies and do things that would seem like miracles to average
people, but that does not mean he is descended from a big
powerful guy with a long white beard sitting on a throne in
heaven.”
Neo looked at me from across the fire. He stayed silent for what was probably only a minute,
but seemed like an eternity. His eyes looked
even more peculiar in the shadows and lights caused by the
flickering of the campfire…they had a luminescent quality and
the golden and violet flecks appeared to be more visible than
usual and they seemed to be swirling from a life of their own.
Looking at Neo across the campfire, it struck me that he looked
removed from the ordinary everyday sort of man, something about
him reminded me of something feral, atavistic and very vital…I
felt a shiver go up my back and I shook it off and brought my
attention back to what he had said. Finally he spoke.
Neo said, “So you have trouble with the whole concept because
you disagreed with certain items in the bible, is that right?
I said, “Yes, I have trouble with any book or doctrine that
states every thing is the “gospel truth.” “The bible is filled
with contradictions and impossibilities…Noah’s ark housing two
of every damn animal in the world, come on!” “Let us not forget
about Cain, going into the land of Nod and taking a wife…”
Neo waved a hand to stop me and he said, “Yes, yes…I know, it is
true, the bible has lots of inconsistencies?” He said, “A lot of
things have been lost in translation… Jesus and his followers
spoke Aramaic and many scribes wrote down the sermons in
Aramaic.”
“Much of the history has gone from Aramaic into early
Hebrew and Greek, and then later into Latin, then into the old
English of the King James’s version, and then now the
international modern version.” “With each translation the
message can be lost and distorted.”
I said, “What about areas of the bible that were meant to be
taken literally but instead have been take figuratively, or vice
versa; and let’s not forget that King James and other people
throughout history changed things in the bible or omitted parts
to control the masses.”
Neo said, “Very good, you are right on the ball, so why are you
an agnostic?”
I said, “You’re kidding right?” “We just established that the
bible is unreliable?”
He said, “Are you saying that the entire bible is without
merit?”
I said, “No, I think a lot of the Old Testament is a nice
mixture of history and mythology, and some proverbs… and the
stuff that Jesus preaches in the New Testament is great.
Neo asked, “Why do you like what Jesus had to teach?”
I said, “Because even if Jesus was just a regular Joe without
supernatural powers, everything he said, made sense.” “If
everyone in the world was to follow his teachings, it would be a
great planet to live on.”
Neo said, “Ahh, just because of a few consistencies in the bible
you’re eager to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
I was feeling more than a little defensive, I said, “Hey, I try to follow the
teachings of Jesus… it’s just that I am not sure if I believe in
all of the angels, demons, the devil and kingdom of heaven
crap.”
As I said that, I could not help but think of the dwarf,
and the dark energy being, and certain dream premonitions I had
experienced many times in the past, but I
put those thoughts aside.
I said, “The reason I have reservations is that I have often
wondered why God if he or she exist would take the chance that
his or her message would be so confused and inconsistent.”
Neo said, “That’s what I call the uncertainty principle in
religion, without it we do not have free choice.”
I said, “I’m not sure I follow you.”
Neo said, “If God set things up to where there was no questions,
no mysteries then that puts the lid on any chance of having free
will.” “Let’s face it no one but an insane person or Satan
himself would thumb their nose at God and move against
themselves.” “No, it is better this way, it’s the uncertainty
and how we deal with it that measures our mettle… it is the
uncertainty that stimulates each of us to go through our
process, and yes each of us will have a different process. It is
spiritual Darwinism at its best.
I said, “I see your point, but that does not answer the question
as to how you can be devoted to all of those religions and still
be a Christian.”
Neo said, “All of the religions I listed have lots of merit, and
to throw out any of these religions you would be throwing out
the baby with the bathwater.”
“If you look at the Islamic
religion for example, they believe in the God that created
Abraham, and Moses, and they believe in angels…they even believe
in Jesus.”
“They believe that Jesus was a great prophet who
performed miracles, and they believe that Jesus will be one of
the rulers of earth when judgment day comes.”
“Muslims do not
believe in the Trinity, and they believe that their God is the
same God as what the Jewish people believe in, and what the
Christians believe, just the name of God is named differently.”
Neo said, “The People of Jewish belief do not believe that Jesus
was the Messiah and that the Savior is yet to come… at least
most of them don’t believe it.”
“Christians believe that Jesus
was the Messiah and Savior and that he was God’s only begotten
son whose sole purpose was to give his life and die on the cross
for our sins, to wipe our sins so that believers could enter the
kingdom of heaven.” “The Christians believe that Jesus was part
of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Buddhists believe in no God, except for certain sects that
Buddha was or is God, and other people believe that Buddha was a
son of God.”
