Faith, the final frontier!

Since posting about The DaVinci code a few weeks ago, and prior to my melancholy blues (ah yes, we all get them even bloggers), religion and its predecessor faith have received a good deal of attention in the media. Indeed I have received a few posts and several emails about this topic and it has been not a small matter in friendly conversations of late.

Hot button it surely is! Therefore I am presenting my response to a post on my DaVinci blog here on the 'front page'. I hope it adds a calm voice to what is, ridiculously, a hotly contested topic.

Dear Readers, as you will remember, or simply scroll down for reference, the "But Really Why the Hell can't we all Get Along" blog was about some rather irate people I met who were protesting the DaVinci Code film, interestingly enough without having seen it. That silly small point aside, I deduced that by protesting art these good people were protesting a concept, and ultimately, protesting thought. Rights of free speach not withstanding, that bothered me and I hoped it would bother you.

So now I bring you the main thrust of my response to a post regarding the issue of faith in any particular religion:

...There can be no debate about belief. Such a debate is moot as the very nature of belief precludes consensus opinion or logic. Belonging to any religion is a matter of faith, which by definition is predicated on belief, not fact. Not one religion today or in the vast annals of history can claim scientific fact as its basis.

The Muslims can no more prove that Mohammed is the One Prophet of God than Christians can prove Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. Proof is not the point, belief and faith are and there is no shame in either.

There should, however, be tolerance for those who think or believe differently from oneself. Not one person on earth can claim to comprehend the "mind" of God, to put it anthropomorphically. Therefore the unique faith, or lack thereof, each holds about the Almighty's existence is as valid for one as another's is for the other.

I would submit that the actions of those who follow a particular faith and the teachings they use to promote it are the items the world sees and judges for itself. If those are compassionate and inclusive and ennoble, they are sought out and emulated. Those that are not...

History decides for itself what it will and will not believe.

And it is perhaps better we do not all believe the same. Our differences encourage growth and tolerance - attributes we can use throughout our time on this planet. In the end, however, the point of this blog was to encourage each person to think for himself. To protest as he may so desire, but to consider hard the value of protesting thought itself.

A very slippery slope indeed...

I am human so are you, sometimes we have to just let it go and respect one another not despite our differences, but because of them. One breath in, one breath out....let it go.

Melancholy...when did it get such a bad name?

Feeling down, a bit blue, feeling low, under the weather...the numerous descriptions for the emotion of melancholy are as varied as the feeling itself. That wistful, reflective state bordering on sadness, sometimes touching despair or regret; it is at once all-encompassing and yet leaves room enough to contemplate the very state itself. An emotion little spoken of today but made much of in songs from years past:

My Melancholy Baby, Melancholy Man, Sentimental and Melancholy...a few of the many songs giving voice to that gentle sadness we all experience. Missing from today's repertoire of music and to our loss. Music that soothes the savage beast can also bring forth those pensive feelings often overlooked in our busy lives.

Our modern world requires constant movement - of mind, industry, body; no time is afforded to stop and ponder our emotions along the way. It is always go, go go, usually without our asking how we even feel about all that action.

Forward movement normally elicits the feeling of excitement, that thrill of achievement, the joy of accomplishing goals. But we can be so busy with the "doingness" of our lives we stop noticing if our actions mean anything to us anymore. Who are we, where are we going, how did we get where we are now and is this where we even want to be? These questions are gifts waiting for us in the quiet arms of melancholy.

I am human, so are you and sometimes we just need to cry. Sometimes we want nothing more than to let the sweet sorrow wash over us, to let the tide of tears take us into deep contemplation of our lives. And sometimes it is only through those tearful reflections we can once again find our center, our purpose.

I vote for melancholy. May it ever find its way into our hearts, may we always embrace its wisdom.

But really - why the hell can't we all get along?!

