Quick Thoughts: Religious Diversity

Source: Villanova University

I've had a hard time picking a picture for this post, because most of the options available with Google Images (my source of choice), because most of the images the search of "religious diversity" brings up do not include the pentacle many pagans use as their symbol (I know I do, even when I'm not Wiccan).

Recently a group of our Representatives at Congress, have been pushing for a law to erradicate the official religion of our country. Our country is officially Catholic. Why is this important? Well, you can believe whatever you want, but the State supports economically only the Catholic Church.

Some of our representatives want to push that out entirely, eliminate the State's sponsoring of the Church and rip religion out of the State's affairs. These are the representatives that push for a Laic State. A good idea, if you ask me. One of our representatives - if I am not mistaken - said something to the effect, that religion and religious believes are a personal matter, while the Government is a public matter. Those against claim that God needs to be IN the Government in order to ensure good customs and moral values are upheld.

Um... well, currently we have an official religion, and over a quarter of our representatives belong to a party openly evangelical. Still, we have high rates of violence against women, our LGBTQAI+ community members have been harrassed and jumped when the zeal of evangelical religiousness hit a peak during the last elections, we have drug issues, raining unemployment, rampant corruption... So, which good customs and moral values would that be?

Another faction of the representatives want don't want exactly the Laic State, but want to get rid of the official religion and estate a multi-confessional State, where every religion gets money from the State. Not like there is any money for it, as the recent tax plans and tax disasters prove, and nor like it will be more in the future, as the Public Employment Law and the coming projects seem to vaticinate. But furthermore, this is a project by an interested party, a representative of an evangelical party.

I'm amazed they have not been dissolved, as in the last elections they broke the law by using the Church and the preachers to push their political message. This is forbidden by our Constitution. They say things like "They serve the Law of God, which is above the Law of Men", which... why do they even are at the heart of the Law of Men? Why? They want to secure more money, it seems. Through the Law of Men. The thing is that, in their shortsightedness, they forget that "religions" do not mean only the different factions within the christian religion. They forget that those religions they work so hard to discredit, to demonize are also religions. Their project would reach them too. Or will they make a rule to keep the pagans out?

It's so maddening when the people who go are the first to try and eliminate competing religions and systems of belief, are also the first to decry injustice and demand religious tolerance... for them.

Source: The Dragon Keep

Ides of March

First of all, let's celebrate the Ides of March and conmemorate the assassination of Julius Caesar. No, I'm not a member of the Cultus Deorum, mainly because a) it doesn't really go with me, and b) there is nothing as far from my nature as any sort of organized religion. And this inspite of the 75% of my gods being Roman. However, I bring forth the matter of the Ides of March and that fateful day of 44 B.C., because it is something that needs to be remembered.

I'm not very versed on Roman history (or any sort of history, really. I'm an economist, Jim, not a historian!), but from what I remember, (no, I wasn't there either), Julius Caesar was a laureated general of the Roman army, who brought much glory to the Empire and who managed to climb to power (somewhat also thanks to the legions loyal to him), and eventually reversed the republican structure of the empire and crowned himself as emperor (or Caesar). As his power grew and he was pushing the senators out of it, these found his actions unsettling and dangerous for the more "participative" form of government Rome had been advancing towards to (and themselves, let's be honest). And so, on March 15th of 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death at the Senate.

Today's world showcases a number of powerful figures that also seek to grab power for themselves and dismantle check&balance mechanisms, take away the independency and power of other representatives and institutions, and silence or take away the power of the people they rule. A book I read recently from Madeleine Albright, titled "Fascism", gathers a recount of a handful of XX-XXI century rulers that have sought to absorbe the totality of State powers into themselves, erecting themselves as unquestionable sources of all justice and authority. After the harrowing events witnessed in the last century - and we may also add the horrors witnessed in this one - many understand the dangers of letting one person rule unchecked upon a nation. Furthermore, in a world as deeply connected as today's, political disturbances in one nation can easily ripple through the entire planet and disrupt many more.

However, as we conmemorate (those who do) this ancient religious day, in its great tragedy, we can also remember that it is also humanity's nature to rebel, to put a stop and seek to restore order. As Natura restores order in herself, Gaia regenerates and the Green Man sprouts and grows again, so humanity - as an undetachable part of nature - also follows this path. Dictators, tyrants and Caesar's rise up from time to time, but as humanity comes fed up, as a Senate we raise and strike them down (hopefully not through murder, though, but through law and/or pressure).

The mean is dark, I know, but as in Tarot the card of Death is one of change, I would like to offer this ancient, painted card to the world to remind them, on this day of blood, that we are the Senate and we are the ones that can change the things wee don't like about our countries and their politics.

Please, do feel free to correct me on any of the afore mentioned historical data, or expand on it. I'd love also to learn more about it.

Live and Let Live

One of my "staples" in video consumption has recently become watching people talk about cults, life in cults and their system of believes. I guess it's due to my location and the culture in which I am immersed, but nearly all of this stories pertain people leaving Mormon groups or Jehova Witnesses or the like. Save for the few well publicized people leaving Scientology, most stories come from these more extreme christian groups. 

The last video of this sort that I watched was from a girl who left one of this groups, but started explaining the case with an example, where the church's position was taken by a husband, and the believer taking the position of a wife. She went on talking about how one restricted the other, and to which extremes went the restriction of one over the other. Then she said "but imagine that she (the believer) doesn't realize what's really happening to her and is happy and believes she is happy!". This gave me pause.

The girl doing the video clearly fought to be free from the cult and had to leave her family behind, but as she spoke of the people left behind, how they needed to be saved, I wondered if she had truly left the cult. Why does she need to save those who are actually happy in the cult? Why to try and save those who don't want to be saved because the cult offers them what they have always wanted? This made me think of the childfree movement, and how there is people who can't possibly understand that someone could be happy without children.

Her speech also made me think that this type of attitude - the imperative need to "save" others from themselves and anything we don't like for ourselves - could also be leaking into today's politics and political stances. We are not taking the time to stop and consider that something might be good for others, even if it is not good for us. We are measuring everything based on what would we want and what we like, but not as a matter of consideration for other people's feeling, other people's opinions, other people's right, and also what are really the side effects and what could really be the damage dealt to us.

Coming back to the topic of cults and other such groups (because this sort of behavior isn't exclusive of religious groups), before trying to "save" someone from them (just as we don't like being "saved" by them and their insistence to joing their group), ask them if they are happy, if they are truly happy. If they are, please don't take their happiness away. Respect them as you want to be respected.

Atheists Reacting to Super-Christians

I call them Super Christians not because they have super powers, but because they go far and beyond, and I recently read that people of the Jewish faith take it to heart when non Jewish people throw around the term "pharisee" as a way to point out that someone is way too wrapped up into religion and behaves in a visibly hypocritical and holier-than-thou fashion.

