Welcome to my world (view)

so, why all the religions?
and why do they all hate each other so much???

i remember hearing the old story, people loved god, wanted to do something special for him.
(does god have birthdays? did they know it was coming up and wanted to surprise him?)

they all decide to build a giant tower up to see him.

good idea.

god looks out his kitchen window, see's what is going on, has the same reaction our moms had when they saw us in the backyard, with shovels, trying to dig a hole down to china.
well, a similar reaction, our mom didn't make us wake up the next day all speaking a different language!

so, no one can communicate, they all kind of stumble around until they find the people who are speaking the same lanugage as they are, then they all go off and start new cities and such.

great story, supposed to teach us...
well not exactly sure on that one.

but, for our modern world, to me anyway, the story ended too soon.

so all of these people roam off, start up their own societies, and speak their new langauge and have to kind of start from scratch.

so, god, being all knowing and all loving, kind of figures out that all these new societies will kind of look at things diferently.
(kind of like why do we english speaking people need 26 letters to say the same things that hawaiians can say with 12, or 13?)

god didn't want to punish everyone, he just wanted them to stop building that darned tower.

so, when they make up their brand new societies, and their brand new rules and such, they also come up with their new religions that are easier to understand in the new language.

so, there still seems to only be one god, but there now needs to be new religious practices, and mythologies, that can nestle comfortably into the new societies.

god solves the problem, the tower is stopped, everyone wanders off and kind of starts over.

so why, if we don't mind there being different languages, do we all of the sudden come up with the idea that "my religion is the one true religion and everyone else is going to hell"?
(that's always been one of my favorites, can you condemn someone to hell who doesn't believe in it? where the hell would they go, the quad cities?)

we don't hate people because they speak a different langauge, but we sure as hell want to kill them for not believing like us!

and for the most part, fancy stories and mythologies aside, don't they all just seem to say we should be nice to each other and not screw stuff up?

will the prayer circle be unbroken?

why do bad things happen to good people?
was a book, i think, or close to one.
but it's one of the biggest questions i've been hearing lately.

"oh no, not her" people say, like being good, wonderful, well liked, should keep bad things from happening.

so, bad things happen, to absolutely wonderful people, and everyone wonders why god can allow it.

but then, the prayer circles spring up!
(kind of like witches dancing in the moonlight? don't know)

how does this work exactly.

god, all knowing and all that, should know who is good and who isn't.
(hell, even santa knows that)

so, somewhere there is a disconnect, and good people have bad luck, bad health.

but then, as if somehow it will change events, up pops the prayer circles.

as if god, not realizing just how wonderful someone is, needs a reminder.

kind of brings back memories of high school, prom week.
the vote for prom queen!

is there an "opps" factor in heaven?
a lit up board above god's desk?

"oh, wow, look at the numbers, i let that one get sick, and i didn't realize how many people liked her.
look at those nubmers, the vote is really piling up.
maybe i should fix this...

oh wait, nope, last minute surge in st. louis for that other one!"

what does it all mean.

hell if i know!

buddhist healing mantra, for jackie

Tayata
Om Bekandze Bekandze
Maha Bekandze
Radza Samudgate Soha

The mantra means:

May the many sentient beings
who are sick,
quickly be freed from sickness.
And may all the sicknesses of beings
Never arise again.