Losing Their Religion

pt. 2 Questions are asked.

As you know from my background, I grew up with a strong Christian "training." When I moved out of my parents house, I suddenly had the freedom to explore my spirituality. At the time I had moved to Lafayette, and began to settle in to it's "laid back yet somewhat-progressive" atmosphere, I had already asked some questions. They were cracking the shell of the myths I agreed to believe as fact. Most of the questions were sparked from the highschool and early college debates we would have on which religion is better, or whether God exists or not. Those debates suddenly seemed pointless after I asked this question:
Why are the outcomes of these subjects, and others like them, always inevitably futile?
The answer:

1) The majority of religions teach that their path is the only true path.

2a)Many of the people in the discussions have not educated themselves on the subjects, they only debate what has been ingrained in their mind, which most often is; "faith can not be questioned or reasoned with." Hence, the failure to communicate the roots of their belief structure, which is most important. It is very difficult to fully understand any writing if you do not understand the context in which it was written, and to understand you must ask questions.

2b)Most religions teach of supernatural beings, of which there are many stories but no solid proof.

3)Most religions teach to reject anything that is not of their specific religion.

I would watch, and sometimes participate, in those debates that would loop for hours. The same arguments would come up many times over. I would joke, at times, by saying, "Hey, I'm going to have a religious debate.", then I would run around in circles.
I began to wonder:
What could be the thing that would cause these discussions to go into a direction of agreement?
My answer: a common ground.
I felt that both sides should compare rather than contrast in their debates on religion. I later began to see spirituality as a piece of fabric, and religion as the pattern on the fabric. The idea is to look at the differences and weed those out, resulting in a match of ideas, i.e. The Truth. This would become the method I would use to investigate all my future inquiries; and later, build my spirituality from.

I read a few different versions of the Bible, the Koran, I Ching, and other religious text and literature, including many Native American and tribal ideas on the subject matter. Many of the ideas were similar, most of the differences had to do with history and the details of the supernatural being(s). The main similarity is LOVE. Love for one's self, for other people, and most importantly, love for everything surrounding you. The Beatles had it right, "All you need is love. Love is all you need." Love has always been a great thing to focus spirituality on.

So, again, what is my spirituality?
It is simple, dynamic and adaptable to situations.
It is love and compassion.
It is being non-judgmental.
It is patience.
It is going with the flow of the natural order and cycle of life.
It is understanding and accepting.
It is silence.
It is respect.
It is moderation.
It is truthfulness.
It is acknowledging the surroundings.
It is responsibility.
It is laughing and good times.
It is being content.

By remembering and practicing these principles as frequent as possible, I have seen significant change in my life. Life has almost become effortless. I know that things that are supposed to happen, will happen. This does not mean, however, that one should turn into a spineless, unsociable, wimp and wait for everything to fall in their lap, because not everything will. A certain amount of wanting and aggressiveness is needed to survive in this life, but taking a step back and thoroughly examining the situation, before you act, should be the procedure taken. Decisions and actions made in haste often end in turmoil. If and when a situation arises where a quick decision, and speedy action needs to be taken, always look to your instinct, that is what it is there for.

My spirituality may not seem like true spirituality, but it is. By living my life in this way, I am able to connect to the energy, the soul, of everything around me. I believe God is the amalgamation of the energies of everything. God is the sum total of everything that exists. If you hate, despise, or discriminate against anything, then you do not have God. Also, if you live for the after life, you are sure to be unhappy and possibly disappointed. I don't know if "Heaven" and "Hell" exist, I am skeptical about the whole thing, because the same people that came up with the idea of these places are the same people that believed that Earth was flat, and not bathing is good for you.

I hope that this has been helpful. It is important that everyone remember and understand that happiness, peacefulness, contentment, and all of the other good stuff comes from you. The best way to change something is to start with yourself. Also, I like to remember karma. Whatever you give, you get back.

Peace, Love, and Patience.

