Reminisces

It was a little over a month ago when I made a snap decision to attend the funeral of a long-time friend's 14-year-old son, who had committed suicide after battling depression for years.  That young man's picture remains on my desk as a reminder to be aware of what one's child might be going through.  It's especially difficult when our ADHD daughter drives me crazy and I wish I could somehow channel my late mother to get things under control.

This past weekend was the anniversary of my mother's death from cancer.  It has been five years and it still hurts like it was yesterday.  My parents' home remains unsold while my father now lives elsewhere; he once told me he can't bear to stay in the house any more because it haunts him.  He comes to the house only to check on it every week, and when I visit.  I'd happily move into the house myself but it's in an area where having a vehicle is essential - and neither my husband nor I drive.

The last time I visited the house I looked through some of Mom's scrapbooks filled with family photos and anecdotes, and came across a collection of poems that she clearly had intended to publish but never got the chance.  So I published it myself as an E-book in her honour.  It doesn't matter to me if it doesn't sell; what matters is that it's published, and it's out there for people to see.  That's what Mom would have wanted.

For the curious, here's the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/513463

Christianity is Broken

Today's post is credited to a long-time friend of mine Mike Freel who has seen this issue from many perspectives.

Christianity is broken.  Pick your jaw up off the floor and let me explain. Christianity as it is commonly practiced today is broken, or rather, it is incomplete.  It is incomplete because it is the completion of what came before it.  And don't take this the wrong way.  I am by no means saying that a relationship with Christ is broken.  In fact it's the only thing that fixes what is broken about our world. Being saved is the least broken thing there can be.

One thing that a lot of people criticize about Christianity is that it has little to no femininity. And as far as its modern practice is concerned, this is true.  Modern Protestantism has even excised Mary Mother of God from their practice, calling the Catholics idolaters for revering her.  And even the Catholics have turned her into a bland one-dimensional shadow of what she really was and is.  A little statue with as much feminine power and expression as Kristen Stewart.

Back when Christ walked the earth in corporeal form, the divine Feminine was a natural and common part of religion and spirituality.  It was understood that male and female polarity are natural and necessary parts of pretty much everything.  If you study the Kabbalah you will see that this is true.  And it was understood that everyone knew this.  It was also understood that knowledge and book learning were masculine aspects while wisdom and feeling were feminine aspects. So when the books got written down they were written from a male perspective.

This is why Solomon asking for Wisdom from God was such a big deal.  It was understood that he was asking for something that other kings until then had been missing. He saw the need for a masculine and feminine balance to be the best king he could be.

Jesus himself carried a very balanced energy.  His soft loving comforting side was an expression of the divine feminine.  His rage at the temple money changers was pure masculine. Part of the lesson he was teaching was the expression of both the divine masculine and the divine feminine as complimentary to each other rather than opposing. Neither smothering the other.

Christianity is the completion of Judaism which included the Kabbalah and it came at a time when Judaism had lost too much of the divine feminine.  But Christianity focuses almost exclusively on the completion. Yes we are saved by grace. Yes our sins are forgiven. Yes Jesus paid the price. Yes we will enter the kingdom of heaven when we are done here. But what about until then?

I've lived in the neo-pagan religion.  Most pagans have felt this lack of divine feminine in other religions and have attempted to compensate; most have overcompensated and focused only on the Goddess or almost completely on the Goddess. In making the Goddess everything they have robbed her of her femininity. They have forced her to take on every role like a single mother and thus taken away her polarity. This has resulted in a lot of masculine women and feminine men.

Modern Christianity, having just the opposite problem of trying to force every aspect onto their spirituality, has produced a kind of gender neutral un-polarized people. They all seem to shop at the Gap and both the men and women wear the same khaki pants and polo shirts, neither masculine nor feminine.

True spiritual growth (even though we are saved we are still called on to grow and learn) come from both the divine masculine and the divine feminine. A masculine person (be he male or be she female) needs feminine energy to complement his polarity and vice versa.

Men are From Jupiter

One would think we already have enough to worry about with religious extremists kidnapping and violating women, aboriginal women going missing, girls being forced into marrying much older men, and drugs that make it easier for immature frat boys to have their way with unsuspecting girls.

No, now we have people like self-professed sex tourist "Roosh V" who wants to have rape made legal on private property so that women will learn how to protect themselves properly.  Right.  Put the onus on the women.  Because supposedly men can't control their own sexual impulses, or if deprived of their natural urges they will become violent.

How can women truly stand up for the right to control of their bodies if they are continually objectified?  Every sport magazine out there has regular "swimsuit" issues.  Ads for lingerie and swim wear that feature scantily-clad women are everywhere.  Even the comic-book superheroine Wonder Woman wore what amounted to a glorified swimsuit until 2010 when she finally got pants.