Source: Dear Mr Atheist YouTube

So, the thing is that I've been watching Dear Mr Atheist's channel on You Tube, which I find very entertaining. Mr Atheist makes mostly reaction videos to videos posted on christian channels, and most of the ones I've watched are reactions to a famous christian channel hosted by two christian sisters called "Girl Defined". The channel of these women has a happy, chirp kind of tone, and seems to seek to attend to the questions of young women living within an overzealous christian community. If you've ever attended christian churches - particularly the evangelical types - you surely have run into this type of person: the ones that look so perfect, like they have attained that elusive godly status that seems to elude you, normal, regular, daily life mortal ("sinner", in christian parlance). Some of the topics they raise - what I know of them, as I clearly, have only seen what critics post and share, so there might be a score of other videos that are much more muted, soft and helpful - are seriously troubling, or eyebrow raising, like one about whether godly woman should or should not wear make up.

Source: Google Images

In general, from what I gather, the sisters follow a way of presenting their topics and arguments that relies on dizzying the viewer into loosing sight of the actual topic, to then concoct a message that doesn't actually reply the bait topic, makes it look like it replies a big question AND disguises harebrained life rules as easy-peasy godly solutions. Rather dangerous, if you ask me, to feed these "advises", specially to an audience with little discerning capabilities, or enough information from alternative sources.

Anyway, today the topic was "Six Types of Men You Shouldn't Date, Court or Marry". My first question was "who the hell 'courts' in these days?". But then again, I'm the same person who, upon hearing in a song lyric the phrase "save me from Hell" wondered who would ever want to be saved from Hell. So yeah, my wonderings about what people do or don't do, or want or wouldn't want might not necessarily need to be taken as guides to judge human behavior. Anyway, the sisters go into a listing of the types of men you should cross out of your list, and Mr Atheist dutifully addressed each of them, but still, there were things that needed to be said, or needed to be further commented, in my opinion. I don't remember all the types but they included Mr Talk, Mr Anger, Mr Pressure, Mr Struggle, Mr Obssessed and Mr Unsaved. Already the designation of "Mr" made me cringe. There's something kind of bothersome about they defining themselves as girls and refering to men they would date, court or marry as Mr. Sure, it might only be my impression, but this screams to me of pedophilia in the worse case scenario, or a misogynistic scenario were men are always portrayed as superior to women, in command, knowledgeable, responsible, while women are perpetual children in constant need of guideance. The Mr-girl relationship mentally created automatically place women at disadvantage: they are faving something bigger and stronger than what they are.

There is also the cautionary note that has not been added by our critic, where the viewers - all of them imagined as "girls" - are not asked not to fall into the same type of behavior that is not desired of their potential male partners. (There is no mention of Ms Talk, Ms Anger, Ms Pressure, Ms Struggle, Ms Obssessed or Ms Unsaved).

So, the point of all the types basically boils down to christian men that are not as crazily church obssessed as these sisters claim themselves to be. I say claim because I am personally not witness to their churchgoing habits. The types go from the guy that pretends to be an overzealous christian but probably is more of a generic church going believer or so - going through the type that desires more than the clean-cut, super-religious courting kind of relationship, to the last type: the Unsaved. The problem with all the first five types is basically that these guys don't put God first and foremost in their lives. Now, actually, from the signs these women give you as indications, you can't know that. From the many stories of abuse that surface from the Church, we can certainly say that the outwordly image of holines and dedication can cover up a rotten, currupted heart. We can also assume that a subdued, silent exterior can cover a deeply faith commited heart. In other words, the external signs - such as Bible reading, church going, participating in different ministries does not really reflect how a person actually related to their Divine entity, or how deeply and involved a person might be to follow their faith.

This also speaks about what people perceive as their faith, their god or gods and the path of their religious beliefs. Two christian people, claiming to believe in the same God, might have strikingly different personal faiths. One might believe God and his path might lie in the Bible and the strict interpretation of the preachers of their church, while the other might believe that God being good, his religious path lies in the way of being good and helpful and loving to others. And both being christians and being convinced of being good christians might believe the other is dead wrong.

Girl Defined's list mostly show their personal preferences, but they mask it as guidelines inspired by faith.

The last category - the Unsaved - covers every single guy that's not christian. For them, the sisters didn't even go into explaining the type: if he's not christian, it's an automatic NO. No matter his good qualities: not a christian, not an option. Wow, there goes christian piety, and there goes Jesus' lesson about the good Samaritan and him taking to all the outcasts. At one point one of the sisters actually claim that the Bible says so: not date-court-marry the non-Christian. Ok, where does it say so? Can you give us chapter and verse? More so, since the Bible is full of Jewish rules, laws and customes, a direct quote from Jesus would be needed in this case to make the rule stick.

I have not read the Bible (in full), but I kind of sure it doesn't say so. (Jewish people might not marry non-Jewish people, but such a rule might not apply to christians, as many inter-religious marriages show it). However, it's sad how these women are suggesting to their audience to cut off their lives people that think differently, that see the world differently and that could add to their lives. Thankfully there are plenty generic christians out there whose faith isn't so fragile as to be shattered by the smile of a non-christian person. People who are so confident in their own system of believes as to happily engage in a friendship, a romantic relationship with someone who's faith is different, and not feel threatened by it.

However, to the Defined Sisters that refuse to take upon adulthood, I have good news: I doubt any Unsaved, be it boy, guy, man, Mister, Goodman, simple person, Miss, Mistress, girl or woman, would not be interested in a godly girl or guy, but will probably run as fast as their feet can take them in the opposite direction... and probably not stop until they have crossed the border (another reason why Trump's wall can't be erected: the Unsaved need to flee the Godly).

"I don't know if you are a believer"

The fourth diploma is finally getting started on the last mile - meaning the thesis has already been officially started - and as part of it, I had my first meeting with the thesis tutor. It was a curious thing, because she choose to do the meeting via Skype - which she can record - something I found odd, truth to be told - and... well, it was a little difficult to get to work. I don't know your experience, but Skype being Skype, it usually offers more troubles than solutions.

My topic is something I have worked with a lot at my job, and something on which I can confidently say, I am one of the handful of people in the country that actually knows what are we talking about. Kind of like with the topic of the previous thesis (the one I did for Finance), where my main forte was that I was one of a handful of people with deep knowledge on the subject, in the whole country.

From what I gather of the experience, I have the feeling that we both had a very different view of what the thesis was to be about. As she tried to give me some guidence from her perspective, I felt at loss because it was like she was trying to do the work for me, take my topic and give it whatever spin she wanted from it. Then, there was a part I found really improper. To better fit my thesis to the requirements of the University -  to which I am open - not only did she do some suggestions  - to which I am open - but the she ended up the issue telling me that SHE would redact the specific goals and send them to me. I mean, isn't THIS supposed to be MY thesis? She shouldn't be allowed to redact ANYTHING in my thesis. And I want to make it clear that I have not asked her to do this, nor I suggested it, nor she offered it: she stated it. This rubbed me wrong.

