GOD IS AN ELEPHANT
12/28/2008 11:46 p.m.


The thing I've noticed the most is that word God makes people's hair stand on ends. Really. And it doesn't matter what you believe. Atheists get smug. Christians and Catholics and Jews and Muslims etc. start to pick apart the three letters. And what for? Why is that people who want to call something bigger than themselves "God", regardless of their religious standpoint, people who don't use the G word get all tense? Who cares what you call it? You want to give it a fatherly persona, call it a Him or a He, give it a will. Great. I want to incorporate it into science, call it consequences, action and reaction pairs, Newtons apple, gravity, life and nonlife. Ok. My friend wants to call it karma. Why not? Why get fussy about letters? Do people really think that their God worries about the earthly name you call "Him" by? That a force you claim to be the creator, bringer, destroyer of all things in the entire universe,including the universe, is really that attached to the name "God?" Or "Jesus?" Or "Tao?" Or "Jehovah?"

Let's put it this way, and bear with me for a second: If god is an elephant, and we all touch a different part of him, say the ears and the tail and the skin and the trunk and the tusk, and call each piece a different name,each feel something very different... or maybe split up the categories and call each one a God or a Goddess, do you think that the Almighty Elephant really minds? Probably not. He'd probably be a hell of a lot more pissed if we each took a part of the Elephant (each piece being just as much "Elephant" as the next), ripped them apart from one another and started bashing eachother over the heads with the pieces. Which is exactly what we do when we get into wars over who's set of rules and names and ideas is better. In my opinion, this is beyond silly. I refuse to believe that the miracle of life's greatest purpose and intent is to destroy life. It makes zero sense.

I am not religious. Obviously. My family is a heady mixture of Roman Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, and Agnostic. I think that as a result, the idea of a said religion does not fit my worldview, personally. That is not to say that I am without morals, without a sense of right and wrong, or without respect for those who do believe. I am only a human being. The world is in front of me just as it is in front of you, and we all can take from it and construct with it what we please. I am in no place to judge right or wrong what you choose to put your heart into. But I am entitled to my opinions too, and I believe in two things, above: Kindness and Honesty, melded as much as possible. I am not always a kind person, and I am not always honest. But I strive to be. Note, too, that there is a difference between lying and producing fictitious works of art. There's a difference between words and deeds, art and intent. I try to live honestly, and that's never given me trouble, no matter who's church I walk into. Until, of course, I open my mouth, like this. But I do think it is rather difficult to believe that your own mind is the highest force in the universe. After all, how many times have you lost your keys? How much control have you exerted over the movement of the clouds today? I'm not saying there is a dedicated "Cloud Mover." I don't think there is. All I'm saying is hey, it happens, and we don't do it. That's all. Lack of evidence disproves nothing. Some theories take fewer unnecessary leaps than others, while others don't take enough. And, hey, if there WERE a dedicated Cloud Mover, Sun Maker, Famine Controller, etc etc then I'm pretty sure He, She, or It would be able to remember where the keys got to, you know what I mean? That's all I'm saying.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feel free to contest what you please.
I am currently Bemused
I am listening to The fridge hum.