I admit it. Today has been an awful day and tonight I am finally sitting in quiet isolation pushing down this blood that has been pressing against the walls of my veins and slowly rising to a boil since early morning. In other words, I am ready to lose it. I'm very near the edge of my tipping point and it is at such a juncture when I am generally torn between manic tears and a wild, yet brief, tantrum.
I choose to take this state as the motivation needed to write this with more passion than I might normally muster.
What I want to know is...where are the people who are AWAKE? Where are the ones who see the world through an eternal big picture; who can see a vast plan rather than our ant hill lives?
Yesterday I was driving home and I passed several churches along the way. Some were small, some were bigger. Some had a more "old time religion" feel to them and some looked like they were trying to put the latest fashion on a 1950's mannequin. Still, all of them had many similar features. There's the sign out front that often quotes scripture, but just as often gives some kind of fortune cookie advice. There's the stained glass, the steeple and the crosses prominently displayed. Because, you see, we have this formula for how we are supposed to commune with our Creator. We're supposed to meet on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. We're supposed to be part of a community group and be held accountable to each other, but not always necessarily to scriptural standards. Because, in this formula, we can pick and choose which things are relevant to us. We can say we have faith in the most outspoken radical ever to walk the earth, but not let it spill over into how we conduct ourselves.
Or can we?
The truth is that I am no one in this world and I am aware that the playing field of humanity is far more even than most of us imagine. Yet I look around me, I listen to the news, I see the patterns of humanity and it is clear to me that most of us are asleep. We've bought into the formula...this substitute milk that brings a false sense of organic nourishment. We separate ourselves into boxes of Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism...even Atheism falls into this same mold where we require that G-d fit into our methodical idea of Him. We fear what we do not know, but what we know is so minuscule compared to the truth of this created universe.
From our frozen dinners to our regularly scheduled programs and our regularly scheduled spirituality, we have become accustomed to pre-packaged lives.
And in those churches...who's grassroots origin is that world changing radical...we're so often displaying metaphoric neon signs that flash "NO RADICAL THINKING ALLOWED!"
So, my point? ....It is time for the sleepers to wake up! It's time to tear down the walls and peel off all the plastic! Start asking the questions you've not allowed yourself to ask. Start thinking about the things that have scared you yet have always seemed so appealing. Breathe in new air and new ideas and don't be afraid of honesty. Because the TRUTH is the TRUTH. It isn't dependent upon what you think of it...it isn't conditional. Truth just IS and it will not change so, if you want to find it, you must be willing to open your eyes.
No matter what we believe TRUTH will always set us free. So, wake up, sleepers!
