In honor of Jesus-mas

So, for whatever reason, I've spent the last couple of days contemplating religion, specifically the great Christian behemoth. I grew up in the church but these days consider myself agnostic/ I dunno, pantheistic. I've come to the conclusion that, though I have real problems with Christianity as an institution; many of my most deeply held convictions find their origin or at least some reflection in the Christian faith, particularly in things that Jesus actually said, as opposed to other Christian writings. I sometimes think that civilization is indebted to Christianity for many things we now take for granted, including ideals of fairness, mercy, charity, kindness, and respect for others that now (at least ostensibly) the societies of the world espouse. Because of Christianity, I was exposed to ideas like forgiveness, self-examination, and the concept of an inner-self. All of these values play some positive part in how I now view the world and myself in it. Thus, it's not fair for me to disregard the entire system just because I have also learned how abusive guilt can be, or the error of valuing an afterlife we cannot see at the expense of the life we have now on earth.

Upon reading the work of some mature Christian thinkers, I'm often struck by how beautiful and wise their view of the world is. They believe that conflicts should be resolved with kindness and understanding rather than violence and hatred. They believe that arrogence and valuing personal gain over the larger community or world is a dangerous thing. I agree and I understand how deep study in a faith that acknowledges the vastness and mysterious nature of life leads to this kind of wisdom. I see that kind of wisdom exhibited in many faiths though, and unfortunately, don't see this wisdom as a common fruit of the study of Christianity.

What then, is the commonality among those rare individuals who develop a thoughtful, loving attitude toward the world and other people? Maybe it is the process of experiencing that vastness and mystery. Maybe this is the nature of the divine. Many faiths hold that the source of human energy is external, is accessed from some greater source. My contention is that this process can occur with total legitimacy regardless of the name we give to that source of divine energy.

We all have the common experience of life on Earth; and Earth is truly a magnificent place. Existance, and specifically consciousness is the greatest of mysteries. More mysterious still is the human ability to find such joy and conprehend such beauty in it. An equally compelling mystery is how so many people take the opposite perspective, valuing money or violence instead. It's this I don't understand, and I often despair, resigning myself to think that a spiritual attitude is essentially spontaneous in people, never reliably rising from any set of predicates. Maybe it's just like any other predilection. Some people are really good at math and some people are really good at developing their spiritual selves. I think Jesus was probably one of this latter group; a spiritual genius. I think I should remind myself of his teachings and study them alongside other spiritual writings I appreciate. I'll do that after I contemplate another great mystery: why my cat just ran into the wall for what appears to be no reason.