Knowledge and spirituality. I have been thinking a lot about this as a couple weeks ago I was in a discussion with someone about it. Though I kept repeatedly saying that both are equally important, she kept saying that all she needed was her faith. While that is her choice and I honor that, without knowledge she becomes biased to her own beliefs.

What do we gain from faith? Security. Feeling that there is something greater than us, something that guides us, so to speak, is inherent to the human race. Not all believe in a “higher power”, but at least 3/4 of the world does have some kind of faith in a higher being.

What do we gain from knowledge? Tolerance. Understanding of our roots. Those who study not only their own faith, but other faiths as well have a greater understanding of how the human mind works. We have an understanding of the roots of faith. In having such an understanding, tolerance generally follows. When we can understand why we have the beliefs we do and where they come from, we become more accepting of all types of faiths.

Knowledge doesn’t have to compete against spirituality. One does not trump the other. Only in our minds, in our fear of the unknown, does knowledge scare us. The fear behind learning tends to be that we’ll learn our beliefs are a fraud. But how can that be? How can true belief (not fact, mind you, but belief) be wrong? How can it be fraudulent when spirituality hinges on personal experience? Knowledge tells us what happened in history. No amount of balking or turning a deaf ear is going to change how religion started. It will, however, open up our eyes to what people of the past believed in relation to what we believe today. We would learn, for example, that all faiths have very similar beliefs. The deities in those faiths may differ, but the core values remain the same. That tells us a lot about the human race. No matter what gods we call on, we all want respect.

Knowledge and spirituality can co-exist. We can have one without the other, but then we become unbalanced. Knowledge without faith can leave us feeling empty. Faith without knowledge can lead to intolerance and hatred, which in turn leads to death and destruction. Either we take on faith that there are other beliefs that are just as valid as our own, or we do the research on the history behind those beliefs, as well as our own. Condeming others because we are scared of what we would find about our own faith (how it started, what early people believed) is cowardice at best.

We all have a choice. What we choose to believe is solely up to us, regardless of what other people think. Whether we choose to study (both our own faith and outside of it) is also up to us. Bringing an end to hatred of different faiths should be on everyone’s to-do list.

Happy Summer Solstice!…well, yesterday….lol. My sis-in-law had come up to visit and we went walking on an old railway trail through the woods with the kids. It was nice to get out and go walking in nature….a great way to show our appreciation for the beauty of all that surrounds us. And on our way back to the car, we got to see a train come in on the tracks that follow the trail. We all waved and the conductor tooted the horn! The boys loved it!

When we got back home, we had a BBQ…hamburgers and cheesy fries…mmmm!

Well, Christmas is almost over (it comes and goes so fast, doesn’t it) and the boys are happily playing with their toys (Furbies, scooters, Magnetix, ect). I’m a bit tired…having stayed up til 4am backing a coffee cake and watching A Christmas Story. ‘J’ got me up at 9:00 this morning…’G’ was already up, and we woke ‘K’ up. The boys then tore through their gifts and about 12:30, we left for my parents house. We snacked and ate dinner and of course visited (with my parents and my sibs), but before we could have dessert we had to leave. The creek that runs across their driveway was flooding from the rain that had been coming down all day…and if we didn’t leave when we did, we wouldn’t have been able to. So we packed a couple plates full of goodies and said our good-byes. Got home and the boys went straight for their Furbies…lol. Now Robots is on (a gift to ‘G’ from his grandma) and the boys are settling down.
Oh, and ‘J’ and I got our gift on Friday…Poser 6 for the computer. Woohoo! We’ve been wanting that program for a while. Now it’s just figuring it out…it’s a rather complicated program.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday…whatever it is you celebrate.

Oh my goodness…I almost forgot to post this! Since today is Yule (Winter Solstice), here is a bit about it.

Origins of solstice celebration
The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5º tilt of the earth’s axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, it points in a fixed direction continuously — towards a point in space near the North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears high in the sky during summertime and low in the sky during winter. The time of the year when the sun reaches its maximum elevation occurs on the day with the greatest number of daylight hours. This is called the summer solstice, and is typically on JUN-21 in the Northern Hempisphere — the first day of summer. “Solstice” is derived from two Latin words: “sol” meaning sun, and “sistere,” to cause to stand still. The lowest elevation occurs about DEC-21 and is the winter solstice — the first day of winter, when the night time hours are maximum.

In pre-historic times, winter was a very difficult time for Aboriginal people in the northern latitudes. The growing season had ended and the tribe had to live off of stored food and whatever animals they could catch. The people would be troubled as the life-giving sun sank lower in the sky each noon. They feared that it would eventually disappear and leave them in permanent darkness and extreme cold. After the winter solstice, they would have reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising and strengthening once more. Although many months of cold weather remained before spring, they took heart that the return of the warm season was inevitable. The concept of birth and or death/rebirth became associated with the winter solstice. The Aboriginal people had no elaborate instruments to detect the solstice. But they were able to notice a slight elevation of the sun’s path within a few days after the solstice — perhaps by DEC-25. Celebrations were often timed for about the 25th.

December celebrations in many faiths and locations - ancient and modern
(Since I’m studying Celtic paganism, I thought I’d just include this one. For more, click here.)
Druidism: Druids and Druidesses formed the professional class in ancient Celtic society. They performed the functions of modern day priests, teachers, ambassadors, astronomers, genealogists, philosophers, musicians, theologians, scientists, poets and judges. Druids led all public rituals, which were normally held within fenced groves of sacred trees. The solstice is the time of the death of the old sun and the birth of the dark-half of the year. It was called “Alban Arthuan by the ancient Druids. It is the end of month of the Elder Tree and the start of the month of the Birch. The three days before Yule is a magical time. This is the time of the Serpent Days or transformation…The Elder and Birch stand at the entrance to Annwn or Celtic underworld where all life was formed. Like several other myths they guard the entrance to the underworld. This is the time the Sun God journey’s thru the underworld to learn the secrets of death and life. And bring out those souls to be reincarnated.”

Winter Solstice Celebrations:
a.k.a. Christmas, Saturnalia, Yule, the Long Night, etc.

In his book, God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism, Jonathan Kirsch does an excellent job of showing the reader just how much tolerance the early polytheistic belief systems had before the onset of monotheism. Even during the time of One True Wayism, the ancient pagans accepted the monotheistic beliefs. It wasn’t until the early Christians disrespected the pagan beliefs (smashing alters and statues, ect.) that things began to sour. The pagan tolerance wore thin, and the Christians suffered for it. Through the next few centuries Kirsch takes us through the tug’o'war of polytheism with monotheism…where in the end, monotheism wins out and we see the biggest purge of non-”orthodox” Christians and pagans yet.

This is a wonderfully written book on the history of when and how polytheism was overtaken and outlawed by the rigorist monotheists and their One True God and how it connects with the way the world is today (holy wars, religious intolerance, terrorists).