May 4th

Defiance


Every god can be defied.
No choice, no devotion.

There have been many rebels who have chosen to defy their gods. Without this option, there can be no true devotion to a holy concept. For devotion is only valuable when a conscious decision is made to follow that course, even in acknowledgment of the difficulties ahead. Choosing to be a devout person is good. Choosing to defy the gods is also good, for it reaffirms the basic ability of human beings to make choices. We cannot support religions which say that there are no choices.Metaphysical totalitarianism of any kind stifles the freedom we have as human beings. It is not acceptable to have a religion where the alternative to faith is punishment -- that's how you train dogs, not develop people. Spirituality is only great when it allows that utmost freedom to follow it. If we suffer from difficulties, that is not holy retribution, and we should not allow it to create debilitating questions.
If you endure a crisis in your life, it may well challenge your faith. Perhaps you will even respond bitterly to your gods and cry out : How could anything holy permit this atrocity to happen to me? But gods are not our parents or protectors. They are there only to inspire us to be better people. They symbolize the inherent choice of this existence. It is secondary whether we choose belief or defiance. What is precious is that we are always able to choose.

Personal Interpretation


It is up to each of us to decide where to place our faith. We have the ability to sing the praises of our gods or defy them. The idea of gods exists to make us into better people, and in the end, it matters little whether we choose to have faith in the concept we have developed for the divine or whether we have chosen to defy it.  The important thing is that we create our own vision for that greater power that directs our lives and that we recognize that we have a choice. Of course, we must also be willing to  exercise our free will at every opportunity. Adversity will come our way. We should not view it as divine retribution, but as part of what it means to be alive. If we can gain some insight from tragedy, something that can benefit our selves and our world in the future, then we have won even if it feels as if we have lost.