Coyote's Den

Flawed Wreck or Child of the Gods?

I choose B, please

I disagree with the assumption that we're all flawed and inherently unworthy. I am a pantheist, which means I believe that the divine exists in everything... including us.

I think that any way of life, religious or otherwise that is based on weakness, frailty and giving one's self up to never being able to improve is unhealthy.

I don't know about omniscient... or omnipotent... but I believe divinity is omnipresent.

I think that if there is an infinite creative force, that means that we are all reflections of it. We are each not the whole... but we're part of it... we're fashioned from that force. If the Creative Force is infinite... or started as the most infinite thing... then there was nothing to fashion us from except the substance of the divine. What could we possibly be, if not pieces of that creative force?

Therefore, I think it's silly to believe that we are inherently flawed, sick, evil or unclean. I think that if it was possible to insult that creative force, that such a supposition would be insulting.

Humanity isn't perfect... each of us is imperfect... but we can strive for betterment. We are not inherently unclean and bad. We have the potential to make wonders of ourselves... or terrors.. or nothing at all.

I heard a person the other night talking on and on about how his faith taught him that we were all sinners and doomed to hell unless god saved us. He went on to say that we could never approach god or have any sort of relationship with him because of our imperfections. That because we are inherently unclean and evil, and god is perfect, we could not even approach god. God had to "sully" himself by sending his son to pay for our inherent evil.

He went on to discuss how we could never be anything on our own... never be clean, never be good enough. That nothing we ourselves could do would make us worthy creatures. That we had to give ourselves up to an outside force to be "saved". He kept saying that Christianity, his view of it anyway, teaches that we are all sinners, unless we are saved... that no matter what we do, we will never be saved unless his god saves us. That we are no good, and cannot be on our own. That we are born in evil, and sin and that we cannot be save ourselves. He said that we must realize our own unworthiness, and beg for forgiveness.

Well... I think that's garbage.

I am a good person. I am beautiful inside. I'm am terrible, and joyful and loving and full of fury. I am not broken. I am not sick. I am not unholy and impure and evil. I create myself every day. I heal myself every day.

I don't need to be found. I'm not lost.
I don't need to be saved, I'm not defiled.

I have this wonderful creative soul... we all do... I have the capacity to choose my own way... the tools I need to create of my own self a better person. So what do I have these tools for? Not so I can demean myself... not so I can call myself foul. Not so I can tell myself that I am weak and always will be weak. Not so I can tell myself I am inherently soiled. Not so I can give up that freedom of will and life to another.

I cherish my soul, my will, my life as I cherish the whole wonder of creation, as I cherish all the other acts of creation.

Some people believe suicide is a sin, because we were given a gift of life and killing ourselves is an act of insult to the giver of life.

Well... I believe that belittling myself.. believing I am unholy, unworthy, weak and forever flawed is an insult to my soul... which is more important than my body. I believe it is insulting to the force that abides in all things. Or it would be an insult if that force could be insulted. If I was created by the divine... if my life is indeed a gift of the divine... then what is my justification for telling the Divine "I am worthless?".

Some people, on their journeys, become weak, or injured. Or they become sick or even evil. We all make ourselves differently... and other forces DO act on us. Sometimes we are afraid, or foolish, or hurtful. Sometimes we are tired. Sometimes we are weak.

But that does not mean that we are made of something flawed.

I hear people being told, all the time... "Accept that you are flawed... accept that you are helpless", when they aren't really.

"You are depressed... you can't ever get better from that so take this pill for the rest of your life."
"You are an alcoholic... you need to admit that you cannot ever fix that, so someone else will have to do it for you."
"You just need to realize you cannot change things in this world... don't waste your energy trying."

I hear people being taught, over and over, every day all the reasons why they cannot, why they should not try, why they are helpless, why they do not matter. And I think people in general LIKE to hear this... because once they have accepted defeat and powerlessness... there is no longer any reason to try. Once they have accepted that they should let someone else think for them (whether it's their god, or the media, or the government or their friends or the doctor)... then they are relieved of the burden of thought. Once they accept that something is futile, it becomes acceptable to surrender.

I have seen people that are missing legs but run marathons on artificial legs.
I once saw a painting created by a lady with no hands.
Good thing they didn't accept defeat. Good thing they didn't accept that they were "inherently flawed."
When they DID call on the divine, it wasn't to say "I'm not worthy"... it was to say "Help be be stronger, and better."

"Stand with me," I pray. Not "Step on me."

Yes... you have to choose your battles... you have to decide which obstacles you are going to face... but you should look at each one... every one... and say to yourself... "That is something I can overcome."

I don't believe in "You cannot, you aren't good enough... accept that you are weak and that you can never be anything but a sinner and only something from outside you can fix you".

I won't follow any philosophy that tells you to accept flaws and weaknesses and not act to change them.

It's easier when you can say "I can't", instead of "I won't," or "I don't want to try". And I feel that tendency is widely exploited in our society. People tell us we can't. They do it so we'll behave as they'd like us to... and we believe it because it's easy.

I can be anything I want to be. I can make anything of myself.

I don't need to be fixed because I am not broken. And if I do break, I can fix myself. I know... I've done it before.

And if I want help with that, I am in a universe filled with that creative force, in the form of beauty, trees, rivers, people, animals.

I don't think I have to beg creation for what it gives freely.

I don't have to beg the divine for forgiveness or mercy or healing.. because the divine has given me the beautiful river to look upon. The blue sky to walk under, my beautiful family to love and talk to.

I don't need to beg for what I already have. I don't need to buy it, or trade for it or give up my soul, my will or my responsibility.

I believe that we all of us have that spark of creative force in us.. that same Spirit. I believe that it is always within our power to feed it, fan it, make it greater.

I believe that is how we are made.