What If (Part 1)

I have spent the past couple of days travelling for business.  When I travel I find that I have lots of time to contemplate, meditate and to write. During the flight home I saw the movie Angels & Demons.  I am not about to offer a review but one line at the end got me to thinking.  The scene involves John Langdon and a Cardinal.  They are discussing events and the story is wrapping up.  The line that jumped out at me was:
"Religion is flawed because man is flawed."

As I considered these words my mind was drawn back to a poem I shared a few days ago called the Art of Religion.  When I was writing that poem I will confess that in my mind I was attempting to speak about interpretation of spiritual ideas and how consciousness has played itself out through extreme events in the name of religion through the years.

In my mind though I realized that I had missed something important with the Art of Religion.  Everything we experience is in God.  And if God is in everything then the flaws of religion, and man, are exactly as they should be.  Following loss and death comes detachment and rebirth.  These opposite ideas are not solitary - they are symbiotic.  Change forces us to grow, just as death calls us to be reborn in a way that brings us closer to who we truly are, not who ourselves would have us be.

I would like to share the first few verses of a poem I am writing around this idea.  It is not finished and is already 17 verses long.  But the first verses are ready for sharing.  Enjoy.

What If (Part 1)

What if religion is flawed,
because man is flawed in kind?
What if death and rebirth,
is the phoenix of our mind?

What if such revelation,
is but one step to tread,
a perspective without grace, that
would surely leave us for dead?

What if the venture to faith,
is what we discover within?
Would not flawed organization's
be tempting illusionary sin?

What if how we face,
our temples, shadows and church,
helps define our connection, and
limits the depth of our search?

What if the cycles of religion,
are as necessary as event,
a chance to unfold through wisdom,
before these footsteps are spent?

...to be continued.

Copyright (c) 2009, Carmien Owen