The Flaw of General Belief “Live and Let Live”:

To say “I believe in Love, Charity and respecting others”- as a path to righteousness and God, is as deadened-as one saying “I believe money to be the path to power and respect”. For these are no more than self defined paths built on responses.
The self-response basically assimilates how an action or a reaction makes one feel into a belief. A synchronistic approach to creating ones own religion. Self defining a path is a slippery slope because the path is being defined by the most unreliable mechanism- one which is swayed by emotion, environment and perspective…the standard and mechanism of ”Self”. If we were whole and complete independently then we would not need or want for anything. No one lives without lack- even to the tiniest iota of someone seeking spiritual enlightenment.
If one believes “good” is the path to righteousness, then one must also ascribe to the belief that the NEED to do “good” is based on the principle that there is a standard for bad.
Even greater, if an individual identifies with the need to do “good” then it is a fair assessment that they themselves feel some gravitational pull towards penitence.
Simply stated, if someone feels like doing good deeds, it probably comes from an innate conviction deep inside.
For those who say, “I feel like doing good because, it is simply my duty” also identifies to the call for action or reaction.
Action: I must respond to injustice which is occurring or has occurred
Reaction: Injustice has occurred personally
However, actions and reactions are not beliefs. They are simply movements. To create a belief or faith founded on actions and reactions is to create a faith based on unstable ground, one which continually evolves- one that will not resemble it’s predecessor 10 or 20 years later.
I have been inundated with the philosophy of “to each his Own”, “Live and Let Live”…the elbow room for everyone to hold on to their own belief and carve their own path of righteousness.
What exactly is that? I believe it to be Chaos- even ants follow a course and standard. Am I saying everyone must hold to my belief? It would be better said- everyone should find a belief…find something worth living and dying for.
I realize if one where to judge another’s standards according to their own held rights and beliefs, against one who does not share the commonality of that faith, it then it becomes a moot point. So what then becomes the mediator between faith and logic?
I vote: common sense.
If one were to say: “you serve God this way, and I’ll serve God that way”, which way is right?
I would suggest the one that adheres to principles that do not come from self- believes that do not quench carnal nature- the depraved humanity.
BUT isn’t ALL religion from man?
Certainly man has been the stenographer to the Gods from the beginning; I would suggest that some beliefs are grounded in man, from man to man.
Christianity is one of the strangest religions to ever be embraced. While many religions have called for “strange” rituals and practices- from wearing strange head gear, to sexual deviance and perversity, no other religion has called for such reckless abandonment with the only gain being Community. Not sexual community, not wealth, not independent kingdoms or planets, simply community; a community of one.

Saturate With Tears and Prayer

I stepped out of the Shadow's
Its me against the Army of Failure, the Army of Fear
We dance a pirouette of dogma, as we highlight our minds
a soliloquy of pride. One spot light, an broad empty stage
a staggering stutter, speaking in tongues. A hurricane of thought
that floods the time.

We chastise the ocean, angry at the waves, and our sand castle illusion
is our solitary confinement of praise.
A one man play by Roger Guenveur Smith
a sarcastic chuckle mimicked by our out of body dissection.
No Resurrection

A hunger for political dissonance, as we stomach the sick.



it's curtains i tell you.
Curtains.

Same Sex Attraction

I've been putting a lot of thought into this for the last several weeks as i have been hearing arguments from all directions regarding the topic of same sex attraction, and was recently introduced to "Safe-Zone" Training.

I'm putting aside religion and faith for a moment because I do not want this to be perceived as a "Christian" bashing Homosexuality. I believe all people should be treated with dignity, respect, sensitivity and equality. You absolutely would never catch me holding a hateful sign that read "Gay's go to hell". It pains me to see those who proclaim to adhere to the same faith i adhere too, spew that type of venom.
This is simply my assessment on the impossibility of rectifying alternative lifestyles


I'm not shy to vocalize my thoughts or feelings surrounding anything, but at the same time you will not catch me blabbing just because I can. Having the right to do something, does not give one the right to do it.

