the right some thing

I talk to a lot of people who have left church and/or religion in some form or another. And though we all have different experiences and stories there does seem to be one common feeling summed up sorta like this:

I left some thing and I’m so glad I left that thing but there are still things about the thing I miss even if it isn’t the thing and even if I know the thing was never the thing but only a way to get to some of those other things I need and miss despite all the destructive things that came with it.

Can I get those good things without the thing?

Orientalism?

I just joined the Jay Shetty coaching school. I wouldn’t say I’ve been a “fan” but I’ve thought he has good stuff to say. Ironically, just before I joined another internet “controversy” came around, this time about Shetty and the accuracy of his past statements. You can google it. But, today I can across this article that mentions the Shetty controversy but focuses on Orientialism - the West’s infatuation with the East or something. I’ve read other stuff in similar spots and it’s really bugging me.

Why can’t the West be interested in the East without it being something negative? In The Mountain of Silence - a wild book about some monks in Greece - on my book list - it talks quite a bit about the East and the West and the need for BOTH viewpoints - gasp!

Christianity, a Catholic bishop in Maine once told me, has two lungs. One is Western, meaning rational and philosophical, and the other Eastern, meaning mystical and otherworldly. Both, he claimed, are needed for proper breathing.

So, I don’t know about Shetty and his past. I do know that just because he’s talking about Eastern philosophy and the West is “into it” does not mean it’s Orientialism. It might just mean we are properly breathing.

Sex is Marketing

I’m reading the book Syrup: A Novel and it’s an older fiction book about marketing.

It’s got some killer lines and this one I can’t get out of my head: Because sex isn’t sex at all. It’s marketing.

Playboy starts with a woman’s face, then a breast, then a body, and it finally gets to a nude. However, if we just see 50 nude bodies lined up, or we see topless women in Europe, or we see topless women in South American cultures, it’s not the same. Why?

If it’s all nudity, just show the body and get on with it. But it’s not. It’s marketing.

What it comes down to, you see, is that a naked body is just a naked body. But the possibility of a naked body is something special.

Of course, none of this is about naked bodies or sex: it’s about possibilities and potentials. It’s about resisting just diving into anything that promises the immediate gratification, the quick fix, or the thing we think we think we want. Because, most of the time what we actually want is the possibility and potential that eventually gets us to the goal.

That might be what makes life (and sex) more exciting.

Why I love Taylor

It’s The Tortured Poets Department release day (well last night) so I listened to the whole thing last night and went to bed only to wake up and see that the 16 songs I listened to before bed were not enough. She released a 31 song album after I went to bed. Okay, she’s prolific as hell but I realized why I really love her last night - and maybe why so many others do… besides the obvious facts.

TTPD is definitely a break-up album and it’s a brutal one. With lines like

So I did my best to lay to rest
All of the bodies that have ever been on my body
And in my mind, they sink into the swamp
Is that a bad thing to say in a song?

—

I wish I could unrecall
How we almost had it all

—

A con man sells a fool a "get love quick" scheme

—

Oh, what a valiant roar
What a bland goodbye
The coward claimed he was a lion
I'm combing through the braids of lies
I'll never leave, never mind
Our field of dreams engulfed in fire
Your arson's match, your somber eyes

—

You said I needed a brave man
Then proceeded to play him
Until I believed it too

—

And I don't even want you back, I just want to know
If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal

Right? But, I think what I love is that Taylor rides a fine line that has bothered me since High School youth group days when our youth pastor would tell us to never ever have sex before getting married (let’s not talk about that whole stupid rule right now) and then tell us that he had sex with his (now) wife and, if you did have sex, you’ll be great. Wait, so it doesn’t matter if I don’t.

The human dilemma of making mistakes, regrets, and carrying pain, and also knowing that we’ll be fine and, potentially, even better from our mistakes is a great one.

Taylor Swift rides the line of it all so poetically and beautifully. She always tells the stories and she never backs down from the pain, the history, and the what-she-wishes-she-could-take-backs. But she also never acts as though she’s done - she will be back and better.

And so many of us struggle with this. We don’t talk about our old stories and admit they were mistakes, regrets, or we wish we could change the past - because we think that will affect our future potential. Or we don’t admit our future potential because we think that will somehow act as though we wipe the mistakes and we don’t want to do that.

But, it’s both. And she’s soooo good at it. The relationship had amazing moments and terrible, she sad and angry and wants revenge but also forgiveness and to move on. She poetically dives into it all.

And we can to. And so we sing those lyrics and we know it’s okay to acknowledge our regrets (which science is proving is actually incredibly important) and to acknowledge we were fooled, we were stupid, and it was fun, but we wish we could change it AND we’re going to rock and it’s going to be better than ever.

This happens once every few lifetimes
These chemicals hit me like white wine
What if I told you I'm back?

The Cynics Are Alright

I’ve seen this thing now (especially in religious circles) where someone deconstructs or tears down, or expresses some kind of language around leaving some kind of system never to return again and the response - usually from those in the system - is something along the lines of “beware of cynics”. They go on about how anyone can tear down something and it’s easy to be cynical and point out flaws but it’s hard to build toward something more beautiful and better.

