There is a song that I sang as a kid: "Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm going to let it shine..."
Do you hide it under a bushel?
In reflecting on a post in Why are you here, I have tried to discuss religion, theology, the meaning of Life, defining God with people I know, but people often get very uncomfortable. It's one of the Things to Not Bring Up at the Dinner Table.
I don't feel it necessary to wear it on my sleeve, nor do I think anyone else should. However, it's interesting, maybe a little odd, that my closest friends barely know this Beanieboy side of me. They know it in my living, in my interactions with them, in what I say and how I live my life.
However, they don't know how fascinated I am with all of it, how much I love comparative religion, how I often find myself in the Comparative Religion section of bookstores, that I speak in tongues, or that I believe that above anything, be it status, money, fame, etc, is loving God with all your heart, and loving yourself, and loving your neighbor as yourself.
I'm not exactly hiding it under a bushel. I don't even know if what I believe has a label yet, and I like keeping my God without a label, because words are slippery enough. When I ask you what a bird is, you tell me that it is a animal with feathers and wings that flies. I then say, "Is a penguin not bird? And ostrich"?
So, how then could I slap a label on God, of all things, something that I sense spiritually, rather than see in the physical place?
I sometimes cut and past better posts of mine to reflect upon later, as well as those of other posters, but I don't share them with people in the RL. If anyone, I think I have shared many of my thoughts with my brother Larry, who was a former pastor, and studied in Seminary. I often find that our views are strangely in sync with one another, offering a God of love and mercy above all things, one who does not tell you that he is angry or mad at you for something you did, but tries to get you to understand that the love is unconditional, that nothing you do, nothing you have ever done, nothing you will do, will ever make God stop loving you.
I have shared a few of my writings with my partner, but again, while very spiritual, isn't really into the religion aspect, sometimes feels like what I am saying is going over his head, or that he just isn't that interested, but happy that I am so passionate about it.
Growing up gay, I spent most of high school and a lot of my early college years trying to fly below the radar, afraid of being "discovered" for having gay feelings, knowing what happens to anyone who dared to come up, I often resign to being a bit of an enigma unless probed, and the person trusted. I can't really say that people perk up when you mention spirituality in general, suddenly wanting to jump in, so, that is a factor, too. My students, when talking about The Alchemist, and how often it had religious references, asked me about my religious affiliation, and I explained it as best I could. However, I'm not sure how many people know it, or how often my closest friends have even asked me about such things.
In RL, do you hide your bushel, a part of who you are? Do they know about your CF writing? Are you able to allow a part of yourself to come out here that you can't in RL? Should you allows try to allow that part out? Is living your religion/spirituality enough, or should you be talking about it at the level that you do here?
Do you hide it under a bushel?
In reflecting on a post in Why are you here, I have tried to discuss religion, theology, the meaning of Life, defining God with people I know, but people often get very uncomfortable. It's one of the Things to Not Bring Up at the Dinner Table.
I don't feel it necessary to wear it on my sleeve, nor do I think anyone else should. However, it's interesting, maybe a little odd, that my closest friends barely know this Beanieboy side of me. They know it in my living, in my interactions with them, in what I say and how I live my life.
However, they don't know how fascinated I am with all of it, how much I love comparative religion, how I often find myself in the Comparative Religion section of bookstores, that I speak in tongues, or that I believe that above anything, be it status, money, fame, etc, is loving God with all your heart, and loving yourself, and loving your neighbor as yourself.
I'm not exactly hiding it under a bushel. I don't even know if what I believe has a label yet, and I like keeping my God without a label, because words are slippery enough. When I ask you what a bird is, you tell me that it is a animal with feathers and wings that flies. I then say, "Is a penguin not bird? And ostrich"?
So, how then could I slap a label on God, of all things, something that I sense spiritually, rather than see in the physical place?
I sometimes cut and past better posts of mine to reflect upon later, as well as those of other posters, but I don't share them with people in the RL. If anyone, I think I have shared many of my thoughts with my brother Larry, who was a former pastor, and studied in Seminary. I often find that our views are strangely in sync with one another, offering a God of love and mercy above all things, one who does not tell you that he is angry or mad at you for something you did, but tries to get you to understand that the love is unconditional, that nothing you do, nothing you have ever done, nothing you will do, will ever make God stop loving you.
I have shared a few of my writings with my partner, but again, while very spiritual, isn't really into the religion aspect, sometimes feels like what I am saying is going over his head, or that he just isn't that interested, but happy that I am so passionate about it.
Growing up gay, I spent most of high school and a lot of my early college years trying to fly below the radar, afraid of being "discovered" for having gay feelings, knowing what happens to anyone who dared to come up, I often resign to being a bit of an enigma unless probed, and the person trusted. I can't really say that people perk up when you mention spirituality in general, suddenly wanting to jump in, so, that is a factor, too. My students, when talking about The Alchemist, and how often it had religious references, asked me about my religious affiliation, and I explained it as best I could. However, I'm not sure how many people know it, or how often my closest friends have even asked me about such things.
In RL, do you hide your bushel, a part of who you are? Do they know about your CF writing? Are you able to allow a part of yourself to come out here that you can't in RL? Should you allows try to allow that part out? Is living your religion/spirituality enough, or should you be talking about it at the level that you do here?
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