Don't Need a Messiah to Know Which Way the Wind Blows...

Folk #1: Non-practicing Catholic Boy here. Good Friday brings up weird memories. A wee child sitting in a wooden pew, watching an enactment of the Stations of the Cross. Dare I say it? Weird shite. Sure, it was strange theater, but never quite understood the point. Poor Jesus, he seemed to get a raw deal. He was an ambitious Jewish Boy who didn't know his place in the world. Smacked down and brutalized in some crazy-ass entertainment. An elaborate ritual of suffering & guilt. This ritual brutalization came across as oddly celebratory. Crazy. Seems we should have retired this old story long ago. He lived, he suffered, he died, he rolled  the stone and flew the coop. Yikes. What do they call that kind of thing? A wild yarn? An Old Wives Tale? Retire Jesus, put him out to pasture. The embrace and persistance of this old, contradictory, implausible narrative is amazing, weird, and probably a sign of our Human fallibity and gullibility. Our ability to embrace obviously bogus ideas is astonishing. Yes. As I grew up, I gravitated to Buddhism. Meditation. Zen. Seemed much cleaner, clearer, a better way forward. Not so much something to believe in, but way to act in the world. I left Jesus behind, he was a Gloomy Gus who was treated poorly by the powers that be. Sure he did preach Love & Forgiveness, hung out with thieves & whores. He did some good works. Still. Maybe a cautionary tale? Don't claim to be something you are not? Humility. Grace. Love. Forgiveness. You don't need a Messiah to know which way the wind blows. You can work on being an honest, giving, compassionate Human Being  by doing your best to be Human.