I would appreciate if you would leave me comments and questions about this subject. My email is stark.tim@gmail.com. I am planning on writing a third part to this series, it will contain books I have read that have influenced me, and answers to specific questions that people ask me.

Losing Their Religion

pt. 1 Getting to know me
I have been asked to write about my religious and spiritual beliefs.
First off, I do not practice organized religion. I believe, because of our adaptatious human nature, our belief structure and compassion should change with our surroundings. The beurocracy of most religions impede the necassary changes needed to keep the creeds of peace and understanding. This often results in close mindedness, biased compassion, superiority complexess, prejudice, etc., which spawns hate and martyrdom. The pattern has shown itself multiple times in the past few thousand years.

Some personal history: I was brought up in a very conservative, Christian family. I was not allowed to see, hear, touch, say, eat, drink, etc. anything that was not "of God." We went to church twice on Sundays(starting with early morning sunday school) and on Wensday nights, as well. I also attended school at the church, all the way up to the eighth grade, when I started attending public school. That was about the same time we left that church. My family was poor, due to the fact that my dad was an artist by trade and passion. We were going through some very, very tough times. We had no money for food; my aunt worked for Quaker Oats at the time, she donated 150 boxes of Captain Crunch to help us out in our hard times. The cereal was recalled due to defects in the toys, which were all thrown away. We ate that cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for nearly a year. Every so often my parents would treat us to soft tacos at Taco Bell. During this time, our church had a meeting with my parents, they were angry that my parents weren't tithing. We couldn't believe they would treat us like that after so many years of loyalty. They were interested only in building on to their church.

We started attending a small church. The pastor was an old friend of my dad's and they are still very close. This church was great because, the pastor had a hard life growing up. He had problems with drugs as a teenager, then he went to Vietnam as a field medic. He has great stories and understands people from experiences with them, not reading about them in the "preacher schools." The church services were very enjoyable, he believed in the "make a joyful noise" part of the bible. Sometimes he would play his guitar for the whole service, forgetting about the sermon. Other times he would go off on rants for hours, he was filled with so much energy and passion. There was one service, on a Sunday night, that was most unique. The service started off as normal with praise and worship, then he prayed, as most churches do, then laughter broke out and went on for two hours straight. Everyone in the church was just laughing and crying. We all left the church happier and feeling more free than we had ever felt in our lives.

Because my pastor's beliefs were true to those of Christ's, the church began to suffer financialy. We had to get a building with cheaper rent. So we moved to the industrial part of town into a building that was used as a strip club. In fact, the poles were there the first few months of service. The bar is still there, but they use that for pot lucks and things like that.

Since then, I have moved to Lafayette, the church is located in Sulphur, La. I stopped going to church because I knew I would not find another one like what I had there. After moving, I had the chance to start really exploring the questions I have had since a young kid. That was four years ago, I feel I have made great progress.

Part 2 will contain questions I have asked, what I did to get the answers, and the answers I have gotten thus far.

Take A Deep Breath and Read

Close your eyes...And go back...

Before Myspace {or blogs}...

Before the Internet or the MAC

Before semi automatics and crack

Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...




Way back...



I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk.

Red light, Green light.

Playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on.

Mother May I?

Red Rover

Hula Hoops

Running through the sprinkler

Happy Meals



Wait...

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons, power rangers, ninja turtles

or what about legends of the hidden temple, global guts, double dare, and who

could forget Snick and All that with Kenon and Kel.

Fat Albert, Road Runner, Smurfs, Picture Pages, G-Force & He-Man Wonder Woman

& Scooby Doo Underoos

Playing Dukes of Hazard

Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar

Christmas morning...

Your first day of school

Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses

Playing fairies and indians in your back yard.

Climbing trees

Getting an ice cream off the ice cream truck

A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers

Jumpin' down the steps

Jumpin' on the bed

Pillow fights

Runnin ' till you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt

Being tired from playin'

Your first crush...

Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7UP" in the classroom Remember

that?



