Monday, October 16, 2023
When I was a child, I attended something called Vacation Bible School. At that dreadful, week-long event, we learned a song whose lyrics go: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong.” I wonder how helpful it is to teach a child that they are weak. How does this mindset fester in adulthood, masquerading as a general malaise because we feel powerless?
Common perception says God is “out there,” keeping a watchful eye on his “chosen ones.” This sounds like Big Brother to me. The myth states that the “man upstairs” is guiding and protecting his “favored ones.” This only feeds into the insidiousness that one is excluded from power, cast out on the outer fringe, alone, and alienated. This adds to the neurosis of impotence, weakness, and dependence. None of this gives people a sense that their power and strength lie within themselves, but rather in some sinister, outer “savior” who decides who to include and who to punish. It feeds on the mentality of weakness, incompleteness, incapability, and dependency on something “greater” than ourselves. There is a common perception of a “higher power,” a “higher purpose,” or a “higher calling.” Why do the best things in life always seem out of reach – higher, later, greater, or outside of myself? We have mythology to thank for that, including religion.
There is nothing greater than you. You are the epicenter of fullness. All that you are, all that you have, and all that you’ll ever be is right here and now. No one is “out there” watching over you. No one is coming to save you. You don’t need a savior. You’re the hero, the one who will accomplish great things. Trust in yourself. You are all you’ve got, and you are all you’ll ever need.