The Passage Back to You

Image from beingfirst.com

Lest there be some doubt I've broken through,

Show me now the passage back to you.

Ever in my heart you reign supreme,

In this realm of magic and of dreams.

Craving has been sated once again;

I sit in lucid clarity of mind.

I reach across the gulf to what has been,

Touch more than I had ever hoped to find.

And now the light, cascading, covers me,

And calls me to communion of the soul.

Hypnotized, I'm floating out to sea;

Fragile flight again has made me whole.

To Be a Bodhisattva

“Would you be in any way offended if I said that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection?”

― Oscar Wilde

William K. Ferro here, loving life deeply in every moment...Noble Nature, I salute you!

I'm a big fan of a secular version of the Bodhisattva Vow: To attain ultimate enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a being whose very nature is enlightenment. This can be imagined in natural or supernatural terms according to personal preference. My own orientation is a wholly natural one.

Here’s the Bodhisattva Vow, translated from the Sanskrit:

“Sentient beings innumerable, I vow to save.

Delusive desires inexhaustible, I vow to break.

Dharma beyond measure, I vow to learn.

Enlightenment without limit, I vow to attain.

“As long as space endures,

As long as sentient beings remain,

Until then, may I too remain,

And dispel the miseries of the world.”

When Oscar Wilde has one of his characters say to another, “Would you be in any way offended if I said that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection?” it’s reminiscent, perhaps, of the mechanism by which the Bodhisattva idea got its start. It’s the notion that there are indeed people who seem to embody the traits that the vast majority of civilized people find most admirable: love, compassion, generosity, kindness. One would be hard pressed to find any serious philosophical school, any decent religion, any ethical life stance, that fails to honor these characteristics. 

How lovely as well that an orientation toward other people, an awareness of the well-being of other conscious creatures, is built into the Vow. The enterprise on which the would-be Bodhisattva is embarking on is a program of enlightenment “for the benefit of all sentient beings.” What a gorgeous idea!

Going to Hell

The Pretty Reckless

We know that the Duggar girls are prisoners of an evangelical cult. Imagine them as the victims of another, better-known cult that shares the same twisted proclivity for child molestation and rape. 

Imagine one of the girls escaping as a young teen. She hits the streets, sells her body, does hard drugs. She then returns to her "confessor" (picture the Duggar patriarch -- who apparently insisted that the girls officially forgive and forget their incestuous brother's crimes -- in place of the priest). She proceeds to tell him off like a boss. 

I love this song. (If you don't like heavy rock and the imagery it employs, don't bother with the video; just check out the lyrics.)

*   *   *

(The end is the end.)
(Don't bless me Father, for I have sinned.)

Father, did you miss me?
I've been locked up a while.
I got caught for what I did, but took it all in style.
Laid to rest all my confessions I gave way back when.
Now I'm versed in so much worse,
So I am back again.
And he said...

For the lines that I take, I'm going to hell
For the love that I make, I'm going to hell.

(Heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.)

Father, did you miss me?
Don't ask me where I've been.
You know I know,
Yes, I've been told I redefine sin.
I don't know what's driving me, or put this in my head.
Maybe I wish I could die; maybe I am dead!
And he said...

For the lives that I fake, I'm going to hell.
For the vows that I break, I'm going to hell.

For the ways that I hurt, while I'm hiking up my skirt,
I am sitting on a throne, while they're buried in the dirt.

For the man that I hate, I'm going to hell.

(Heavy with the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.)

Please forgive me Father,
I didn't mean to bother you.
The devil's in me, Father.
He's inside of everything I do.

For the life that I take, I'm going to hell.
For the laws that I break, I'm going to hell.
For the love that I hate, I'm going to hell.
For the lies that I make, I'm going to hell.

For the way I condescend, and never lend a hand,
My arrogance is making this head buried in the sand.
For the souls I forsake, I'm going to hell.

(Married to the devil, you can hear the wedding bells.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmtbg5b7_Aw

An Open Letter to Christians

Dear American Christians,

We humanists don't want to limit your religious freedom, separate you from your god, or outlaw your faith. It would be wrong and impertinent of us to lash out at your religious beliefs just because they happen to be beliefs we don't share.

