Sunday, February 20, 2011

My Cult

Today I watched “Inside a Cult” on the History Channel as I ate breakfast and later while vacuuming I thought about what my own cult would be like…

Instead of using the shamrock to show the Holy Trinity like St. Patrick did, I would use a pizza to show the symmetry of the divine. A pizza is a perfect circle perhaps representing the circle of life full of nourishment for the body. When this pizza is shared with friends it nourishes the soul with laughter and fellowship. The many ingredients represent the myriad of choices we face every day in life, each bringing a new flavor to the pizza as a choice brings new sensations to our lives.

Many religions limit our choices to good and evil, but so many choices in life are neutral. I personally dislike Bar-B-Que chicken pizza, I do not believe that BBQ sauce is a flavor that belongs on a pizza and yet I know several people who really like BBQ chicken pizza. Are they evil? No, they just wish to experience something different than I wish to experience. Pizza can come is so many forms including: savory, sweet/dessert, meatlover’s, vegetarian, deep-dish, ultra thin, stuffed crust, rocket hot, and cold next day. Whether you like pineapple, Canadian bacon, and mushrooms on your pizza or Italian sausage, onions, and olives you are still sharing in the circle of life and partaking of nourishment, body and soul, with friends. And the very next meal your choices could change thereby changing your experience.

Perhaps Big Lou’s Pizza in San Antonio could be something akin to a pilgrimage seeking a profound life changing experience by ordering the 42 inch pizza.

Then in my cult we would also examine Ben Franklin’s quote, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” As we drank this living proof we would again explore the many neutral choices in life represented in beer choices. Do you prefer Bock, Pilsner, Hefeweizan, Lager, or Ale? In the Bible bread is called the staff of life, if we were to examine beer we would find it is little more than liquid bread. I believe the Egyptians used beer as a means of preserving wheat.

Then by partaking of beer one possible progression would be that women would dance naked about a campfire which is, to me, one of the most intoxicatingly beautiful things in the world.

So in my cult our bodies are well nourished by pizza and beer, our spirits are nourished by the sharing of said pizza and beer and the laughter of friends, and on occasion we may be treated to one of the most wonderful sights in the known world…the female form by firelight.

So who wants to join my cult as I muddle through life?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

It has been a month since I have allowed myself time to sit and write. As is true for every one life has not stood still in that amount of time. So allow me to catch you up to where I am at this point of Muddling through Life.

On December, 10th our beautiful Great Dane, Jetta, was laid to rest. On December, 23rd my sore knee was re-diagnosed from a possible ligament or tendon tear to a broken femur and I was ordered into a brace and to non- weight bearing for 4 weeks. This situation has given me the much needed chance to take a break from working 72 hours a week between the 2 jobs. On December, 29th I began counseling therapy and medication for depression or dysthymia. And amid all this chaos I am continuing my endeavors to reconnect to those people from throughout the years that have been a positive influence on me.

While floundering through existence I find myself still looking for a purpose or meaning to life. I know I have written about the possibility that there is not a purpose to it all and some of us merely exist to support others. And yet I find myself still searching.
Is it possible that life has meaning simply because it exists…I am therefore I matter?
How can we take an ordinary life and make it useful if not for us then for others…a life of service. I recently heard the statement, “A life of service, there is no higher calling.” Do I believe this? I don’t know, but my believing does not make it true or false. I’m beginning to flounder again.

What has meaning in your life? Is it career or family? Could it be our interpersonal interactions? The smile you show to a stranger you pass in the hall? If I have a meaning or purpose in life it would have to be in those interactions with others, my family, my co-workers, and those I call friends.
It is where I feel the happiest and where I feel I matter.

Now how do I take that and make a life of it?