heaven

Could this bug know more about enjoying life than we do? And by the way...does anyone know what it is? We have had these in our house for 2 winters now and don't know what they are. They are sort of greenish and brown, they don't hurt anything and they kinda smell flowery when you touch them. We call them Herbie for Herbie the Love Bug. If you know...let me know...just curious.

I don't know why this is in a different font or underlined so just forget that part. I called this post heaven b/c I just read a really good book by Jodi Picoult called Change of Heart. She is by far my favorite author but this book just really got me thinking. That was her intention by the way so I guess she did good. It is about a guy on death row. He wants to donate his heart to a little girl that desperately needs one and the story in pure Jodi fashion is told by 4 of the characters. This flower you are looking at and the next one are a pink geranium that I planted in a huge planter and has done exactly what is was supposed to and grew to a huge height. The blooms in the last few days were just too gorgeous to not share...so I am.

So why heaven? I have been wondering about this place for as long as I can remember and wonder if these beautiful flowers aren't heaven...right here on earth. In the book I mentioned it asks where heaven is and one answer is that it is inside you and outside you. A very simple answer that makes much more sense than golden sidewalks and milk and honey, many mansions, etc. I have been asking questions my whole life. I have annoyed teachers, both scholastic and religious b/c I don't seem to be able to just take someone else's word for my beliefs. That is the whole point of this book so it really hit home for me. I couldn't stay in the Christian church as a young person because no one could or seemingly wanted to answer my many questions. I joined the Baha'i faith because one of their principles is "individual investigation" yeah well, that turned out to be half true. You could investigate all you wanted but the only answers that were provided were quoted scripture. That just didn't sit with me so I left the religion behind never to be involved with another organized or unorganized religion. I did take up Shamanism for a while and it served me well for a time as it is individual and you get the answers that are only right for you. Why don't I still practice that? I am not entirely sure except that it didn't seem right for me any longer.

This was given to me 2 christmas's ago and a friend of mine told me that they wouldn't live past their season because of how they were grown in the nursery. Well, I guess this one proved to me that asking a question and getting an answer (that I don't agree with) may show to me that I can find things out for myself and form my own new belief in that area of life. This dude is thriving and it is still in the original little pot that came from the grocery store where it was purchased.
One of the things that Jodi brings up in the book is the Gnostic gospels that many haven't ever heard of but were written at the same time as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John but were hidden away so that the Orthodox Christian church could be formed in a more controlled manner. There were many different schools of thought at that time and it was probably a bit chaotic so those in charge made it much simpler. The problem was they left out some pretty cool teachings one of which is that religion by definition had to be personal- and that if you simply believed what others told you to believe or said the right words during a church service or just got baptized, it wasn't enough to reach spiritual fulfillment. Above all, the Gnostics said, ASK QUESTIONS!! and so they were labeled as heretic and disappeared...until 1945 when 2 brothers dug up the ancient gospels by accident. The biggest thing that was lost in these gospels was the belief that people might reach spiritual enlightenment in a variety of ways, rather than one "right" way.
I recently went to a Jewish service and felt the same thing that I do at a Christian service...this is the only way to God so you better join us. I don't think so folks and this book has been a great reminder of what I already believe and I appreciate this author very much for helping to bring these thoughts to light...so to speak.