Welcome.

A few years ago when I was yet fully Christian in my beliefs, I wrote the following sentiment on a card and posted it in my home:

"I would rather know a fearful truth than remain deceived by comforting falsehoods."

I was quite sincere in that desire to know the real truth, but little did I fathom the journey I would soon take, nor did I anticipate in the least the nature of the truths that would be revealed to someone who actually sought them. The things I learned would take me on an amazing journey from a traditional Christian belief structure to a new, surprising, and far broader understanding of human history and endeavor - a view that can only include Christianity and its God as part of a large collection of sibling myths, connected to far older ideas and beliefs that stretch back into the mists of ancient human society.

I can only partially share this journey with you here, but my sojourn would take a man devoted to Christianity and the God of the Bible and set him down unceremoniously in the simple dirt of Earth with nothing of his familiar mental world left to comfort him. It took some time to turn myself from fear and grief and finally begin to rebuild a life of peace and of true joy.

This is a voyage others have also taken, and although our pathways and the views we have gained may differ in some ways, it is the journeying that matters, along with the principal of shedding our illusions. These illusions have not only bound us, but in many real ways defined us prior to that search for truth.

This is not an easy road. The words "fearful", "shocking", and "surprising" are frequently applied when one's personal paradigms of religion and philosophy of life are challenged and changed. We must learn to deal with our fears by examining them and talking about them. This, too, is part of the passage.

I approach this project with some trepidation, for I had much invested in my prior philosophy of things. I am still on my journey. Perhaps, you are also going down this road. If so, you may find comfort or helpful insights from someone else travelling this way. Perhaps this is my "ministry" now - to present my thoughts and experiences and ask you to respond in kind - for I hope to learn from you as well.

I have said that we have been bound and defined by our past illusions. The task at hand is to redefine ourselves and our purpose in this life. Not a purpose or a definition imposed from outside ourselves, but rather one developed and nurtured by us. This becomes truly joyful when we realize that we are unbound, awake, and limited only by our own fears.

- David P. Crews

If We See No God Before Us

If we see no God before us,
has the measure of our selves
then become unlaced –
torn and flung, haste and horror,
that it should have gripped
so very long – so very hard?

Whose compass then shall we assume
to describe our minded steps?
Or, shall we invent a new current
– harsher and in turbulent seas
for being human-fashioned and yet,
promising no unearthy glories.
Honest in its dealings with us.

The god's mighty river,
that old forever guide,
has dried and grown quiet.
Deep banks, once confining
and directing us to fair lands,
now rise up flat
and can no more be seen
in the earth's fine face.
Now we look for rain.

If we see no god before us,
shall darkness prevail over our
drained and crumbling husks?
Or shall we then have stepped
into the hard sun?
Not too late.
No, not so late. We can still live.
We can find a new pace and
measure with a new reed the
boundaries of our good life.

The time! The time.
The ages of time spent
with this man in our mind.
Shall we be angered, or
shall a smile trace our cheeks?
If we rail at a phantom,
are we yet his fleshy prey?

Were we lost in the echoes
of childhood pretend?
The hoary river is vapor, now dust
– was never there at all.
Now our naked feet strike
a new path, strewn freely
with sweat and bones
and living laughter.
A fine and free new path.

And time enough for us
yet to be alive
in this sublime earth.

- Nov. 1999, David P. Crews

I welcome your questions and comments!

at: joy@newrational.com

NOTE: I have an openly published email address for this site, so I get a LOT of spam! Please include the word "GENUINE" in your Subject line so I won't delete your letter by mistake.
I do respond to ALL emails. Thanks!

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New Light Publishing, Austin, Texas, USA.

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