I do agree. To a point.

I also think there are rotten systems. There are evil belief systems. There are pointless rituals. And to simply respond with “anyone can tear something down” a) isnt’ true - lots of people allow unjust, unequal, and straight up bad system to keep going all the time and b) sometimes tearing down a system IS the best way toward more beautiful and better.

So… like everything in life it’s not a black and white line but a very colorful spectrum. But, just because you are completely against something doesn’t make you a cynic. And just because you are still in something and someone calls out the thing you are in, responding with “anyone can tear down and be a cynic” does not mean you’re building walls on a good foundation, it just means you’re building walls.

Thirsty

Imagine a group of 10 people out in a desert. They are trekking over miles and miles and have no water or anything to drink. They are getting desperate. They are going to die of thirst.

And then they see it. A giant gatorade dispenser in the distance. The problem is that it will take all 10 of them to stack on top of each other in order to get the the gatorade and 3 of them are not interested in gatorade.

What? We’re dying out here.

Man, I can’t drink gatorade, it’s got too much sugar.

Wait, what?

Yeah, it’s water or nothing for me.

But… it’s gatorade or nothing. There is no water.

Well, one of the men says. And he pulls out a small canteen. I do have a small amount of water myself so I’m good for another few days. It’s out now but I’ve been drinking it.

And not sharing.

Man, listen, we’re all dying out here.

Ok, fine, can you at least help us get the gatorade? We have to have it. It’s gatorade or death.

Sorry, man, my conscience can’t handle giving you gatorade… it’s just not great for you.

But it’s better than NOTHING!!

Sorry.

—

It’s a ridiculous story, right?

Yet, I feel like it’s happening all around me: people sacrificing BETTER for PERFECT (or at least perfect in their heads).

BETTER requires us to acknowledge that neither choice is the PERFECT choice but PERFECT requires us to ignore everything that might be really really good and potentially end up with really really bad.

So yes, Biden is old and Israel and this… and that… He’s not PERFECT.

He’s 100 times BETTER than the alternative - unless you watch Fox News all day and have no idea of actual reality in which case the alternative is BETTER and ironically - for most of those people - Trump is not PERFECT but he’s BETTER. Maybe they’re the smarter ones after all.

50 things I've learned at 50.

I’m turning 50. Which is crazy but here’s 50 things I think I’ve learned in my first 50 years.

1. Octopi are incredibly smart. Wow.  Nature is absolutely stunning. The more I see and learn of it the more I appreciate it and want to do everything I can to treat it as the magical gift it is.

2. But…it’s not so much “take care of the Earth” as it is “stop pissing it off”.  I don’t think our 300,000 year old humanity is going to win a fight with the 4.5 billion year old Earth. Maybe that should become the new marketing slogan: Earth is gonna kick our ass if we don’t stop trying to destroy it.

3. I really can trust my creative gut more than I think. In the situations where I changed the way I did something because an expert told me how they did it, I usually found a different expert - later - who agreed with my original instinct and I went back to what I thought all along. (Again this is creative instincts I’m talking about here.)

4. Putting in that extra little pinch of 20% time and effort usually makes something 100% better. But putting in 100% more time and effort usually just wastes that time and effort. Keep finding that line.

5. There is nothing black and white. Everything is a spectrum. This includes sexuality, politics, faith, gender, truth and everything else. This is some of the best news out there. It means we all agree and we’re all similar… at least a tiny bit somehow.

6. The stories we tell ourselves can be really dangerous or amazing but they definitely matter in our relationships, jobs, perspectives, opportunities and, honestly, happiness… I’m way more aware  of the stories and trying to be careful of the stories I start down.

7. Religion is a well. I learned this from Reza Aslan I believe. Religion is the well that gets us to the water. I expanded on that in my own head. So many people - I was once one of them - argue about wells, fight over wells, try to convince other people to try their well… and never drink any water because they’re so busy arguing, judging or convincing themselves and others about the well, they never actually use it. I try to get water from every and any well I find these days.

8. It’s just as absurd to believe in a god as it is to believe that the entire universe sparked from nothing. I still choose a god of some kind but I know it’s absurd. There was some latin phrase I think that once said I believe because it’s absurd. So that’s cool.

9. Being weird is not a real thing because being normal isn’t a real thing either. I think weird is a word invented by people who wish they were brave enough to be different but aren’t and want to make themselves feel better by calling the people who are different and authentic… weird. So basically weird is a word invented by jealous boring people so they feel good about being boring.

10. Inequality seems to be the root of 99% of problems in the world.

11. Everything is NOT possible. But lots more is possible than I think.

12. I don’t have all the time in the world but I do have more time than I think, especially when I’m experiencing “new” things which tends to slow time down.

13. I don’t know if time goes fast but I do know it never stops and that’s almost worse. It doesn’t take a break and it’s certainly not going to stop for me. But again, I can slow it down.

