Holiday Thoughts

I made a TikTok video a while back about this, but I thought I'd add to it here. I had a client recently ask me what I believe as far as spirituality and religion are concerned.

The best I can say is I really don't know. In my life, I've been a Mormon, Christian, skeptic, seeker, dabbler, and devotee. I've learned meditation, reflection, scripture, and yoga. I've read hundreds of teachings and listened to hours of lectures and silence. I've had a handful of breathtaking awe-inspiring experiences. And even with all this, I can't articulate what I believe into a cohesive set of words.

Iris Dement probably captured it best in her song Let the Mystery Be. "But no one knows for certain, and so it's all the same to me. I think I'll just let the mystery be."

I also honor that aspect of us that needs to know why - that seeks to make this life mean something. Science can't deliver answers to this, so we turn to spirituality and religion. And even then, we're each beholden to our own experience. 

I celebrate uncertainty about such things as much as I've yearned for certainty. Uncertainty leads to inquiry and humility. Certainty usually manifests itself in arrogance and ends with genocide, whether through war in this life or hell in the afterlife. 

I wrote a song called Let It Be Born Tonight many years ago. The chorus goes, "My faith ain't the same as it used to be. Menorahs and mangers mean nothing to me. And I don't have the patience to argue wring and right. But if any more love can be born in me, let it be born tonight."

Whether you celebrate or not, I wish you a happy and fulfilled season.

#holidays #christmas #uncertainty