Blogging Religiously

"The mind is a servant. Don't let it be the master." Osho and others.

Alrighty then. I'm keeping an eye on mine.

A busy week is drawing to a close is what my mind wanted to write, but then I pointed out that a week is just a measurement of time elapsed and as such it can't be busy and I'm certain it can't draw. One must be vigilant.

There are times, though, when it's best to let the mind loose for a stroll around the premises. Some call that exercise. I call it blogging.

And away we go.

Watched a movie this week entitled "The Man From Earth" in which one of the characters purports to be 14,000 years old. He starts life as a Cro Magnon, gets to be about 35 and remains perpetually there. As the movie begins, he is about to take leave for parts unknown and is explaining to a group of his colleagues, all PHD's in one field or another, that he must move on, because as they age and he doesn't, things will get too dicey and he doesn't want to end up being a guinea pig in a lab somewhere. The questions then begin and our hero highlights episodes of his life in answer to them. One of the most intriguing parts is when he reveals that he was Jesus. Yup, that Jesus. He explains that he had studied under the Buddha for awhile and then, believing in the big fella's tenets, he had wandered east and began teaching what he had learned. This drew to him a small following from among the people and big, bad trouble with the Romans. He was crucified by them - hung up by ropes not nails - but used his inner training to slow his vital signs and thus simulate death. After being encrypted, he brings himself back to normal and makes his escape. Unfortunately, his recovery and departure are witnessed by a few others and, Ta Daa, a religion is born.

My own take on the Jesus segment of the film is that it was delivered with enough plausibility to make one think it might just have happened that way. I, however, still subscribe to the Freke/Gandy theory described in their "Jesus Mysteries" trilogy, that Christianity was born from a compilation of earlier Pagan myths and came to fruition during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine when the Literalists split from the Gnostics and Constantine sided with the Literalists, making their version the accepted religion of the Roman Empire.

The film throughout is fascinating and a "must see." It's a small, low budget offering and I suspect it will get limited play for this reason and also because I'm sure the fanatical Religious Right will want it banned and burned.

Having written the above, the monkeymind now ponders what's next? It makes a short leap to this thought, gleaned also, I think, from Osho: There are over 300 religions in the world, but only one science. Science does not require blind belief. It is an ongoing search for knowledge and truth. Those who "believe" quit searching and the truth will ever elude them.

Whoa, that's heavy.

And here comes another. Laughter is meditation. When you laugh heartily there is no thought. If you think, the laughter stops. When there are no thoughts, that IS meditation.

Okay mind... enough! Back in your box. I can take it from here.