14. If you’re an artist of any kind - get to a city as fast as you can. I didn’t and I do regret it.

15. Regret has gotten a bad rap and it really shouldn’t have. It’s how we evolve and it can be used as a guide to the next decision and so much more. Pay attention to my regrets, and more importantly, to others.

16. Staying married for the kids, is not helping the kids. Just like not moving for the kids, is not helping the kids or making sure everything is safe for the kids does not help the kids. But, what does help the kids is giving them the ability to know what they want, why they want it and then  operate out of that reality. This sounds like it will go bad, but most of the “bad” things we want, we don’t actually want, we just do because someone else wants it or we think we’re supposed to want it.

17. Social media can be so dangerous because it makes everything too easy. Too easy to stand for something, too easy to be a critic, too easy to think I have community, too easy to be an expert, too easy to advertise… Without the costs that have long been associated with these things, they lose their power because they lose our trust in them. Cost builds trust and social media has too little trust.

18. I don’t know if we make our own luck, if luck is destiny, or if luck is just pure chance, but I do know a lot of life is luck and the sooner we acknowledge that, the better off we’ll be. People who don’t acknowledge the role of luck, are generally not the kind of people I want to learn from.

19. I don’t know if history repeats itself, but I do know humanity has been susceptible to the same tricks since the first human started talking to another human. The more of these tricks I learn, the better.

20. Our brains have not evolved as fast as our environment. Knowing this, answers a lot of questions for me.

21. It’s always better to ask an honest question than give an emotional answer. A somewhat informed, honest question is even better.

22. I once heard that the three hardest things for a human to do are:  Return love for hate, include the excluded  and admit we were wrong. Yes, yes, yes.

23. The greatest legacy is planting a seed of evolution for humanity. I’ve heard stories of things that someone did in the 50’s for a kid, that ended up affecting a parent, that ended up affecting their kid, that ended up changing their kid in ways that are hard to fathom. That person from the 50’s doesn’t even know what tree there kindness seeds grew.

24. Oppressing others as payback for once being oppressed will never get the world anywhere. I realize this is really easy to say especially from a person whose people have never been oppressed -  but that doesn’t make it less true - which is also part of the problem.

25. I can’t judge words to be true (or not) just because of the person saying them.

26. The more someone has to convince me of something, the less chance that something is true. Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.

27. Despite me saying “I know” a lot , I really don’t know. No one really knows anything but that’s cool because it means I can keep learning and asking and asking other people to ask.

28. Weed is better than alcohol on many occasions.

29. Being “too busy” is not anything I want to say out loud again. To think I used to brag about that.  To think that some still do. If I’m too busy to exercise, meditate, go on a trip, be with friends, relax, do nothing, watch a show, have fun… then “too busy” sucks. So responding with too busy is basically me saying my life sucks. If I’m tempted to say it, I need to change something. On a related note, saying “I’m powering through” when coming to work coughing and blowing your nose is not impressive in any way. Stay hame and get better. In short, it’s okay to show weakness.

30. Lots of people are alive but far less are living. Gotta live.

31. If “assume” really does make an ass out of u and me well then… wow there are a lot of asses out there, including me. The moment I’m angry, pissed off, jealous, or calling someone an idiot, I wonder if I should first ask what I am assuming about a person or situation.

32. For every book about negations, and persuasion, and sales, and marketing - god I’ve read a lot of them - at the end of the day, I’m still not sure if I’ve learned much beyond be honest, genuine, vulnerable, interesting and interested, and ask questions… and it kinda works.

33. Be less offended. Be less offensive. Wow, that does a lot.

34. Masterclass is way underrated. Or, at least, it was to me. Worth more than the money they charge. It’s like everything I once wanted from “experts” on social media but it’s from actual experts who aren’t saying things to get likes or follows but just because they learned it and it benefited them and they think it will benefit me. (And the get paid from Masterclass :)

35. No one gets to have it all. No one “wins”. It’s impossible to have all the experiences. So, instead of being upset of the experiences I can’t have or don’t have that others get to,  be grateful for the ones I got to have and get to have.

36. You can always look up or look down. Both have their value. One gives you something to shoot for and the others gives you something to be thankful for.

37. Parents can really screw up kids - when they view them as a redo for themselves, or a reminder of themselves, instead of a new perspective and life to watch and learn from. Kids also just keeping getting better every day, from the day they are born, on.

38. Being in the moment is amazing and I value it so much. But being aware of long term consequences over short term thrills in said moment is also the sign of a mature, evolved, successful, happy, and well functioning brain. And society.

39. There are no evil people - only evil stories that did affect and do affect people, and that is way scarier than evil people. Evil stories can and do affect good people. Gotta change those stories.

40. Many people who don’t have money, overvalue it, and many people who do have money, undervalue it, but that’s a lot of life - we forget how bad we wanted something or needed it - once we get it. I’m trying to not overvalue money. Money can do weird things with people who do.

