New Year's Resolution

It struck me out of the blue as I was driving home for the holidays. I was bewildered as to why I didn't think of it before. I've hinted at it and even mentioned my uneasiness yet I have decided to live up to the spirit of this blog: for the next year I will spend time with people of other faiths in prayer, study, and even worship. I honestly don't know what that means or what I intend to do, but I do know that I'm sick of just talking about understanding and loving our fellow man. I can't hide behind books and articles spouting from a digital pulpit that I am accepting of people of other faiths when all I interact with are Christians. I do know that I would like to focus on one faith a month in dialog, worship, study, and prayer for the next 11 months. I am reserving December of next year as a month of reflection and meditation covering what I've learned. I do not know how I will attempt this but I do know that I will try. I am unsure as to which religions I will choose to delve into or even how deep.

Some may see this as a grievous error which will lead me down a path of no return. I can not guarantee that I will escape uninfluenced by what I will encounter, in fact I am doing this because I feel my spiritual journey has run aground and has become stagnant. I am also not seeking a particular faith to follow, although many will try to convert me, what I seek is understanding, awareness, a deeper embrace of what humanity holds dear to its heart.

A God-Sized Puzzle: Year One

A year ago today I began my journey here on A God-Sized Puzzle. My personal journey exploring my own faith began years before I started this blog, but I feel that it wasn't until I started blogging that I really began to push myself to question, to seek, to search. I started out with a mission statement: to learn from the wide variety of religious beliefs in seeking to find common grounds, common goals, and common love. The highlighted texts below link to previous posts are snapshots of my spiritual growth so far.

[A Jigsaw cake made by Hope over at A Little Imagination. She makes some really cool looking cakes like this one!]

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I began this blog after taking the Religion in Popular Media class in the fall of 2008 by the inspirational Rabbi Rami (check out his blog here). The class inspired me to relentlessly question and search into all areas of the sacred, the secular, and places where the two converge. I soon realized that these two spheres cross A LOT more than we realize in film, literature, society, and in our everyday lives. My journey had a rocky start, and it has been difficult trying to communicate to others what I believe. I soon understood that even if we don't initially see the secular and the sacred as compatible they are interconnected and weaved throughout every aspect of the human experience. Some may be blinded by hatred, others by fear, to see the bonds that tie us to one another. We are all brothers, equals, in this life and the next.

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Here are a few interesting facts collected over the past year (well since April, so this might not be completely accurate).

The top 3 visited posts.

1. Sunday School Stories for Naughty Children-A post on the violence in the Bible and the cautions of teaching certain Bible stories to children (This is probably the most controversial and most visited post I've written).
2. A Timeless Hero: Part 2- The Triforce- The second post in a series on the religious symbolism and spirituality found in the Legend of Zelda game series.
3. Abraham's Test- A post on the "test" that Abraham and Isaac went through on Mount Moriah.

The top 4 countries with the most visits: USA, Canada, U.K, India.
The top 4 U.S. states with the most visits: Texas, California, New York, Virginia
The number 1 city with the most visits: Dallas, Texas (I wonder who that could be? *Cough* Don.)

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It has been an interesting year and I have learned a lot. But I know I have only hit the surface and there is more to discover, learn from, and grow. Over the next year I hope to take the next step from studying religions to interacting with the practitioners. I have mentioned my timidness to visit other places of worship and I hope to overcome this and actively participate and interact with people of other faiths. Many thanks to those who've commented and dialogued with me on this blog. I hope to continue our talks and share in our spiritual travels.

Peace and blessings to you and yours.

Be Still, Child

My adorable children can not sit still for more than 5 seconds, that is unless they're watching Dora the Explorer. And can you blame them, they're both still in diapers and were born with built-in Energizer batteries (which I have yet to find where they've been installed). Chasing one of them is exhausting enough let alone having both of my raccoons loose in the house. Try catching a two year old running out the back door while your 18 month old gymnast attempts a dismount off the living room desk. So I've decided to begin practicing meditation so that I can increase self-awareness of my mind, body, and spirit and to reduce the daily stress of juggling housework, kids, and school.