I'm not finished yet...

Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer

Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school

Class Field Trips

When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a Miracle.

The tooth fairy was awesome because you got money from her.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry

groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When your parents took you to McDonalds and you were so cool.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate

that awaited a misbehaving student at home.



Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by

shootings, drugs, gangs, {terrorists, our government}, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are

still afraid of em!



Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!"



I want to go back to the time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"

or "ooooo...ma ma ma maaa...im telling.." meant you did something bad

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "monopoly"

Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening



It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

Being old, referred to anyone over 20.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at

the amusement park.



Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.



Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.



The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!



Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...



I DOUBLE dog DARE YA!!!!!!

Linked to sausage, grandma may pay $50,000.

73 year old grandmother, from New Orleans, sent to prison with a $50,000 bond for "looting" $63.50 worth of food and other items. She is accused of breaking into a deli via a window, the diabetic woman would have had to jump over a counter to get to any of the valuables she allegedly stole.

$50,000 bond for $63.50 worth of survival goods? Is this right? Why not make her pay the $63.50 back to the Deli owner, who does not even want to press charges?

The police arrested the grandmother because they were too tired to go after the actual looters, who all ran away. The woman was arrested, as she was walking, to her car to get sausage for her and her 80 year old husband.

I wonder if the police confiscated the sausage?
If the woman is convicted and forced to pay the bond, will any of the money go to relief efforts of the hurricane? If so, a statue should be erected in her honor.

Will she get a $2,000 FEMA card? Or does she no longer qualify?

Be a safe blogger,

learn the do's and dont's.
Don't forget to pass these along. We don't want our first amendment right to be our demise because we were uncareful. Happy blogging.

The panties are still outside of my apartment, although, they have moved down the breezway a few feet. They still make me smile when I walk past them.

I told Kevin O'Day about the panties, he laughed. Kevin is a very successful drummer who was living in New Orleans. He was in bands such as Iris May Tango and, more currently, Have Soul Will Travel. He and my drummer are very good friends, so we all went down to the City Bar on Jefferson and had a few drinks. We discussed everything from politics to downloading music over the internet to drum cymbals. Since his home turf is underwater and contaminated right now, he has made plans to go and try to make a living in Austin for a few months. I wish him the best of luck, but I hope he and one of his bands has time to come to Lafayette again, soon, so I can be entertained. Not that I am lacking entertainment now, because I am definently not. It would just be great to watch him play again, since it has been quite a few years.

Krissy, my drummer's girlfriend, asked me why I have not used a stick or something to pick the panties up and throw them away. I replied, "Because they still make me happy."

George Bush Don't Like Black People

This roots rap is sure to become an anthem.
In my opinion, it should be changed to 'George Bush Don't Like Poor People', but I figure it gets the point accross more effectively this way.

There are currently a pair of panties outside of the door to my apartment. I do not know who they could belong to. They are pink and yellow, with pink and yellow flowers on them. I saw them for the first time last night. They made me happy.

I was already in a good mood, because my band practice had gone well. We did not do a lot of rehearsing, mostly because our drummer was sick and could not make it, and also because Charlie (solo guitar player) brought a bottle of Southern Comfort. I do have to admit that SoCo is my favorite liquer to shoot. We actually spent most of the practice sitting outside taking shots and talking. We talked about many things. Things I have always wanted to deeply converse with my band about, but that we very rarely ever do. Subject matter being mostly about the present state and future ideas of the band itself. We are at a point now where important decisions need to be made, and goals need to be set and agreed upon. It was a good feeling to be able to sit down and talk to the guys, honestly, about the way we feel. It was a great bonding experience, and I think our music will start to reflect it more.

The past month or so, the end of August to the present, has been a great time of learning for me. I have gained an incredible amount of insight of myself on a very personal, as well as, a public level. At 24 years of age, I know that in a year many new opportunities will arise for me. Past experiences have taught me that it is important to prepare for these kinds of opportunities, to be able to get the most out of them. I know what things I need and want for my life, and I know why I want them, the time has come for me to look into myself to see how I will get them.