I let her talk, listened, watched and kept my cards close to my chest. She did had a couple of really good turns by the end where I thought things could work. And then... she brought her religious views into the conversation. Yes, it could be seen as "she bringing God into the conversation", but let's bring this into its actual matter: people hardly ever talk about a Divine Entity without framing it within their religious frame. So, there she goes, finishing the conversation with "the first thing is to put this in the hands of God, because without Him nothing can't be done -- oh, are you a Believer?". I didn't even got to answer that, but she just went on with it.

As she went on the godly thing, I started thinking about the narrow mindedness of the believer-non believer world view. I am a believer, but I happen not to be a christian believer. I'm a pagan believer. She, however, didn't consider that, and went on her holy extasy as if "believing" means that you follow the christian religious frame... specifically hers. To me, this was uncomfortable and insulting. No, she wasn't bashing my personal beliefs or my religious beliefs directly, but probably she hasn't been exposed to any other religion, but she also got me thinking of the things we mistakenly take for granted. Just because something is meaningful for you, it doesn't mean it is as meaningful - and in the same way - to others. Be it religion, politics, fashion, sports, sometimes it pays better to be cautious, to wait until you get a full answer from the person you are talking to before putting in your two cents. I mean, what would have she done if the situation were reversed, and by the end of the conversation I would have said "Well, I pray to my Gods for illumination and clarity of view on this topic", or if instead of "I'll think about that" I would have said "I'll consult tonight with the spirits"?

We all need to be a little bit more mindful and listen before we jump into conclusions and offer our opinion.

Those Alleged "God Lovers"

Recently my Facebook has seen an awful surge of people showing off their Christian spirit. Yes, there are usually your overzealous Christians posting their corny pictures with their corny phrases and all those things that make you think "Hell, I'm so happy I'm a Generic Christian". It's kind of curious how most of the Christian MEMEs go around the general topic of "I'm so useless, but God is with me soe He will make all good". However in the recent days I came upon a couple of MEMES that were down right disturbing. I won't address them all, because really, people have lost of issues, but let me concentrate on two that, in my opinion, really make more damage than good.

"I Hate Myself, I Hate Other, But I Love God"

A cousin of mine published on her wall this picture that said something like "If I look at myself, I get depressed, if I look at others I get disappointed, if I look at my circumstances I get desperate, but if I look at God I get happy". Now, before I go on about stuff, let me explain her circumstances. She's the third of like six siblings, I'm not sure whether she finished highschool, married young, lives in a peaceful, small country, is divorced, has some kids and makes ends meet through renting rooms in her home. Her family is insanely Christian, up to the point of bullying under the pretense of "spreading the gospel". Her family isn't tight knit, and last I heard, none of the children are in speaking terms with their mother.

So yes, now onto the quote. I couldn't resist and told her that I found her quote to be one of little self esteem and not very positive towards others. Evidently that could be considered an attack, so she attacked in "fashion" by claiming that God had helped me and been by my side even if I "rejected Him". Her whole family loves to think I reject God ^_^. It's what they do in order to be happy, and well, they have to. If they truly believe that God is a book called "Bible" and God is "Church", the idea of someone like me saying that God is God and He manifests Himself everywhere and in all Religions and believes and lives in the heart of all, and that though Jesus is our savior, Christianity isn't the sole path to God, for Jesus has availed it for all if they love their fellows and are good... well, yeah, my thinking deeply conflicts with the ravenous, dogmatic, aggressive ideas they nurture and which are the basis that allow them go bullying others and mask their abuse as "doing God's work". What? You don't believe me? Well, let me tell you this: I converted to Christianism at 12 (I was born and raised Atheist), but they kept saying I was Atheist and kept gospel-bullying me. Then, when I started taking some yoga classes a couple of years ago, they declared I'm Pagan.

The point I later tried to make to my cousin was that it was really sad that Christians making Christian MEMES found it necesary to contrats God's Love with the lack of self-respect, self-esteem or love for thy brother. I mean, wasn't actually Jesus who said something in the line of "thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself"? Isn't there implied then that you should love yourself? I mean, think about it, God made us, God loves us, so why is the Christian message that you hate yourself and others - all of whom are loved and made by God - but love God? And how can you so easily discard God and God's love when is gets to you THROUGH you and through others and everything that surrounds you? A clear example of this self-effacing overzealousness by Christians comes in this "inspirational quote" I found while looking for pictures for this post. I mean really? "God, please erase all you did about me and just make me a copy of you?" Really? God made you and you are good just like that. If you are displeased with the way you are, well, YOU do something about it. God isn't there to live your life for you, that's your job.

However, as you check the circulating MEMES they all spread the same message "I am worthless, I can't do anything, I hate everything, I'm so depressed I'm about to kill myself, and only my faith in God keeps me up". Why is there nothing positive? Why isn't there a happy, motivational quote like "Hey, I'm so AWESOME! I learn from my failures, I enjoy my successes and God is there all the time holding my hand and cheering for me". He totally does, by the way. But instead, the spread messages keep hammering into the heads of the good Christians that their own life isn't in their hands, and all they can actually do is go to church and read the Bible and God will "take care". Their sole obligation is to "serve God". How? Again, go to Church, read the Bible and possibly volunteer at Church activities and give money. My cousin's family possibly include bullying and harrassing through the gospel also as a great service to God. And it is awesome! I'm one evangelizing away from definitively turning into Cultus Deorum Romanorum.

I find the message dangerous because it exposes those who live it and follow it to preying of unscrupulous people, as well as to depression and other emotional trouble. First of all, while you don't love yourself, you can't really love anyone. Not God, not your significant other, not your family, so start loving yourself. Let no one tell you otherwise, don't be conviced of how good it is to be selfless and self effacing, God made you, God loves you and He is God, so if He loves you, sure you are worth loving, don't you think?

Loving yourself can be hard if you are constantly surrounded by negative messages or passive-agressive behavior, but if you allow me, perhaps this can help you find your love in yourself, or fall in love with yourself. First, take stock of who you are. Find everything that's good and pretty about you. Not the things others praise about you, but look at you and look at what you like. And everything goes. If you like it, it counts. ^_^ Like maybe you like the way you can heap up a tall and really delicious ice cream serving. Or you might like how you have discovered the way to make a perfect peanutbutter sandwich. You might love your style or how you can combine colors so well, or how you always find something truly unique to do or wear. Pile up on all those good things and reward yourself for them. Dedicate time to yourself. It doesn't need to be much, but you could go and take yourself to the movies or to a walk on the park, or separate a moment in your day to curl up in your favorite sofa and watch TV or read.

