A Reverie in Faith

I woke this day with a determination to complete things on my terms...with my schedule in tact. This charger, my almost constant companion, would have nothing of it. His persistence intruded my thoughts, tossing my plans aside as if they held little importance compared to his tenacious intentions. His predictable intrusion created some irritation within me this time, although not as much as had been in our previous excursions. I moved towards his splendor with a new found confidence. His incessant lessons were beginning to take hold. I could feel myself gaining a measured amount of self reliance. I was used to seeing nothing but darkness at the dawn of each day. Today I noticed the brilliance of the sunrise. “How long had it been?” I mused. Not being able to put my finger on a date in my history where I could remember noticing this simple beauty in the world, I settled with ‘too long’ being the only reliable answer.

As I reached this majestic creature, I paused for a long while. I caressed his glistening coat of darkest night. The occasional glint flickered like stars in the night sky as his muscles flexed with minor adjustments to his towering stance. He turned slightly, watching me as I soaked in the pure beauty of his soul. I knew his patience would burst at some point, I just couldn’t help being entranced at his omnipresence. It was as if I’d begun noticing fine details for the first time in my life. I traced his nose, along his cheek and down his beautiful neck, my hand disappearing under his shockingly exquisite mane. When I felt I’d stretched his amusement to the precipice of shattering, I moved to mount this steed for what I knew would be a most intriguing journey through emotions and time.

The stallion stood very still for much longer than I anticipated. I could feel the flexing and hear his breathing. My mouth began to form words asking why we were remaining still. It was at that moment he exploded in a fury of motion, nearly catapulting me off his backside. The second explosion was the smirk upon my face as I thought he must’ve planned that whole sequence on purpose. Realizing I’d become accustomed to his lurches and launches, he’d wanted to catch me off-balance once again. I noticed him glance back and I swear he neighed with glee. My curiosity began to overpower my reflection on the beginnings of this canter. Where was he taking me and for what occasion?

I sensed a challenging spirit from my friend, even though he wasn’t challenging my thoughts or convictions … this time. Throughout my life, those around me had accosted my beliefs. The things which became a part of my character were often chastised as wrong, when in my mind they’d really only been different than those concepts others held dear. Some theories held a bit too dear in my observations. In some instances, those who held extreme ideals, and acted on those judgements, crossed the broad boundaries of being morally acceptable. These were catalysts to my earlier retreats from the world. Unbelievable and horrifying as some could be, they caused my mind’s eye to see only the darkness some held within their souls.

He took me to a place where dangerous eruptions, these molten clashes of ideologies, would scar the lands. Visions leapt in front of me … this is where the souls of many would be lost in the boiling froth of passionate collisions. During these times the complexities of faith, which surrounded itself by love, acceptance and compassion, would be consumed by volatile hatred pitting man against man. I could sense my mount's apprehension, for times like these were always followed by cries of condemnation, as men made steadfast vows of conviction condemning such events. These oaths were nothing more than thinly-veiled commitments opposed to allowing calamities like these to pass in front of human existence again. We came to recognize that these episodes were destined to be repeated an untold number of times. The sculpted arrogance of one faith over another, insisting their claim on a singular truth, would ensure it.

The idea of spirituality was vastly different than the conviction of any number of faiths present throughout the history of humanity. During my lifetime I’d challenged myself to look past the faiths of my fathers. I was committed to explore variations within a core collection of faithful beliefs. My explorations began to stretch beyond the limits of a singular system of convictions. It was these excursions into the depths of faiths I’d not been born to where I was nearly condemned as a lost soul. My steed’s persistence to grant me my own thoughts during this journey created a new question which scorched the tip of my tongue. How could so many variations of a simple concept exist within a single species of sentient beings?

This question materialized as more perception than query. I could feel the tremors of the stallion carrying me as his entire focus shifted with significant  force. His consciousness blending with mine determined that if these ideas were born through the existence of a singular species, there must be commonalities. Peering past the surface of each religion, the visions he shared with me created a new understanding of the subtle similarities which exist. These parallels could be a product of how closely each culture is tied through the intricate strings of our genetic fingerprints. The apparitions became more vibrant as the intensity of my own understanding grew.

Within the fabric of core concepts he presented was this idea of an exceptional entity. A singular deity with the power to manipulate the very existence we revel in. Seemingly, this same entity appeared in nearly every religion man had ever enjoyed. Even beliefs holding many faces of gods and goddesses held that one maintained control and judgment over the others. He showed me ideas of creation which were shared across many spiritual stories. These could only be counted as supportive of the analogous belief each instance of thought had with another. As I grappled to accept this conception, he’d race to show me other commonalities and perceptions spanning millennia. A wisp of one faith was found intermixing with another, creating some deeply held uniqueness. The reality that this was more prevalent across the divides crept into my mind. The celebrations of one belief folded neatly into the next faith with little more than a slight of hand. His continued examples dispatched my previously held understanding, with each spark of imagination igniting the brilliance of comprehension. My earlier queries morphed into new ponderings. Surely there were others in the world who had come to this understanding. Perhaps my charger had just led me to a pinnacle where I was no longer alone in my meandering ideas.

This noble horse, my trusted friend and guide, then turned and took me to where we could start anew on some other determined encounter. As with other times, he’d slowed his pace for my benefit… to allow me to breathe, contemplate and analyze the events he’d just unleashed within my psyche. Standing inside the crumbling walls of predetermined beliefs granted the dawn of individuality within myself. This sunrise of relief my soul witnessed far exceeded the amazing qualities of the one I’d woke to. The one where I was trapped inside the convictions of my forefathers. In the end, the certainty he left me this day would reverberate along the outer reaches of my soul. He re-enforced the most basic ideals, that everyone in this existence was crucial to the woven folds of life itself. In all the gods and goddesses there was never an intent to create a battle of beliefs. Every individual immersed within their own spirituality was meant to care and nurture others. Each soul believing in their own way, either similarly to those around them or others believing in the most unique manner, was paramount to maintaining humanity.

Respecting the quality of individualism perpetuates the crucial undercurrents of compassion within each culture. Yes, with this ride I was awakened to truths I already held, but had never been more convicted of. I was “born again”, so to speak. Ready to tackle life with my new understanding, just as every other ride with Fate had left me. The long term preservation of humanity demanded a true commitment to valuing individuality… nay, celebrating the differences which bind our very genetic structure. Coming to grips with the reality that any single religious belief was no more right nor wrong than the next. Sustaining people’s basic right to liberty was paramount to putting out the flames of radical ideologies. Returning to a point where spirituality reigned supreme with humaneness leading the charge. These events and visions had opened my soul to the possibility that an awakening was nearing the horizon of hope.

Spirituality on a Friesian called Fate