Surround me, abound me, from within your soul confound me
Make me laugh, turn me daft, float me like your favorite raft
Hear me sigh, watch me fly, abide with me a little time
So morose, is the joke, how I want to wear your yoke
Let them smile, walk for miles, only stay with me a while
If you care, me you'll wear, like a flower in your hair
Don't be late, Don't want cake, Our love tonight demands we take
As we lie, upon this sky, your're the color of supply
Now it's time, this my rhyme, will fade away of love sublime
Love and Hugs,
Copyright © Robin Mitchell
Tags: Poetry Love Fun Silly
silent places, old places, places that draw ghosts
Like a failed suicide life abated
Bright places, new places, places without faces
Merry go round and round you go
weep my dear
rain your tears
see how your garden grows
Still places, deep places, places hidden within
dig your way through ragged flesh still my heart
No places, fancied places, places we are apart
Merry go round and round you go
weep my dear
rain your tears
see how your garden grows
All places, dark places, places with little stones
Now I lay me down to sleep smell the rose
Places here,places there, places with grassy rows
Merry go round and round you go
Merry go round and round you go
Merry go round and round you go
it stopped, broken bones
Copyright © Robin Mitchell
Tags: poetry photography
New Year commeth, and what will it bring?
My wish for you is that it brings you your dreams.
Dreams may come true, and never they may be
But the dreamer of dreams has all that they need.....
Copyright © Robin Mitchell
Tags: Dreams Dreamer Poem
Recently I posted a poll asking Boomers to associate themselves with one of 4 religious frameworks:
- Christian
- Islam
- Agnostic
- Wicca
Predictably, as it stands at the time of writing this, 50% responded Christian. The other 50% was pretty well split between Wicca and Agnostic. Now, I will not attempt to speak for Wicca, and Christianity has enough apologists to fill a good sized library, but I think there may be quite a number of misconceptions about being Agnostic.
So, just what does it mean to be Agnostic? Well the first reported use of the term Agnostic was by Thomas Henry Huxley, an English botanist. While it is true that he was debating with those who claimed a knowledge of the divine and used this claim as explanation of all manner of scientific processes, especially biological, Huxley used the term as a means of rejecting non-fact based evidence. Huxley, essentially acknowledged the existence of a process without laying claim to any knowledge of how that process worked; thus the term Agnostic.
The word Agnostic comes from the Greek gnosis, meaning knowledge, and the prefix a, meaning without. When the two are combined you get "without knowledge", and this is essentially what the religious Agnostic is, someone who claims no special knowledge of what god is or is not. Now there are other kinds of agnosticism, but this blog is confined to religious Agnosticism.
So you see the Agnostic is not someone who denies god's existence because that would be one who claims knowledge, nor does the Agnostic worship all views of god because that would be fear not faith and worship demands faith. In essence the Agnostic is able to acknowledge the existence of god without placing any boundaries on what god is. The Agnostic acknowledges the unknowableness of god and does not fear that unknown.
I should say here that I have taken great pain to avoid assigning any attributes to the concept of god such as he, hand, etc. I have also used god as a singular. I believe (faith not knowledge) in a single god, but do not claim that as knowledge nor do I deny that there be other powers in the universe other than god and human.
You see, if you have faith, in whatever form of god you have chosen, then keep your faith! If you believe then act and live as you believe, but understand that it is faith and not knowledge. Even the book of Hebrews in the (KJV) bible says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen." It goes on to say, "for what a man sees, wherefore does he yet hope?" This passage is acknowledging that faith MUST be WITHOUT knowledge. If you believe because you have seen then it is no longer of faith, but of knowledge. So again I say, if you have faith then live your life according to that faith as one who believes.
So, what does this have to do with me personally? Earlier I said, that the Agnostic acknowledges the unknowlableness of god and does not fear that unknown. This does not mean that I do not fear god, rather I do not fear god's unknowableness. In living this way I can see the influence of god on everything, without the need to define god, god's will, or god's plan; I am able to allow god to just be.
I would be remiss if I did not say that this is my view of Agnosticism, and that all Agnostics may not agree with me. After all, there is no Holy Agnostic Scripture. Some may say that being Agnostic is to deny any knowledge as to whether god exists or not. For me personally, I cannot deny that god exists, because I believe (you see here is faith not knowledge) that I have seen god's influence in my life and the lives of others.
Agnosticism is about acknowledging my limitations, and allowing god to work in my life without attempting to control that process through a ridged framework. Because of my Agnostic views, I will never attempt to convince someone that their view of god is wrong, how can I? As soon as I open my mouth to deny your faith I condemn myself as a liar because I have not the knowledge of god to deny your faith. This allows me to peacefully exist side by side with all the competing religions of the world; this is who I am as an Agnostic.
Tags: Agnostic Religion Truth
