Let me clear one thing up right now. Being Pagan doesn't mean I don't feel strongly about my personal faith and beliefs. I do. I have a very personal and deeply spiritual relationship with the earth, the universe, and the Mother Goddess. You don't often hear me speak of it however, because faith is an individual thing. It's something that does not come with rights and wrongs and something which doesn't fit neatly within pre-defined parameters. It doesn't come from a book; it doesn't come from a scholar; it doesn't come on a certain day or with a certain sign. Faith can't be explained and woe be to the poor soul who feels the need to even attempt such.

I don't have a religion, I have a faith. There's a world of difference. A religion is a compromise. It's changing your personal beliefs to fit the mold that someone else cast. Nobody really needs a religion. But I think everyone needs a belief. Spirituality rather then religion; ideas rather then doctrine.

Faith is personal. And individual. And something which should never, ever be subject to another's will. My faith isn't up for sale and it's not up to you to understand it. What matters is that it's mine and that, at the end of the day, it brings me solace. It doesn't need to be corrected or changed. Nobody's does. That's the beauty of faith. Each of us views the world through a unique set of eyes. No one else can ever truly experience the world in the same way. As such, each of us has a different shade, a different harmony, a different outlook on faith and what it does - and doesn't - mean to us. And that's beautiful.

So many people in this world want to try to make us all the same. The same race; the same religion; the same path; the same lifestyle. And they forget that our beauty and our strength is in that diversity. How each of us is like a snowflake, one-of-a-kind. And how that's what we're meant to be.

Our views of god, the one, the source, the all, the beginning, the end should reflect that. We should celebrate that each of us can touch the face of god personally and uniquely. For in each of us is a piece of the cosmos - fragments of the stars and heavens themselves. So it is with each of us that we carry forth parts of the completeness and oneness with that which is Divine.

You don't hear me talk about my faith not because it's not there, but because it's my faith. You need to walk the road meant for you and find that which is yours. You don't get to walk my road, bully me, harm me and strip me of that which is ultimately and most profoundly mine. Nor do I get to do that with you. You live; I live and we all decide for ourselves. There's never a cause for forcing our road on another and no deity real, imagined or possible who would wish for us to harm each other so deeply in that way. Live and Let Live. Give hope, not hurt. Give compassion not hatred. And most of all, give room for personal paths and personal beliefs, for in that, we find ourselves and our true strength.

~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream at 3/7/2004 09:00:11 PM ~ ~