Today I walked out of the Trinity Church and into the rain. It was the first Sunday of the new month, and no time for a spiritual skeptic to be staying in the house of the Lord. So I left, leaving two fellow hikers to a 10 AM service hosted by the hostel’s devout owners.
The free breakfast just before service was delicious though.
I have nothing against any faith, I just find it a bit curious that people gather to hear the word of God from a person’s mouth.
I didn’t discuss this with Bob, the hostel owner and my chauffeur to the trailhead, but somehow I think he sensed my thoughts probing his faith, testing its structural integrity. Judging from the way he lurched to a stop and gave a brusque nod goodbye I guessed he was happy to see me go.

And I was happy to go. Back into the woods with my sacrilegious ideas and unanswerable questions. Or so Bob probably thought. But I what I believe is that the hardest questions teach you the most.
So, on May 1st, the Lord’s day, I walked in the rain all day and wondered about faith. And didn’t see a soul. And learned a thing or two.
Mainly this. That “religion” and “faith” are just little words latched on to an idea that’s too big to snare. In America most are Christian. In India, Hindu. Iraqis are Muslim and Tibetans are Buddhist. In Jerusalem there be Jews, and in Britain there is no God. Each and every one a different sect certain that their way is right and the other is wrong.
Funny that someone like John Lennon who, despite virtually living in a permanent LSD-fueled psychoactive state, seems to have to seen through to the reality of the situation clearer than most when he said: “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the others said was right. It’s just the translations that have gone wrong.”
Religion isn’t something that can be mass marketed or monopolized. I don’t even think it can be taught. It’s possible to teach someone about the world, but to teach them to appreciate it? That’s an impossible task. You can show your kid the ocean, but you can’t make them respect the way it moves, love the way it ebbs and flows. In the same way, you can’t force a person’s spiritual awareness to unfold in the way you want it to. They have a right to determine their own beliefs, and no one else has a right to interfere. This is what faith is to me: stepping back to give others room to grow their own way. No one has a right to contort another human being into a shape they think is beautiful.
But it doesn’t seem that too many others feel this way. Religion in today’s world has almost degenerated into a rough mimicry of America’s bipartisan political system. You’re either Democrat or Conservative, blue or red, Muslim or Christian. Anyone with the self-awareness of a five year old knows it isn’t as simple as all that. We all have our own beliefs, and they don’t fit into neat categories. So it goes without saying that we should stop squeezing our beliefs into these predetermined molds. God knows, it ain’t healthy.
The night I wrote this I hardly slept. Two thruers, Brisket and Pineapple, serenaded me with perfectly offset snores. One a rolling groan, the other a wheeze. It was a glorious 9 hour symphony with only one audience member, me. So if my words seem abrasive, do yourself a favor and turn the other cheek.
Walking close to the edge – Nomad