On Being Gay and the Challenge of the Spiritual Path

Can Homosexuals Be Religious?  That has been a question for the ages, it seems.  Looking at most religious movements these days and their attacks against the LGBT community, their refusal to support Marriage Equality, as well as the many protests that this has created from both the "men of faith" and the LGBT community, it would seem that a compromise cannot be made.


It is a sad fact that 'queer' people are turned away from all forms of spiritual expression as a result of the bigotry that can be found in many parts of the world.  Many religionists whom are already in fear or hatred of the Gay Community and then take misinterpreted verses from books in the Bible such as Leviticus and Paul's Epistle to the Romans and immediately jump to the conclusion that homosexuals are hated by God and, as such, have no place in their churches or places of worship.  From this has caused widespread atheism for so many gay people that it would make one think that all religions hate a large minority group within the country.  Unfortunate.


While I could very well place an argument against Bible-invoked bigotry, stating things such as:  The Biblical Jesus never said anything against gay people; King David in the book of Samuel had a same-sex coupling with Jonathan, the first born son of Saul; and that the few biblical verses that attack same sex coupling had nothing to do with God's disapproval, but instead reflect the plights of the early Jews and Christians trying to separate themselves from the pagan religions of the time (whom did practice same sex bonding)...  That is not the intent of this post.  (However, I encourage everyone to do their research on these matters before jumping to rash conclusions.)


I once told a man I was interested in dating that I was a very religious person and I could not believe the reaction I received from him.  This man called me foolish because religion (and I think he meant Fundamentalist Christianity) specifically forbade homosexual activities and that I shouldn't waste my time pursuing a divinely inspired life when I would only be hated for doing so.


I asked him:  "Which religion are you referring to?   As far as I can tell:  Unity Church,  the Episcopal Church, Wicca, Hindu Tantra, MCC Congregations, Native American Spirituality and certain forms of Judaism are all VERY accepting towards homosexuals and there might be many more faiths that I have not thought of. "


In the end, it did not go well for my seduction of this man, but hopefully, I had given him some food for thought.  There are many religious movements that are openly accepting of homosexuals.  Just because we see lots of press from powerful congregations spewing hatred towards the gay population does not mean that all religion is dead to them.


But it goes further than this, for if a gay person decides just to affiliate solely with a pro-gay religious movement (let's say Wicca for this example), it creates other problems in that person's life.  Given the above scenario, yes, the homosexual finds satisfaction with his path, but at the same time, he is still exposed to the paths that despise his minority group.  All that creates is a spiritual duality of "My God is better than your God."  I find that we can go much further than this.


It is all well to find a niche of faith in which a gay person can be comfortable with his personal expression of divinity, but we can ascend beyond this point even more so.


In the Gospels, Jesus gave two commandments which he claimed contained the fulfillment of the old laws of the Pentateuch.  He said to "Love God with all your heart and all your soul" and to "Love thy neighbor as thyself".  And what does that mean?  It means that Love is the fulfillment of our duties in this world and with our highest selves.  And while it is regrettable that this train of thought is not more widely accepted in our world, it does give us an ideal as how to proceed within our lives.


Eventually, we must come to the ideal that God (in whatever way you view Hir) loves us despite how different we are from each other.  And from that omni-benevolent love, we can pour forth that kind of love back to our higher natures as well as to all others.


Then religion does not become a moral creed for daily life, a cultural phenomenon amongst a wide mass of people, nor a group of institutions that control the masses.  Instead it becomes a calling to our own self actualization, faith becomes a pathway to our highest selves.


And from that, gay people can look at God and feel security and hope that they are not forsaken by the divine source.  They can know that they have as much purpose as heterosexual people in the knowledge that they are showered with divine love without limit, despite how difficult life may seem at times.


As far as I view myself and my fellow gays, I go by the Native American viewpoint that homosexuals are in fact Two Spirited.  That we have a male and female spirit within us by virtue of our design.  The Native Americans not only considered their gays to be a third gender with a unique place in their society, but also considered them spiritually advanced because of their spiritual members.  For the most part, Two Spirited people, given their nature, were better candidates for shamanism and spiritual counseling.  We were important within the tribe.


Sadly, many gay people are left without such ideas.  Most lean towards atheism in the thought that religions are out to get them.  The idea that God is Love sounds like rehashed nonsense that is never practiced, while other ideas confirming a gay identity in a spiritual context are left unheard.  This must stop.


I have met several gay people that have had spiritual lives even more active than my own.  Gay men who serve active roles within churches as either employees with earned reputations and even as clergy of their groups.  I have even met a few gay men who have even enjoyed lives as spiritual counselors.  These men are pioneers in their own right and I heartily celebrate them.  


In my own life, I have seen countless prayers (and spells) of mine answered, I have enjoyed mystical experiences which have led me to rise higher on my journey, and I have even enjoyed many talks with my own Highest Self, leading me into greater and greater illumination.


I know for a fact that homosexuals are more than competent at developing their spiritual faculties and having amazing godward lives.  Their orientation does not make them to be some downtrodden souls.  It shows them just how far they can rise.


And I wish this on all.


LVX Amor!