41. I’m not saying trauma and diet are responsible for all of our health problems but I do believe if we took care of our traumas and our diets in our selves and our society, our healthcare system and results would look drastically, drastically, unrecognizably, different.

42. Travel makes me better. I think it makes most people better if they let it. Experiences over stuff, every time. Travel, it seems, is also one of the least expensive things that people think is so expensive and thus, they seem to get really jealous of people who travel. Which is fine, hopefully the jealousy gets them moving, because, again, there are lots of ways to do it that don’t require lots of money. In short, travel is one of the greatest investments one can make in themselves.

43. Dunning Kruger is the single most important idea I’ve ever heard that continues to make sense with the world I see - if someone is  not smart enough to know they don’t know, then they think they know. I only know what I don’t know if I know enough to know that I don’t know. Oh it’s so fun.

44. Every animal experiences fear. It’s not a bad thing. Not many animals dwell on the fear before it comes or after its left though. That’s the challenge.

45. Sports’s really can be powerful despite all the problems. I was in an airport and talked to four strangers for a long time because we were wearing the same team colors. They get a bad rap, for some good reasons, but that competitive and primitive tribal instinct really can do magical things.

46. News increases anxiety. No news decreases it. My news is very filtered now and like Trevor Noah said, I may have less information but I’m not less informed.

47. The best diet advice - eat real food, mostly plants, and not too much. Michael Polan said that and it just keeps holding up, through every fad. I’m a big fan of it for my own health, planet health and animal health.

48. I am not alone. You are not alone. But feeling alone is the worst possible and most destructive feeling there is. If I ever think someone feels alone, make sure they know they are not.

49. Stop hiding. I’ve read all kinds of stuff on shadow, ego, true self, my god it’s all so good but I think I can somewhat boil it down to this: stop hiding who I am. So many of us are still acting somehow or someway, hiding behind a mask, a uniform, or something else. It’s time to stop. Let it shine yo. (You do have to know who you are first though, which can be a challenge.)

50. Anthony deMello - he is the best for any kind of spiritual anything. He freaking rocks. If you can find his 8 hours recording on Awareness, listen to it all and you’ll never be the same. I’ve listened to it multiple times over the past 15 years and there’s nothing better or nothing that sums up my spiritual views of the world more. (If you really want it, I have it and will send it to you.) Or just get a book of his, a recording, anything. You’ll be better for it!

Here’s to the next 50 - and with all this longevity stuff coming along, those next 50 can be awesome.

WE COULD HAVE BEEN

It’s so easy to look back and think wow, we could have been…

If my parents had…
If my friends had…
If I had…

I don’t know what your first thought is when you read that but it’s interesting to think about.

Do you read that with a small amount of regret and/or bitterness or with a small amount of gratefulness and/or overwhelming thought of being lucky?

It can always go both ways.

100% PROOF THE BIBLE IS TRUE. BUT REALLY.

That’s right. Throughout history no one has been able to do what I’m about to do: prove the Bible is fucking true.

LOL. But let’s have some fun.

FIRST: WHAT IS TRUE?

It all hinges on this, right?

Is the boy who cried wolf true? This little gem was written by Aesop. But if there was literally a little shepherd boy who literally cried out “wolf!!” multiple times and eventually literally saw an actual wolf and the villagers didn’t come to save him because they thought he was kidding, would it make the story any different, better, or worse?

Who cares, right?

We all know it’s true that it’s not smart to lie all the time because as Aesop said, "people don’t believe liars even when they’re telling the truth”. That’s the point of the story - and what makes it true to us today - not whether it literally happened or not.

It seems to me that the more people focus on the literalness of the Bible they lose the the point of the Bible. In other words, focusing on whether or not some king lived thousands of years ago and killed some other people and then built a city on slave labor usually distracts from the points of the story: as in, you shouldn’t use people when you get in power even though you were once used by others while they were in power. And the people who usually give the least flying fucks about whether any of this stuff literally happened or not, are the people performing miracles today.

So, we’re definitely talking about point of truth here - not literal truth.

SECOND: THE CHARACTERS

At the risk of boring the hell out of myself and everyone who would ever read this, let’s keep things real simple. In the main story of the Bible (some argue the entire thing leads up to this story and carries the impact of that story) there are 2 main characters: Jesus (you may have heard of him) and the Pharisees (you may have heard of them but there’s a lesser chance).

Jesus: yeah, the hero, the main character. He said all kinds of crazy shit, hung out with all kinds of crazy people, got a little crew together, went all over the countryside and did lots of talking - mainly told stories (kinda like the boy who cried wolf) - got lots of people to love him enough they would die for him and got lots of people to hate him enough they would kill him (literally).

Cue… the Pharisees.

Pharisees: yeah, the villains for sure. These are the dudes Jesus is always talking shit to and some of it is downright harsh. “Vipers”, “whitewashed tombs”, and one of my favorites “You travel over land and sea to create one convert but you make them twice the sons of hell you are”. Ouch.

