chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Cheshire Chuqui) (12/06/84)
I was mucking out my account and this popped back in. I think it gives a
good perspective on why I stopped being a Christian without being quite so,
uh, anti-Christian as Tim Maroney's article (hopefully this is because I'm
not anti-christian...)
This was a private letter I sent out a while back in response to what a Zen
druid is. The more I think about it, the more I think it gives a
perspective on religion (and faith-- not neccessarily the same thing) in
general.
In this time where we are fast approaching the holidays many people, myself
included, tend to sit down and evaluate themselves and their faiths. I'm
sending this out in a spirit of brotherhood and love-- not as an attempt to
preach but as an attempt to open the communications that will allow us to
understand each other better. My hope is not to turn you away from your
religion, but to help you understand my faith so that we can all explore
together as brothers instead of bickering as enemies.
Comments, as always, are welcome. enjoy!
-----
Zen Druidism is an ancient and religious philosophy that I invented
recently to answer the age old question 'What religion are you?' Since that
is one of the more complicated questions of the universe I usually find
some way of disarming it in a humorous way (I tend to use humor as a
defense/shield against many things-- If you insult people in a funny way
they don't seem to mind as much *snicker*). The real answer the the
question is that I follow no God (I call no one God my Saviour) and I
follow many (because I have adapted the teachings of many philosophies into
my life as I have found them to work). This is all complicated by the fact
that I am fascinated by a lot of religious symbolism (The main picture in
my apartment at this time is Dali's 'Crucifixion', I keep Bibles
(plural) in my house, enjoy works such as 'Jesus Christ, Superstar' and
Beckett and I love cathedral archtecture-- in fact I'm currently
planning a trip to Europe just to play in cathedrals and art galleries)
and so many people make the assumption that I'm Christian because of
the Christian symbols in my life.
I think this is all getting off the main subject, but I thought a bit of
background might help you understand why I threw those two philosophies
together. I have in my ancient history Celtic/Druid blood on my mothers
side and I am a firm believer that man should be working with the works of
Nature rather than fighting them as they do. I prefer lightly populated
relatively natural areas to highly populated areas such as cities. Too many
people/buildings/civilization makes me very claustrophobic. Why am I living
in Santa Clara? It is Very close to work. You should see my apartment, by
the way. They aren't kidding when they talk about ducks and things on
Walden puddle out there. I have found a place in the midst of a major
metropolitan area where I can walk in the front door, walk out the back and
forget that there are hundreds of thousands of people around me. It means a
lot to what is left of my sanity... *sigh* I'm off the subject again. The
basic druidic philosophy tends to be that Nature, like all of God's
miracles, should be marveled at, not destroyed (this is also very much like
many of the indian tribes such as Navajo). There is nothing quite so
miraculous to me as a healthy tree. So much for druids (no, I haven't taken
up sacrifices to Oak trees, but I DID consider it... *grin*)
The Zen part is (I hope!) a lot easier to explain. It does come from the
teachings of Buddah (among others-- lao Tze and the Tao are in there
somewhere along with the teachings of Jesus and John the Baptist). For many
years I tried (like most people) to take my life in directions that I
thought I wanted. By trying to force my life into directions that it didn't
naturally want to go I went places, but I certainly wasn't happy when I got
there. I got married like a good society person should (I'm now
divorced like a good society person should), I got into jobs I couldn't
handle for the sake of the rat race, I burned out in those jobs from trying
to do them anyway. I forgot what it meant to live and, more important, how
to be happy. Right around the beginning of the year I decided it was time
to get my act together and I restructured my life in such a way that I
stopped forcing it places (or at least trying to). The basic philosophy of
Zen is that you don't make things happen, you just accept/enjoy them when
they do. You don't create opportunities, you just take advantage of them
when they arrive. Since that time, although I haven't tried to go out and
meet people I've found a larger group of really nice friends (and friend is
a very important word to me) than I've ever had before. I stopped trying to
put my life anywhere, and it is finding a level that is satisfying and
healthy and basically what I was looking for even though there are things
in it I never would have thought to look for (If you really want something
I don't believe you will ever find it by looking. It will find you when the
time is right). I stopped trying to be happy and instead became happy
(well, mostly... I do have my days, just like anyone else).
May you and your God go as far together as you wish to go...
chuq
--
From the center of a Plaid pentagram: Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,decwrl,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA
~But you know, monsieur, that as long as she wears the claw of the dragon
upon her breast you can do nothing-- her soul belongs to me!~amra@ihuxj.UUCP (Steven L. Aldrich) (12/06/84)
Chuq,
Thanks for posting this wonderful, insightful article. Too bad there
aren't more "regular" contributions of this type in net.religion as a
whole.
I can see we are on the same "wave-length" in many areas. Best Regards
for the holidays and coming new year!
Peace & Best{Spiritual} Wishes,
From The Resident Zen-Baptist:
Steve Aldrich (ihnp4!ihuxj!amra)