SACRED TEXT

It's not like me to pontificate in public. But I remember when my mother in law was the age I am now and I thought, 'She's paid her dues. She can say what she likes, even if it doesn't suit me.' So, with a clear conscience, I'll allow myself that same indiscretion. I was reading and came across material, ideas that I lean on heavily, frequently. Somewhere on this journey you discover your moral compass. It may be influenced by forces that you can't see but it's what you need in the dark, to know where the sun will rise.  

        My parents were Christians. No coincidence, I grew up in the Christian Church. Between Sunday School, church, vacation bible school, annual revivals and prayers, over food and at the side of the bed; I learned about the Spirit and the temporal. Saint Paul said, ‘. . . when I was a child, I acted like a child. But when I grew up, I put away my childish things.’  But then on another page it said, ‘you must come with the faith of a child if you want to get to heaven.’ I took that to mean; you need to put away your childishness except for when you do not. My parents lived wonderful lives and then they crossed over, into the great mystery. I’m still here. What I’ve come to understand and believe is that change is the nature of nature. What is spiritual for me, in the here and now, is radically different than what I was taught as a child. 

I’ve been thorough the bible several times, some parts more than others. Still, there are other texts that speak to me of the spirit with more clarity. They resonate with my experience and the logic of my understanding and I take comfort there. One of those is, ‘The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese Christian of the 20th Century. He employs a condescending voice, in the tradition of wise men and mentors, with phrasing and meter that mirror other sacred texts. It’s an easy read but dense. It requires several passes for me to make all the correlations. My favorite passage is when he speaks about children. He says, ‘Children come through you but belong not to you. They are life’s longing after itself; that we should not try to make them like ourselves, rather that we be more like them. Their promise lies in the future and we can not go there with them. So, be worthy of them and when the time comes, let them go.’  

I collect quotes. Some people achieve status, one way or another, that gives their thoughts and ideas import, that commands the attention and respect of others. Carl Sagan, (1934-1996) was one of those people. His experience and expertise, his unassuming personality and ordinary language created a bridge where ordinary people could appreciate the intricate realm of astronomy and physics. What he left with us is right there with St. Paul and Khalil Gibran. Anyone who reads novels, even magazine articles, can read Sagan. But if you don’t have time to read his books, his quotes are enough to inspire and consolidate complex realities into straight forward affirmations that leave us better than before. From the book of Carl:

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there, on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”      CARL SAGAN