Jesus said all kinds of stuff - but back to the Pharisees. They were the ones who went to church every day. They were the ones that did everything “right”. They were the ones that studied the Bible, judged people for living wrong, and also - real important - they had the power. Yeah, they were basically in bed with the government leaders who carried the swords (and built the crosses for them) and protected them.

THIRD: THE CONFLICT

Alright, so Jesus comes talking to these people going to church every day and studying the Bible and feeling pretty good because they hung out with the government leaders and had lots of power and money and he tells them, basically, that they are fucking idiots who have EVERYTHING wrong.

Yes, everything. (Well 99.9% of things)

Joke is, not to get too far into it because, again, could be pretty boring, Jesus was just another prophet in a long line of prophets (whose words make up a ton of the Torah - the “Bible” of the day and current Old Testament) who were saying, basically, the same things for hundreds of years.

You guys are seriously awful. You get it all wrong. You get some power and then you enslave people, judge people, get all worked up over memorizing some verses and some rules and you FUCKING MISS THE ENTIRE POINT! You’re supposed to love people god damn it, you’re supposed to take care of them, you’re supposed to realize that you’re all connected, that you’re all the same, god even, and this “life” you think is going to come someday because you do everything “right” is right here and now, in front of your face but you can't see it because you’re so damned distracted by being right and better and pleasing god and sucking up to whomever will give you power and money.… and while you’re waiting for that life you’re completely screwing up this one, for yourselves and everyone around you… okay you get it.

If you want verses for of this I’ll happily provide them but I mean just google “woes Pharisees”, or read Amos, or shit, just read any of the Gospels - hard to miss. I mean, unless you’re the majority of Christians today (but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

Just google “the sheep and the goats”.

FOURTH: THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS

This story is bomb. Jesus told it but you’ll rarely hear it in any church because it kinda goes against 99.9% of most things churches spend 99.9% of their time focusing on.

All the people around Jesus were like, Jesus how are we going to know we’re “in”? Tell us! When it’s all over, how do we know if we’re on team Jesus or team Devil?

And Jesus says, well I’ll tell you a little story (again Jesus loved telling stories because stories are powerful and no one worries whether they are literal or not because they are more powerful than that) about people who fed me, clothed me, helped me when I was sick and visited me in jail. That’s my team.

Wait, Jesus was in jail?

Wait.

And Jesus went on with his story, those people that are “in” have some questions… like we all do… when the hell did we do this? You weren’t in jail. And he says, no, no, when you visited “the least of these” you did it to me. And they’re like, that’s dope. Cool.

They didn’t even know what they had done. One could say their left hand didn’t know what their right hand was doing (cue Sermon on the Mount - you can goggle that too.)

And then…

Jesus, in the story, looks at these other people who think they’re all dope because they memorized a bunch of verses and plastered them all over their cars and walls and websites, sung a bunch of songs, made offerings, tithed, and followed all the “rules” (I’m grabbing all of this from other verses - not this specific story - but it works) and Jesus says get the hell outta here you fools. You didn’t do shit: you never invited me in, you never fed me, you never helped. And they’re like what… how could you be in jail… and he’s like you never did these to the “least of these” and you never did them to me - see ya!

FIFTH: THE CONFLICT PART TWO

Okay, so Jesus basically talked so much shit to the Pharisees they were finally like, this dude is ruining us. He’s hanging out with prostitutes, poor people, tax collectors, immigrants, people who have abortions, gays, and lots of other gross, wrong, terrible people and they all love him and he’s acting like he’s their savior or something and he’s doing NOTHING that we’re supposed to do. And also he talks a lot of shit about us and we’re perfect so it probably means he must be a complete disaster - because we, of course, aren’t.

We should probably kill him.

Seriously, we should take this dude out - he’s going to ruin everything for us. (If hanging out with the “wrong” people and saying things about loving people and not hoarding material goods and recommending to generally stop being a dick is ruining you, well that’s a clue of what you’re doing.)

Irony again, they can’t hear the prophet they claim to be waiting for because when he came he didn’t say what the wanted him to say even while the prophet says some people have “ears to hear” and some don’t.

So they buddy up with their government buddies and say, look this guy is talking shit about us, and YOU! He’s saying that you shouldn’t bow to the flag of Rome! He’s basically kneeling during the anthem and not taking his hat off! We can’t have that. And they say, you sure we should kill him? People seem to like this dude and we don’t really want a rebellion - because those are annoying, and we’ll have to kill lots more people and probably end up losing some of our soldiers for your stupid religious wars.

And they’re like whoa! This is not a religious war. You think we should separate church and state or something stupid Caesar? He’s threatening your power (I mean really our power but YOUR power.) We should kill him - in fact, we’ll get all the people to ask you to release a notorious prisoner over this yahoo, just to prove it to you.

So they do. And this government - which is not a beacon of peace and love, the leader basically says “You guys are nut jobs - I don’t really know why you want him dead but I’m washing my hands of this shit. And the Pharisees are like, that’s fine, kill him!

