My Own Personal Jesus

So there I was inoccuously chatting online today with several people, when one of them asked the simple question of me, "Do you like Muslims?" Me being me, of course responded with "Yes, why wouldn't I?"  And there the conversation abruptly ended.  The person and the conversation disappeared. It amazed me, yet again, the amount of intolerance that exists in the world, and it also got me to thinking about religion in general and my views on it specifically. By the way, before you let stereotypes get the best of you, this person was a Hindu and not a Christian.

Over the past few years, my ideas about organized religion, once nebulous, have solidified into something with which I am comfortable and in which I firmly believe.  These beliefs, however, do not mesh with the typical "all-American" idea of religion.  Although raised Methodist, I can honestly say I am not a Christian. I am not really anything other than the sum of my own personal beliefs. I believe in a higher power.  I believe in something greater than humanity that watches over us and acknowledges us and impacts us.  I do not believe in a specific diety, however.  Not Jehovah, or Allah, or Buddha or Christ. I believe that all humans have the divinity of the higher power within them and it is through that divine spark that we are united on a fundamental level, regardless of our ethnicity, country of origin, or chosen religious beliefs. I also believe that what you send out into the universe through your actions and thoughts, determines whether your time on the next plane of existence will be positive or negative.  In addition, I believe that however a person chooses to reach a connection with that higher power that exists in all of us, his or her chosen path is as worthy, valid, and divine as anyone else's.  All of this basically encapsulates how I think the world operates and how the people within it work. 

My behavior definitely reflects my beliefs about the way in which the world works, and I am tolerant of all people, accepting really, of all people.  People can reach their own understanding of the higher power and I will have nothing to say about it.  This is a personal journey.  People can be Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian  or Jewish.  They can practice Shintoism, Daoism, animism, even be Wiccan for all I will comment on it.  All these and all other variations are valid methods of acheiving understanding, and I refuse to decide to dislike someone on the basis of their chosen faith.  Just like I choose not to dislike someone for their color, their background, or their political affiliation (although that can be a hard one to deal with).

I would much rather hate someone for individual reasons that for blanket stereotypes which are often misleading and outright false.  Moreso, however, I would much rather not hate anyone at all.  Very little room in my life exists for hatred, aggression, meanness, and narrow-mindness.  I have too much to do, to much I want to know, too much to accomplish to waste my time on any of that nonsense.  Loving your fellow man and woman should be everyone's focus and direction because when you love others, you show love for yourself, and it comes back to you in an abundance of ways. 

So, in the future, when anyone again asks me if I like such and such or so and so, I will always respond with, "Yes, why wouldn't I?"