Universal Truth and Godliness

In aMore chicky mood, I would have said: GodlyNURSE.
Sundaes for Desi are to go for mindful excursions and if I am tempted to appraoch anywhere near God's territory, it's always with trepidation. But today I venture forth because a few "encounters" need to be recorded. Okay, also to be shared as I am going public. You may react but I urge that you be NOT personal, hence no naming names.

As I had told some close friends, I was brought up in a Christian home, exposed to many activities fom childhood into teenage years until early adulthood in environs closely associated with Christ very much in the air.

But working as a journalist from age 25 slowly tempered my religious bent as I interacted lots with other faiths, even fully secular beings including non-God believers -- you call them agnostics or atheists, to me it does not matter, it's all terminology anyway, still manmade -- so I describe myself as a "highly critical, liberalised" Christian if any "classification" (again articially defined by man) was needed. Most fervent born-again ones would often be on collision course with Desi once we venture into Religious Discourse, hence my reluctance to tread into this TERRORtry. Oft said here, it doesn't serve useful purpose as it is debate of the "Till the cows come home" variety. Desi admits he doesn't have that Patience to wait till the last lembu gets back as some -- like some members of Homo sapiens-lah -- are pretty obstinate. Yes, some are also pretty as Madonna but still stubborn like a mule.

If the foregoing is an INTRO, I don't know where I am headed. Guess the next few lines welcome the BODY.

My esential premise today is to endorse what one visiting Dr Karen Armstrong strongly stated as reported thus in The Suday Times, page 14:


Author: Religion makes sense when you practise it



KUALA LUMPUR: Religion is a matter that should be put into concrete practice in order to discover the truth, says well-known author on world religions, Dr Karen Armstrong.

She said people should not stop with just having thoughts of the religion they professed but must put them into practice.

"Religion makes sense when you practise it," she told an audience of about 1,500 at a public lecture on the "Role of Religion in the 21st Century" here yesterday.

The lecture was part of the two-day International Conference on Islam and the West: Bridging the Gap, organised by the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations Malaysia, which ended yesterday.

British-born Armstrong, a former nun, has written on Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism. Some of her books, however, have been banned in Malaysia.

Armstrong said despite the changes and challenges the world was undergoing today or would be in future, religion would not disappear.

"Each tradition has challenges... and, of course, religions have to adapt to changing times."


She also said it was important for young people to be taught the traditions of others so that they would not harbour any ill feeling or hatred towards others.

"Violence that is happening today should not be solved with violence but is an opportunity for a revolution of spiritual awakening." — Bernama

DESIDERATA:

Key words are "put into concrete practice".

Oh, how many members of this species called Homo sapiens can put into practice whatever they profess as their "religion"?

I am posing this question and won't say more than that I believe my answer is: Mighty Few.

Now this is ONE BLARDY INDIVIDUAL'S VIEWPOINTS expressed by Desi at Desi's Place today; you, dear EsteemedReaders, are not begged to agree or disgree. What I'm writing this Sunday is rarely done, as rare as Desi ingesting Steak-Rare wit' blood still oozing from the meat! as I still think "timely" for the following encounters:

E1!:

Last week, one "church elder" accidentally bumped into Desi at a noodle centre quite near MengKee (Why I used MK as reference point, please track down Furongite AnakMerdeka and she'll oblige...methinks). Anyway, the first few lines of CONversation went like this:

"(*Desi) I haven't seen you for a long time -- don't waste your talent God has given you! Come back to The Lord..." (and you can get the drift-lah!)

"I must get ....(name of Christian author)....(Title of book) for you to read. You will learn to come back to the Right Path..."

"(**Jack), before you ramble on, can I also recommend you read Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist?" was my short response. (I also said something to the effect "Get a copy of my First Anthology, read it and come back next time and we will discuss our life's journeys more...You, discerning ER, get the drift2.)

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS SENSITIVE SUBJECT OF RELIGION and PRACTICE.

Obviously the church elder thinks Desi is a lost soul just because he had not seen me around the church and other places where his church members gather. He straight away judged that Desi's a lost soul and need to "come back to The Lord...". Hence, the recommended text to read.

Can I swear a bit/byte?

NOTE: NO, this following monologue was not expressed in front of Jack.
This is my Sundae's Inter:Lude for June 17, 2007.

"Hey, Jack what the hell makes you think it's me who's lost?

"You had not seen me for two blardy years and first off you start to preach from a moral high ground. Is that what the revelation of thy religious journey has taught you?


DESI has so often encountered such similar scenes myself, also wirnessed similar acts played out involving my non-Christian mates meeting a new "Christian" born-again type trying to preach to him (maybe a Buddhist, perhaps a Hindu, mayhaps, an atheist...)

The trouble is that so many "believers" want to impress othesr with their religious knowledge, quoting this, quoting that from The Holy Book -- but do they even pause about what and how the listener/s (especially first-timers) would react to their proclamations from on-High?

It is the daily lives the believers of any faith lead that witness for their faith, not the high and mighty pontifications of The Truth.
The truth is sought by an individual in his/her own unique journey as he/she encounters various tests and obstacles as he/she strugles, fumbles seeking the truth.

I believe there is a universal Truth in every individual's quest for finally attaining that level of enlightenment -- and no other second person can promise him/her that "sate of consciousness" of attainment. THat point is an epiphany in itself.

If Desi could find epiphanic turning points in Life's short journey, I wish there are less Jacks around, and more Paulo Coelho to share their lessons in Life to help me attain the peak of that Symphony of Life. Till then, Jack, it's not Godliness you are really after. You may find a GodlyNURSE like Florence Nightingale. Read and digest Dr Karen Armstrong and it will make the world around us a happier place to all people of all faiths to conduct decent and gracious conversations.

I seek my discernment and solace from within my soul and heart's daily beats that concord with my unique rhythm and rhyme. Hopefully, I also sometimes touch the vicinity of Truth. Other times, I continue my quest like the little shepherd boy from Andalucia, Spain, seeking his heart's desire in a wanderlusting journey into strange lands and unexpected encounters.

NOTE: * and ** are not the actual names used in reality.

E2! cometh next Sunday if the GoOD Lord so allows. ~~ Merci! Desi