I know next to nothing about meditating, and I love it. Why? Because I get to dive into and embrace a whole new side of Myself that I've never encountered before. I've recently picked up Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn to help guide me in these new waters. I have set aside some time early in the morning and late at night while the kids sleep to practice my meditation in the garage. As I stated earlier I'm a complete newbie at meditating, I don't have a clue to proper breathing, sitting, or focusing. For now I just sit and focus on my breathing until I begin refining my methods. What initially attracted me to meditation is that it transcends religion as a practical method of being "in touch with where we already are" in life (Wherever You Go, There You Are, p. xiii).

Meditation doesn't have to be spiritual, although it can be, yet I hope to gain both practical and spiritual benefits from my daily practice. I hope to also learn more about my mind and body in silent inward reflection. I have no clue what, if any, benefits I may gain by sitting in silence for a few minutes everyday. It might take weeks, months, or even years before I see any changes or benefits but at least I will grant myself some time to be still. To simply Be.

My Journey Thus Far: Part 3- 100 Posts!

As I progress along my spiritual journey I have introduced myself to a wide range of ideas, thoughts, and concepts so that I may understand and love my fellow man. For my 100th post I thought I would like to summarize my spiritual growth over these last few months. I have learned a lot since I've started this blog and I hope to continue learning for years to come.

[Note: The links below link to previous posts as snapshots of my spiritual growth so far. Enjoy!]

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Brotherhood
The number of posts themselves mean nothing if I did not learn anything, but fortunately, I have. I have learned that people rely on hope even though it doesn't seem to get any brighter. That symbols may be more powerful than words when it comes to moving the human heart. And that these very same symbols used to describe love, peace, and hope can also be twisted into hate, fear, and damnation. This is not always the case and people are beginning to embrace each others as equals, as brothers. It is difficult to be able to love your enemy at times, but if we take on new eyes and take a second look we may find that we may no longer have enemies. I'm not saying we should ignore threats to our very safety but we must come to understand the nature of those who hate us. We share one home and one humanity, that alone should be a start. If we look hard enough we just might realize that these enemies are just as human as we are. They eat, sleep, hope, fear, cry, and breathe like we do. More similarities. Look further still and we might realize that we like the same food, cheer for the same sport, and even cry over the same things. We are fallible, we are mankind. Let us never forget that mankind (adam) was made from the same dust and given the same breathe of life.

Questions
I've also learned to question EVERYTHING! By questioning even your most foundational beliefs you understand why you believe them instead of swallowing spoon fed medicine. Others may say that asking questions is dangerous and may even damn your soul, so its better to "just believe". Of course, if Martin Luther and friends didn't question the church then we might all still be Roman Catholic. Questions make us think, not doubt. If our questions cause us to doubt and then to change our beliefs who's to say that we made the wrong decision to question in the first place? I don't believe it matters where your questioning leads you as long as your comfortable with the answer. Questions leading to Mahayana Buddhism are just as worthwhile as those leading to Islam. As long as we can still call each other my brother! my sister! then these questions were worth it.

The Puzzle
I started this blog so that I may learn and share with others. To study and immerse myself in very personal part of all people so that I may know them. As I continue my God-sized puzzle I realize that it will always be incomplete in a sense that there are no borders that could contain the Eternal. Even peering into the vast array of religious beliefs throughout history (I wonder what cavemen believed?) is immensely and immediately humbling. Humanity has always searched and may continue to search in ways that may be alien to us yet powerful to those who believe. I envision my spiritual self standing on the God-Sized puzzle that reaches beyond human sight.

What will the picture reveal? What will we learn? I wonder what it could be?

Even imaging what the puzzle holds for us adds more and more pieces until we reach a point of infinite regression! We can look back and see how far we've come, look forward on pieces to come, while always remembering that we ourselves are part of this puzzle, a part of universal transcendent Love.