Faith and Sex and God

For the most part this is a blog about finding the sunshine in life and being strong enough to know that all people are good until proven otherwise; it is my philosophy that life was made for enjoyment and that we are here for no other reason than to love and be loved. It would be downright arrogant to say that bad days and melancholia are for other people, or that everything is always hunky-dory; but I'm true to my Leo colours and will be arrogant, just for today. As a rule, I go out of my way to look for the good, even if I'm down and out and have to eat dry cereal by candlelight in the dead of winter for lack of payday, which has happened in the past. If I am frank with life, I enjoy it because I have learned to appreciate that it's a beautiful place to be in, that personal struggles are a state of mind, and that no matter which way things turn, everything equates to choice.

In the light of my theories about the nature of love and the human need for it, I have reached a point where some things need to be reflected on, and said for the sake of saying. I don't consider myself to be a Christian; I do however try to follow the basic Christian principles and the general guidelines to living by the way of Christ. It's important for me to make this distinction because I often feel that the Bible, or in broader religious terms the book of the prophets, is taken too literally. By this I mean no disrespect to people who read it word for word, but in my understanding of religion books like the Bible are a combination of historical fact, translation, interpretation and a basic myth to teach morality to society.

I choose to follow the teachings of Christianity because they bare the closest resemblance to the way I like to live. According to my beliefs there have been prophets throughout history, one of which was the man who is now spoken of as Jesus. I don't believe that Jesus was holistically born of miracle to a virgin, or that he was the immortal son of God, and for these reasons I would consider it inappropriate of me to call myself a Christian. I do, however, believe that a prophet existed around about the time of the Biblical stories, and that he had what appeared to be "Godly" or miracle-making abilities. I choose not to comment on my belief in the miracles, perhaps some are historical fact, perhaps some are adaptations of historical faith. What is important is the message behind the scriptures - the Ten Commandments, and the teaching that we should love and be charitable towards each other. These are the foundations on which I have built my life.

It is unusual for me to speak of religion in terms of right and wrong, but a recent encounter with raw Christianity has led me to question the fundamentals of the faith, and as a result I have had to be more black and white about my standings. As with all things scientific, for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. This applies to everything, and brings about the presence of temptation, or the Devil. In a modern society the ways of the old find it increasingly difficult to survive, and here I speak directly of the relationships between men and women. It is no longer sufficient to say that sex out of wedlock is inappropriate; arranged marriages are a rarity in most contemporary cultures, and as men and women gain equal rites so sexuality has become acceptable to a point where sex is no longer just a means to procreate, but an expression of love. I would go so far as to call it an art form, and under the right circumstances a vital part of being human. Religious or not, we are after all, human.

The issue of temptation is what has led me to question my take on the morality of sex and the supposed temptation that it presents itself as. Sex is a matter of choice, but it is not the basis of all interpersonal relationships between men and women. The Bible teaches to love unconditionally. In black and white, that means love unconditionally, not love because you are married and can now have sex without feeling guilty about it, or love until the prospect of sex goes away. It means love unconditionally... there is no sex in unconditionally however you choose to spell it. In addition to the general belief among strict Christians that sexual temptation is the work of the Devil, there is also belief that the Devil tries to isolate people from their God. People are busy, find little time to be true to their faith, are faced with temptation and alcohol related social lives which all amount to the same thing; temptation, and a pull away from the purity of the Christian faith.

If a man turns his back on his oldest friend in the name of God, to protect his faith from the temptation of sex, however distant, does that not amount to isolation in the name of God? Is isolation not the exact tool of the Devil whose work he fears? In a faith that teaches unconditional, charitable love, is turning away from established love in the name of Christ and his teaching of love any different to self-sacrifice to the hands of faith, and if so, is self-sacrifice any different to flying a plane into the side of a building in the name of a God who asks it of his people, to protect his faith from the threat of evil?

Love is love... it asks nothing, requires nothing, takes nothing, all the rest of the world is the work of the mind and the fears it creates. I cannot stress it enough - the only requirement of God is to love.

Beautiful Melancholia

In the world of melancholia it is always autumn, never cold enough for falling leaves to bare the trees, never warm enough for birds. As each leaf turns to brown and gently cascades to the floor, so another is born in its place; it too will turn, and so the forest remains in a constant state of decay, and growth, and decay. The weary traveler may take refuse here, for it is beautiful, glowing gold to the touch of the sun and the warm water light of afternoon, when one may stop to rest in the shade of the trees and the earthly smells of the undergrowth.

The Spaces Between

For something greater than the page, or the stories we choose to tell, it speaks of the spaces between....



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Gaming 101

Wise men say that change is as good as a holiday. I disagree. Holidays are as good as a change, but in order to change one cannot regress to the ordinary. One cannot return to the past.

Maybe I’m just nostalgic? Maybe I’m just not ready for change?

In these days of unquestionable answers and questions far from answered, I find myself at an unusual loss for words. It's as though something has sucked the ink from my veins, replaced it with vinegar to dissolve the pages on which I write my story. All that remains in the void of my mind is a single vision of life, and the game it demands we play.

It takes on the shape of a puzzle box. A cube; as wide as it is high, marked by a thousand sanded blocks, coloured, of course. All things are coloured where I’m concerned. The pieces are shaped by the vague, cut down and blasted to perfection, each side smooth, every edge sharp. No two pieces the same.

The rules of the game are simple: build a perfect cube.

So the question I find myself most willing to ask is this: Why, in the thick of the game when the base is built and the lower half of the box assumes a state of perfection, is it always necessary to have to undo what already works to make room for something else, for the greater good of the game? Why do I have to take my heart apart to make room for the everyday? Why do you have to take the everyday apart to make room for your heart?

The rules of the game are simple: build a perfect cube.

For You...

My love, in the deep worlds where velvet shadows play to the hands of time, we seek verity. Hand in hand we string the hearts of dragons, within me light to shine a thousand stars; room for only one. In our closest hour, in the quiet of night where dreams reflect a face, a dream? my light will light the way; will spill through you to the darkest folds and the subtle science through which we've found our hearts.

Come close; be warmed by my fire in whose smouldering heat you may sleep soundly, safely tucked away from the prying eyes of night. It is a beacon of hope, no more than a lighthouse to the windswept seas of uncertainty, but to the lighthouse, a passion - use it freely; make it your own, but when darkness melts the sky and fires no longer burn for fear of getting old, make sure that somewhere, deep within, your light can light your way, can spill to the dusty recess of your mind where verity awaits, and love can set you free.

A Muse

The old cliché is that time waits for no one, that the world only stops when the last breath drops us like photographs to the scrapbook of history. Time, in its purest form, in all its constructions and solid walls built to contain the things we feel, waits for no one.

But even a stopped clock is right twice a day.