On the Divine Powers and the Problem of Evil

Yes.  It has been a very long while since I have posted on this blog.  Many things have been happening in my life.  Some that have not been for the best and many more experiences that have shaped me into a much better person.  Regardless, I have grown and gained and now I wish to share some of what I have learned in hopes that a reader may be inspired just as much.  So here goes.

In most of my past entries on this blog, I have written about Man's Divine Potential and similar topics and that is not about to change with this post.  But now, there is further work (at least for me) than simply contemplating a higher ideal.  Much more.  For many, there is knowledge of a life that can be lived in power, liberty and grace; and yet this often clashes with what most see in the world around us.  Many people will say that how can humanity be godly with so much discord, strife and just plain evil in the world?  How can there possibly be a divine man amidst the ignorance, hatred and fallibility of so many societies in our world?  How could I possibly know that I am an heir of God Herself, and yet fall so short of such a lofty ambition?  And so on and so forth.

While I hate to make generalizations, there is so much "evidence" claiming a world such as ours to be wicked, base and all around false.  We see corrupt governments, wars taking masses of lives, religious movements (such as the Westboro Baptist Church) claiming God's hatred and judgment of humanity, terrorism, institutions fighting to rob minorities of their civil rights, mass pollution of our planet and even such a horror as the shootings in Aurora, Colorado.  Given such calamities, it is easy to see how so many people lose sight of the holy (the whole) in such a broken and fragmented world.

In my own seeking, I have come across a similar issue.  As my own spiritual experiences grace me with further power over my own life, it causes me to wonder just how far I can go towards goodness while still manifesting my selfish dreams for myself in the world around me.

The simple answer to this problem is very simple however (and I have experienced it personally).  The higher up the seeker travels towards God Realization, the less the machinations of human greed, hatred, fear and "evil" affect her.  After a certain while, the seeker realizes that she truly is one with the four great powers of the Godhead:  Omnipotence (All Power), Omniscience (All Intelligence), Omnipresence (All Life), and Omni-benevolence (All Goodness).

In other words, as the seeker becomes one in her divine potential, it no longer becomes mere potential, it becomes the basis of her identity.  She is one in Deification.  She is so intune with her highest self that she has the power to create anything in her life, access to all the knowledge she could possibly desire, life eternal and a consciousness that transcends the very earth, and most importantly she has a heart overflowing with love, mercy, joy and peace, and cannot possibly consider doing anything that would cause harm to anyone or anything.  She lives solely in Bliss and from such a height, the world literally bends over backwards for her.  She is no longer affected by the world and she is no longer attached to what the world may bring her.

But what does this have to do with dealing with a hopeless world?  Everything!


As one becomes God Realized, they realize just how much of the world around them is vanity and illusion.  The problems we face on a daily basis mean absolutely nothing.  Our feuds with our neighbors, our grudges with murderers, our hurts and jealousies, our selfish desires for riches and fame, and even our need to prove our point in the face of bigotry and injustice all mean nothing.  It was all illusion.  This world truly is the matrix blinding us from reality (just like that strange science fiction trilogy).

But does this mean that our skyscrapers and cities, our forests and lakes and mountains, and even the love we have for our spouses, our children and our companions are illusions too?  Does this mean we become contempt towards our world and hate all within it because they do not see the light we see from our lofty seats of consciousness?  Absolutely not either.

The planet we live on is real.  The people you meet in your life are real.  The connections we make in the world are real.  The wisdom we gain is real.  Our growth towards our divine potential.  That is all real.  What is not real is everything in between.  Our projected hopes, fears, attachments, desires and hatreds are not real.  They are machinations of our rational natures (or Egos, if you enjoy that term) trying to make sense of everything we experience in the world.  And yes, that can have the negative consequence of categorizing many things foreign to us as creations of a Satanic force.

In a moment of prayer once, I asked to the heavens:  How can an omnipotent and omni-benevolent god allow so many injustices and perceived evils to exist?  The answer was very blunt but also very true.

My answer was:  Because People Are Stupid.  Or a less demeaning way of saying the same thing:  Because people can be fallible.  And looking it over:  It is so true.

Every minute of every day, we have choices.  Do we choose to live in the joy that is our birthright?  Do we choose to live a life in which we love those who do us wrong?  Do we choose to hate the things we fear or do not understand?  Do we choose to grow in knowledge and understanding?  Do we choose to seek revenge for wrongs against us?  Do we advocate justice?  The list goes on and on.

The point is that we can choose to live in a world where we see miracles or we can choose to see despair at every corner.  We can choose to grow godward and become a saint to others or we can descend further into our mortality and look for ways to prove just how right we are and how wrong someone else is.

We can live as God Realized beings and create a world of pure goodness.  We don't have to live in the consciousness of seeking an anti-christ.

And guess what?  Even though most do not condone the shootings in Colorado nor the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church does not mean that we must live in a frame of mind in which we seek revenge nor does that mean we just ignore it either.  The young man responsible for the Aurora massacre was never going to find his heart's desire in performing that act nor will petitioning for the death of that young man heal the hearts of those who lost their loved ones that fateful morning.

Part of rising up against evil is not to debase yourself against a wrong doer.  It is to rise above such actions and realize that the so called evils we see are just as illusory as our own feelings of revenge for those who commit those errors.

LVX Amor!