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Tag Archives: Religion

Powered by Faith…Running on Fumes

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by dunkablog in Creativity

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Atheism, faith, perseverance, Religion

Faith has powerful connotations in the vocabularies of each person. It is a strongly religious word, and yet atheists and agnostics can have faith in their own beliefs or lack thereof. Faith, to me, is a combination of trust in a higher power and a trust in the natural cycles of birth, growth, decline, death, and decay. It is faith that allows me to endure long, crippling bouts of depression, knowing that it is no more than a warped perception of my present circumstances. Faith allows me to continue to do my very best work and accept less than stellar recognition or reward for my efforts. It is an enduring belief in a greater good, as real as gravity or magnetism, but just as invisible.

My faith has been tested a lot in recent months. A series of unfortunate events have collided in the month of June and continued into July. My beloved dog nearly died, but was saved with some very expensive medicine. My husband’s truck conked out and needed a big repair. My back gave out and requires expensive treatment. No bonuses are given out at work, and raises are a specter in the far off future. Marrying my husband caused our tax return to go way down, and my student loan payments to go way up. These are “tests of faith.”

The thing is, to take the test, you need a sharpened #2 pencil. My pencil feels like a stub, sharpened with a buck knife, and the lead is about to fall out. I wrote some great songs, and wrote a couple of books, made a few great films…but saw very little monetary gain for all my efforts. I have spearheaded projects at work that saved the company millions of dollars, but I am still at a low salary relative to my abilities. Faith moves mountains. Faith is a renewable resource. When my pencil finally breaks, the proctor will give me a new one. I hope.

Next entry will be about “Grace.”

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The School for the Blind

19 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by dunkablog in Writing

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Panentheism, Religion

In a small Indian village, there was a school for the blind.  The students there had seldom ventured far from the school, for they were in an area that was surrounded by scrub and chaparral, and they did not like to wander into thorn bushes.  The teachers were all excellent, and did a good job of preparing the young minds to read braille, to cook for themselves, and to eventually learn to become independent.

One hot summer day, the school was closed so that the teachers could go for a conference in the nearby city.  The teachers had to walk several miles into the closest village, where they would catch a bus to the city, returning by nightfall.

That day, an elephant came out of the brush and wandered up to the school.  The students were outside working in the garden, irrigating the fields of lentils and potatoes.  Suddenly, the giant creature approached the blind students, who had never encountered an elephant, and stopped.  The students’ fear gave way to curiosity, and they began to explore the elephant with their hands.

One student found the trunk, and said “This creature may be a snake, but its skin is much thicker, and it blows hot air into my face.”

Another student reached the tusks of the magnificent creature.   He said “I don’t know for sure this is a living thing, for it seems to be made of some sort of soft, slippery stone.  It pulls away from you and cannot be held safely”

Another student felt the front leg.  “This creature is big around as a tree, it is not a snake, and it is not a rock.  And if you are not careful, the creature can crush you.”

One student felt the ears and said “This creature is thin and flat.  It is not snake-like, nor is it a tree, and it is definitely not made of stone.  If you hold onto the creature, it will swat you in the face.  It is not dangerous.”

Another student held the tail and said “I tend to agree with our first colleague that the creature is like a snake, but it does not blow hot air, it blows a foul wind, and occasionally drops heavy turds on your head.”

Yet another student was unable to find the creature, and told them all that it simply didn’t exist, they were all wrong.

Each was so convinced they were right, that they began to argue with the others, and focused on the differences in their description of the creature, rather than the similarities.

The youngest student came forward and held the tail, using it to climb the elephant and came to rest on its back.  He rode the elephant away and left the students behind quarreling about the nature of the beast.

Had the other students let go of their part of the elephant, and explored different parts, they may have eventually realized they were all describing many aspects of a single being.  Such is the Lord.

Had a teacher with vision returned before the creature left, she too might have been able to awaken the students to the truth of the great creature.  Such is the Lord

The child rode away because he was brave enough to climb the mountainous beast and hold on, allowing it to take him to another destiny. Such is the Lord.

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dunkablog

dunkablog

Writer, filmmaker, doodler, musician, data miner

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