Being Who You Are...

Wow, now that I’ve written the title, I think “How heady”!

So one might wonder (or hopefully not) how was he raised?  What was his faith?  Why does he sound so new agey?

For the sake of credentialing I will admit to being baptized, “Pentecostal (A. of G. for inquiring minds), Mormon, and Catholic.   I also went to a variety of other churches along the way.  Eventually I found my way to a new age church (one that in many ways seemed to be rather Pentecostal in its expression). Again for inquiring minds “The Church of Tzaddi”.  If you go down the road of “New Thought” spirituality; Unity, then a little farther to Science of the Mind, then take a left… you will wind this church.

Why all of this exploring?  It was my way of rebelling. Now some background:

 My mom didn’t go to church (she finally did in her later years).  She had been raised in a household that spent much time at the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. The founding minister, Aimee Sample McPherson, founded the Foursquare Church.  A rather interesting read for inquiring minds.  This was during the 1930’s when there was very little government help so the Temple became a key player in helping to feed and clothe the poor of L.A.  My mom was the last of a batch of children who were taken by disease and then by default became the oldest of the next batch.  But, I am digressing… my apologies.  The point is that she was raised in such a strict fundamentalist household that she rebelled by not going to church. 

My dad was a circuit riding preacher’s son.  Mom and dad divorced about the time I was born. You will see a picture on the blog of me (I on the left with brothers Dick, Jerry and half-brother Rex).

By default, I had no choice but to rebel by going to church.  Yes there were other factors as well… my grandmother went to the same A. of G. church… and I will confess that the minister and his wife had three beautiful daughters, one my age! 

When I first started writing today’s reflection… I had no intention to bore you with all of that detail.  But then, it will help alleviate the notion that I came to my spiritual way of thinking simply because I was “destined” or “called”.

So what is the message that I want to share?  It is simply this… whatever spiritual path you are on is the right one for you.  Even for those who claim to be agnostic or atheistic in your outlook… that’s fine.  Whatever you believe or choose not to believe does not change reality.  Just like the belief that the world was flat… or that the sun revolved around the earth did not change what was… so my belief or lack thereof about God will not change what is.  One of the great gifts we have as humans is the ability to choose.  It is up to us to exercise this gift… and as with all decisions; there are different experiences… which lead to more decisions… and onward!

I for one revel in the variety of beliefs and perceptions.  How boring would the world be if all flowers were pink roses, or all trees were evergreens?  Alene reminded me yesterday that the reason we don’t use the same greens (such as spinach) in our green smoothies every day is that each type of green, while beneficial, also contains a tiny bit of toxin, used to ward off insects.  Too much of one type of toxin can be detrimental to our own health. 

If we had only one color to paint a picture… it may prove to be rather boring after a while. It is the mixture, the touching, the layering of colors that makes a picture.  It takes many different colors of thread to make a tapestry. Many notes make a song.

If I have any suggestion on your journey (for in essence that is what I see life as) approach it passionately.

I suspect that you will find the above theme in some of the other reflections I will share in the future.  But to me, it was so important… I wanted to include it in the intro.

For those of you who fear I have wandered to far from my roots... I can live with that.  I figure that "God" is wiser and more compassionate than I am... so I'm willing to leave my destiny up to God.

You are infused with and are an expression of God’s love,

G