Unconditional Love (With Conditions)

Manchild here!
Today I wanted to approach something that strikes me as absolute ludicrity. Living smack in the middle of Utah County, I've been exposed to all kinds of parents. The kind who straightout say that they won't love their children under certain conditions, the kind who genuinely do love unconditionally, and those who never bring it up at all. But those about whom I'll be talking (or writing, I guess) are the parents who claim to have unconditional love for their children and those around them, but said love seems to vanish when drugs, alcohol, tattoos, piercings, sex or sexual orientation come into question.

The thing about that is that it's not real unconditional love. It's love centered around the condition that you don't do anything to upset the 'perfect little family' that people seem to think that they have. In my personal opinion, that's not even real love. Loving someone is when you know that you would do anything for that person, no matter what. It has no place in a society where all of those frowned-upon choices dictate how much love a person can receive from the general public. In all honesty I think it's mostly about parents being selfish--if their son/daughter is into drugs, or got in a fight, or got a tattoo, then suddenly that makes them bad parents. But we have choices, just like they do. And some are not choices.

At a certain point it becomes a question of how much you really want to be with a person. Recently my friend, whom I hadn't seen for a month and a half, told me that in that time he met a girl, liked her, dated her, they got together, he found something he didn't like about her, thought it was worth breaking up, broke up, she changed, she wanted him back, and they're dating again. In a relationship where unconditional love exists, you love everything about a person. And surely, if you've found something you don't like about a person enough to break up over, it's probably not something that can be changed within so little time. In an ideal world, we could live and let live. Love and let love.

Philosophy of Religion

THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

According to Manchild

Welcome! If you’re reading this, it either means that I love you enough to let you, or that you’re going through my stuff without my permission. Either way, remember to read with an open mind. Preferably an open, unbiased mind, but let’s be honest: We’re all a little bit biased. That being said, I’m going to go ahead and dive right into the controversy (like I haven’t done that before, right?). Let’s not let this impair our relationship (whatever that may mean between us)!

What is Religion?

I suppose one of the more fundamental questions to be asked at this point is what exactly entails a religion. It’s commonly accepted to be a set of beliefs, standards, habits, etc. to be followed by its members. Several religions are even essentially simply philosophical judgments of one’s own life. Granted, there’s a spectrum in every religion of how well people follow theirs. I know people who follow every aspect of their religion (those people frighten me, quite honestly) and those who take their ten commandments more as ten suggestions. Anyway, now it's time to jump right into the controversy (because I haven't done that before, right?).

Why do we Need Religion?

       Many people beg the question, “Why do we need religion?” Well, the answer you’ll get from that question depends solely upon the person whom you’re asking. Most psychologists and sociologists will tell you that it’s a blanket people use to shield themselves from having to accept a horrible reality. Of course pastors, bishops, reverends, rabbis, ministers, etc. will tell you that we need it to be saved, so that we can go to Heaven. In my own opinion, it’s simply a misperception of sensations that we receive from the world around us. But I’ll get more into that later.

       The truth is, however, that without religion, the world would spin into chaos. People would lose all purpose and direction and society would implode upon itself. We as humans need to know that such a being and philosophy is real. For with most religions, people no longer need to worry about death. Nor do they need to worry about feeling guilt—with some bread and water, their wrongdoings have vanished. Tossed into the idealities are principles that promote spiritual, emotional, mental and even physical health. Why not join up, right? Religion is the country club of human ideology.

The Problems with Religion

This is where I suggest you stop reading if you’re one of my happy church-going friends.

       Oh…where to begin? Having grown up Mormon until I was about sixteen, I’ve seen every angle of the Church possible. I’ve seen it from outside and within. I even believed it for a good amount of my life. However, I try to base my life on several principles and standards. Among them, empathy, intellect, compassion and logic. And when a topic such as religion rolls around, I can’t help but utilize the logical side of my being.

       So I began asking myself the big questions. The questions that spurred religion into existence in the first place. Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a God? Heaven or Hell? After rounding the bases several times with these questions, I landed on Agnosticism.

       And, to satisfy any curiosity, here’s how I ended up answering these questions: I’m a carbon-based life form, the product of millennia of evolution. I’m here because my parents had sex. There is not a God, but a similar presence that governs and dictates all. It holds all of the information that ever was or will be, more commonly known as the Archives of the Universe. Heaven and Hell are solely our need for punishment and reward. But there are no such places. Today, religion has become almost as political as it is spiritual. You see stories all the time of people being beaten, murdered, threatened, mutilated, humiliated, bribed or blackmailed, all too often stemming from religion. For example, the Mountain Meadow Massacre, in which an army of Mormon stormed a Paiute village and killed all but a handful of people. But it’s okay because God told them to do so.

