"A Definition of Religion" by Brandon Mark Carpenter
Religion [ri-lij-uh n]:
1.) is the attempt of the governing authorities (of whatever time period they happen to arise in with their particular philosophy), to control an individual or a societies spiritual direction/outlook/experience to meet up with a codified and filtered example of another persons (who is considered to be a prophet, savior, saint, or the like) reinterpreted experience and to embrace that alone as the only acceptable form of "spirituality". Reliance on ones own personal spiritual experience, understanding, or connection with all that is or that which happens to be, is generally discouraged unless it meets up with the "acceptable" doctrine of that particular time and philosophy. Through this process of codification religious institutions form a "culturally acceptable" Ideal and along with it its antithesis. When the antithesis is formed by the Ideal then the possibility for "heresy" (the deviance from that Ideal) arises, which is then taught to be feared. Why is it taught to be feared? Because of guilt, fear of ostracism from the community, and death. The imposed Ideal needs the response mechanisms of guilt and the fear of punishment and/or death to receive its power and to maintain its ability to control the minds of the individual, congregation, or culture.
2.) Religion is the loss of the original message of any truly inspired philosopher in a maze of guilt, control, and codification, which in of itself will always breed more of the same in a seemingly endless cycle- all in order to maintain a position of authority over the masses.
3.) Religion is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Poem by Rebecca Jane
Awaiting a bloom
My farewell to you
from my hopes at due
A pale mint green
At dusks arising scene
They're all so brightly high
In life with the blooms so shy
But in time still curling down in depth
In gorgeous spheres of meth
For dripping dreams of painted joys
Lingering so thin like plastic parts of toys
The morning rays ashine
The beauty in the lillies to dine ,
With swirls of hope just flashing by
All these emotions bundled together to deny
Each stem a lie
For each dead in dust to cry
With each bloom a vibrant show
Each leaf in wisdom reaching out to know
With dreams sitting on the edge of every petal
In a mixture of colors so subtle
artwork by Rebecca Jane
An Interview with Payton Pavkov—Dorothea Hudson
1. To be or not to be; what are your thoughts on the afterlife as compared to life.
The Afterlife is only a life after death, for death is only a gateway into another world in which you are a part of The Creator.
2. God -- is there one, or not, or some other way of looking at it?
God in essence is the great being, in which everything within it is an atom within it's infrastructure.
3. What is the meaning of life; or does there need to be one?
Life always has reason, and with a reason anything can have meaning. It is within this reason that we find purpose and meaning. The meaning can be anything, and that gives us a choice. This is what makes humans in the image of divinity. We have the ability to choose our meaning, whereas animals or plants cannot choose its own meaning. However, I believe, the very basis of the reason for life is to evolve for the greater good of all. Which in turn brings morals to the table, thus broadening the subject.
4. How have you achieved inner peace, as far as you have?
The things that bring me to inner peace:
First to give thanks and praise, firstly to the unknown creator, and secondly to it's known creations. Second, to help those in need of help and those that are within my ability to be helped. Last to take care of ones Will, Mind, Emotions and Body. Nothing more.
5. How can others achieve inner peace, or is it a personal journey that cannot be prescribed?
Anyone can achieve inner peace through the three steps in answer 4, but enlightenment is another journey my friend.
6. Mind, emotion, spirit, body -- relationships, importance, hierarchy or none?
Our soul consists of 4 parts (Our Will, Emotions, Mind, and Body) the most important of which being the Will. For without our Will we lack the fire to create.
7. What is love?
Love is the one substance that binds all things known and unknown. It is too great to be an emotion or a feeling that is why we can never describe love through our emotions. But we all know the feelings it brings, lol.
"Insect Recognizing it's Fractional Reflection in the Eternal Web of a Black Widow" by Allen Andrews (Cpt. Awol)
Only my soul can ask the Architect
In forgotten dialects
Her bias wrecked the science 'til
my mind could no longer accept
the answers we expected, so i crept
slowly back into the spiders net
to dance with all the other insects
Rejoicing not in regret
but writhing in the limbo of never knowing
how or why the sun will set
I have always been a drift inside
the belly of this beast
Rising in the east and
Beating my chest,
with a thousand eyes wondering
ever closer to the west.
Should I cease to beat my wings
into the setting sun
I'll hit the Earth and run,
Leave my final breath up to
my heart and lungs
And final words not to my shriveled tongue
But infinitely carried
In the war dances of the ripening
Young.
Cpt. Awol
artwork by Rebecca Jane
"Mysterium Tremendum" by Dorothea Hudson
The Taoist: The eternal Tao is and is not because it beyond words, existence.
The Agnostic: God is or maybe God isn’t because how can I ever know, it is beyond human knowledge.
The Christian: I have faith because I do not know. I have doubts because I do not know.
The Atheist: Perhaps in moments of true darkness, in the valley of the shadow of death even I may be found whimpering a prayer. Goddammit.
The Buddhist: If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him! [Because, to believe in him, you must not believe in him, but your inner self]
The Acid-Head Hippie: We all believe the same thing, man; it’s all the same fuckin’ day, man.
Me: Maybe I just took too much LSD, but I ain’t no hippie. No matter where you stand, the fact of the matter is: Death is the Great Unknown, as much as what was “before” the inception of the universe, as much as how to rectify this crazy, vast, hysterical, fucked-up world we were thrown into. [See: Pacifism is how you achieve Peace; but how do you achieve total Pacifism?] When it comes down to it, we’re in this together, and we pretty much know jack shit [whether or not we admit it]. But as they say, “the less you know, the more you think you know.” And the mystery is absolutely, ridiculously, sublimely beautiful.
