Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

My first encounter with the gods was immediately after my arrival at Saint Margaret's hospital in Darlinghurst one cold and wet August morning. A gentleman in a black coat waved his hands over me and prepared me for the kingdom of heaven.

Apparently I was about to die, but black coat got it wrong - if you think I spent eight and a half months getting here I certainly wasn't going back until I'd seen a bit of the show. Anyway black coat was a kind old soul and I suspect he was just being nice - it was all rather painless and pretty. And the smell of whisky on his breath made the encounter somewhat intoxicating.

My next encounter with religion was not so painless as I discovered just a few days later. This time a gentleman in a white coat appeared and began to fiddle with my cute little dick.

I did suspect that, even at such tender days, me and my dick were going to have a very special relationship. It was all OK for a few seconds and to be honest it felt rather nice (things were looking up already), and then - GOD ALMIGHTY! I screamed - all of a sudden my cute little dick looked absolutely bewildered, not to mention six inches shorter. To this day I have no idea what white coat was thinking.

It was some years down the track I had my third significant interaction with god, er the cranky old testament god that is. It was in second class scripture I learnt that our god was a jealous one and any pretenders would be severely dealt with - "struck down" I think was the term that my fire and brimstone Methodist teacher recited.

To an eight year old who had already had a good and a bad religious experience I thought that my chances of surviving god's wrath was an even bet. On arriving home that afternoon I found myself out in the back paddock screaming out at the top of my lungs that I, Philip Charles Moffat was the TRUE GOD ALMIGHTY AND ALL OTHERS WERE PRETENDERS.

My good Catholic neighbour happened to overhear this while bringing in her washing but just smiled sympathetically at me. At eight years old I noticed that all my neighbours did this but that's another story.

Anyway the good news was god did not strike me down. My initial thoughts were that I had just proved that god did not exist; later I thought that my scripture teacher may have been just making all this jealous god stuff up; and then I thought maybe god was a truly loving god, and then I forgot about it altogether until sixth class when my teacher introduced us to religions of the east - he was quite a cool teacher and we all loved him.

At just twelve years old I realised there were millions of gods and all very colourful and meaningful in their own unique ways. These days I've grown into a Theo-Hussy, something I have written about before in this forum, so I won't bore you with the details; the important thing is it works for me and I find it a very useful survival tool.

If you would like to be a Theo-hussy then it is the most simplest of all religions to embrace:

Simply be curious about and embrace all religions, especially their followers - and do so with respect, good humour and without comparison.

It is true that there are many cultural practices related to religion which are painful, unnecessary and down right stupid; a Theo-hussy does not have to take that stuff on board, just the useful stuff, the aesthetic stuff and the community stuff is what counts and leave the dogma for the extremists.

Anyway I'm of to lunch, I'm feeling a little bit Catholic today - I think I'll have the Barra.

Amen - and remember your god and my gods are really good mates, and they have not been circumcised.

The search for truth leads us in many directions.

Some find a God that would have us give to the poor and tend to the sick, others find a God that would have us bomb and kill.

I feel that most of our need for a God is driven by human ego. We cannot believe we live in a universe that will go on with or without us. This planet functioned quite well for billions of years before we arrived. Mostly likely the planet will go on with or without us.

We play no greater role that that of the earthworm. In the end we will feed the worm.

Take joy in being alive, in being able to witness this amazing universe. Be happy with the the gift of life. Try to make life better for all that live, including the earthworm.

Enjoy what we have and in the end if there is a God I am sure he/she will be a loving God and we play a very small part in his/her overall plan. 

"Metaphysics", eh?

Dualism versus monism, the prospective and elusive connection between extension (matter) and spirit, has preoccupied the western mind at least for a couple or three thousands years.

As I understand it, Kant eventually put an end to much metaphysical debate during the seventeenth century, happily acknowledging that logically, there well may be worlds we know not of, thru our own limitations. Which in a way restates Shakespeare's comment offered from Hamlet, that there well may be "things 'neath heaven and earth beyond our philosophy, Horatio".

Personally, I gave up the axe to grind as to "God" a long while back. An old mate mentioned "there are no atheists in foxholes", meaning that folk who scorn outside help most times quickly capitulate to certain notions when all alternative hopes have vanished.

I am still here. Unless there is no God, no supernatural being has struck me down for in my naked impiousness, which I know jolly well would not be the case, if the boot were on the other foot.

Because it is apparently not in the nature of my God to run around like a petulant school monitor with nothing better to do than heavy benighted mugs like me. To me this aspect is the gift of the desert religions - the conception of God not as a material force (altho he/she may well be this also, also well within the job description) but an ethical force and ultimate reference point achieved thru a leading by example rather than authoritarianism.

The real difference between God (should he/she ultimately exist), to me is not so much the whishing around the sky bit, but the really difficult art of comprehending and showing forgiveness for the unforgiveable and preparedness to lead by example (God willingly crucified in human form ). That is beyond me, hence my defining actual "lack" and finity. Eg, unconditional love.

The lesson for me rests with intangibles. My conscience bothers me if I am wrong, an additional characteristic that has me thinking about the final structure of the universe, whatever that is. This is not to say I'd automatically pick up on Aquinas, I can't just presume Natural Law, but believe am here to try to do "right" in the protection of this concept, as my nous (Socrates) informs me.

One of the most interesting comments on life I've ever read is attributed to Socrates, to do with people actually knowing right from wrong or at least being able to discover a proper answer to a life situation: that people actually find it harder to do wrong than right.

Looking at the real world and its mess, there must be a lot of people doing it really hard and well at odds with themselves, by the evidence.

PS, in that spirit by a curious metamorphosis, followers of the desert religions find a parity with the gentle animists, who conceptualise life and humbly welcome its mystery, community and their own powerlessness, as a relief rather than a burden and at a "personal", value and meaning level.