       I recently watched an independent film entitled ‘Jesus Camp.’ It documented the Summer of several Evangelical Christian children as they attended a Bible camp in North Dakota and included a large amount of footage from the camp itself. They had one goal in mind (it seemed so, at least): Create the next Conservative generation. Roughly 25% of the US population is Christian. The head of the Evangelical Church has been seen (in the same documentary) laughing about the fact that he has so much power in politics, simply because of their numbers.

       Separation of Church and State is becoming laughable in certain situations, and even removed from some public schools.

The Christian Glossary

Really, though. If you don’t hate me already, and you’re one of my Church-going friends, stop here. Seriously.

God:      The Universe and its knowledge and Power

Prayer:  A form of meditation in which a person sharpens his connection with the universe.

Spirit:    What people think they’re feeling when at their peak of attunement to the universe.

Repentance:       Purely psychological—just clearing the conscience.

Faith:    The very attunement one has with the universe.

Divine:   When a person successfully taps into the Archives of the Universe.

Miracles:      Attunement to the Universe has granted a person infinitesimally small small access to its power through sheer power of desire and will.

Holy Ghost/Spirit:      Either Archives of the Universe or a conscience, subjectively.

Scripture:    Magic book of ancient secrets with no merit or proof.

Laying on of hands:  This one has significance in that our energy travels through our hands.

Blessing (1): Ritual to prepare food or initiate some sort of activity, to bring joy, safety and wisdom. A prayer.

Blessing (2): Tapping into both the universe and one’s own energy to heal or prepare someone. Whether or not it works depends on the ‘faith’, or attunement to the universe, of both the giver and receiver of the blessing.

Baptism:      The idea that dipping someone in magic water will make them morally perfect. Sorry, this one is utterly ridiculous to me.

Heaven/Hell:       My own belief is that people will ‘live’ in a world that they genuinely believe that they deserve at the end of their life. However, this seems to me like a way for people to justify hatred, and a way to convince themselves that people will receive some sort of punishment or reward for their deeds in life.

Spirit/Soul:   Exactly what they think it is, save for its ties to religion. Your being, as distinct from your body. Essentially the living quarters of the mind.

My Personal Beliefs

What perceive to be God, or whatever deity it is in which they believe, it is actually the universe itself. That is to say, every particle that has ever existed. It is omnipotent and omniscient. It is omnipresent and very real.

Utilizing Its Power

       We as humans have an inborn ability to connect and adapt to the things around us. People are generally unaware of the fact that the universe is not unlike our own environment. In history, you hear of miracles performed by prophets and leaders, but generally it’s quite evident that these people were being helped by the universe. Having no way to explain their own works of awesomeness, people usually thank God, simply because they’ve been indoctrinated of his omnipresence and omnipotence. Why shouldn’t they, when they have no other name to attach to that mysterious power? What I’ve named ‘Attunement’ to the universe can explain all of this. When one becomes attuned more and more to the universe, he/she gains more and more access to its power. A combination of attunement, willpower and sheer desire are a relatively powerful method of aligning the universe’s path to your own. The universe, having no feelings, won’t recognize the desire itself, but resistance to its own being. If the attunement and resistance are powerful enough, it will submit subjectively, depending also upon how it would alter the paths already set for the universe’s inhabitants.

Attunement

       How does one ‘attune’ him/herself? Essentially through what most religions perceive to be ‘faith.’ Meditation is an incredible source of attunement with proper usage. I strongly believe in the presence and influence of Chi (life force energy), and when meditation takes place, one’s Chi is doing its best to attune to the universe. At that point, all we have to do is let it.

Archives of the Universe

       The Archives hold all of the information that ever was, is, or will be. The Big Bang, having initiated in such concentration, already held all of this information, because built into that explosion was everything and everyone. Our likes, dislikes, tendencies, choices and preferences. What people usually call divine revelation is generally a sudden tapping into this information.

Anyway…

       Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against religion itself. It just saddens me to see people do what they’re told regardless of what’s right, rather than doing what they know is right regardless of what they’re told.

       “Distant Vision” by Kansas is one of my favorite songs. And though my application of its lyrics likely doesn’t match their intent, I feel that it applies well here: “To the kings I gave the mission, in the hopes that they would share, in the joy of setting countless captives free. But the lust for gold and power was luring them away, from a calling that began in purity.” Religion was always (ultimately) intended to be a positive, uplifting power. But people take it to extremes, leading to horrible tragedies such as the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, the Mountain Meadow Massacre, or even 9/11.

       When this happens, it’s usually because the leaders of such organizations have gone corrupt themselves and religion becomes solely political while telling its members that they reap spiritual benefits in following its teachings. By doing so, religion came to rule entire countries. Most of Europe is Roman Catholic, due to many acts of their church.

       The political issues follow even into today’s society. For example, Proposition 8 got over 90% of its campaign funding from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, they claimed only to have donated around $2,000. They made deals with popular Christian leaders to stand as icons and figureheads so that the church itself wouldn’t be seen having a hand in the politics. It became extremely corrupt.