A Goodie From Way Back

Today, instead of cleaning my bedroom I've been busy reading old Daily Cud entries. Those old entries are all pretty good, but this one just screamed "Repost me!"

So I am.

The World According To Ruth 

I have been thinking about the comment someone made about me being too old for tarot cards and Wicca. I don't see how you could be too old for either one. Believe me, learning to read tarot cards isn't childish. It took a long time to really know how to read cards without looking up each card in a book. So I decided to write a post about tarot and Wicca, but first I wanted to explain how I think the world works.

As far as I can tell, people are divided into two general groups. The first is the Worm group. They are the people who believe nothing is real unless you can see it or touch it. The physical world is all there is, and once you die your personality or soul disappears and your body is eaten by worms. The other group is the Lab Rat group. They believe that in addition to the physical world there is another, separate dimension, populated by angels and the spirits of dead people who were smart enough to go to the same church they do. These people see the Earth as some kind of torture chamber designed to separate the good people from the bad people. Good people spend eternity floating around in Heaven with the angels, while the bad people suffer eternal torment in Hell with the Devil and his flunkies. To them, there is a clear boundary between Heaven and Earth. We are just lab rats, God is the head scientist, and all the angels are the lab assistants who clean our cages and feed us. 

I don't believe either view is right. I believe I have a physical body, obviously. I also believe I have a soul in addition to my physical body. But I don't think I am either one. I see myself as having 3 layers, body, spirit, and the point of balance between the two extremes. 'Ruth' is just the part of me that is the balance point. Real religious people balance closer to the spirit part, while other people are closer to the physical part. When your body dies your spirit keeps going, and the personality that you think of as 'you' becomes a part of the spirits experience. 

I think Shakespeare's quote about the world being a stage is almost right. The only problem is most people assume that we are the actors on the stage, but we're not. We're just the characters the actors are playing. When the movie is over your body dies, and your spirit is finally able to explain everything to your personality. You see, your life is sort of like one of those reality TV shows that are so popular right now. Not the kind where they put 15 people together and everybody fights to be the only one left, but the kind where there is a poor unsuspecting person who doesn't realize everybody else is pulling some kind of prank on them. 

The problem is, why don't people realize there is a spiritual dimension? It's because the communication usually only goes one way, from lower level to higher level. Your body can give you messages, like 'I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm about to fart,' but you can't tell your body what's going on. If you go on a diet, your body still wants it's burritos and chocolate cake and bag of Doritos. When you eat a bunch of carrot sticks washed down with skim milk you can't explain why to your body. The same thing goes for your spirit. It can't explain why your father left when you were 12, why your bosses have all been assholes, or that you've been standing next to Mr. Right in the check-out line at the grocery store every Tuesday for a month and never noticed. It has a plan for you, and it can give you subtle nudges in the right direction, but it can't come right out and say 'do this' or 'do that'. 

At least not until you die. Once you aren't bound to the physical world you are able to see the truth behind the 'real' world. Why things happen or don't, how your actions affect other people, times when you missed an opportunity to make a difference somewhere. That is what people think of as Judgment Day, except you aren't being judged, you are judging yourself. It's not a question of passing or failing, it's more a matter of learning from your mistakes. Sure, it would be nice to know what is really going on, but that's not how it works. I know what you're wondering about now. What about all the bad things that happen in the world. The big tsunami, the Holocaust, AIDS, toothaches. Do we really need things like morning breath and hangovers? And what about bad people, like Saddam Hussein, Scott Peterson, whoever invented the mullet? Where were their spiritual advisors? As far as I can tell, there is a mixture of free will and fate responsible for most of that. The mullet I think might be the work of the devil. 

Anyway, I see the physical world and the spiritual world as mixed all up together. There can't be one without the other. Just because we can't see or touch something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You can't see the wind, or touch love, but they both exist. I don't know the answers to life's greatest mysteries, but I'm content just knowing what some of the questions are. I believe there is a plan, and I am part of the plan. Maybe I'm not an important part, maybe I'm just a bit player this time around, but that's ok. Next time I'll be the star of the show. The world will bow before my glory.