Cut back on any self-scolding or any need to fiercely defend yourself against something you might perceive as a flaw. You fucked up? It's alright. Say "well, yes, I look awesome, but I'm just a human. I'll fix that in no time". You regret not doing something when you were younger? Well, do it now. There have been people geting their highschool diploma at 95, so sure you still have time to follow your heart and get that diploma in History of Arts you always wanted. Really, you are awesome and you can do it and God is with you, so really, what are you waiting for? Go love yourself!

Then, as you learn to love yourself, your eyes will be kinder to those around you. Nah, you won't automatically love everybody around you, and that's alright. Some people are just hateful and it's alright to not like them, but as you open your heart you'll find that you start to love people around you. ^_^ That's how it works.

So, when you find messages that invite you to dislike yourself, erase yourself, take a moment to think why they want you to do that, what's their purpose, specially when God loves you exactly the way you are.

"Churches and Hypocrites, Gyms and Fat People"

The second message I'd like to discuss is one shared by a friend of mine. His message said "Not going to Church because it's full of Hypocritical People is like not going to the Gym because it's full of people out of shape". I didn't even replied to this one because, really? Evidently I think the people who did and shared this MEME have never been to a Gym. Not like they need it, mind you. Gyms are full of forbidden, Pagan and Heretic stuff like yoga, pilates... not to mention that it's a temple to worship the body. Uhum... they don't go to the Gym, so they don't know any better.

Now, have you been to a gym? Let me tell you about gyms. Gyms are places where people with different body shapes go in pursuit of different purposes. Mainly all of them seek to be phyiscally healthy and fit, so they attend different classes that are offered, like zumba, yoga, pilates, tae-bo, aerobics. spinning and other stuff like that. Gyms usually also offer the chance to do some weight and machine work to enhance muscles. If you start attending, you'll see people of all shapes and sizes and of all ages working out, trying to improve. You'll also see instructors. Instructors are the people who help you with your work out sessions. They impart the classes, lead them, and if you do machines, they plan out a routine for you considering what your goals are and in what kind of physical condition are you. Also, instructors are fit, because after all, you don't want someone out of shape telling you what you need to do to get in shape.

People around can be in any shape, and well, if they are constant and comitted in their workout, you expect to see results in their bodies, but the instructor needs to be in shape in order to give you the confidence about their capabilities to get you in shape. After all, if the instructor isn't in shape, how would they ever know what to do to get you in shape? Like a nutritionist, would you trust a fat nutritionist to make you lose weight when they themselves are obese?

If your gym is filled with fat people and out of shape instructors, well, you won't be going there because you won't be able to get your goal. If your nutritionist is obese or anorexic, you won't trust them to plan out a healthy diet for you that will get you to your right weight. If your psychiatrist is crazy... well, that's Hannibal, and you rather leave before he makes a dinner out of you.

The point with churches and hypocrites at churches is that we agree that there's a lot of people who need help going to church and that's alright. We all are sinners and hey, that's how it is, BUT when the people preaching say one thing and do the other, are quick to pass judgment and then act in a different fashion  or try to cover their mistakes instead of being responsible about it, then yes, sorry but that's not a church to follow. And here I'll lash out, so be warned.

Churches are often tarnished by the very testimony their members give. And here is really curious how people actually expect to judge a whole religion like Islam or Judaism or Christianity even for the actions of a few idiots, but can't take the same measure for their churches. Yes, churches shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few rouge extremists or ignorants, but what happens when those who dictate the message are the idiots? The priest that rapes children, the evangelist that washes money, the preacher that beats their spouse, those that steal, divert resources for their own pockets, those that lie and cheat.

Going back to my cousin's family, her mother - my aunt - is a really aggressive person when it comes to her evangelizing habits. She can make people dizzy with her never stopping speech about religion, and she swats her Bible up and down and covers all her basis. Oh, she is a sinner, but she faithfully reads the Bible and has read it many times and goes to the church and practically lives there. She despises her own mother. My grandma is in very poor health and she requires a lot of attention, which her daughters have taken upon them to take care of. Her children all chip in to cover her expenses and help the aunt that houses her, but this aunt seems - I've been told - bitter that she's not receiving the money, so she mistreats my grandma and often also shimmies out of her responsability to attend to her. Evidently she reads her Bible but doesn't feel like "Honor thy father and mother" is a commandment that particularly apply to her, or that it shall be enforced in ways other than going to church and preaching.

Personally I believe that you should go to church when you feel like going to church, when something call you there and when you feel happy attending. It's not something you must do because that's what good Christians do, I mean God can meet you anywhere, He doesn't need you sitting in a bench, looking forward all bored while your mind is racing a mile a minute about other things.

Many churches have very nice preachers and very nice people. I've been blessed to always find awesome preachers in the churches I've attended, be it Lutheran (which is my faith), or Catholic or Baptists... and I must say that I have found very cool ritual leaders also among the few Pagan rituals I've attended. I've also encountered stupid preachers, but those were mostly those that holler on the street and aim to disturb the peace of the passerbies. However others have had bad experiences, and well, that needs to be respected. Others simply get bored in church, and so that needs to be respected as well. Your connection with God isn't measured in the money you give to the church or to charity, nor in the hours you sit listening to preaching, or the songs you sing or the number of Christian songs you know. Actually, you don't even need a religion to be with God. Just be happy, follow your heart and listen to the Divine around you. Be true and kind to yourself, kind to others and be happy. As happy as you can be, and then a little bit more.

Blessed Yule!

Well, aren't you lucky! ^_^ Sorry, my head had been in a different place entirely (and I was seriously upset about this whole "environmental crap" I wrote about, so I had to get that of my system), and so I entirely forgot about my celebratory blogpost! So now, as time allows it, I'll post a shorter post about the subject.

picture Googled

Tonight we celebrate Yule, an ancient, Pagan festival where we conmemorate the birth of the God Sun. The powers shift now, and the Night that has been growing larger and larger each day, promting us to quiet and meditation, reaches today it's longest reign and then will start to recoil back, slowly giving space to more daylight time. After having harvested the fruits of our labour, and saved for the future, we have retired to meditate, to evaluate out progress through the year, and tonight is the night where we draw our conclusions. What have we learned from 2012 and what lessons will we carry on towards 2013, with which we will expect to make the next year even better than this one?

The message of Yule has been also taken by Christmas - though not in the current heavily commercial message - where we make reference to a night of peace and hope. The night might be long and bleak, and we might feel tempted to sink under the weight of our overinflated shortcomings. We didn't learn a new language, didn't lose weight, didn't get a (new) job, didn't find a significant other, didn't start a family, didn't get married, didn't get a promotion, didn't quit drinking/smoking/other... but this night is the last long night, and indeed a new cycle begins, a new year and a new chance. Allow yourself to remember and celebrate your success and learn from your mistakes. Don't sweep them under the rug, nor ignore any of them! Treasure those hits and study what did you do that made them come out right. Then study your shortcomings and find out what went wrong, so this way you'll not only know what to avoid (what provoked the mistakes), but also what to do (what helped the hits).

