Yesterday, in Knoxville, Tennessee, a gunman walked into a Unitarian Universalist church and opened fire on the congregation while they were preparing to watch their children perform a play. (You can read about it here.) I will withhold any speculation concerning the man’s motives, as it is entirely unnecessary and unhelpful in these circumstances.

I am very thankful that none of those children were harmed. I would hope that those of us who pray will lift up prayers for the families that have been affected by this as well as for the gunman and his family, so that peace may be restored to all of them.

 

When I heard of this, I was reminded of the incident in the Amish community a while back and the words of the grandfather of one of those slain children there. He told reporters that he had insured the children that the man who had  opened fire on them was not evil. I think we should remember that grandfather’s words before we pass judgment on this man.

 

peace, wayf

 

 

"Belief cannot argue with unbelief, it can only preach to it."

-Karl Barth

 

 “Preach the Gospel always; use words when necessary.”

-St.Francis of Assisi

 

“Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.”

-Paul Tillich

 

“Judge yourself; if you do that you will not be judged by God, as St. Paul says. But it must be a real sense of your own sinfulness, not an artificial humility.”

-Johannes Tauler

 

 

peace, wayf

(Disclaimer: While everyone’s opinions are always welcomed here, I wish to point out that this post covers some rather controversial thoughts, and represents a watershed moment in my life. The things said herein are near and dear to me, and, while it is certainly not my intent to offend, or to incite, my only wish is that if you do feel the need to oppose the things said here, please do so in a respectful manner. It is not my intent to evangelize. I am not attempting to convert anyone (nor will I ever), I am just “coming clean” about a few things.)

 

“Well, darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable,

And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear.

I wrapped my fear around me like a blanket

I sailed my ship of safety ‘til I sank it

I’m crawling on your shore.”

 

“Closer to Fine”-Indigo Girls

 

Have you ever wished you had all the answers? I don’t mean just the answers to the little things—I mean all of them. To be sure, the truth is out there, but we tend to cover it up with our conjectures. I do not have all the answers; just a head full of half-concocted speculations. I believe God is real. I have recently been convinced that Jesus was indeed the Anointed One of God, and his words and actions were the perfect distillation of God’s truth. It’s not my business what others believe, or what they think of what I believe. It’s my business to do God’s business. That is not speculation.

 

It has taken me a long time to get the courage to say those words out loud (or type them “out loud”, as the case may be). Fear of ridicule from those who don’t believe, fear of condemnation from those who believe differently than I about who, or what, God is, and fear of my own crippling inability to express my views about God in an articulate manner have kept me from “coming out”, as it were. None of that fear has kept me from believing in God, it has just prevented me from being entirely honest with myself and others.

 

It’s not enough, it seems, for us to just say “I believe in God”, to try to live out our lives in a manner which would be pleasing to God, or to try to respect the little divine spark that is in every other living creature. We must conform to the proper creed, we must become a member of the correct clique, or we face seemingly eternal torment from those around us because we don’t fit in.

 

So, you may be asking, do I still consider myself a Taoist? The answer is that from the moment I could concoct a thought on my own (and long before I ever knew what Taoism was), I have had Taoist tendencies. But, I must be quick to point out that while Taoism has indeed been transformed into a religion over the years, it was formulated as a philosophy. The fact that people have read into, and often added to, the original Taoist writings their own notions and systems and turned it into a religion can’t be ignored, but it must be clear that I have always subscribed to Philosophical Taoism, and not Religious Taoism, which are, in fact two completely different systems. Kierkegaard and Tillich were Existentialists, Aquinas was Aristotelian, and I am a Taoist. I will no longer try to escape my innate Christianity, however. I don’t believe God really cares if I read and assimilate Taoist philosophy into my life. In fact, I believe God put Taoist philosophy into the minds of the Chinese philosophers, just as He put all wisdom into the minds of people for us to use. (Why wouldn’t God want to share his wisdom with the ancient Chinese, or any other race, for that matter?)

 

That I will likely be called all sorts of names, ranging from “heretic” to “apostate”, that I will be evangelized at and condemned to an imagined hell by others who identify as Christians is inescapable, and of little importance. That those who harbor ill-will against all things Christian will immediately label me a weak-minded fool is also inescapable, and of equally little importance to me. None of the names that people label me with define me and the only condemnation that I need fear is from God, not man.

 

What makes me a Christian is not adherence to any creed or doctrine, but that I seek to follow Jesus on to the salvation that he promised to us all. While my views on what that means exactly are different from the vast majority of Christian Orthodoxy doesn’t change the fact that I strive to follow Jesus and consider him, and no other man, the final word and authority on the Kingdom of God. I do not believe Jesus was God, per se, and I do not believe in an eternal Hell for “non-believers”. (If one wishes to argue over these points, I can point them to a number of debate boards on the internet. Trust me when I say that I have spent an inordinate amount of time of late exploring these topics, and I am convinced of them. I have no inclination to debate them with anyone, nor am I trying to convince anyone of it.) There are, I have found, many thinkers in Christianity’s past who had thoughts on the subject that are similar to my own, but who have been covered over by the orthodox and labeled as heretics—some hanged or burned at the stake for their beliefs. All I can say is I’m glad they don’t burn “heretics” anymore. The isolation and seclusion that one suffers due to holding heterodox or so-called “heretical” beliefs is hell enough, believe me. In the end, though, it doesn’t matter what I think, it is the manifestation of my faith through my action that matters.