And the villains crucify the hero for talking shit about their religion, their power, their complete and utter mis-understanding of religion (because they couldn’t even understand that he was saying all religion sucks and the entire Torah was saying the same thing) and their absolute lack of spirituality or enlightenment or waking up (as Anthony DeMello puts it). I love DeMello.

SIXTH: TODAY

Okay so that’s the summary of the story. And like the boy who cried wolf, who cares if it literally happened exactly like all of that - is it happening?

Hopefully you’re laughing now.

Look around. Jesus said, with his own words, that the stranger, the criminal, the hungry, the immigrant, the sick, they are him. So Jesus is still around. Before jetting out of here, he also told his crew to be like him - be perfect like him - and say the shit he said. Go turn over tables of churches, go tell these religious leaders they are COMPLETELY missing the point. So we can very safely assume the character of Jesus is most definitely still around.

And the Pharisees - well whomever are the ones that think they have it all figured out, study the Bible, quote verses, judge everyone for doing it wrong and buddy up with government for power and protection - and act like they’re supposed - that’s them. They seem to most definitely still around - and the crowds that love them and follow them like blind sheep also seem to be around.

And when the conflict happens today - it does every day - the Pharisees are STILL killing Jesus.

Every damn day.

SEVENTH: WHAT ABOUT?

I can hear the rebuttals to this because I was a pastor for 10 years (before leaving the job and the religion) and heard rebutalls every week - with people bringing print outs of quotes and sending me transcribed emails of things I’ve said.

I can hear them: this little article thing is garbage and liberal and coming from a socialist, woke, perspective that is the worst thing in the world. It is evil. It is what Jesus talked about with the sheep in wolves clothing and don’t listen to this because it’s heresy.

The crazy thing is that for every rebuttal it only enforces the point more. The rebuttals are just more proof that the story is still happening. Not the rebuttals to me, but the rebuttals to the points of Jesus.

The rebuttals are basically word for almost freaking word (allowing for thousands of years of interpretations and languages and shit). So, those rebuttal people can’t be trusted, because the story says they’re wrong and it spells out exactly how they respond to “truth” that could set them free…. but they don’t want to be free.

And this is where things get kinda sad.

Because there were some Pharisees who listened to Jesus and went and visited him at night because they didn’t want to piss off their buddies and in those conversations is where the old John 3:16 at football games comes out. Jesus is talking to a religious powerful leader who is listening and starting to believe he might just have been completely wrong the whole time.

He was willing to say “Shit, what if this religion I’ve been following and leading isn’t what I thought it was?”

And he got free.

Back to those that aren’t.

How do the masses learn to desire their oppression as though it was their liberation? Killer quote from Spinoza. One kind of prophet (the easy prophet) tells the enslaved they can be free. Another kind of prophet (the harder one) tells the free they are actually enslaved. Killer quote form Rohr.

And there are a million more quotes like this because the Jesus characters (Buddha, Mohammed, and the whole list of mystery lovers (many of whom are scientists who don't even believe in god - yeah this really pisses off Pharisees) they’ve been saying it to the enslaved Pharisees (the people who love power and telling people what to do under the guise of religion and being god’s police officers) since the beginning of time.

The whole time.

Your truth is enslaving you - like it always has - because it’s NOT TRUE. You’re deceived like you’ve always been because you hate all the verses like “If you don’t have love, you have nothing” and “even the demons believe”. Yeah you’re still missing the point and enslaved and it’s sad because you’re killing the Jesus message today and the representatives of him everywhere.

And you’re completely missing out on everything you think you’re getting - although deep inside you kinda know it.

Like they did.

We always hate what we most fear in ourselves and they hated this guy because he was hi-lighting facts about themselves that they didn’t want to look at - and if they shut him up, they didn’t have to look at themselves anymore, because that’s the scariest thing in the world to do.

EIGHTH: SO….

This really should have ended with seven because seven is a perfect, holy, number and that would have been cool but oh well.

So….

What’s your point Ryan? I should read the Bible? I should accept Jesus? I should believe you?

LOL.

All I can say is this: it would be really tempting to end all of this by pointing out all the idiot Pharisees and how much they suck and how great we are who don’t suck and who don't act like them.

But, that would kinda be a Pharisee thing to do.

So, instead, I wrote all of this only so I could look at myself in the mirror and say “Yo, Ryan, where do you act like these fuckers? What rules do you think you follow to earn something? What groups do you love to look down to make yourself feel better? What “beliefs” are all the rage in your head own so that you don’t have to actually get your hands dirty with an actual human?”

But, also to make myself feel better, because, to be completely honest, these Christian nut-balls drive me absolutely insane, and get me really angry, and make me want to throw something or punch someone and then I remember, if the Bible is true, there are no stories about people who were assholes - even to assholes - really getting very far in life. And I’ve been a Pharisee and, trust me, it doesn’t get anyone very far either.

So, be kind. Be vulnerable. Have empathy. And as someone once said the 3 hardest things to do as a human are:

Return love for hate
Include the excluded
Admit you were wrong

Do all of that. That’s what I’m trying to do.