Most likely you are not Pagan, but that's okay. Consider taking a few moments today to celebrate a personal Yule, a moment of peace, meditation and hope. Pour yourself a glass of wine, or do some mulled wine or cider, put on some Christmas scented oil, or apple-cinnamon, maybe gingerbread cookie scent (or bake gingerbread cookies!), or pine scent, and curl up in a comfy chair or wherever you like and think about how wonderful 2012 has been. Don't miss out the little joys that came along the way, and always remember that the bad things may be heavy and many, but that's because all bad things go as fast as they come - that's why you need so many of them to notice them - but the good things take time, arrive slower into your life, and last forever. :-D

Blessed Be!

Is God Perfect?

Inspite of there being two Judas' in Jesus' group, the name "Judas" has been widely used to designate "traitor". Judas is the person who would sell or give up a person, an ideal, a country, anything or anyone that should be held precious and be protected, for money or any other sort of social advantage. I guess we all know - or at least all Christians and those who grew up around Christians - the story about Judas' betrayal, how he helped identify Jesus among the crowd by kissing HIm, for which he got paid 30 pieces of silver. Now, I admit that I don't know much about the Bible, nor I really sit down and read it or study it, but there are things that pique my curiosity from time to time, and this morning this was one of them: why did Judas need to identify Jesus?

According to what I know - and I can be mistaken - the point about the kiss was to identify Him. Prior to that point, Jesus had spent three years doing miracles, like walking on water, turning water into wine, feeding the people, raising the dead, healing and then held these massive speeches, which by today's standards could be compared to conferences. Add to it He met with pharisees, made a scene at a synagoge - the bashing of the merchants - people went to look for Him in different matters, He toured around... sure, they didn't have facebook, twitter or youtube in that time, but I would say that He pretty much stoof out, and if the ill could identify Him enough to know who's robe do they need to touch to get healed, how come an organized group planning to take him down had to pay out someone from the inside to identify Him? Not to mention He just had a feast with his closer followers. So really, why the identifying?

For those who dare to ask, there's no question that the Bible is full with contradictions and holes. One part say A and the other says B over the same matter. Then it's also "open for interpretation", but only by a handful of people authorized to do such interpretation. Then again religion is often used by Churches and Governments to manage the people, so yes, interpretation and truth should always be dozed properly to avoid people so start thinking about themselves, and Hyne forbid! question authority. Well, grabing hold of this seeming flaw in the narrative, one can start questioning the whole narrative, the whole book and the message. The ancient gods, for instance, were immortal, powerful, but not exent of flaws. Not that they made mistakes, but they did had their quirks and short comings, temper issues and similar. The image the Bible gives - or tries to give - of God is that of a perfect god.

For the believer the perfect god is a source of comfort, for no matter how things go, God knows best because He's perfect. But then, is God really perfect?

I'm not implying that God might be imperfect, but certainly the image of the perfect god the Bible and churches paint is cracking. So maybe God isn't perfect but He's above such adjectives. He's natural, fluent, consequent... like Mother Nature.

Christianity has built up a religion and an image of God that's not natural and not human- not nature-friendly. God makes you one way only to demand you to become - by your own effort - into something else. Like nature creating a elm and demanding it produce pears. Church has been about the deforming of the human and everything around it: deny your God given nature and become something pleasing to Church and Society, which are presented as God; hack the God created forest to build a church to please God. Strive to be perfect, even though the only one perfect is God, but you have to seek (and fail) to be just like Him.

If God made us to His image, doesn't that mean that there's a meeting point among us, and thus, the adjectives of perfection and imprefection don't apply to any of us?

Hn, questions plague my head.

Religion, Churches and What Drives People Away

Take any religion in the world, and you would find people who used to belong to it and left it. Any, really. There are, of course, some religions that are harder to leave - not because they are true or really engaging, but because they pose an actual, real threat to the lives of those leaving them - but all in all, there are converts everywhere and from every direction. The whole idea is quite amusing (yes, amusing) when you take in consideration how most churches and religious texts go on saying that their religion is the true religion (churches say so, the people most engaged into a given religion, because religions seldom speak from themselves), and the only one to grant you all the things you are supposed to want, namely true happiness and salvation - even if the path to happiness and salvations entails great sorrows, handling over your will and systematically destroying yourself.

Religious movements often prey on the weaknesses of people and tend to organize in ways to ensure power for themselves upon the people they woo. Religions themselves don't necessarily do that - many religions actually have a really good base message, and hold up beautiful values - but as these are overhauled by religious movements of all sorts, the message is used as a bait to gain adepts, only to them tie them down with threats to the whims of the group, person or whatever. In the little I've researched so far about the topic, many of these religious groups and texts (not meaning here the core text of the religion, when there's such, but those written after, allegedly analyzing and adding to the core texts) actually tend to go against the message of the religion itself, or carefully pace around and avoid interpretation that the religion would allow, but which would work against them.  I'll just give you a tiny example from my own religion.

In the New Testament there are several passages were Jesus actually go ranting against the religious groups and institutions of His time. For instance He went crazy (well, that's what He did. I'm tempted to say "berserk", but I1ll just leave it on "crazy") against the merchants that were selling stuff before a Synagoge. Then through the several books enclosed it becomes evident how he goes on against the precepts defined by the church, often by the Holy Book of His Religion and even goes on defying important personalities of it. His trashing of the pharisees are very well documented. Now, you take all that and there's a big chance that your interpretation of it would be "well, Jesus says fuck the church, fuck the holy books, you shouldn't bow and submit to any Earth power but just go on living by God's guidig, which isn't in any of these, but that's all about simply being good, being good to others and love the whole world". You may meditate on this, consider that you are reading about Jesus from a holy book and then re interpret the whole thing. For instance, Jesus said something like "Nobody goes to the Father if it is not though me". So what if that means that the church isn't the way to get to God, but that maybe Jesus was saying that your way to reach to God was... through yourself? I mean, He was in man-form, so he might have meant "Me" as in "self". If you follow that way of thinking, churches become futile, useless, and lose their power over the people, so you can wait until you die for a priest or a shepherd or a spiritual leader to tell you that church isn't the answer, let God speak to you. No, never! The answer you get is a condescending smile with "it's better to leave interpretation to the scholars". Probably if you press much on the subject they will silently wish for the times when people didn't know how to read and the Bible and the Mass was in Latin.