So my husband and I see The DaVinci Code at our local theater today. Enjoy it overall and at the finish walk out of our theater to a fair number of protesters. God knows, no pun intended, it is every American's right to peaceful public protest and I stand behind their right to do so, that said....I was amazed at the outright anger we encountered. Against a film mind you, a film.

How is it that in a country whose founding fathers had the wisdom to separate church and state, we cannot seem to separate one person's expression of his belief from an actual attack on whatever our own beliefs may be? We aren't talking about protesting an unjust law, a war, an environmental hazard, racism, sexism, or bigotry of any kind. This was a protest against a film, a work of art, which essentially breaks down to a protest against a concept, a thought.

Protesting thinking - this concerns me, I hope it concerns you too.

When did having opposing thoughts turn into a matter for protest? When did any religion require angry devotees denouncing a work of art in order for the sanctity of their beliefs to be upheld? This country is the great melting pot, the great democratic experiment and one that I hope lasts forever. So who are any of us to decide that our religion, or our particular brand of thinking within one religion, should be the bellwether for all religious thought everywhere?

Surely believers must be secure enough in their faith so that a casual conversation, a painting, a film, or even a Danish cartoon does not cause them to lessen their convictions. If not who are they really angry with, the creative expression that raises questions or their own lack of faith?

And what is a belief anyway? Not an undisputed fact, not science, not a logical conclusion based on proof. According to the Oxford dictionary it is "A feeling that something exists or is true, especially one without proof." It makes as much sense for us to angry about another person's beliefs as it is to be unhappy with their preference for a certain kind of music, or poetry or food.

And yet here we are, 2006, able to put a man on the moon, able to reach out to the ends of our solar system, able to eradicate smallpox and polio, yet still so many of us cannot bear for another to think or believe differently.

I am only human, so are you...think about that please and let's get along. For once in human history can we all just agree to disagree and get along?

Where have all the Gandhi's Gone?

Have you had it with seemingly everyone, everywhere spouting what are to them justifiable reasons to kill their - take your pick - enemy, suppressor, neighbor? While there is a time and place for self-defense to be sure, where are the world's new Gandhi's? We need one now more than ever.

Our times cry out for the courage of those who would submit themselves to harm's way rather than harm another in defense of their beliefs. I don't know if I'm that brave. I'd like to think I could be, and that you could too.

It's time to get this concept back into the public awareness. Let it be front and center of every progressive movent, every disenfranchised soul longing for world recognition and assistance. It is our hearts and minds which need to be opened for real change to occur, not our fragile bodies.

Let us also recognize that non-violent protest brings change not only for those oppressed, but freedom for the oppressor as well. Gandhi did not just liberate India - he freed England from the chains of its own empire. Martin Luther King Jr. did not just bring justice to those with dark skins, he brought liberty to all Americans enslaved in small minds and frozen hearts.

It is so very easy to pick up a gun in protest - all that requires is desperation and a sense of self-preservation. Quite a different courage is required to submit yourself, body and soul, to injury or death in civil disobedience. This is the quiet courage that freed India from England without firing one shot. This is the courage that shamed an Empire and brought growth to her people.

No matter the justification, the heart does not warm to blood spilt in protest, but instead hears the cause of noble self-sacrifice.

No one requires a Gandhi more than the Muslim world at this time, though every society has its need. Right or wrong, the images that dominate the media from the Muslim world are violent ones - kidnappings, torture, murder - all in the name of a supposed higher cause. Whatever purpose their cause, we cannot hear it over the screams of the innocent.

We must each find our moral compass once again. We must each find our inner Gandhi, our inner Martin Luther King Jr, our inner Mother Teresa. Swing neither left, nor right, but instead go to center, to the heart. Listen to it, reach out from it, live by it.

We have only this time, only this life to share with one another. The life of my enemy must be as meaningful as my own. If I seek to change my enemy, let it be by my own example, by my own sacrifice, by my own compassion. Life is precious, it is fragile, it must be honored and preserved, not shed in the name of protest. Not for anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

I am only human, so are you.