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. What kind of story was this supposed to be? "Son of God," crucified by the Humans. Yikes. Crazy. This wee lad was totally confused. WTF?! Seems we should have retired this old story long ago. He lived, he suffered, he died, he rolled away the stone, and flew the coop. Rumor was he'd come back, sit on a throne and rule. What kind of drugs were those story-tellers huffing? 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 the persistance of this old, contradictory, implausible narrative is amazing, weird, and probably a sign of our Human imbecility, fallibity and gullibility. We just want to believe what want to believe. Damn the torpedoes. Our ability to embrace B.S. 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 a way to conduct yourself, and 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 preached Love & Forgiveness, he lived with fisherman, hung out with thieves & whores. He did a few good works. Chased the money-changers from the temple, turned water into wine (party-time!), raised the dead? Hmmm. That seemed like a stretch. Still. Maybe this whole saga was just a cautionary tale? Don't claim to be something you are not? Step out of line, you will be crucified. Do the work, be humble, fly under the radar. Cultivate your garden. Humility. Grace. Love. Forgiveness. You can embrace those things on your own. 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 a fully engaged Human Being. Yes.  Lean to the Light. Embrace the Good. Be Woke. To the max. Not for some reward later on. You will not be redeeming your soul for valuable prizes in a golden paradise. Fuck that. Be Here Now with all your heart, head, & spirit alive in the moment to moment.