First I’d like to talk about my daughter. She either has a very active imagination or is in possession of a very special gift. She has surprised me at numerous times now with things that could be described as odd at the very least. Once again let me reiterate that although I believe in spirits I don’t believe in ghost as most people believe in them. I feel a person’s spirit moves on in ways we don’t understand but as for a ghost materializing and interacting with someone, I have a hard time believing that. My daughter however seems to have the uncanny ability to know the whereabouts or state of mind of family members even though they are far away. She has told me before where my father was and who he was with. She has predicted when he wasn’t home with almost 100% accuracy, so accurate now it has become spooky. She has told me when members of the family are sad, not feeling well, etc... Some of the spookier things are the stories she tells me. She told me her grandmother (daddy’s mommy) comes to her at night and sings to her. My mother passed over a year ago. I have heard her talking to people in her room, sometimes in whispers. The other night I laid down with her as she was going to sleep. I turned my back to her and started to drift off myself when I was woke up by her having a conversation with someone. It was kind of like listening to half of a phone conversation. When I asked her who she was talking to she seemed to get really embarrassed. She then told me she didn’t know her name she was just an old woman. I little shocked I asked her where this old woman was and she pointed to the foot of her bed and said “she was right there, but she is gone now” I then asked her what they were talking about and she said “I can’t tell you, she said she has a box for me but it’s a surprise” and that was it. I asked her if she knew the old woman’s name and my daughter said no, she didn’t tell her. That is the odd part, my daughter even named her horse on the carousel. She names all of her “pretend” friends and is pretty up front when when I ask her if something is real or pretend. She was pretty firm that this lady didn’t have a name and was getting upset when I pressed her for one. That is what made it feel more real, and thus spooky. Maybe a child’s mind is just more sensitive to these kinds of things, who knows.
I am perfectly willing to believe as we grow older much of the magic is programmed out of us. Would the world be different if we remained open and spiritual? I find my world is much less mechanical and systematic because I am fairly open to the idea that things are not as they seem. Like with the ghost thing, I don’t really believe in it but I won’t say it’s impossible. I will not tell somebody they didn’t see a ghost because of my beliefs. For all I know some people may see them all of the time, I however do not. Maybe it is because I have convinced myself that they don’t exist and am now less sensitive to them.
Religion I feel is much the same way. It’s like chasing ghost. I have a friend who I grew up with that almost died of cancer a few years ago. He found god (of the Christian type) and now credits his faith with his full recovery and general well being now. To him that proved his god was the right choice and is now fully into the Christian faith. I also had a cousin who had a tumor on her thyroid. The doctors had her on her death bed. Her mother, my aunt, became very religious during this ordeal and talked her daughter into praying to god for help. She was baptized and few months later the tumor is gone. These are both 100% true stories and quite inspirational, but did god have anything to do with them? I think this is more of a faith based event, or perhaps just the roll of the dice. My mother was a devote Catholic and went through 20 years of agony before she finally passed, why was she not worthy of being cured? I know she had plenty of faith. Was god teaching her a lesson? I don’t think so, perhaps that is just the way the ball bounces. I think our gods guide us, like a father or mother would do. I’m not sure they can direct the flow of nature however, and that is what things like cancer are, just nature. Maybe the gods were there for my mother giving her the strength to last 20 years past the time she should of passed, in the end nature took it’s course. When I blew my back out this summer every doctor and physical therapist I saw said I was down for the year, they back just won’t heal fast enough. Well now it is August and I’m back to throwing and lifting with my doctor saying she had never seen someone come back from an injury like I had so fast. I could easily say the gods cured me, but I don’t think they did. I just think things healed fast, maybe I won’t heal so fast next time. Who knows, nature is unpredictable.
What the gods did give me was the strength to not get discouraged, the strength to get back at it and not be afraid. If I hurt myself again, no big deal I’ll just need to wait it out again. That is where help from the gods comes from, helping you help yourself.
Be careful in what you attribute to faith. Thinking god magically steps in and heals you is a cop out. The gods are more like parents trying to guide you on the right path. Living through an ordeal like cancer should strengthen you, not cause you to put your faith in the “god fixed me” nonsense. You fixed yourself and if you were spiritual at the time perhaps the gods were there for you to lean on, but in no way do I believe they magically healed you.
I believe our gods have a way about them that builds stronger people. The type of people who would survive adversity and not expect god to send them a life raft. Well, that is todays rant ;-) Life is good, although I am totally bumbed that the Folkfest was canceled this year!!! I was going to take my daughter to it :-(
