In 1958, when I started college, If began to examine my beliefs and realized many of them were not based on reality or facts. The first big kick in my beliefs came from a book with the forward by Albert Einstein, "Man and His Gods" by Homer Smith. In my later years, I found the science, history, and archeology had moved way beyond what was known by the end of the 19th century where this book ends.
However, some of the basic ideas about religion broadly apply still. Humans across all of our history, possibly all 350,000 years of it, have felt and believed in something More. Myths, rituals, talismans, magic, sacrifices, art, and most traces of us show our propensity to seek A Higher Power, THE Higher Power, or an array of Higher Powers .
It was eye opening to me to discover all currently practised religions are very recent - Hinduism in various versions and the Vedic probably the oldest almost 4,000 years ago, Judaism perhaps starting with the Moses story about 3,200 years ago, Buddhism and Taoism 2,600 years ago, Christianity 2,000 years ago, and Islam 1,400 years ago. Compared to human history, all of these are extremely recent.
As a naive young woman, it had seemed to me Christianity had been here for a long long time. But it hasn't. We got a newly ordained woman as our youth minister. She told me I was so spiritual that I should go to Africa and save people. I said to her, Do you mean some woman who is a good person, A good wife and mother, is going to hell because she's not a Presbyterian? She told me that was the case and wasn't it sad? I told her it was crazy and took my membership out of the church. I was horrified that she also condemned to hell those who have been on this earth before 2,000 years ago - all of our ancestors, no matter how good and kind they had been. My mind was in a whirl.
That was the seed of the quest I've been on ever since. It was the seed of this blog and the name I choose for it. Thank you so much for being on this quest with me!
As you read my thoughts over the years, you know my heart and my life and how I live my life are all about The More, about striving to live as Jesus taught. Following his particular path for me is not about the superficial, it's about the goal of becoming as Christ-like as possible. I believe fervently that if we lived his teaching, we would have peace and plenty for all.