Now, of course they won't shoot themselves in the leg, nobody does that. Churches and religious groups and texts are like political parties - they tell you only what can engage you, not what you want or what you need to hear. However, maybe they should evaluate also the reasons wha people leave the religion. Are they leaving the religion because of the religion itself, or due to the impression the church, the fanatics and the religious texts make on them? From what I've heard from most people who have left religions, they have left because of the people, the churches and often the perceived hypocrisy of the religion.  How can a religion be hypocritical? Well, the base message could be, but most of the times hypocrisy comes from the people affiliated to it. They speak about loving everybody and then quickly jump into speeches of hate and how God hates gay people or interracial relationships and so on.

Yes, a religion could be not for you, but most people don't even get to know that much of a religion before abandoning it. Then, have you notice that most of the Generics (those who say to be of this or that religion but never attend to religious services, nor read any religious texts) tend to be people who remain rather long in the religion? They are less exposed to the often toxic effect of organized religious groups trying to bed their system of believes to fit their constraining, bittering structure that often builds on making you feel hated, undeserving and disgusting. For instance, as a Generic Christian you may live your days thinking "oh God loves me, but He sure rolls a couple of nasty things in my way". They pray when they really need to pray and make it with nothing but hope in their heart. If things are bad, they curse and that's all, if things get well, they are happy. They may or may not think of God at those moments, but in any case, they do seem themselves as deserving people and are sure that God loves them. Many Active Christians I know, spend their whole life thinking about sin. They see themselves as undeserving sinners, lower than the low and in the constant threat of God's hatred. One wrong word or thought, one wrong action and God will hate them forever and ever and all eternity. They pray often because that's what they must do, fill the arcs of the church with money buying all sorts of texts that reinforce in them the image of the undeserving mortal whose every single human quality makes them sinner and undesirable in the eyes of God, and prompts them to be more of what they are not.

For the Generic, God is a God of Love who loves them. For the Active, God is a God of Love who's quick to hate them, and they don't deserve His Love, and should fear Him and obey His every single whim. Whims God oddly don't communicate to them directly but through their religious leaders...

So yes, why is it that people is driven away from whatever religion? Unkept promises. The Religion promises Love and the Church gives them Hate. "Hate yourself, so you can be Loved". Religion promises them Balance, and the leaders give them Extremist Behavior. Religion promises Peace, and the institutions promote War.

You still wonder why people escape and loath religion?

Sunday Without Yoga

Sunday yoga is a thing of wow. The day start a little before 8 am, because at 8 am my lovely boyfriend and I meet over the Skype, then yoga, then back home to wash my hair and shower down and then goes on the rest of the day with whatever that has been planned. Well, not today, since personal nature got in the way of my plans. Man, where's my menopausia, my grey hair and my retirement staying? I want them all now! Yes, I was born old.

So, instead of stretching and twisting and flowing through asanas, I fell back in bed after talking with my boyfriend, with an aching waist, and went on watching TV and knitting until my avocado-mix colored yarn run out - which happened quite fast. Now I'm doing laundry - also part of my Sunday program - and  waiting for lunch to be ready, when I'll FINALLY have acorn with margarine. Gara love the cooked acorn coated richly with slowly melting margarine that threatens to run down your elbows. Ah, that's the Indian (Native ... Native-what are our indians?) Spirit in me.

My friend Al and I held circle yesterday to celebrate the Autumn Equinox, and this time around it came out rather well, though it was strange to hold this ceéebration while the rest of her family - save her daughter - where coming and going. There are a couple of rought patches going on there, maybe in all the wrong places, who knows, but it got me thinking time and again about the meaning of this celebration for her, and how the rest of her family were taking this circling thing. The languages to talk to God can also become the languages in which men choose to talk to their peers or themselves. I can only hope that a path of acceptance, personal choice, and respect for nature brings home the message these hearts need to be soothed and healed.

It's Sunday and many stores are closed, but I keep thinking about walking to the downtown (though rain looms dangerously close to Earth) to fetch myself more avocado-mix yarn, maybe getting a few new movies from the blockbuster for later. Well, who knows? Maybe I'll get myself The Hunger Games again. :-)

Blessed Mabon

Happy Autumn Equinox to all of you! Here we are, celebrating once again a day when day and night have the same weight, the same lenght, but unlike at Ostara, from this point on nights would be dominating time, days will become shorter and with it comes the chill, the cold, the winter. Rains are more abundant now in this part of the world, and so as the skies grow dimmer, colder, grayer, the land becomes more lush, more green, cluttered with life. At the same time, at home he dominant colors are warm even though the weather isn't. Red, oranges, ocre yellows and golden browns cover everything, preparing to give space for the silvery grays, the whites and the hundreds of coal and tuned off colors.

If I recall correctly, last year's Mabon post talked about the balance. (I'm not checking and cheating, though I did look up the post since I wanted the link to make your check up job easier, but I remembered the celebration we had with some friends and the topic we choose.) Though it always applies to this celebration, today I would like to highlight another aspect of the celebration, specially related to Mabon.

In the Pagan calendar Mabon represents the Second Harvest. It's a time of abundance, when you reap the largest fruits of your work. It's the time of plenty, and it's also some sort of Thanksgiving celebration, when you enjoy the blessings you have received, and those you have worked for. It is also the time to start planning for the leaner season, putting away for the winter, for all those days when the land, your work doesn't produce enough for you to sustain yourself and your family together.

In here there are two thoughts I'd like to bring forward. One is to be thankful for the results yielded for or work. How many of us do that? Lean or rich results, there is a result always. Good or bad year, nothing happens in our life that leaves behind no result - at least a lesson for the future. Well, let's be thankful for that. Let's recognize it and cherish it.

Many constantly complain and are ungrateful for whatever their year and their activities yield. Many also preech that you should never be satisfied, or happy with what you have. If you have worked for something, don't look only at the negatives of the result, but also enjoy the positive results of it. When you are working, don't go complaining always because your wage isn't as high as you'd wanted it to be (unless there's an ilegal component about it!), but be happy because you have made an income(1). Be thankful for the results you make, for the progress you achieve in your life.

Maybe you had plans, maybe those didn't work out as you expected it - yes, it can happen - but you can still take this Mabon to celebrate the fruits this adventure yielded. Fruits in the form, of knowledge, experience, better understanding, all of which you would have missed if you wouldn't have embarked in this particular adventure.

A second thought I'll like to highlight is the planning for the future, the setting aside. The richest bounty of our work, the shower of blessings, these can make us think we can go on spending like there's no tomorrow. We take the knowledge and apply it now, we take our wage and spend it all, we gather our bounty and eat it all in a feast. But from all these riches, let's plan forward, let's separate something for when things go uphill or times go leaner. There's one more harvest ahead of us before we retire to meditate and evaluate our work and our bounty, let's separate a part.

In knowledge, let's prepare the plan, draft a path about how shall we apply the things we've learned. In spiritual harvest, let's write down, paint, compose or create something where these experiences get fixed, settled down for us, so that when the times of emotional or spiritual darkness come, we can tap back on the light we hold now inside and revive the flame in us. In the material harvest, let's set a savings plan, let's stock up for the future. Let's fill our basement, let's stock up our barns, let's stash the money in the cookie jar.