Because, there are all kinds of stories and examples and encouragements of those in the Bible too. Those people find life in the Bible and we all know the Bible is true so it must be true today too.

4 Parties

There are 4 parties in this country, under the guise of 2. And that seems to be creating all of the problems.

1. MAGA. This is no longer a Conservative Party. It’s become its own thing under Trump and does not hold to much of what Conservatives think.

2. Conservative. This is the standard “Republican” party. They think but lean conservative.

3. Liberal. The standard “Democrat” party. They link but link liberal.

4. WOKE. I’m using the word “woke” because it’s seems to work and Bill Maher used it first.

In the same way most Conservatives do not believe the election was stolen, most liberals do not believe that kids should have free access to transition surgeries without parental support at 5 years old

You get the idea.

I’ve found it really nice to throw this out to Conservatives. Most agree and then we can suddenly have a common conversation about the wackiness of the MAGA/WOKE crowd and find that we agree quite a bit.

My current BIG complaint that I could be wrong on.

I believe most liberals would vote for a conservative over a WOKE candidate. I believe most conservatives would NOT do the same. It does suck that we have to choose between either but the fact that most conservatives support Trump indicates they can’t choose a Liberal candidate (Biden) over Trump. Either the MAGA have done a better job lambasting the Woke (I think that’s true) or conservatives are just more frightened of liberals (I don’t think that’s true.)

No matter, can you imagine these 4 parties? Agree? Disagree?

FOMO.

FOMO is not a real thing. So, we can all let the idea go.

A choice, by its very nature is choosing one thing over another, which means every choice comes with missing out on another choice.

So there is no fear of missing out, there is only choosing what you want to miss out on in favor of what you want to experience.

That’s nice.

free will.

Does a chimpanzee in a cage have free will? Yes, it can choose whether to eat the banana or drink the water in the cage but it can’t choose to leave.

It feels like in our discussions around free will we talk a lot about whether we can make a choice but not the spectrum of choices offered to us.

Would it be more helpful to talk about what we’re allowed to choose more than whether we can or not?

Bus or Car?

It seems there are two kinds of ways to look at the world: bus and car.

A bus person doesn’t get to choose their own climate, their own music, or even the journey they take to get to their destination. They are with others…. the happiness of the bus is more important than the happiness of the individual. But, in return, it’s more relaxing, the person on the bus doesn’t have to be as concerned about the weather, the traffic, the engine, the… anything… they get to ride with others.

The car person gets to choose everything. Their own climate, music, path, timing, but in exchange they have to responsible for driving. They have to pay attention, they can’t drink, they can’t sleep or lose focus.

The only danger with any of this is that you can’t have both.

You can’t get everything you want individually and not be responsible and, on the flip side, you can not be responsible and not give up the control of something.

You a bus or car person?

The 1975 Fooled Me. And Inspired Me.

The fame and I went to The 1975 Concert in Seattle last week and wow… if you plan on going, warning, SPOILER ALERT.

First, I love The 1975 - they are my top band from 2022. I listen to them a lot and somehow convinced the whole family that they should like them too. You know I’m convincing like that. : )

But, here’s the short story - and this is not about music because, of course, the music was great.

Matty Healy - lead singer has been very vocal about a heroin addiction and the band coming to him one night and telling him - no more - and the subsequent rehab. He’s been clean for around 3 years maybe?

So, the concert begins and Matty is off. The whole family notices. He slurring his speech, he's drinking out of a flask, he’s mumbling incoherent things when he does talk - which is basically never, and he’s stumbling around. The band looks disgusted.

The whole family is talking about. I’m feeling terrible for bringing them to the show and we’re saying, get your phone out we might see him literally fall off the stage.

And then… about 1/2 way through - yeah it went like this for about an hour - everyone leaves and he starts talking about masculinity. Right wing masculinity and left wing masculinity. He then slumps on a couch, starts to touch himself and then moves to all these televisions with right wing personalities talking. He starts doing push-ups and then crawls into the tv.

Lights go out.

About five minutes before this I say to the family, “Oh my god, this is a fucking play.”

He comes out after going into the tv in a suit, the whole stage they were playing in is brighter and all the band is cleaned up. He’s smiling, he’s saying “Hello Seattle!” and I can’t tell you the relief that swept through the crowd and the subsequent dancing and sheer happiness that permeated everything for the remainder of the set.

And I don’t really have a big epiphany but I do have this: there are really dark things in this world. People suffering. Tragedy. And there are really good things in this world. Happy things. People being okay. And wow, there’s a big difference and part of that difference is just wanting humanity to be “okay”.

I wish someone would do a detailed analysis of the entire concert, b/c I don’t have the time.

Sometimes I think I can forget the good things. I mean, yes, I know they’re there but with the news and the weather and the whatever… we just forget how happy it is to see a human who has overcome addiction and smiling and jumping around and interacting with… me… it’s beautiful.

Also bias is nuts.

I don’t know how much the whole family read into the thing. I’ve watched the show from Madison Square Garden and it doesn’t seem like he’s nearly as drunk in the first half - did we see it that way or did he act more in Seattle?