“Zen Buddhist does not believe of a God in heaven
the way that the three religions of Abraham believe, their
religion is really more of a discipline of the heart and mind.”
“Hindus believe in a pantheon of gods, and some of them believe
in them quite literally while other believed that the gods
represent many things on many levels, such as the workings of
the cosmos, outer space and inner space.”
“Taoist believes in an
infinite type of intelligence and they believe the cosmos and
all things are ruled by two opposing forces that work
against/together to keep harmony in the Universe.”
“The
Taoist call these opposing forces, Ying and Yang, Male and
Female, Anima and Animas, Darkness and Light.”
“Physicists say
stuff like Matter and Anti-Matter, Order and Disorder and
Yodi calls it the force which is broken up into the Dark
side of the force and the Light side of the force.”
I said, “They all seem to be so different, I don’t understand
how you can say that you are devoted to all of these religions?”
Neo said, “The first and biggest reason is that these religions
attempt to do one thing, at least initially, and that is to help
to make mankind’s life more bearable at worst and at best to
help people to live lives that have more contextual meaning and
to help to provide more social order.” “They also help people to
deal with their fear of the inevitable, the fear of death.”
“This is what the ego, the intellect fears.”
I said, “They are still so very different.”
Neo said, “Not really if you look a little closer at them, and
dig a little deeper.” ”The difference is really a figment of our
minds, a limitation of brains that need to divided things up out
of the continuum of things so that our limited minds have an
easier time digesting the totality of things.” “This is okay to
do at times but most people are flawed to think that small
compartment of the whole that they concentrate on and even
worship is the totality.”
Neo stretched again & look off into the sky with the look of
musing, “To give a very crude example, let’s look at a whole
roasted chicken with the organ meats and everything roasted
up.”
“Some people like the legs and they focus on the legs and
other people focus on their love of eating the wings, and others
the breasts, and others the thighs and so on.”
“Now this is okay
to have a favorite part of the whole, so long as you can taste
of the other parts now and then and to at least realize that
your favorite part is not the totality of the roasted chicken,
nor is it a superior part of the chicken, because without the
other parts the chicken would not be, it is just the part that
appeals to you for your own personal reasons.?” “That is how all
of the religions are… they are the leg, the breast the wing and
so forth of God.”
“I thought his analogy was a bit funny. I said, “But how do you
reconcile with the different religious beliefs?”
Neo said, “Each religion believes in a higher power, even the
Buddhist believe in “The Great Emptiness or nothingness.” “Each
Religion believes in social restraints, and they promote the
spiritual development of their followers.” “The key points of
these different religions outweigh the various small
insignificant differences.”
I said, “But who is to say that the Shaman in the jungles of
South America don’t have a better religion?” “Who’s to say that
the Lutherans do not have a better slant on things than the
Catholics, or who’s to say that even in the same church that a
follower may have a slant that is better for them?”
Neo clamped his hands and hooted.
He said, “Right on mate, now ya see the problem and the
solution.”
I said, “How can it be both a problem and a solution?”
Neo said, “Actually religions can start as a solution for
people, then become a problem and then a solution again, because
practically all religions are a good place for people to start,
because they lay down a template of beliefs and language for a
person to form.”
“Then
people face two avenues, they become disgruntled with their
religion or they blindly follow the religion despite the
inconsistencies or the shortcomings of the religion.
I said, “How does a person who is disgruntled stay with their
religion?”
Neo said, “They are pressured by social conditioning and believe
me, their is lots of
conscious pressure to toe the line.”
“There are disgruntled people
who are like you and become agnostics.”
“You
often have your floundering agnostics who may or may not want to
believe in something, or you have your ornery agnostics like
your friends Larry and Harry.”
I asked, “What the hell is an ornery agnostic.”
Neo said, “Usually ornery agnostics are exceptionally smart
people like Larry and Harry.” They are smart enough to question
the inconsistencies of their religion and then they focus on the
inconsistencies of other religions….they simply like to attack the
religious beliefs of anyone unfortunate enough to have
advertised their beliefs.”
“Their main mantra is that it is
stupid to have faith when there is a lack of hard evidence to
prove any of these religious beliefs.”
Neo continued and said, “They gather ammo from people with harsh
fundamental beliefs and they have a field day tearing down and
stripping away a person’s convictions if they can.”
I was put a little on edge from Neo’s accusations of Harry and
Larry so I said, “Well what’s wrong with demanding proof instead
of blindly accepting beliefs only on faith.”
Neo said, “Essentially nothing, but demanding proof or depending
on faith are both two edged swords.”
I said, “I am not sure I know what you mean?”