Being grateful is about not taking things for granted, it's about enjoying the blessings, being happy for them, but also recognizing that this is the time when we can plan ahead and make those bleaker spots in our future more bright, take the edge fo dread out of them, make them times of comfort and fill them with much happier thoughts than the gloom of being in need and empty.

Blessed Be!

(1) Regarding the "be grateful with your wage" topic, there's something I want to make perfectly clear. Yes, be happy and learn to enjoy your wage. It means that you shouldn't spend all your day munching because you are an assistent and do all the job and get paid 800€ a month, while this new coleague got there last month and is already a supervisor and is making 900€ a month. It doesn't mean, however that since there's an economical crisis and high unemployment rates, you should be thankful for a job at a sweatshop that pays you under the minimum, or a wage so low you don't even cover your transportation fare, are submitted to long working hours and on top of everything have to endure mobbing. No, that's ilegal, it's not right and you shouldn't tolerate it.

Post # 1000

Guess what? This is post #1000! Kind of. I think Blogger counts on the drafts as well, and I haven't cleaned those out properly, but still, THIS is supposed to be post #1000. And I won't make it a smart post, so let's just open the babbling box and babble away.

I submitted my book list for the Swap Book Club, and now I'm waiting for whatever will come next. By some magic procedure a secret friend will be assigned to me, and I'll work to get her one of the books from her list. It's like getting a present with insurance! Then, as I was thinking about Spirituality (out of the blue), I came over pictures of Native Americans and suddenly I developed a fancy for feathers in the hair. I'd love to wear feathers in my hair, like the ancient Native Americans. I have done that before, basically by sticking feathers into the tip of my braid - when I use my hair braided - and have loved it! Then again, I love feathers, and I tend to collect them when I find them on the street or at parks. Yes, I have heard about diseases sprad by birds and how everything from birds could sneak up on you and kill you dead, but so far feathers haven't killed me.

But what was thing thing about Spirituality? Well, a friend on the Twitter was fighting with other friends about this "misconception" in declaring that religious people are prepotent. This friend said those who supported this thesis were guilty of "Argumentum ad hominem" (which in plain English means that you at dragging a debate into the personal ground. Like when somebody can't attack your arguments, so they attack you). Now, though we could argue that just because someone is religious that doesn't make them prepotent, we should take a moment to decide who do we call religious and what are their characteristics. Religious people go to church or whatever their peculiar religion demands them to go to; the attend to their prescribed rituals, know their sacred texts, study their scripts or pergamins, holy books and stuff written around it, and living them or accepting them or whatever. Am I short in here somewhere? Now, from where I'm standing, this leaves little room for tolerance, specially when time and again the message that it is their duty to "spread the word" is hammered in their heads time and again, and they are told time and again that anyone who's not following their path is going to burn in hell for ever and ever an all eternity.

It may not be true to other religions, but it my experience it is true for Christians. Handpicking verses from the Bible and interpreting them as they see them fit, yes there is a sytematized movement to basically bully people into Christianism. In my personal opinion, when you start by nudging others towards Christianity - even if you come from a good place in your heart - there's a prepotent behavior.

In comparison, Spiritual people are not necesarily following a particular religion, wrapped in particular rituals and attending church regularly and feeding from it. Spiritual people connect directly with God, The Universe, The Divine or whatever they call that Spirit, energy or force that pulls their souls. They can talk to it through the frame of a given religion, but they don't make that religion true or right, just like English isn't the True and Only language of the world, and Spanish or French aren't false. Spiritual people don't try to force you down any particular path, but rather respect your path and if they can help you, they will in your terms, or offering the aid they can give instead of pushing it on you. Whether you think that Jesus is your only path to salvation or you believe that meditation can open up your soul and lead you to enlightment, they accept it, don't disqualify any path and understand that all of these are paths to take you to a better place.

There's crap everywhere, there's prepotent people everywhere and prepotency isn't exclusive of religious people, but when you follow a path that encourages you to disregard those different from you and "save them from their mistake", then call it what you want, defend it how you like, but for me that's a free card to be prepotent.

Furniture and Excuses in Religion

One of the things we have to get is a desk for me. Have been checking different places for it, like Office Depot, and smaller furniture stores around downtown, and some bigger ones online. The quest hasn't been easy, as it never is when you are looking for a particular type of furniture, as the desk we are looking for must fit in a small place, so it can't be more than 50 cm (20 inches) deep, not 90 cm (35 inches) wide. Most desks available are computer desks, or ugly compressed cardboard desks with an unsightly little door for a tiny little... box-like... thing. Then, after checking a rather expensive furniture store, I decided I'd love to have a secretaire desk. I imagine this type of desks would be easier to keep clean and organized, but also they are supposed to be actually rather small to beging with as at least half the writing surface gets out of the way when you fold up the lid close.

Without a desk life is quite uncomfortable. No place to put down my bag when  I get home, no place to dump shopping bags, place keys, lay down the mobile phone, put on the laptop or write letters. Would you imagine that desks can be that important?

At one of the furniture stores I visited - where the desks were rather cheap and shabby, and not in the good sense - I found a cousin on mine working. It was weird, because this guy has been having a large and disconnected number of odd jobs. He used to work at a private bank selling credit cards, worked at a greengrocery among a lot of other jobs I can't recall. Finding him on a Saturday morning in a cheaper furniture store was indeed strange. I wanted to keep it concentrated on the tasks - get me the desks - but he started talking - or rather shall I say, explaining his being there - going on about how he had been there for a week and a half, and already felt unhappy with the job. He actually said that "oh well, every new shoe hurts in the begining". Let's not go into how actually at the begining of a new job you are wide eyed and excited and only later on you find out the little bad things - if there are any.

My cousin is one of those people who -  by some strange reason - has had no luck in his life. He changed his career at the university several times (he says now that he has studies in teology and something about composing music), then got married and had two children, for whom he had to start this chain of odd jobs to be able to support them. Then he got divorced and continued his odd life. He's one year older than mine, but his eyes and face are so tired as if he had rolled in at least twenty extra years. His words quickly rolled down towards religion, asking me "what am I now", since he was sure I had stopped being Christian several years ago. I still believe he must have confused me with someone else, so I tried to explain to him that I'm Lutheran, but he insisted, so when he asked me where did I go to church in here, I told him that in Costa Rica on Sundays I go to yoga, and he hooked on that with a line I have heard before by second hand sources, but never thought to be real. He said that he was okay with the exercise part, but wasn't okay with the meditating, because true Christians only meditated on the Bible (he said The Word). Silly me, I tried to explain to him, that I have been researching religions different than Christianity, and that actually there's no evil in them, and there's something to learn of all of them if you are just open to see them for what they are and not for what you imagine about them.

