I am no longer willing to pretend my uncertainty should rule the world.
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda

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@aboxonfire
I am no longer willing to pretend my uncertainty should rule the world.
"A Christian should avoid unhealthy religiosity: both the feeling of superiority due to virtue, and the feeling of inferiority due to sinfulness."
—St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia
"A sense of order is the easiest and most natural way to begin; it is a needed first 'container.' But this structure is dangerous if we stay in its safe confines too long. It is small and self-serving. It doesn’t know the full picture, but it thinks it does. 'Order' must be deconstructed by the trials and vagaries of life. We must go through a period of 'disorder' to grow up."
–Richard Rohr
From my newest book Ego Zen Truth, which can be found an Amazon.
Experience. Learn. Decide. Repeat.
Burn the box you have been crammed into. Build your own.
"Satchidananda (God) is infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent; beginningless and endless; trinity and unity. Totally outside all things and yet within all things simultaneously. Satchidananda is Itself threefold: 1) Transcendent Existence (Brahman), 2) Consciousness Within All That Exists (Ishwara) and 3) Creative Energy (Mahashakti, Mulaprakriti), or Relative Existence, in which Ishwara is embodied and in which all the individual spirits (jivas) are evolving.
"To enable those in the Mediterranean world to understand Satchidananda, Jesus spoke of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (The word “Trinity” did not exist until two hundred years after his lifetime.) The Father is Brahman, the Son is Ishwara and the Holy Spirit (Holy Breath) is Mahashakti. It is very simple. But the word “Satchidananda” cannot be improved upon." —Abbot George Burke
Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trusting the Supernatural in a Scientific World
By definition, the supernatural exists beyond nature. The word itself comes from the Medieval Latin supernaturalis—"above or beyond nature, divine," from super ("above") and natura ("nature"). If something is truly supernatural, then science, which operates within nature, cannot prove or disprove its existence.
If there is something within us that is supernatural—or even just capable of perceiving the supernatural—science would have no means of measuring it. At best, it could observe the natural reactions that accompany such experiences (neurons firing, chemical changes, etc.), but it could never measure the supernatural itself. This is similar to how science studies love—it can map brain activity, but it cannot capture the essence of love itself. As G.K. Chesterton put it:
"Science can analyze a pork chop, and say how much of it is phosphorus and how much is protein; but science cannot analyze any man’s wish for a pork chop, and say how much of it is hunger, how much custom, how much nervous fancy, how much a haunting love of the beautiful."
I’ve reached a point where I neither need nor want proof of the divine. I want my experience to guide me. The same way I don’t need proof that love is real or that it is more than evolutionary wiring—I simply trust what I know to be true.
My best guess (and my hope) is that humans do have a kind of supernatural awareness. I’ve had supernatural experiences myself, and dismissing them just because they can be measured biologically would be no different than dismissing love for the same reason. And to do that would lead only to meaninglessness.
Religion is a Social and Psychological Necessity
We thrive in structured communities that offer rituals, traditions, and shared experiences.
These provide predictability in an unpredictable world, helping us orient our lives.
Without formal religion, people end up crafting their own “quasi-religions” (sports fandoms, political movements, even personal wellness routines).
Examples:
Sports fans have rituals, feast days (game nights), chants (songs), and revered figures (players/coaches).
Activist groups create moral frameworks, martyrs, sacred texts (manifestos), and evangelism (awareness campaigns).
Even pop culture fandoms develop symbols, holidays (Star Wars Day), and deep emotional connections.
All of these function in a religious way because they fulfill the same human needs.
The Danger of Religion Becoming an Idol
Religion can become its own idol, where the institution becomes more important than the mission.
This happens when people care more about preserving doctrines, traditions, or control than about love and unity.
Ironically, this means a religion designed to unite can end up dividing, especially when people defend their version of the truth over fostering real connection.
Jesus addressed this directly:
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27)
Meaning: Religious traditions exist to serve human flourishing—not the other way around.
The Need for Growth, Progress, and Love Over Preservation
A healthy religion evolves, breathes, and remains open to new insights rather than just preserving what was.
This doesn't mean abandoning core truths, but understanding their purpose in a changing world.
Christianity itself grew from a small Jewish sect into a global movement, showing that growth and adaptation are part of religious life.
Erring on the side of love:
When a rule, doctrine, or tradition becomes a burden rather than a blessing, it needs to be re-evaluated.
Love and unity should always take precedence over rigid institutional preservation.
Religion’s Role in Life’s Biggest Moments
Religion isn’t just about belief; it’s about how we mark the most important transitions in life:
Baptisms: New life and community welcome
Weddings: Celebrating love as a sacred bond
Funerals: Mourning with meaning and hope
No secular alternative fully replaces the depth of tradition, music, community, and storytelling that religious ceremonies provide.
Religion as a Living Story
Religion, at its best, is a shared narrative that brings people together, helping them understand their place in the universe, their relationship with others, and their purpose in life. When it becomes too rigid, it loses its heart. When it errs on the side of love, unity, and growth, it becomes the most powerful force for human meaning and connection.
The heavy is the root of the light.
The unmoved is the source of all movement.
-Lao Tzu
"Most of us walk around with an assumption that creation is complete and yet in need of redemption. I believe creation is actively being created. It is not yet complete. And redemption is part of the creative process. It’s the fine tuning and finishing touches of the divine Artist." —Dom
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable.
We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
-Lao Tzu
"[Jesus only sent] witnesses to this [resurrection] immense inner and outer conversation that is always going on. Otherwise, we have little to say that is really helpful, and we just create unnecessary problems for people. Negative or cynical people, conspiracy theorists, and all predictors of Armageddon are the polar opposites of witnesses to resurrection. And many such people appear to be running the world and even the churches. The Christ of John’s Gospel says, 'Be brave. I have overcome the world' (16:33) and its hopelessness. Courage and confidence is our message! Not threat and fear." –Richard Rohr
“Your naked body should only belong to those who fall in love with your naked soul.”
— Charlie Chaplin in a letter to his daughter, Geraldine
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world." —James 1:18
"Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.
From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within, and they defile." —Jesus Christ