Why is that I wonder?
On Thursdays I play soccer (or football if that makes you happier) and after the game I got chatting with a guy I sort of know about “all this New Age stuff” I’m currently into (a few years ago I would have had a similar conversation only I’d be going on about Christianity). This guy is just your average nice guy. Happy with life. Moseying along, enjoying stuff, just generally OK with his lot. I explained some of the key New Age ideas I’m learning about and he listened carefully, asked some good questions, and really tried to understand what I was on about. But at the end of the conversation he remarked that while he found religious and philosophical discussions of this type interesting, he saw no need to believe in any of this sort of thing for his daily life.
Hmmmm.
That got me thinking. How come he can just get on with his life and not think or worry about “all this stuff” and yet other people (like me) obsess and dwell and dissect and ponder about beliefs and doctrines and truths and wot-not for countless hours, days, months and years?
Why is that I wonder?
PS: Not poor genetic material, please God, not poor genetic material.
January 19, 2008 at 6:35 am
To live an awakened life, one can not help but ask the questions that you ask and ponder the thoughts which you ponder. The soul to whom you spoke is either very wise and aware or very much in a living slumber. Trust your path!
January 19, 2008 at 9:53 am
Great comment tobeme. I’ve just “discovered” your blog and added you to my blogroll as the handful of recent posts you have made are really great. Nice.
January 19, 2008 at 10:59 am
Obviously you’re more highly evolved than him.
January 21, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Depth, {{Jon}}, depth. Some of us live lives of no depth.
There is a saying that we get out of life what we put into it. The meaning and the value.
Obviously the man has a different role to play in Life then you do. He sips while you like to drink deep. He likes to play in the shallow end of the pool, for he’s not a strong enough swimmer to handle deep waters. He has his purpose and passion, while you have yours.
Unconditional Acceptance and Unconditional Tolerance are often more challenging to embody then Unconditional Love. Honoring choices is different then trying to gain agreement. What you may be calling ‘new age’, has more to do with getting in touch with an inner knowing. Once we Know, we really don’t need anyone to agree. We Know, already. It doesn’t matter if ‘they’ don’t. We merely offer to share.
This may be the biggest difference, for there are no attempts at conversion going on. Just sharing interests. Cooperating with those of like interest and honoring the choices of those not interested.
Before, in accord with our church dogma, we didn’t “Know”. We lived in Doubt and therefore, needed agreement of others, imagining greater numbers could make up for the lack of Assurance we felt. Now with Knowing, comes that Assurance.
January 23, 2008 at 8:17 am
2 peas in a pod my friend.
I just posted the exact same thing. My whole life has never been content when it comes to spiritual matters. I am always asking the “why’s” who’s” and “how’s”. Even as a non-believer right now, I have a hard time raising my hands saying “I do not know”. No matter what we believe, we have to allow room for a little mystery. Its ok not knowing all the answers, we just have to convince ourselves.
I am totally with you on this, its been my biggest struggle.
January 24, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Jon,
I seem to have the same, er… problem.
January 28, 2008 at 6:55 am
Hello Jon,
I came upon your site today while doing a blog on,
“The Age Of Aquarius”. Not that I was in deep
search over the meaning, I used that line in an email
response to a friend who had asked me when my b’day
was, and I responded in February and then signed
my email….
Deb ~ The Age of Aquarius
ANYWAY…….. I then went to your latest post decided
to comment.
The fella you spoke about, you might have nudged him
with your conversation. Who is to say that at some point
when some other conversation or topic comes his way it
might further assist him in opening his sleepy eyes.
OR perhaps it was the universe reaching out to you
to remind you to be grateful that you are awake.
I’m happy to be one of the wondering types, and I’m
thrilled to have found your blog ~ today.
xo xo
Deb
Ohio USA
January 29, 2008 at 9:28 pm
MOI,
You’re back!!!! Welcome !!! I didn’t realise that youu were back online so thanks for calling by! My detox from fundieism has led me into New Age teaching that I am really enjoying, so I will be following your story with interest as you seek a “new resting place”.
Jon
January 30, 2008 at 4:50 am
Hello again Jon,
For me, I can’t let go of it or stop asking questions, because it is my method of recovery from the fundamentalism of my past. Oh, I am fully an agnostic now, but I love asking religious people questions like:
If God really is the center of morals, consists only of goodness, love and righteousness, then exactly who made this determination, and what standards were used to make this judgement call? Isn’t is a simple situation of he with the power gets to make the rules?
Anyway, what I think about nowadays is a simple search for truth, only now I know that truth is not a starting point, but a continual journey. Science excites me more than ever now. New ideas, new science, new discoveries no longer threaten to challenge my faith. I no longer have faith.
I love this quote I ran across recently:
” The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. “
January 30, 2008 at 9:49 am
Nooga,
Thanks for calling by. I always feel it an honour to get “visited” by some of the original gang from deconversion when I was wrestling through that phase. For me (just for me, mind you), it was a real breakthrough to read the trilogy “Conversations with God” simply because up till that point I was always trying to answer my questions with Christians metaphors and models. CWG gave me a whole new set of vocabulary and ideas that enabled me to consider a whole new set of possible answers that till then had not been available to me.
All the best for 2008.
Jon
February 2, 2008 at 5:14 pm
This post made me laugh! I sometimes so wish that I could be like your friend and not “need to believe in any of this sort of thing.” It seems that all my days are at least lightly touched by thoughts of “new age thoughts.” More often I’m obsessed! LOL!
I wonder if your friend, rather than being less enlightened, is simply living a life with a different focus. There are as many different reasons for spirit to have a physical experience as there are people on the planet. Your friend could as easily be an enlightened, aware soul who has simply decided to live a life of experience rather than of spiritual seeking as he could be an unelightened, “young soul,” who is “swimming in the shallow end.” …just another way to look at it.
Peace,
Sarah
February 2, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Hi Sarah,
Great thought, and I have to say I like it. My christian background has marinated me in the notion that we are on a journey, climbing a ladder, but one of the freedoms of new age thought is that there is in fact nothing to do and nowhere to go because we have all already arrived. In this sense, we cannot “judge” that one is more awakened or less “advanced” than another. In fact, we should never judge the karmic path of another, because we do not know what experience that soul is seeking to obtain.
Thanks for swinging by Sarah!
Jon
February 3, 2008 at 1:07 pm
hey… I often ask the same thing about myself. Why does it seem most people I know “in real life” don’t want to get into all this “stuff”?? At least not very often. I do have a couple very close friends that I WILL get into these deep discussions with… but, it’s usually after a few cocktails… and happens too infrequently.
Part of it, I think is time… just having the TIME to get into these things. Everyone is always in such a freaking hurry. Myself, often included.
Then, part of it has to be trust…. I mean, not everyone is comfortable pouring out their souls to just anyone. Right? And some are probably more trusting than others. I am the kind of person who can talk to just about anyone… and in turn, I wind up with people I hardly know telling me their life stories sometimes… but, still, when it comes to the really DEEP discussions… most will shy away from that.
Than, there’s those - probably like that guy - who just plain don’t WANT to deal with this deep “stuff” or “new age issues”. Are they in denial? Shallow? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, I don’t know if I envy them or feel sorry for them… LOL
~smj
February 3, 2008 at 1:08 pm
hey? I wonder if it’s all a symptom of BLOGGING!! ??
I might be on to something here….
Think about it!!