Funny Farm
Drama has been happening at the farm, with our stupid mistakes and human silliness. Several times it has seemed our sense of community was falling apart. Maybe the farm itself is falling apart - who knows. But the sense of community behind it? I figure if our sense of community falls apart, it was never authentic in the first place, and should fall apart! Then something happens and Love triumphs through our nonsense, we talk it over, forgive through hugs and tears. Life is absolutely splendid if we stick with it, don't give up.
Penniless On His Own
Roy hitch-hiked back to Moab from L.A. with his little sister, Sylvia. This was her first time out of Los Angeles, and what a way to do it! I found Sylvia totally delightful. She has a don't-give-up sense of adventure just like her brother, and I felt a connection with her.
Meanwhile, I was thinking and meditating on my relationship with Roy, feeling like our goals weren't the same. He can't let grass grow under his feet and I often feel like I'm holding him back. I was thinking of ways of discussing this with him before he came back to Moab, when he sent me an email saying he had other plans. He wants bigger challenges and has decided to hitch-hike out of the country with no money, to head south through Mexico, eventually to South America. His family, apparently, is helping him get a passport. I feel proud of him. He changed the name of his blog, which also makes me feel better. I really don't feel comfortable with any kind of -ism, much less "sueloism".
Ramadan
I take a deep breath before publishing this, bracing myself for the ire of commentators.
I last blogged at the start of Ramadan, and Ramadan is over. Carolyn had the idea to celebrate Ramadan from new moon to new moon and asked me to join her, in solidarity with authentic Muslims, people of Peace (Islam, after all, means "peace", derived from the same semitic root as the Hebrew shalom). What's great is that Carolyn is dating a totally cute dude named David, of Yiddish background, who happens to be a bomber cook. David likes to cook elaborate Shabat (Sabbath) meals at sundown on Friday. That makes for a perfect dance between Islam and Judaism for Carolyn and me, because on Ramadan you aren't supposed to eat all month until after sundown!
Muslims celebrate Ramadan as the month that Muhammad received his Quranic revelations in his cave in the Arabian desert. I thought it a splendid idea, in perfect timing, not only as a declaration of solidarity with Muslims--because of the recent bigotry of people not allowing freedom of religion for Muslims wanting to establish mosques here (it's anti-American and anti-Christian to deny freedom of religion for others)--but also because I've been studying the Quran, with new brainstorms waiting to burst out of my head and heart. It blows me away the epiphanies crystallizing in me this month: a strangely eerie harmony between the Bible and Quran has become crystal clear. I can see why people might reject the Quran for what it says, in the same way people reject the Bible for what it says. If you take both books literally, the Quran's Jihad is almost as violent as the Torah's Jihad. But whether or not the Quran is violent is a moot point for most self-proclaimed Christians and Jews: they reject the Quran not because of anything it says or doesn't say, but because of religious ego. It was already decided to be evil before they even looked at it (the simple fact they reject the Buddhist sutras or the Tao Te Ching, which couldn't be more loving and non-violent, proves my case). In the same way, most self-proclaimed Muslims reject the Bible not because of anything it says or doesn't say, but because of religious ego, despite the Quran itself saying over and over that it was given to confirm the Jewish and Christian scriptures already existing as they are, not replace them. I keep looking at the apparent contradictions and finding they are actually intriguing clues to get you notice something infinitely deep. I hope to write down these mysteries to share, Insha'Allah. No, I can't deny there are things in the Quran, like in the Bible, that I find way bothersome. But the gold nuggets in the ore are too splendid to throw out with the ore.
Religion, A-Religion, & Science
Besides, history shows us religion is not going to go away any more than the human heart will go away. Whatever doesn't go away, we must find a way to embrace it, transform it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I keep feeling religion will go obsolete by embracing it, not fighting it. Billions of people hold some form of religion in their deepest heart, and you can never truly understand any people or culture if you don't understand their religion.
The a-religious are also not going away, will always be with us, and must be embraced. It usually seems the a-religious make less of a mess of the world than the religious. But then there are huge exceptions, like the old Soviet Union and today's "People's Republic" of China. It could be argued that the these two countries never eliminated religion (dogma) but simply replaced one form of worship (deity) with another fanaticism (state).
And Christianity? The paradox of Christianity is that it cannot be Christian if it doesn't practice the Golden Rule. You must examine other religions with your full, respectful, non-judgmental heart in the same way you want them to examine yours, otherwise your religion is not Christianity! The Golden Rule is Christianity!
And you cannot be a complete scientist, a complete anthropologist, sociologist, or psychologist if you ignore religion. Religion is part of human biology, part of evolution. Looking at the horrors religion has caused in the world (especially our own Big Book religions), and after reading past comments in this blog, I often get discouraged and wonder why I bother. I lose site of the gold in the ore. The ore can't be changed, just burned away by life's trial. Just when I'm about to give up, throw down my pick-axe, and leave the dirty mine, I see the gold sparkle: passion is passion, and I can't repress this passion in me. Funny, me, Mr Zerocurrency, using gold as analogy.
What Next?
Roy and I had plans to travel together this Fall, but since he's meandered off a different path, I'm not sure what will happen now. With all this inner stuff I want to write down, I feel more inclined to stay put, because time is short and I don't want to waste it. I just don't want to leave this life without sharing with everybody the absolute splendor I see.
