OSScast

“Just think of the trees: They let the birds perch and fly, with no intention to call them when they come and no longing for their return when the fly away. If people’s hearts can be like the trees, they will not be off the Way.” - Langya

I hate going to Wal-mart. The average Wal-mart shopper is poor, overweight, unhygienic, and ugly. They aren’t like me. I’m better than the average loser.

I can convince myself of my superiority when I’m home. I can watch the beautiful people on television and delude myself into thinking I am one of them. If the only people I see are primetime waifs and buffed out guys, they become my tribe, my link to other humans. See how beautiful we are?

Then I go to Wal-mart. As soon as I take my shopping cart from the septuagenarian greeter I start feeling it -

The despair of a life of poverty, the slow shuffle of welfare recipients as they look for items on which to spend their government hand outs. The greasy haired middle aged women slowly pushing their unwed daughter’s mixed race toddler through the store. The completely undisciplined feral children with sticky fingers and snotty noses practicing their consumer training, begging for the latest Chinese imported crap toy, that will be forgotten by the time they reach the parking lot.

Fat old women in house coats using the motorized handicapped scooters. Their only handicap being the inability to see what they are, and feel any responsibility or guilt for what their lives have become. Dirty people in dirty clothes mortgaging their souls to buy cheap pieces of plastic they don’t really want and don’t really need.

The body odor the bad breath the noise the sticky coating of funk that shellacs the entire warehouse from the deli meats to the garden center.

And then I realize that I am one of them. Once I cross that threshold I am down in the muck with the rest of the human garbage. Then I realize that I have always been down there, I was just able to delude myself into thinking I was something more. When I go to Wal-mart I can’t pretend that I’m better than everyone else. I’m worthless and disgusting. Unlike everyone else, I’m just smart enough to realize it.

That’s what is scary about talking about spirituality. My ideas transcend normal humans. I see patterns in everything – it’s all connected, I swear. I am a hair’s breadth from deeply, truly understanding. I hear the call. I see the light. I am about to ascend into a new form of life – the next step in human evolution. I AM BECOMING!

But if I share my thoughts with you, I become like everyone else.

God I hate Wal-mart.

I will start off by saying I haven’t been here since November of last year. Every now and then I wonder if there is anything new going on here at osscast. Spirituality, seems like maybe the most interesting discussion topic in the world after sex. And yet there is a surprising silence on this website. I am curious as to why? Why don’t people clamor for a place around this virtual table to talk about the notion of spirit?
I just noticed that I was about to write, “talk about the afterlife” but then I thought, not everyone embraces the notion of an afterlife as the stuff of spirituality. So I made my statement more general. Is there trepidation around offending others who may not believe what you do? There is for me. Maybe that explains the quiet.
Or maybe it is because open source spirituality by its very nature is open to interpretation. You can say anything you want, and not be right and not be wrong. What is there to discuss really?
Osscast member one says, “You know, I believe that when we die we are sent to gather around a great Bran Muffin in a glorious donut shop in the sky. The Bran Muffin is the creator and keeps the true believers regular.”
Osscast member two responds, “Ok.”
And that really is that. That is all the discussion there is to have around that particular belief. I suppose Osscast member two could rebut with a statement, “I am a Bran atheist.”
Osscast member one might then respond, “ok”.
Maybe there really is nothing to talk about because there is nothing to “push” against? I don’t know. I would be interested to hear what others think. To see if we couldn’t generate some lively conversation.
And may the Great Bran Muffin be with you.