On the story of Jesus Christ

According to the Bible, a woman was impregnated without having sex.  If this happened today, we would all laugh, point fingers, and feel pity for the Virgin Mary who thought she was pulling one over on us.  Mary was deemed the “immaculate conception” and the work of God, which there have been no documented cases of since.  Maybe God never did anything that people could point to and say, “look”. I would presume this is why we only needed one Jesus Christ – to prove that God existed. Jesus Christ brought the gospel to earth with flair and pizazz – there would be no questioning his power.  He was probably not allowed to do that, but he may have been a very rebellious son. In faith, I suppose one should not question these things; understanding that, I still have to be very skeptical.

From prior posts, you should know that I believe many Bible stories bear truth. However, I believe they have evolved over years to provide the most persuasive storytelling. I am in no way denying that a man known as Jesus Christ actually existed. He was probably an incredible man who did great things for others. He was probably a very personable man, one of great persuasion, one of great passion. 

But, he was a man who walked on water. He turned water into wine. He arose from the dead. All of these things sound like illusions that we would never believe happened today. It all sounds vaguely familiar to what popular magicians might do. Is it possible Jesus Christ was an altruistic illusionist?

This reminds me so much of David Blaine who made a cup of coffee overflow with change for a homeless man. He also froze himself for three days and came back to life. Was Jesus Christ the first illusionist of our time? Did any of this actually happen? Even if not, does it all sound plausible? Well, the question is whether that is important. To be fair, religions don’t always have to be plausible. It would be hypocritical to downplay other religions on the basis of my own belief system. To quote Nassim Taleb in The Black Swan: “We should rank our beliefs not by plausibility but by the harm they may cause”. There is something to be said for this. Still, I believe that considering alternatives is always important. Challenging beliefs is a part of believing – it should be inherent, natural, and encouraged.

I’ll leave this one off with this: I can question as many stories as you like. There are many others. Without Noah and his Ark, none of us, nor any animals, would actually exist on earth. We’ve found the fossil remains of dinosaurs but have not found any of the species that were left to drown in the flood. Let’s just call it even: we are dealing with a few fables in the Bible. Ask any Zookeeper. I’m sure they’ll tell you that housing a pair of every animal specie is not plausible. Not only that, how would they all be distributed to their natural habitats, procreate, and rebuild the population as if nothing happened?

Peace out with something to think about… ORIGIN

Dare to Bleed

Passion. We bleed in scarce supply.

And no, we want not all others to see.

The spirits we are, in flight… we are free.

The piece we cling on to... the passion we bleed. 

Worry not: more, it will breed.

Will all take heed? Our passion is feed….

Some devour. Others take free.

A neighbor’s advice: deaf ears are in need.

Neighbors are gifts - like nature we breathe…

Do not take as granted…

Offer to those whose vision is slanted. But…

An idea you planted is worth less if supplanted.

Our truth; our experience. Our experience; our gain.

What’s given in passion has never been feigned. 

Rebirth is an animal that cannot be tamed.

Proud as a lion – head high… without shame.

Agreement… not necessary. Reputation… not vein.

Dare to be.

Flirt only with ambiguity; explore the depths of clarity.

Knowledge is oft without parity - provided not in charity.

A new force is now paired with me,

One not driving but also scared with me.

I’m leaving this place - not prepared to flee.

My own true thoughts I bear to thee.

That’s my passion I dare to bleed. 

A Cult Called Christianity

People in cults allow themselves to believe farfetched stories. Why?  Because it gives them hope – it gives them a means to survive. This is understandable. We all have our own way of coping with the complexity of life and that which we do not understand.  The question is whether we lack understanding due to ignorance, delusion, or denial. The truth is: believing in something you would question as a child implies a far deeper ignorance than most are willing to admit.

Whether you relinquish logic, truth, or sobriety, the only true freedom is from the mind. These are all delusions we allow in order to make peace with our existence. Anything else is too real. We pad our lives with activities so that we can live in denial. Months pass. And then years. Only, some delusions are original and others are taught.  Some are called insanity, and others help to instill value. Some are fleeting while others ever-present. Some are alienating where others create a cult following.

It’s a trick. One becomes religious because they cannot control for change. When you’re behind something else, you do not need to control change. You let a set of values govern your fate because you do not have to direct change. Your life becomes a series of events that you live, and you just pray when you need change. You gather strength from your prayer and wake tomorrow and enact change. YOU enact change, and you then give credit to your religion. I am here to tell you: Religion is simply a state of conscientious behavior; religions are cults that use the need for this behavior, the need for a destiny. If positive things happen consistently in your life, it is a product of your behavior – not someone else’s.

Consistent behavior is addictive; straying from such seems aimless and wayward. So, people feel the need to know that there is a target destination. A destiny. Religions can provide that for people. Cults can provide that. Excluding those with malevolent/misguided intentions, what exactly is the difference between a religion and a cult? It is the size of the following, which is a product of its persuasion. For thousands of years, great fables written by incredible storytellers have changed people’s lives. While some are rooted in truth, the stories of the Bible now affect the lives of approximately 1/3 of the world’s population. Christianity is the biggest cult in the world. It is the most persuasive religion.

