Universal Constant: “To have unquestioning faith in the divine is admirable, but to place that faith in Man is a fool’s errand.”

Preface: Universal Constants is a series where I post bits of common knowledge that may be relevant to any or all aspects of life as we know it. These are “undeniable” principles of reality that often span the fields of philosophy, theology, history, psychology, science and politics.


Let me first state that, by “divine” I’m not just talking about the monotheistic God. The term “divine” refers to God, Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, a pantheon of gods, Mother Earth, angels and demons, celestial spirits… anything that may exist beyond our material world.

To possess unwavering faith in the divine, in any of it’s forms, takes stubborn determination, particularly in the light of conflicting information. While some of the afore mentioned forms have, in my humble opinion, more merit than others, they are all just as valid in the big picture. Why? Because I believe that all of us, even self-proclaimed atheists, instinctively feel the presence of the divine in us and around us. We may all call it something different, think of it in different ways, but we all “know” it is there.

Mankind is ruled by our own selfish desires. Even the most generous, merciful and caring of us do what we do for personal satisfaction or gratification. This doesn’t mean that we are inherently bad or evil, just limited in our perspectives and our place in the world. We are nothing if not fallible.

Which brings me to my point, why do so many people listen to the words of an individual (much less an entire organization) and obstinately believe them to be “straight from the mouth” of the divine? Even IF a person has intimate knowledge of the divine, he or she will ALWAYS taint that information with their own perspective, comprehension and assumptions. The most pure of us do this naturally through our subconscious and the worst of us blatantly twist this information to their own will, for their own agenda.

You simply can’t trust the word of mortal man to tell you the “truth”. So, where does that leave us? Only the direct experience with the divine can impart any real sense of “truth”, but since that is a rare gift at best, you must broaden your point of view. Keep an open mind, never stop asking questions and seeking answers. Listen to what everyone has to say about the past and the present. Take it all in and over time you will filter out the stuff that doesn’t “ring true” with you. Your own instincts are your most honest source and guide.

Discover your own Truth.

The Lowering of Standards

I am so tired of nearly every aspect of our lives being dumbed down. So much in this country has been reduced to the lowest common denominator so that no one is made to feel stupid, slow or left out. Well, get over it! It may not be politically correct, but the fact is that we are NOT all created equal. Some are smarter, some are slower. Some are born and raised with common sense and some are not. And I’m sick of being restricted by laws, rules and policies dictating what I can do just because someone else might go too far and do something stupid and hurt themselves or someone else.

The law, rules or policy says I can’t_____, because someone else might_______. I’m sure if you stop and think about it, you could fill in those blanks with a lot of ideas.

We are to the point that even our television advertising and shows have disclaimers attached to them just in case some idiot tries to replicate what he saw on it. Car companies shouldn’t have to “warn” us that the vehicles shown are being driven by professionals on closed tracks. Drug companies shouldn’t have to tell us of every possible side effect of taking their product, that’s what your family doctor is for! The content of a particular show does not represent the ideology of the network that plays it and even if it does, who cares? And if you watch “Jackass” and try the same crap yourself, you deserve to get hurt or worse.

But, oh no! We can’t risk letting these fools hurt themselves, can we? No, that just wouldn’t be right. Or would it? What ever happened to natural selection? The strong and intelligent survive and thrive while the weak and stupid fall behind. I know, it all sounds very cruel and callous. But, hear me out.

We have gotten so accustomed to lowering the bar anymore that people don’t seem to think things through to their logical conclusion or are willing to take responsibility for their own actions when they do something stupid. Instead, they want the government to put laws in place to control everyone’s actions and behavior. All this has done is allowed people to become lazier and more careless. And when something does go wrong, everyone starts the blame game.

Alternatively, we should be raising the bar and going out of our way to encourage those that are having trouble to try to better themselves. I don’t care where on the scale you may be, everyone has room to improve themselves somehow. We should all be striving to reach that higher goal, to push our limits. Seek out the muse that inspires you to action and, in turn, inspire others to do the same. Determination and a positive attitude can go a long way.