Last night I lifted the bottle of Southern Comfort high in the air, under the waning moon, and toasted, to myself, the begining of a new chapter of the book I call Tim.

The significance of the panties, outside of my apartment, is still undetermined, as well as, being a mystery to who the owner may be.

Only good beer for this bear...

and lots of it, too. Read here.
You know I always say, 'Why drink the cheap stuff when you have claws?'

In a New York Times article

With some areas still underwater two weeks after Katrina came ashore, Mr. Bush brushed aside reporters' questions about the federal response to the storm, saying that now was not the time to assess where the government role in the relief effort had gone right or wrong.

"I know there's been a lot of second-guessing. I can assure you I'm not interested in that," he
[Bush] said. "What I'm interested in, is solving problems. There will be time to step back and take a sober look at what went right and what didn't go right."

A link to the video is on this page, second article.

Well, Mr. Bush, this would have been the time to step back and see what went right and what didn't. Thanks to you and your staff, the time to observe and discuss has been delayed. Why should you have to wait to take a sober look, are you drunk now?

No, actually, there has not been a lot of second-guessing. It is more along the lines of twentieth or thirtieth-guessing.

Tired. Oh, so, tired.

Blah! I cannot get to sleep. It is about three in the morning, and I have only been awake since three in the afternoon. That's right I slept late, but not because I am lazy. Oh, no, quite the opposite, in fact. I got up about four yesterday morning to take my mom to the airport. She flew out of Lafayette Regional Airport to meet up with her mom, dad, and brother at her grandmother's house in Maine. My great-grandma is, or near to, 105 years old. When you get that old, you can really stop counting, I'm sure. My mother is there now, and I hope she is enjoying her lobster and corn.

The past few days I have been in a state of pondering. I have been spending the sunsets at a park, very close to my house, sitting on top of a hill, near a maple tree, facing the tennis courts. I have let speculations of the present and future run around in my head. At times I would lay down and stare into the sky, completely oblivious to the fact that I know of the existence of airplanes. Until, one flew by. I would try to fathom exactly how this most recent disaster is going to affect everyone, in the long run. I have pondered ways to change certain reoccuring patterns in my life. I thought I might have finally found an escape from the pattern, but, after tonight, I almost feel like I am still subject to those heartbreaking cycles. I hope not. I hope this time will be different. I am trying harder this time, I am caring more this time, I am thinking more this time. I hope the results will be everlasting. Only time will tell.

I was going through some old poetry I had written over the years, I found one that illustrates the way I see my ideal relationships. I found it interesting to read, because I still see spending time with my special someone in the same way. I figure we all have a certain way we see romance, and it never really changes as we get older. This poem confirms that for me. I remember the exact night I wrote it. I was about 15 or 16 years old, and my family was driving out to Florida to visit my grandparents. We had taken one of the back seats out of the van, and laid a mattress down to rest comfortably on. I was laying down on it staring out of the window. There was a full moon, and it was illuminating all of the clouds around it. One of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Anyway, the words instantly started to form in my head, and so I wrote them down. I am glad I did. So without further ado:

My World With Me
By Tim Stark

Come stay in my world with me.
We will watch the clouds roll by,
And the moon shine bright.
We will listen to the music's
Sweet delight.
We will keep out of the light
And sing our love's song right.
Come stay in my world with me.

With my arms around you
We will stare silently at the moon
Deep into our own reflections,
And we will rest so contently
In our blissful vibe
And our mutual satisfaction.
Come stay in my world with me.

And I will strum on my guitar
The notes of who we are,
Which will fill the air around us
And you will listen to the sound
As you slumber on the ground
Feeling the warmth of our love.
Come sing my world with me.

But if you feel the need to go
For maybe a day or so
Don't be frightened to tell me
For I will understand and
Let go of your hand
Because, love was made to be free.
Remember your time with me.