Do you remember the stories that you were told when you were a child? We all get told stories about the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy and Santa Claus.  These things were fun to believe in. Eventually, we all realized that they did not exist. We realized that they were embellished stories and provided means to ends. Mythology and folklore both fall into the same category. The television show Paranormal Activity, after several seasons, still had nothing but faint whispers to show for its work. The Salem Witch Trials even had a scientific explanation.There is little out there that we accept without question. Christianity is a gaping exception to this rule.

So, the spread of the Christian belief system and the persuasion of the Bible is a social phenomenon. The Bible has stories that are just as embellished as the story of Santa Claus. Have you ever played the game telephone as a child? This is the game where you sit in a circle and, starting with a phrase, you whisper it in the next person’s ear. 15 people later, the phrase has changed drastically. That is only with 15 people. Extrapolate that over thousands of years. Add generations to the equation.  You cannot tell me that stories in the Bible were not subjected to the same errors in communication.

Still, arguing against century-old stories in the Bible would be taboo. Since I have my own morality, I’ve got nothing to lose…

…Stay Tuned for my version of the story of Jesus Christ

The Hipster Movement

So, I consider myself to be quasi-hippie. No, that doesn’t mean I’m a tree hugger. It’s so much more than that. I think that being a hippie is a mentality; it is sort of a way to live life. It’s about…. being about something different than what everyone else is about and letting that something define you. And yes, it sometimes coincides with dreadlocks and a bit more freedom from the recommended number of weekly showers… but those two things are OPTIONAL.

But what’s the real difference between a hippie and hipster? Well, I think hipster is supposed to be the “new cool”. But did you know: the word hippie actually came from hipster? Yeah… that’s right. You hipsters don’t even know it, but you’re part hippie. Similar to a hipster, one of the main things about being a hippie is not conforming to society, to be a free thinker, to challenge things. On the other hand, I think that being a hipster means that you are currently fashionable, to set a trend, but to still have your own style. Sound like a contradiction to anyone? They’re telling you to be trendy… but just be different about it. So, being a hipster is a trend. It’s what “in” right now…. But what are you gonna do? Really, how do you dress differently unless you are knitting your own clothes? We all shop at the same stores….  I’ve thought about this and I believe I have it figured out. I’ll tell you how it is done. You ready? Wear things that don’t go together. Wear as many mismatched things as you can. The more holes the better. Basically, you have to just to try and dress as awful as you possibly can. So, that’s what’s going on: The new trend is to dress very badly. Denim, daisy duke cutoffs will be in fashion next season. For those of you who don’t know: Daisy Dukes are really short shorts. That’s straight out of the urban dictionary. Wearing Daisy duke cutoffs and shredded t-shirts is the next step of the process.

What people don’t realize is that trends aren’t always coming out of nowhere. Sometimes, it’s a process.. In our case, people have been dressing worse and worse since the 1920s, where people were actually dressing very well. In the 30s, people were poor from the depression, so they wore the dingy clothes they bought in the 20s. That means they looked good still, but it was just slightly worse. In the 40s and 50s, people were too busy conceiving the baby boomer population to worry about clothes. In the 60s, people decided not to wear clothes for a different reason entirely. In the 70s, Black men were the only people in America who had style. This is a well-known fact. Don’t even bother looking it up. And to wrap up the history lesson, I’ll tell you this: As a country, I think that we basically hit rock bottom after the stock market crash of 2008 when people had to start wearing hand-me-downs again. Shopping for clothes at Goodwill became cool because you were being thrifty and different.  Basically, the last three decades have been a social experiment where people were just trying their hardest to look different. That sure as hell explains the 80s.  That explains Madonna. That explains Lady GaGa. So, I’m going to save you all a bit of headache and tell you how to overcome the challenge of looking different. It is a very big secret that the hipsters helped me to figure out. Here it is: STOP CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK. Start thinking for yourself! If you can do this, you will realize that you don’t have to conform, and you will just be different.

But… trends pop up all the time. That’s what they do. They procreate. They fester, and they eventually pop. Sometimes, I think to myself: this looks absolutely ridiculous - I cannot believe people are actually wearing this.  I’ll give you an example. Right now, it’s the kids with the relay for life sunglasses. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the hot-pink or hot-blue sunglasses that look like they came out of a cereal box. I don’t get it. So I’m sitting back and watching this from the outside and am in complete awe of this trend. I’m just watching…. thinking… all of these people are practicing self expression and, yet, still look the same as everyone else. But I guess that’s the cool thing about trends: they allow you to wear things that you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing 5 years ago. Well, I’m here to tell ya: It looked stupid then, and it still looks stupid now.

On the other hand, some things will just always look good. Zoot suits are still pimp. Dick Tracy will never go out of style. No one has ever looked at a man in a pimp suit and said “he should hang that up”.  You want to know why this never goes out of style? Because it looks good! Things that look good transcend style and fashion.