But i do believe, if someone is to voice their thoughts, feelings, opinions or convictions, be prepared to hold two stances.

1. This is my thought on a particular subject, and i will not engage in any further discussion about it.
-or-
2. This is my best educated thought and I am willing to entertain conversation.

This first stance is pious- if one is voicing thought for the mere sake of pontificating their own wisdom, then that person should remain silent. As a wise man once said- it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak and prove everyone right.


I am willing to engage in open conversation regarding my thoughts-maybe the folly of my thought can be corrected.

Placing aside any religious presupposition i find several fundamental flaws in the defense of same sex attraction. To me it's simple.

First you have to identify what the current social agenda regarding same sex attraction is. What is society attempting to do?

That's easy to see. In a nut shell it would appear that the overwhelming theme of current influence is simply this: accept alternative lifestyles, stop "judging" people" and let people make their own decisions, same sex attraction is not a choice...on and on.

We've heard them all, people want equality.
The desire is understandable...i would never dispute equality. What i am in conflict with is simply the concept of defending "same sex attraction".

If you can debunk same sex attraction as a societal norm then you debunk alternative life styles altogether.

My dilemma can be summed up in two ways:

1. Working in the mental health field, we pride ourselves in working towards recovery for people who suffer from persistent and severe mental illness. Within this field we encounter thousands of individuals who struggle with the crippling illnesses that without treatment would dictate a persons life, robbing them of a normal healthy quality. Often these individuals turn to substances which intensify the symptoms, and in some circumstances, originate the illnesses.
Practitioners continually refer to the DSM-IV Mental Health Manual as the diagnostic tool by which almost ALL people can be given a medical diagnoses of a mental illness. Literally from Marijuana addition to too much soda or french fries- almost anyone can find their vice, and legally be given a mental health diagnosis with this manual. Whether or not this is flawed is a different topic.
My discussion is simply this.

How is it, that we have managed to identify a baseline level of normality for almost all mental state of minds, but in the case of same sex attraction, the base line for normality has been moved- or relocated?

Think about that for a second.

I am NOT saying same sex attraction is a mental health issue- what i am suggesting is the redefinement of normality to supplement same sex attraction.

What is normal?

I would like to suggest that the laws nature does a wonderful job defining and establishing what we perceive as normal.
1. Gravity: while we may bend or attempt to defy, nonetheless, we are all still enslaved to it.
2. People breathe air. While we may once again flirt with defying this law, we can only bend these laws within reason.
3. It takes a sperm and egg to create life. While this is continually being challenged- nature has still dictated the perfect model for this.

Now- this is where point two comes in.

2. It's completely idiotic.
Two Males or Two Females can not make a baby. Many say same sex attraction is not entirely about sex. I beg to differ. It is in fact entirely about sex; no one opposes people loving each other or maintaining deep friendships. The issue is in fact those "friends" engaging in a sexual relationship. This is where the source of conflict comes in.

For those who hold to Darwinian beliefs, meaning you believe we evolved from animals, and we ourselves are nothing more than simply highly evolved animals, than the same sex attraction defense would be fundamentally flawed, because Darwinisms pursuit is to rectify evolution for the preservation of life. Same sex attraction could not possibly be rectified through this approach. This would imply that evolution would point all observed life to eventually self destruct by becoming homosexual species.
While homosexual behavior has been observed in nature- we know that this does not occur due to simply attraction. It is understood that their are more complex explanations for this type of behavior, ones by which people are not governed. (animals engage in all types of behaviors which people would never duplicate, because some of the things they do are simply gross-i.e. sniffing, licking, and some of the things they eat)

I'm left to believe that same sex attraction and homosexual behavior are two separate entities. One has to do with impulse control and the other has to do with predispositions.