We believe strongly in freedom of religion, in individual freedom of conscience. We often partner with religious moderates on social and political issues, particularly on the church/state separation that is, as Jefferson wrote, "absolutely essential in a free society." The only time most of us reply with arguments challenging your faith is when you use that faith as a weapon. This form of religiosity is alien to the Jesus figure of the Gospels. We see him always taking the side of those on the fringes of society, and at war with the self-righteous, hypocritical religious leaders of his time. When you use your religion to inflict harm, you're siding with those Pharisees. Men who couldn't wait to stone a woman to death just to score points in a quarrel.

Remember when your faith compelled you to take care of those in need, to be compassionate toward everyone and look out for those on the margins of society? Those were beneficial contributions you made; they had real social utility. If that were still your focus, we would applaud you. And join you: our humanist values lead us to do the same kinds of things. But it must be said that these days, humanitarian activities are not what you're known for. More and more, it's your bigotry that defines you.

You rail against our friends in the LGBT community and do your best to deny them the civil rights that you take for granted. You demonize secularists, accusing them of having no basis for morality and ethics -- a demonstrably specious assertion. You just can't stay out of other people's bedrooms, doctors' offices and other private zones. It's unattractive. It's intrusive. It's creepy.

When your religion compels you to try to deny other citizens equal rights, we won't be silent spectators of the scene. When you spread fear and loathing of minority groups, we will boldly refute your propaganda. When you harass women over their private health care decisions, we'll hit back, hard.

When, as members of the majority religion in America -- with outsize representation at every level of government -- you claim to be victims of persecution, we consider you disingenuous. When you label civil society's refusal to license your unfair treatment of minority groups a form of persecution, we find you contemptible.

That last bit of casuistry is just too offensive to be left unchallenged. Far from being persecuted, you are the ones doing the persecuting. Deep down, we think you know that.

Best regards,

An American Humanist

Lucid Intervals

An Infinite Number of Worlds

It blows my mind that the ancient Greek philosophers like Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus were able to work out a nascent form of the atomic theory of matter. With none of the tools of modern science, using only their intellect and powers of deductive reasoning, they worked out that reality must be composed of indissoluble elements that they called atoms.

Epicurus theorized that, because the atoms that comprise reality are strewn throughout the universe, it's reasonable to assume there may be "an infinite number of worlds." It's uncanny how ancient philosophers, using only logic and deep, communal engagement with the nature of reality, managed to get at realities now confirmed by modern science.

Poetry Collection

I've had a poetry collection published on Amazon.com! Arising from Impermanence: Fragile Flights of the Mind.

The Philosophical Engagement Style of the Fundamentalist

"And if you start commenting on my comment, I will not reply. These are my beliefs and I will stand by them."

The philosophical engagement style of the fundamentalist. "I refuse to dialogue with anyone who sees the world differently than I do."

Why do you suppose all the most civilized countries with the lowest incidence of crime and violence are the most secular? And why are theocracies the most repressive and savage?

Why are the Bible Belt states are the poorest, most violent and most dysfunctional states in the country (with, incidentally, the highest incidence of violent pornography consumption and teenage pregnancy)? The time has come for a mass-emancipation from Bronze Age and medieval bullshit. It's underway as we speak.

A War We Never Wanted

We American humanists now find ourselves in a war we never wanted. We actually believe strongly in freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, but conservative Christians refuse to acknowledge the fact that they live in a pluralist society. Due to their increasingly shrill public screeching of impossible-to-take-seriously ideas about the origin of the cosmos,  of human beings and other things, scientific and philosophical rationalism are locked in a zero sum contest with their supernatural belief system. 

Again, we'd be happy to live and let live (you go sing "Our God Is an Awesome God" at your megachurch, and I'll stay home studying Epicurus), but no, no deal. Not only can they not be happy until I give a big thumbs-up to their nonsense; they refuse to allow civil society to function unmolested. They want to limit the civil rights of their fellow citizens based on a highly selective reading of a Bronze Age religious text; that's where we draw the line. They want to take control of civil government and turn the republic into a de facto Christian theocracy. We have no choice but to engage.