He launched then on a rather extremist speech, pushing the view of the Punishing God and how that was the only right way to live. I remembered the position of my grandpa has on the matter, how they push this idea that God demands you to become His slave in order to please Him, and that only that way can you be truly free. I don't know if it's just me, or if you can seen the contradiction in this: "become a slave (or servant) and live a strict life of virtue and staying within the narrow and dated rules of a religion, and then and only then can you become free".

Thing is that what's offered is a trap. When you give up everything about yourself, about your life, about your decisions, live in fear of a God who though it's supposed to be all love, He seems to love you only when you do only and exactly what He wants, even if that goes against your own nature - the nature He gave you - for other wise He'll hate you and never forgive you. Say what you want, this in itself is also a big contradiction. Anyway, in order to be free in this view of Christianity, you must make this "god" (I believe God to be a God of Love, perfect and consistent, so He would surely waste no time hating people, nor would He give people a given nature only to demand them to change it. I mean, come on! How could MEN fight against what GOD has made?), you must surrender. However, hoy can you be free while in abyect servitud or slavery? You can't. What's offered is to have an excuse to dodge responsabilities. When you give up, and concentrate only on keeping restricting laws (and bitching about those who don't), then you don't need to take responsability on your own life and how things happen because that's all "God's will". There's no need to fight, no need to struggle, no need to actually seek to be happy (nor like there's any actual way your restricting rules allow you to be happy), and all that is on God.

My cousin reminded me of that, and his words didn't fall far from that path. Has plans, plans to make music, create a church, and for that he needs money, and gets it from his odd jobs. His face is smudged thick with disappointment in life, but he claims to follow God, a God that's hardly God, but a Holy book, a Bible, an idea framed by a religion twisted out of its purpose by the wicked arm of a Church that sanctifies itself and raises itself to be god in place of God. Does this makes him happy? No, but it makes him feel less guilty for not taking the control of his own life and making something lasting, something productive out of it.

I wonder why it is that people often seek religion to have something that excuses their life incompetence, their laziness, their procrastination, their lack of will to actually live their lives, be responsible for their own circumstances and face them. Churches build upon the misery of people, and make sure to keep them miserable just to keep them coming. Like crack, or a bad prescription drug scored on the black market, they are an addictive, destructive force that traps people in false hope and dispair, preaching about a god they make unreachable, unpleasable, like a carrot before a donkey. Is this God? No, it isn't, but hopeless people who are not willing to take responsability for their lives and make their lives happen, don't care, as long as there's an excuse for their misery, as long as they can be tricked into believing that all this suffering and misery actually makes them better, and that it "fills them with joy".

I pity my cousin and people like him. It's never late, and though despair can hurt, desperation can bite, all you need to do is to get up again, look at what you want to achieve and make it happen. It can happen, even if you must retry over and over, it can just happen, if you make it happen.

Our Lady La Virgen de los Ángeles

In back-to-back celebrations, today in Costa Rica we celebrate the day of Our Lady, the Virgin of the Angels, or "La Virgen de los Ángeles". This is a holiday, so people don't go to work on this day (in most workplaces, that is), and actually, many don't work since yesterday, as this celebration is usually held with a pious peregrination from different points of the country towards the Basilic in Cartago. Then again, most of the peregrins usually get to the center of San José city, our capital city, and walk from there to the city of Cartago, our old capital city.

According to the legend, a humble native woman by the name of Juana Pereira, found a small figure carved in stone sitting on top of a rock as she was gathering firewood. She liked the figure - thinking it was a doll - and took it to her home, carefully storing it in a box. The next day she found the figure again on the same spot. She thought it was another doll, so she took her to her place, only to find the box empty. As the figure returned to the rock a third time, Juana Pereira, scared, ran to a priest in Cartago, to tell him about the figure. The priest didn't believe her at first, but as the figure continued disappearing and reappearing on that particular rock, he got convinced that it was a sign from the Virgin Mary, that she wanted a church there, which is why the Basilic, in the end, was built in that place (sort of).

It's curious how today at Biblie Class we studied the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21). The message we gathered from it is that we shouldn't be so overly concerned with the material aspect of our lives, but must also spend time on our spiritual richness and the improving of our soul.

The figure of Our Lady is hardly known for many Costa Ricans as we are all used to see and recognize the image of her burried under loads of gold and precious stones, covered in all the signs of the material splendor, but hiding the simple, humble nature of the carved stone that showed in gentle miracles to Juana Pereira and her peers, where to build the church. Thus, like in the afore mentioned parable, we are like the guy asking Jesus to fix the heritage issues with his brother on his behalf, or the Rich Fool, who has so concerned about this material richness that he really thought that was all his soul needed; I look at this image of Our Lady and I wonder, do we really need all that gold and additions to make the faith sound? Is the church and the Catholic faith in Costa Rica hiding the humble nature of the Virgin to make people believe that true devotion is showed through its material manifestations?

Some people who are deeply involved in the church and study the Bible consider - for instance - that your going to the church is void if you don't give money when the offer baskets are passed around. Do they really think that the only way people have to show God their devotion is through money?

Our world - and by default our churches - are heavily premeated by money and the material aspect of our lives. For many is also much simpler to donate money to the church to have their "souls sated" in the religious department, just as many solve their familiar and emotional problems by opening their wallets instead of taking a dive into their hearts and their souls. And truth to be told, today's world goes for this: spend money, buy, give, donate, invest... call it what you want, just get your money out of your wallet and into the safeboxes of others.

As today's parable cautioned us and instructed us to seek balance - so lets not fall to the other end, where we deny ourselves food, cloth and shelter - learning to say enough when we have enough of the material to satisfy our needs, and also taking time to look into our souls, to seek our spiritual enlightment and find our paths to commune with The Divine. Let's think for a moment of the beautiful miracle of Our Lady The Virgin of the Angels, and lets see past the glitter and the material ornaments added by the Rich Fools, and find the humble, the beautiful, the simple Virgin carved in Stone, and with her reflect on the simple figure of stone hidden inside us. Lets strip from our pretty clothes, our brand new car, our posh shoes and expensive bags. Let's wash off our make-up and forget about the expensive cosmetics in our bathroom. Let's not think of our iPhone or our iPad, or our expensive home and our luxury vacations. Lets not think about our jobs or our material concerns and plans for the future. Sit on the floor, wherever you are, or go our if you can, and mind not the dirt, sit on the floor, feel the Earth beneath you, and connect with your soul - simple and naked - and find the core of your existence. Meditate, pray, circle, open up and find out that though you need the material things to keep your body going and ensuring the well being of yourself and those you love, your soul, your spirit need only a bit of time, a moment of open, honest dedication, to develop, to grow, to bloom and reach out for The Divine, and thus, to allow you to become wiser and a much better and happier person.

Reach the humble Virgin of the Angels inside you.