Simply explained: i might harbor homicidal or suicidal ideation's. Mental health treatment would attempt to treat the ideation through medication, counseling and therapy.
Likewise many people suffer from impulse control such as: theft, self injury, borderline behaviors; the list is endless. Just because i feel like running someone off the road, even if they have given me reason- simply does not validate me doing it.

why then, with all the occurrences of "abnormal", has the concept of same-sex attraction slipped by the radar and is being forced to be observed as a new norm- when this is so fundamentally wrong?

Once again: here is why i cannot philosophically agree with Same Sex attraction:
1. It's not natural
2. Evolution can not defend it (for those who hold to atheism, or those who believe in any type of evolution)
3. There are enough social, physical, mental and emotional abnormalities- why has same sex attraction been singled out, defended and redefined as norm?

I cannot comprehend this- it's as insidious as the defense for abortion.

Zeal

Being zealous is not about everything working out the way we want it to- it’s about working to get what you want the way you want it!

Somebody Told Me

Someone said to me yeserday that those working behind the scene are noticed when things are no longer running smoothly...I say, may things always run smoothly

Everyday should be Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday…not sure why, maybe it’s because I get a pass on being a pig and being a glutton. I often wondered if such a day only exists in America. Only in America do you have TV channels dedicated to who can eat the most. It’s practically Thanksgiving everyday here. Not necessarily in my home, but in general.
I once had a job working at a restaurant that made donuts; the donut makers would arrive around 1am and make donuts till 6 am by the following evening, the leftover unsold donuts were thrown away. Can you believe that? Donuts less than 24 hours old, practically fresh, were tossed out. Sometimes the excess would fill several 55 gallon garbage cans. The dumpsters had somewhat of a sweet scent, like that of an old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I really do not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, especially the way most children traditionally enjoy them, you know with the brim of the sandwich trimmed leaving only fluffy soft white Wonder bread. I’ve always found the texture disgusting, it falls somewhere between a sand which and bubblegum and play dough. It’s the way the sandwich sticks to the roof of my mouth that drives me crazy, and I’m forced to use my tongue to wedge it off. I prefer food with texture, like hearty whole grain crusty bread. And when it comes to ice cream you better believe it better have pieces of something floating around in it. But as for soft PB&J and the way it sticks to my mouth, Yuck, food that requires that much work is just not up my alley.
That’s why I’ll never order crabs. Someone already went through the effort to catch it and cook it and serve it up, I think they should have followed through and shucked it from it’s shell (or whatever you call it) in the least. I think that’s just plain lazy of them to go through all that work, then serve me, a paying patron, an exoskeleton with meat on the inside. I say if you have to go through all that effort, it probably shouldn’t be eaten in the first place, or we should all revert back to the days when eating took that much effort, or be vegetarians.
That’s why I like vegetarians; do you realize how much work it takes to slaughter a cow takes. Cleaning it’s innards and cutting it up into manageable portions and then you still have to cook it…jeez, trust me, there would be fewer vegetarians if peeling a banana was that difficult; but I digress.
Thanksgiving from the way I see it is nothing more than an excuse to indulge and really not be thankful for anything in particular. Think about it, a big meal is almost a right-of-passage. Churches open doors and invite people to come in and feast and homeless shelters serve up massive meals. What does a big meal have to do with being thankful, especially to a person who is homeless? Seriously…if thanksgiving is about a big meal, than we should rename it “upsize my food nigga-foo day”.
Did you know that the average person living in poverty in the US would be considered Upper class in over 80% of the world? Did you also know Thanksgiving is primarily a North American and Canadian Holiday…everywhere else is pretty much Thanksgiving every day.
I was watching one of those travel shows, and people all around the world often get together cook, dance and party it up all the time, for them, it seems that thanksgiving is an attitude. They seemed so thankful to be together…even without modern commodities and in households that may make $50 a month, somehow these people find a way to be thankful. Maybe it’s because they are not defined by what they have, rather they are defined by who they are and who they are around. I once had a neighbor, her name was Jane…it might have been Janet, or maybe something a bit more exotic like Jaimez, though she looked like a plain-jane….Jane. Regardless, my brother and I used climb over our fence and tip-toe through her immaculate yard. Her hedges were always trimmed and the boarder of her yard was always perfectly edged. We would shimmy up her cumquat tree (at least I think it was a cumquat tree) which from my 6 year old perspective seemed like 50 ft, but in actuality was probably more like 6 ft. and we would try to hide in the branches and eat the cumquats. Moments later Jane with her little poodle Twinkle would come out of her front door yelling for us to get off her property and to get out of her tree. She would usually bring a broom and as I would dangle my brother would whisper “SHHH…She Cant see you, don’t say anything” and I would usually be on the lower branch beneath him, wincing in pain because she could in fact see us and the pain was often coming from the broom stick which Jane would be using to jab me in the back; until I couldn’t take it anymore and I would let go of the branch and hit the ground, often narrowly missing twinkle who was in a frothing rage of a barking fit. One time Jane brought out a BB gun and actually shot me…no lie. But it was worth it for the story and for the cumquats. I wonder how many people have stories like that; I bet the amount of childhood misadventures could fill a library bigger than Noah’s ark.
But to those people whose lives are equivalent to a Sally Struthers infomercial, (you know the feed the children in Africa who have bloated bellies and flies for clothes) I wonder what they are so thankful for? Because I’ve seen these place, first hand…on TV and they looked happy…they at least acted happy…maybe the producers only selected the happy families or maybe they were actors…I’m not sure?
Did you know that in Greece they have a philosophy that dates back to ancient times? You see, way, way, waaayyyy back in the day; the Greeks were always at war. So often the men would wake up and not know if that would be their last day alive, and the woman wouldn’t if they would be violently raped by some carousing bandit or if it would be the last day they would wake to see their families or be captured and sent off to be a slave or killed or whatever horrible things vex woman (could you imagine living with that type of paranoia…maybe you can?) So they lived by this principle. “Live each day as if it’s your last and treat your fellow man like it is their last” WOW, what a way to live!!!
That didn’t men they lived in perpetual chaos and without preparing for the future, but it DID mean that they were sure to show love and kindness, and even to this day on some Greek islands you find people still practicing this principle the principle of Thanksgiving. The birds signing, the waves crashing and cold wind on their face (or hot if it’s summer) a simple conversation a warm cup of milk, or coffee or tea…whatever is available to make one thankful, these are the things they gravitate towards…imagine if you only gravitated towards the things that make you happy?
What is thanksgiving? Is it a holiday? I think it’s a way of life! Everyday should be Thanks giving!

