*blink*

[joegoda]

Ran into a issue with my primary filters having a conflict with some of my emotive redundancies.

Which is the long way of saying I confused myself. Sometimes it is very hard for me to 1. remember I am not like everyone else. and 2. remember that much as I may want the cookie, I don't always get the cookie. See article 1.

*sighs and sips some really icky black coffee left over from 2 days brewing*

So, I needed to take a look at myself and clean some of the fuzzy logic circuits. I'm still puzzled at some of the posts I read from other folks and raise an over bushy eyebrow and go "huh... is that me they're talking about?" Because, Lord knows, it's ALL about me. Even in the midst of paranoia, we are, still, egocentric animals. Or at least I am.

Anyway... work calls. I'll be doing a bit more finishing up of my 4 novels this weekend, which is tuesday and wednesday. Means I probably ain't going anywhere, cept for 2 hours at work, which is a command performance so some program architects can talk to me about how to improve the product.

Ya'll be good. And if you can't be good, be yourselves.

Comments

[capi.livejournal.com]

Ah, my darling Chetster... that was VERY helpful! Thank you so much!!

So the bus comment was VERY astute in a delightfully simplistic manner! *clapping her hands* YAY!!

Good stuff!

No envy here... i is what i is, and you and i... i think we are drawn to our similarities as well as differences, don't you?

I've come to think that some people are ... ummmmm... naturally inclined towards a more spiritual life... or... maybe... a more spiritually *active* life... than others ... for no reason that is apparent to anyone (which makes the whole reincarnation theory somewhat tantalizing, because it could certainly explain things!)... and others simply are not. Nothing right or wrong here, just IS and ISN'T. No better or worse here, just called or not called. Who can help it if they are not called? No fault of theirs! It's a strangeness that i chew on.... Cuz i have been like this since before i even knew what GOD *was*, before i even knew the word "God"...

If i felt it so young... and had not even yet been exposed to the formal concepts of God and religion.... that is no... um... what's the opposite of fault? *LOL* It was something inside of me that was already in me.

And i wonder how others do not have it. Cuz of course, i thought EVERYONE had it; that's how we think when we are young. We expect everyone is having the same experience til we learn different. So then.... DOES everyone have it, but squelch it, or does everyone have it, but express it differently? Or do some have it and others NOT have it? Since "it" is so nebulous... it's difficult to say!

Any road... Zen and Tao are not FAR more clear to me than they were before! And yes, i see that Jesus was doing both. When you said he was doing Zen, my brain *immediately* supplied that he was ALSO doing Tao! *LOL* I need to be on your couch! My couch is just too far away from you!

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

See, I don't have a formal definition of this GOD thing. I have everyone else's. And what they define as God is not what I define as God, because in my head there cannot BE a formal definition of God as God is personal and individual to each person.

Now, here's my question, and I'm sure there's more. Had you not walked in and chose to accept someone else's definition of GOD, would you not have continued on your spiritual path regardless? Since the spark was existent in you before then, surely it would have continued had you been 'called' or not.

I'm not arguing your choice with you, darlin Sis. I'm arguing the labeling, and the elitism that goes with the labeling.

[capi.livejournal.com]

It's tough to argue "what if's" after the fact, of course, cuz what DID happen is what did happen. We humans obviously have some need for labels, many of us, maybe MOST of us, so there are plenty of those out there, handy and available.

I happened to hit on a number of those... and the one i found when *snick*! This one FITS! This one FITS, i tell you! There was a supreme rightness there for me, Chet, and i can't explain it any better than that.

There are things within the religious views of the Native Americans that feel right to me. There are elements of Zen, and yes, Tao, that i nod at. There are bits and pieces everywhere that seem very apt and correct to me, as i've encountered them in various religions and philosophies. But.... THIS one *fits*. The things man has done to it don't always fit, mind you. Man screws things up. But on its' own, it connected with me better than a glove made for only my own hand.

That answers your question only partially, i know. Would i have gone on with my path INFORMALLY had i not encountered the formal brand? Well... i suppose. Without the existence of formal (or awareness of it), i guess i'd have to. *LOL* It was in me, and it wasn't going to leave me, that much i am certain of.

Is that what you were asking?

[joegoda.livejournal.com]

pretty much what I was asking, dear. I am quite a bit like you, in as much as seeing how different gears all fit into one philosophy. Of course, you and I have differences. We are, after all different people. My path will never, ever be your path and vice versa.

So, as the Rev said on Serenity, "It doesn't matter what you believe... as long as you believe."