The rest of the world sees Americans as fat, lazy and stupid. They are not all that far off. We need to do something about it. But that can only start with each individual. You must make the decision to do something. You must make the effort to get up off the couch and “just do it”. Whether it is physical, intellectual or spiritual, you have to do it yourself, for yourself. And when others see you working to attain your goal, it inspires them to do the same.

Raise you own personal bar and perhaps one day, the rest of society will follow suit.

Bibles and Gays

The religious right continues to stubbornly uphold the absurd notion that homosexuality is merely a lifestyle choice, rather than a genetic (instinctual) drive. Yeah right, gays and lesbians choose to live the way they do, complete with all the bigotry and hate thrown in their faces by all us “straights”. That’s Evangelical logic for ya! But hey, don’t blame them. They HAVE to believe that. You see, if they admit that homosexuals are born that way, it implies that gays too are a part of God’s Plan. As purposeful as any of God’s creations.

And therein lays the contradiction. They claim the Holy Bible to be the actual “Word of God”. Yes, the Will of the Great Creator, in convenient manual form. And the bible thumpers love to talk about how the bible “tells” us all that homosexuality is wrong and unnatural, that it is a sin. Yet how can this be if they are a part of the Plan? If their sexuality is not a choice, then how can God (or us fallible mortals) shun them?

So, you see, they can do nothing else but claim homosexuality to be a chosen lifestyle. Because if its not, then their whole faith, everything they have been taught about the bible could fall like a house of cards and they might have to actually question the dogma of the church. (Gasp!) But that’s a whole other rant.

Look, if you have a problem with homosexuals, at least be honest about it. Don’t hide behind your bible to try to legitimize it. Hasn’t that great piece of literature been used (erroneously) to cause enough strife in the world without your help? Regardless of whose teachings you go by, I think we can all agree that God would not endorse hate and violence toward your fellow man, especially in “His” name! Get over it and…

Live and let Live!

Fear, Murder and Salvation

We humans are the dominant species on the planet. We have developed mathematics, art, language, music. Through the ages we have created such inspiring wonders that no one person could ever know them all. We have come so far, in a relatively short amount of time. Yet, as much as we would like to deny it, we are neither evolved nor enlightened.

Our kind is a pitiful, self-loathing lot. We hate and slaughter each other over ridiculous concepts: politics, religion, race, sexuality, wealth. We divvy our selves up into groups and slap labels on each other and ourselves. All in a vain attempt to make each of us feel better about ourselves, to feel like we belong to something, a “family”.

Why is it that we feel like we belong to “the group” only if we can point out others not exactly like us? “Oh, look at their skin color, their culture, their beliefs, their language. They don’t act like we do. They don’t think like we do. They don’t like what we like.” Yes, it’s easier to connect to those with similar interests, backgrounds and the like. But unless you go out into this wonder-filled world with an open mind and experience that which is not familiar or comfortable, you will never know what lies beyond your own front door.

What it breaks down to is this. Each of us thinks, acts, and believes a certain way. We naturally believe that our way is the “right” way. Therefore logically, those who are different must be “wrong”, “evil”, “sinners” and such. More labels. Unfortunately, this idea doesn’t take into account the Big Picture. This world, this reality is far too vast to be centered around one person (you), one group, or even one race. The absolute height of arrogance and insecurity is to assume that your way is the only “True” way.

We all suffer from our fears. We often feel inadequate, unloved and insecure. Labeling others is merely a scapegoat, a convenient way of drawing our attention away from ourselves and our own faults. That’s why it is so easy to hate.

The tragedy is that these dissimilarities shouldn’t divide us, they should be celebrated. Our differences make each of us unique and our kind, as a whole, a magnificent species. We are all capable of such greatness. But we will never truly rise up from the mire until we learn to accept each other for what we are, seek out a more enlightened point of view and look within our selves for answers.