Neo said, “Most ornery agnostics demand proof and vilify faith,
and they demand others to prove their faith, and when these
other people cannot do this to their satisfaction, then they get
to feel all smug and superior as they point the long accusing
finger of labeling the other people stupid and childish.”
“They
fail to realize that they are asserting a point of view, on
faith if you will, that they do not believe in God, and yet they
have failed to realize that they could be asked to show their
proof that God does not exist.”
He said, “If they agree that God
could exist, then they could be asked to give proof that their
system of beliefs and manner of living is superior to any
Christian or Muslim belief or any religion.”
“Most agnostics,
especially most ornery agnostics as bright as they may be… are
essentially lazy.” “They do not want to take the time to examine
all of the other religions or spiritual belief systems.”
Neo’s line of thinking was certainly an eye opener for me; I
must confess that I had never thought about showing proof that
God did not exist. My questions and his answers seemed to only
create more questions. I felt that my eyes were opened to new
realities but I felt as if my already floundering boat was
taking on more water with each new idea that I was now
entertaining with heavy consideration.
I said, “You said I am not an ornery agnostic, what kind of
agnostic do you think I am?”
Neo said, “You fall into a smaller category….you are an agnostic
that is a seeker.”
I asked, “How do you know that?”
He said, “Because from what I have observed, you don’t try to
tear apart anyone’s belief system, but you do try to learn by
questioning people’s beliefs very closely to learn more, and you
seem to remain respectful of other people’ beliefs even if you
are in total disagreement with their views.” “Seekers are the
type of people that look into all sorts of new possibilities,
such as all of the new age stuff and they actually look into the
mysteries of other or all religions.”
“Seekers often look at the possibility of their own potential
and perhaps supernatural powers and their own sovereignty.”
“That is the sense I get about you, although I can tell that you
are careful not to let on about many of your ideas, or
experiences because they fall out of the mainstream of what
would be considered sane.”
He said, “You have the look of a man that feels that he
and most people can be more than a human animal, but instead can
be much more.
I was stunned, -- I felt that he had somehow seen into my mind
and had seemed my uncertainty of the things in life that went
beyond my immediate sphere of influence. I was thinking of many
of the people that I had met that embraced the myriad of new age
beliefs and of my unease of their claims and I said as much to
Neo.
Neo said, “Those are the lazy agnostics…they think that they are
seekers but in fact they are looking to trade one dogma for a
newer dogma wrapped and glossed over by new age jargon.” ‘To
their credit, they at least stepped away from their first
dogmatic conditioning.”
I said, “How is anyone one supposed to find the right way with
all of those choices?”
Neo said, “Did you hear what you just said?” “You said, all of
those choices, which is an implication of freedom, to make
evaluations, to experiment, and to use free will to make our own
choices or to make the choice to innovate and change things
around to help you to evolve.”
“Given free will means we have
choices if we want to exercise our will…this means that we are
responsible for are own evolution, we are responsible to find
the path ourselves.”
I felt a little frustrated about the enormity that I faced, that
all humans faced and I said, “Yeah but how can you expect all of
these people who have been born into a system and conditioned
every step of the way to follow their religion unquestionably?”
“That is a daunting if not impossible task.”
Neo looked at me with compassion and a bit of mirth, and he
said, “I didn’t say it would be easy, I simply said what the
truth is…and each of us has to start with the first step.”
Neo said, “I am not belittling your point that you think most
people’s lives are more determined by their circumstance, but
just think of it this way….we are all dealt a hand of cards and
each of us may be dealt different hands, some good, some bad,
that is determinism; but what we choose to do with the
hands dealt to us can be a variety of possibilities and that
demonstrates free will.
Neo said, “For example, look at
you…you have taken those first steps from the first hand dealt
to you… from there your evolution began because you constantly
use your free will to change your hand.”
To be continued
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(GENESIS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(EXODUS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(REVELATIONS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(JUDGMENT DAY)
ADVENTURES IN MARINE BIOLOGY
THE MARINES: GOD'S CHOSEN
WARRIORS
CONVERSATIONS WITH NEO
NEO TEACHES ME THE ART OF WAR
& PEACE;
His Version of The Matrix
MEMORIES OF MY FATHERS
ZEN & THE ART OF RESISTANCE
TRAINING:
A Yogic & Scientific Approach To Weight
Lifting
ZEN & THE BIOLOGY OF
TRANSCENDENCE:
The First Matrix of Psychic
Phenomena
ZEN & THE ART OF KINESIOLOGY:
The Yogic & Scientific
Approach To Movement
ZEN & YOUR ENERGY SYSTEMS
ZEN & VARIOUS ASPECTS OF
TRAINING
HOMEPAGE TO VINCE'S GYM
HOMEPAGE |