 

I believe that humanity’s highest goal, regardless of what belief we hold, or even if we believe in nothing, should be compassion. That’s our universal aim and calling. Compassion means “to suffer together”, and, suffer together we must. It’s not a matter of only suffering with those who believe the same way we do, or of serving someone upon the condition that they convert to our way of thinking, but of putting aside differences and committing ourselves to love and charity and peace. I do not believe God cares one iota about our formulas of Him, as long as we think of Him always. The Gospel of John says “God is love”, and I believe that. If you think of love, compassion, and justice, you think of God.  If we can learn to love unconditionally, if we suffer together for the greater good, we have manifested God on Earth. Let us not bicker over the details, but focus on this one truth: “Love conquers all.” Let that be our universal creed. Let us all suffer together to make the world not just a better place, but the very manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

 

I’ve come to realize that, for me, there is no definitive aside from this: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” When Jesus said this, he added the statement, “on this, you can hang all the law and prophets.”

 

In these brief, tranquil moments, when I manage to step away from all my mental wrangling and see the simplicity and pointed-ness of that message, I realize just how easy Jesus’ yoke and burden really are. All we are called to do is love God and our neighbor. It is about trusting that Jesus told the truth. It’s not about having “proper theology”, or lofty explanations of Jesus’ and God’s “nature”, and so on; it is simply not about our own sagacity. The loftiest wisdom humanity can ever muster will only appear as small and insignificant to the Supreme Author of all wisdom. We are to sacrifice ourselves for the good of everyone else—to love beyond dividing lines. God’s still, small voice is at its loudest in quiet acts of selflessness performed by the meekest and most unassuming of people.

 

Why can we not see that?

 

In these moments, when I see it clearly, I feel fine.

 

Just fine.

 

peace, wayf

 “I feel capital! Simply capital!” or, A Preface to a Preamble

 

Days pass. Weeks turn to months.

 

Months pass, and still not much comes to mind to say.  

 

Once upon a time, the location on the internet that you, dear reader, have found was something that your humble author found quite gratifying. It was a fulfilling exercise in a myriad of ways; I gave my writing muscles a work out, interacted with many intelligent and insightful folks, and, generally had a great time with it all. It was a neatly confined little social circle; one which didn’t even require me to leave the comfort of my own living room in order to attend.

 

Something happened to me, though. I grew discontented. My ever seeking mind led me down different paths, and I soon lost touch with the predominantly faceless friends I had made here.

 

Oh, I tried to post at least something here and there, but soon found that I wasn’t quite interested in doing things such as posting music videos and songs to the exclusion of exercising my mind by writing. The problem was, there was such a great deal going on in my world (internally and externally) that I could not (and still can’t, it seems) find the words to fully express my experience.

 

This is my attempt at a “comeback”, if you will. It is to be noted, however, that this “comeback” is likely to be sporadic, if not temporary, and it comes with quite a lengthy preamble (of which this would be the preface).

 

The bottom line is this, though I have not had much (read anything) to say of late, I have missed interacting with certain bloggers here. I have missed the community feeling that is present here and sorely lacking in other such web-based communities. I have missed the freedom I enjoyed here in being allowed to express my thoughts and not be too terribly bullied by the usual internet thugs (though I do know they lurk even here in the shady places of the ole stream).

 

I have missed you, my faceless friends, and I have come back here to check in on you all and to let you know that I am still alive (and vividly so, considering). While I am, admittedly, a little worse for wear since the last time our paths crossed, I am feeling, in the words of Powers Boothe as “Curly Bill” in the film Tombstone: “Simply capital!” (As I fire my proverbial six-shooters at the moon in a blissfully drunken stupor). (If you have not seen Tombstone, please forgive my obscure reference (and go watch Tombstone!)

 

If there is still anyone out there who might check in from time to time on me, thank you for doing so, and please keep checking in. If you’re new to my hovel (affectionately called), welcome and come again.

 

For now, dear friends, your gentle and loving wayfarer will fade back into the dusky shadows and bid you all adieu, until the morrow (or, perhaps the morrow after that) in hopes that this ethereal letter finds you all in good spirits and health, and with the solemn promise of at least one more such communiqué in the very nearest of futures possible.

 

With the utmost love, admiration, and respect to all of you,

 

Peace,

 

wayfarer

Powers Boothe as the all but loveable outlaw "Curly Bill" Brocious.

 

I received a phone call from a musician friend of mine from Texas yesterday. Things are going well for him in the field of music right now. While I wish him well, I can’t help thinking he will only be trampled over (again) for all of his endeavors.

 

Most people just really do not care about more traditional forms of Blues music these days. While the folk and rock musicians of the sixties and seventies had the most noble of intentions to preserve and bring attention to trad. Blues, they also had an adverse affect. It was inevitable and unavoidable.

 

It’s a double edged sword, actually. If it hadn’t been for people like Keith Richard(s) and Eric Clapton (to name only a couple), the Blues, as a genre, may have withered completely out of the collective consciousness. It was diluted and added to, however, to make it more “accessible” to their audiences. While it served to spawn an interest in the music, it also redefined what Blues is. The result is that is has become well nigh impossible to get anywhere playing acoustic, folk blues these days (save for one’s living room or porch.) (Not that this is uncommon in other areas of music, as well, but I am willing to bet that Bluegrass would be more readily accepted at a Country music venue than Country Blues would be at a Blues or Rock club, or, even at a Folk Music event.)

 

I fell in love with this simple, unaffected musical form a long time ago. While I do, indeed, listen to and appreciate many different types of music, I would definitely say that I am a purist when it comes to blues, and I am really only interested in playing purist blues. I’ll listen to (and, likely, enjoy) modern blues & rock all day with you, but I’m not going to attempt to play it. It doesn’t interest me that way.

 

What I’d rather do, however, is hand you a guitar and a tall glass of iced tea as we sit down on the front porch together and go over some of these old Blues recordings I found...

peace, wayf