I guess I’ll never know.

But, damn what a show.

open carry.

Why is it that it’s easier in Washington State to carry a weapon in public than it is to carry a beer?

I think I have an idea for a new initiative. Be on the look out for something to sign.

revenge

Joseph might be one of the greatest of the ancient stories. the thing I love about it how creative and, kind, revenge can be.

Let’s be real, Joseph was cool to his shithead brothers who sold him into slavery. And little did they know he would be accused of going full Jerry Falwell Jr. pool boy (OM if you haven’t seen God Forbid - you HAVE TO!) on a dude’s wife which would land him in jail and then he would interpret dreams and…. yeah… it’s quite a story.

But the best part is when he could wipe out his bros and really make them feel real bad for being assholes, he didn’t.

But, even better, he still came up with a really elaborate plan to hoodwink these dudes and really make them suffer for a bit. I mean he was still full of grace and love but also full of creativity and, you know, drawing this thing out a bit.

So… in the end, I think that’s why we love it. It shows a different way between full out “gonna kill you motherfucker” and “doormat” which is “definitely going to put some effort into getting you scared but still going to love you and be kind in the end.

Beautiful.

babel

Diversity of plants, thoughts, species, viewpoints, ideas, culture, and, of course, language (which sometimes is the catalyst for many of the things just listed) is one of the most important foundational elements of the universe.

Don’t forget that.

Don’t fight it.

flood

The flood. Noah’s ark. Good lord, what a shit show. I mean seriously that story is off the carts ridiculous - more than any other.

Which proves one big thing:

First, though, every religion wants its own story about its own god and will copy others to make it so. This flood story has been around the block so let’s not get too excited.

But, most importantly, the flood story proves…

The, off-the-charts, amazing, sometimes ludicrous and desperate measures some modern religious people will go to make ancient stories literal. There’s a museum dedicated to Noah’s Ark for fuck’s sake. People visit this place. We know people that have.

Are you kidding me?

1. How did all of the animals traverse the distance? Think about a grizzly bear traversing down to… Mesopotamia? And a polar bear? And were saber tooth tigers alive?

2. Let’s say they made it. How did these animals (that survive on each other) not kill each other?

3. Let’s say they didn’t kill each other? How did they eat? All the different foods they would need?

4. Let’s say they were fed. How did they manage cold/hot/humid…. all the environments the would need.

5. Let’s say there was a miracle… how about the animals with lifespans way less than 40 days?

6. Let’s say they did survive. Some might say… well…. there didn’t need to be that many species because all the others came from those foundational species? Like evolution? In under 10,000 years?

7. My god, this is fucking absolutely nuts to literally believe. And yet… so many do…

Alright, so ignore that for a second. More importantly, what’s the story saying?

Nature is wild. It does sometimes create massive floods and mass extinctions. And yet, as crazy as nature is, life is more wild. It always survives. Damn.

And then there’s this lesson: sometimes the biggest mistake someone can make in life is laughing at someone for what you think is the biggest mistake of their life.

cain and abel.

This story is mostly known for its line of “am I my brother’s keeper?” which is kind of a bad ass line to throw back at “GOD”.

Hey, where’s your bro?

What’s it’s to you GOD, am I supposed to take care of this bastard?

Okay, but the bigger point of this story: these two dudes are making sacrifices to God (problem #1 ) and God looks at Abel’s sacrifice as a better one.

Let’s pause here. How does anyone know that “God” appreciates that sacrifice more? Did God come down and say hey, this sacrifice is bad ass and yours kinda sucks.

Nah… you got Abel talking all kinds of shit to his brother about how awesome his sacrifice is compared to Cain’s. Dude you’re bringing wheat… hahahaha what a loser…. I’m bringing fat from my sheep and it’s way better than your stupid veggies.

Side note: it’s like a keto dude telling the vegan how stupid he is.

So, what’s this story about? Stop bragging to humans about how great you think you are and how much better you think are you with your sacrifices to gods. It gives them a good reason to want to take you down because you sound like an asshole.

Cain kills his bro. And he’s real sad about it. And God says nobody better touch this dude or the vengeance will be 7 times greater. In essence, listen you’re never justified to kill someone but also your brother was an asshole bragging about how much better he thought he was than you and also people please stop killing people altogether.

So, this: don’t think you have this god/mystery/religious stuff figured out. Don't brag about how you do. You don’t and instead of helping the world it only makes it worse.

defense matters too

It’s World Cup season and I’m loving it - again. Why do I love World Cup so much? God, I love it.

But, got me thinking about all the people who rag on soccer (football) being too boring because there’s no scoring. Sure, but that’s only if scoring is what makes a game entertaining right?

And I get that generally it is but that’s only because we’ve been told that. I mean how about an amazing defense that doesn’t let an opponent score? Why is that any less amazing than an amazing offense? It feels we’re very susceptible - as humans - to always be drawn to the flashy shiny thing that scores vs the one that often wins, even if it is in a less exciting form.