to forgive or NOT to forgive....what a question!!

Today, I sat through a graduation held at our mental health facility from our Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program, a daily treatment program which educates the people who attend about their ailments and Illnesses. I was moved by one speaker particularly who discussed an epiphany she had about forgiveness; while she spoke I had my own epiphany; one which clarified something that was revealed to me weeks earlier.

When the memory of the past maintains the ability to provoke negative feelings;
When reflecting on past memories still have their power;
When you find yourself even reflecting on the past, not for the sake of learning, but for the sake of a wandering mind or simply reminiscing; You then stoke the coals in your heart and open the door for unforgiveness and invite it to slither and curl up by the warmth of the fire that you fanned to flame.
Forgiving is a Daily task and responsibility that has nothing to do with the other party who committed the offense;
Forgiveness is a personal state of being;
Forgiving is making peace with God whether we seek forgiveness from him for our own offenses or petition grace for the offenses others have committed against you.
To forgive is a choice you make apart from the one who commits the offense.
Jesus interceded for the crowd who crucified him and enacted this principle; he showed absolute forgiveness towards the mob and petitioned God the Father to do the same.

CS Lewis Suggested that the gates of hell are locked from the inside; by not allowing grace to enter in, we allow ourselves to remain imprisoned in our own hearts and minds; dining with bitterness and sharing the sweet consoling embrace of hatred.
For what is unforgiveness but the fuel for Hate.