Cruel Mirages



Worse than ignoring a thirsty man is pretending to give him water.



Pretending to possess a connection to a deity doesn't create one.
It does, however, give the pretender a sense of authority
over others. It gives them a false sense of importance.
It gives them the pretense of humility while in fact feeling
smugly superior to their 'unsaved' and 'disconnected'
fellow man. It gives a false sense of one's life and actions
being ordained and blessed by a higher power.

Religion, and its supposedly less-insular brother,
'spirituality', are nothing if not divisive.

Such pretense is only fueled by one's own imagination
and their word. The power of the mind is robust indeed,
and the need to stave off the darkness (and shame, and guilt,
and fear, and emptiness) can create many convincing illusions
within us.

How interesting that, despite lip service to being
servile and humbled, those who fancy themselves followers
of an imagined deity gain a 'connection' to an
all-powerful, all-knowing energy that speaks exclusively to them....

they gain self-importance by virtue of said connection....

they serve as self-appointed leader and spokesperson
for this fictional deity (while somehow always managing to
act in their own best interests!).....

they take a position of authority by virtue of 'teaching'
and editing and controlling others who haven't been
'fortunate enough' to be connected to this power source....

they promote self as a representative of this all-powerful
one, and want to be rewarded and acknowledged
for the good done, but distance themselves from
'mistakes' and 'slips.' Somehow the good is meant
to be recorded in permanent marker, the bad in
invisible ink......

When people suggest that they maintain a connection to
an entity that created life and watches over some--
while neglecting others-- it is the height of selfish
pomposity.

To imagine that man has the capability
of presuming the mind and heart of a deity....to
imagine that some are more important than others....
to believe and act as though there is a special
connection that some are wise or 'good' enough or
insightful enough to establish, while others
are just operating on bad luck...well, it's
preposterous and delusional.

It's fantasy and fairy tale and wishful thinking
gone awry.

It's the kind of illusion that's cruel and petty.
And since we live in a world where the religious
are supposed to have free reign and be revered,
no questioning is permitted. No proof required.
No standards applied.

I say thee 'Nay.'

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