Throughout your life you are going to be inundated by hordes of people who are going to demand that you identify yourself in religious terms. Know that this is true and that you are going to have to take a stand, one way or the other, on this issue.
One can take a stand and yet say nothing, or everything.
You are going to have to decide for yourself.
I have decided for myself. I have the luxury today to be free and open with what I believe to be true. That is the right granted to crotchety old beggars like me. In this point of life I am ignored as a dinosaur, an old-school hard rock. That is fine - that is just what I want them to think.
Everyone is compelled to search for their spirit. They can not help it, they are supposed to.
Native Americans call it "The Path".
I remember reading about a young man who went to see an elder of a tribe. The young guy was a regular white guy who was researching an article he was writing on Indian spirituality. The elder he was going to see was known to be a wise and kind old man. This elder was called a Shaman, but he himself did not call himself one.
The youth came to the elders door and said "I suppose you are wondering why I came here", and the elder said in a terse and rude manner "you no longer know your way anymore so you have come to steal mine", and then he smiled, and welcomed the youth into his house.
If you study and experience life with open eyes and a wary heart towards those who purport to know the truth, then one day you will understand. On that day, you will laugh a laugh - it will be an exceptional day. In the mean time, don't despair. You will be all right.
Don't worry about the gloom and doom that you are told about and do not fear tomorrow. Everything is going to happen just as it is going to happen and that is sufficient for today.
Always remember you can "accept the things you can not change", "change the things you can", and have "the wisdom to know the difference".
The truth is an abstract that is defined by the one person who believes it and purports it.
What is the truth for one person may not be the other person's truth. That doesn't make the truth right or wrong, just a disagreement.
Tell the truth only to those who deserve the truth and tell the others what they need to hear.
Do not waste the truth on Rat Bastards because they will not only dismiss it but will try to use what you say against you in some way.
Discern which of the Others you will share the truth with because they will either become Human Beings or Rat Bastards.
Protect yourself.
Share the truth with Human Beings and Angels that you know are true. They will enlighten and comfort you.
Unless you know that you are the one and only person chosen to lead the universe, and you know it for certain, and everyone agrees, then it is not your duty or responsibility to be a teller of tales or leader of men.
Your job is to live a good life and let your spirituality speak for you in the hug of a child, the feeding of a hungry person, or the comfort of one that is less fortunate than you.
Tell me what you would do in this instance:
You are a little boy who arrives in your classroom.
You sit at your desk in the back of the room and the other kids don't see you. T
hey never see you because you are different.
The teacher takes roll and when she comes to you she asks you to stand up.
You stand up.
All of the kids turn their eyes on you and have smiles on their faces - they know that you are about to get what-fore.
The teacher asks "Pete, was that your dad I saw dragging himself drunk up to you front door again last night?"
All the kids snicker and a few laugh. What do you say
?
She did see your dad coming home drunk again.
He comes home drunk all of the time.
He is the burden you carry on your soul - but he is your dad.
You love him in spite of himself.
What do you say?
Pete looks at the teacher and says, "no".
The room goes silent and the teacher turns red.
Was this the truth or a lie?
Sometimes people don't deserve the truth.
Do all things quietly.
Actions mean nothing if they are construed as bragging or sanctimony.
No one needs to know of your kindness than the individual to which you show it. That way you are changing one universe at a time through one person at a time.
That is a big enough job.
Changing the world is probably someone else's job.
