The God Post…continued
Posted under People I love, Witterings
Thank you to everyone who posted and emailed about God/Dod after yesterday’s post. Check out the divine Miss S, splendid in her christening gown and pretty as a flower.
I’m still mulling, and your thoughts and wisdom has been immensely helpful. Otin‘s comment really struck a chord, and I think that’s where I’m heading:
Otin: ” This is my thing to talk about! I am an atheist. When I was young, I treated it like a religion, trying to convince everyone that they were wrong and that I was intellectually superior. As I got older, I realized that people’s faith is a blessing to them. It does not matter what I think. If I could have the power to believe in God, then I would welcome it. I would not deprive a young child of Santa, just to prove that I was right. What victory is it for me to prove that our lives mean nothing more than what we have in front of us. Just because I am condemned to think this way does not mean that I need to push my views on others. If I had a child who wanted to practice a faith, I would be happy for my child. It is not easy to think about your own mortality when you feel that there is nothing beyond that. I think that organized religion sucks, but if my kid asked me if there was a God, I would tell them that I do not know and that it would be up to them to decide”.
But I had to share this story, from LoulaM on Flickr, for no other reason that it encapsulates the complexity of parenting on so many levels:
LoulaM: “Reminds me a bit of when my cousin, aged about 5/6, got curious about the birds and the bees so my Auntie decided when her husband got home he would sit my cousin down and have a chat about everything. He was really pleased with how it had gone, felt he’d covered just enough, Charlie seemed to take it all in etc.
Then Charlie said “Dad, I have just One. More. Question.”
Cue my uncle sweating and panicking, thinking what on earth could it be etc.
“Daddy, why did The Romans invade Britain?”
Waaaah, don’t you love that? Mind you, I think I’d be better equipped to deal with the birds and the bees that Roman history. Anything remotely historial is definitely one for Daddy. And science related. And politics. Actually pretty much anything general knowledge related. So, pretty much everything then?
Sigh. I knew I should have paid more attention in school. I blame God/Dod.
Wow, I said something that made sense! That doesn’t always happen! haha.
For me, the important thing is to keep asking the questions. You may never find the answers, but it will make for interesting conversation.
Beautiful photograph of baby S. Lovely posts. One of the things I treasure about being a mother is the chance to re-parent yourself. To figure it out all over again. To gift yourself with that which you weren’t given. I was blessed with a praying believing mother and grew up a Catholic. I have tried a few other churches/denominations along the way, have returned home to the church I grew up in. It feels good. I think my own journey has given me faith in my daughter’s journey as well.
I have just read a post at Lost and Found in India about how Albert Einstein tried to prove existence of God…
I’m a Catholic. Practicing Catholic. Have been one for 34 years now, and I still get into a lot of trouble trying to explain why I believe and what is God. In fact I try to avoid this kind of conversations at any cost. But still I want to believe that there is more to life than what is in front of our eyes. Faith is difficult to explain.
Thanks for this post, very interesting. xxx
oh that Otin!
I’m agnostic, and I’ve tried to talk to my son about other gods and religions as unbiased as possible, and even explained my thoughts on everything. He’s leaning towards being a catholic ever since a friend of mine took him to mass. At this age he’s for whichever religion/god he feels he can benefit from most.
I love what Deb wrote – being a parent feels as though we get to do this again, to learn it in a way that makes sense to us and our children. I would just add that it’s the children who have so much spirituality – they don’t define it as this or that, it just lives in them. That’s the lesson they teach us!
Yaye! I can write, great work Mr. Spud. I was actually lying in bed this morning and trying to work out what I believe in. I have just finished the book “Infidel”, which is by Anyan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch politician. It raises some very interesting questions of faith, (I recommend it, it is a great book) and I was trying to imagine what it would be like to go through life living life to a set of rules, which are determining how you are treated once you are dead, where nobody knows where you go then anyway. To me it seems a bit silly, and I know some people have faith to make sure they live life right, but from all accounts, aren’t most problems caused because people aren’t accepting of others beliefs? Why not then is religion a way to accept people for what they are and what they believe in, and if it doesn’t harm you or greater society as a whole, then don’t try to make them think what you do and don’t treat them any different than you would anybody else. Of course I am talking about the more fundamental practicers of religion here, who take what is in books which have been written and revised by people with agendas and use it to persecute people. So what do I believe in? Myself, my life, my family, my ability to do good and live well, the stars, the moon, the earth, the idea that if I live my life as best as I can, then whatever happens once I die, I will have done a good job on earth. And this is what I will teach any children who may be unfortunate enough to have to be brought up by me. Sorry for the very long comment, read the book!
Am with stacey, sounds like a good read. I will let mine make up their own minds but will find it had to reconcile personally if they decide to embrace one or another religion. Except witchcraft as that could come in handy…
may i join in to the inthemiddlelikeme-ers-family? having grown up in different countries and cultures (and religions) i came to the conclusion that religion as an organized institution mostly causes supression and a feeling of inferiority among the members. most of which were forced to join that particular religion. i had to go to a brazilian catholic school for one year and it was a nightmare, really. brought up by non-religious parents and not understanding the specific terms for things like communion, confession etc i was once sitting in church with my fellow pupils and suddenly one by one they were dissapearing in front of me. i became terrified as my turn was coming up and moved from the bench where we were sitting to another seat which had cost me an enormous amount of courage. it was only confession as i learnt later and they left church after having done it.
but i feel that most human beings have a sense of spiritual feeling deeply inside. according to the anthropologist felicitas goodman people need it, search for it and if they don’t have the possibility to live it somehow they become addicted to different kind of substitute drugs. (wow that’s not a subject to write about in my non-native-language, sorry for the mistakes!)