Scientists have speculated that humans are not "wired" for long-term monogamous relationships, enabling yet another excuse for men to indulge themselves.  That aside, it's becoming more apparent that an increasing number of men are from Jupiter, not Mars.  Mars was the god of war and embodied valor and destruction, traits that many men still possess.  Jupiter was a sky god, not to mention King of the Gods - but he was also notorious for having many lovers (gods, mortals, even monsters) and causing his wife much grief.

Many years ago I knew a man who practically ruined almost every vacation that he and his girlfriend went on, because instead of relaxing and enjoying the sights he wanted to have sex at almost every opportunity and twisted her protests around to suit himself.  One would hope this extreme is an exception but it isn't.

The objectification of women, slut-shaming, and victim-blaming has to stop.  Instead of women having to learn how to protect themselves, men need to be taught to control themselves.  Otherwise we'll never have true equality.

Religious Violence

A group of Muslim extremists operating in Libya kidnap and summarily execute almost two dozen Coptic Christians, supposedly in revenge for the alleged defection of several Muslim women five years ago.  In the Central African Republic, the resignation of the Muslim leader last March prompted the majority Christian population to begin a campaign of violence against the resident Muslims, resulting in destruction of villages and forcing tens of thousands to flee.

I could go on but the picture is clear enough.  Each side demonizes the other, defines them as sub-human and not worthy of existence, and goes on to kill them while justifying their actions as "God's will" using out-of-context passages from their holy texts.  For example:

"Muster against them all the men and cavalry at your disposal so that you can strike terror into the enemies of Allah and of the believers and others beside them who may be unknown to you, though Allah knows them. And remember whatever you spend for the cause of Allah shall be repaid to you. You shall not be wronged." - Qu'ran 8:60

Or:

"Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed." - Exodus 22:20
"You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you." - Leviticus 26:7

With a highly bigoted atheist father, a mother who was excommunicated from her church because she divorced her abusive first husband, and having been brought up in a secular fashion, I've tried to understand the reasons behind the violence.  I've read the texts.  I've been to church services of many denominations, from Anglican to Unitarian.  I have spoken to people who are Catholic, Jewish, Pagan, Muslim, even atheist, and they all have their respective viewpoints.

It has become clear where all the hatred comes from.  Adherence to the letter of outdated texts, perpetuation of religious stereotypes, and general fear of the unknown.  Humans fear what they don't understand and lash out in a misguided effort to protect themselves.  A quote from one of my favourite TV shows sums it up well: "Wars have burned in this world for thousands of years with no end in sight, because people rely so ardently on their so-called beliefs."

People are entitled to believe what they wish.  However people no longer have the right to harm others for the sake of a book that was written many hundreds of years ago by scribes who were unreliable at best.  Perhaps we need to find some new beliefs.

Best Views in Montreal

The city of Montreal is unique in that it was built on the largest island of what is now known as the Hochelaga Archipelago, a group of islands at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers.  At its heart is Mount Royal, one of the Monteregian Hills.  Both mountain and river afford spectacular views in and around the city.  Here are five of my favourites, in no particular order.

1. Kondiaronk Lookout.  This terrace is named for a First Nations chief who contributed to a peace treaty with French Canada in 1701.  It's located on the south face of the Mount Royal escarpment and accessible on foot or by road.  Visitors are treated to a stunning view of the city and the Saint Lawrence River. On a clear day one can see several of the other Monteregian Hills in the distance.  Photo courtesy www.hsltrip.com

2. Jean-Drapeau Park.  The park is comprised of two islands in the Saint Lawrence River which were once the grounds for the Expo ‘67 World’s Fair.  Today it offers many year-round activities and has great views of the city and suburbs on either side of the river.  One favourite viewing spot is on the Concorde Bridge that connects the park to downtown.  At right is the silver-domed Bonsecours Market which is a focal point of Old Montreal, and Mount Royal rises in the background.

3. Saint Joseph's Oratory.  Mark Twain once wrote of Montreal, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window."  There are still many churches in the city but the best known is Saint Joseph's Oratory which rests on Mount Royal's western slope.  Not only it is Canada's largest basilica but its dome is Montreal's highest point.  Photo courtesy Evelyn Reid. 

4. Lac Saint Louis.  Folklore states that the joining place of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers was named for a young explorer who drowned here in 1611.  Panoramic views of the lake and its islands are accessible from the shores of many of Montreal's western suburbs.  It is frequented by watercraft in the warmer months; boaters can see a unique phenomenon as the green waters of the Saint Lawrence meet the brown waters of the Ottawa River near the centre of the lake. Photo courtesy en.db-city.com

5. McGill College Avenue.  This downtown avenue is Montreal in microcosm: a wide boulevard on which stands steel and glass skyscrapers that are flanked by older granite, limestone, and brick buildings.  The road ends after only four blocks at the gates to the scenic grounds of McGill University, but the view continues up Mount Royal to the cross that stands on the northeastern summit.  The original wooden cross was planted in 1643 by the city’s founder as thanks to the Virgin Mary for sparing the settlement from flooding.  The current cross was installed in 1924. Photo courtesy Denis Chabot.