Daring Monday: The Colours of Belief

I have to thank Heather Plett from Fumbling for Words for leading me to this project… I love the fact that the United Church invited four, what I would have called “Graffiti” Artists (I think the video called them “Aerosol Artists”) to create an expression of their personal faith on their property. I just didn’t know the United Church was that progressive (goes to show how little I know then).

I particularly like that the four artists seem to all come from individual paths; that the Church was more interested in inviting four of the top artists than in inviting four of the top “Christian” artists. (Although, I really liked what the one guy who called himself Christian used to describe himself, “Christ Follower.”) I like this so much because I’ve spent so many years on my own personal spiritual journey.

During this journey I’ve discovered that there are some things that all spiritual paths have in common: there is something bigger than us out there, this something has some form of relationship with us (the personal and/or universal “us”), compassion is essential, do unto others, etc… I believe that we should be adding one more thing to the list of commonalities: You are the creator of your own Way.

Creating Your Way

Creating your way is a scary process, it takes real daring. Creating your way means that you need to be willing to risk that the way you’ve been taking up until now has been wrong (maybe just slightly wrong, or maybe just wrong for you, or maybe WAY wrong). It also means risking that you will no longer fit in; your worldview may be unique among your circle – you might become “the freak,” the one that others look askance at when you talk about Life, the Universe, and Everything. But it’s a risk that is well worth it, because when you push through and find your Way, you also find your Self.

I’ve spent the last five years asking myself, every time I discovered an imbedded belief, “Why?” My head tells me: There is only one way to God!” And I ask: Why? Why do I believe that? Who said so? Does that line up with my actual experience of God? My head tells me: God loves us! And I ask: Why? Who said so? How do I know?

Sometimes I come to my truth quite quickly, sometimes it takes days, months, even years to decide what I really believe. Now, after so many years of this seeking and de-cluttering I find I’m actually beginning to recognize markers, identifiers that resound with me, who I am and who God is, along my path. I can say, without a doubt, that I believe This. I don’t have a whole doctrine written up, and I expect that this will be a forever, ongoing process (or it should be), but I do finally feel like I have my feet under me. I have made – or maybe it is more accurate to say, found – my own way.

The more sure I become of how I understand Life, the Universe, and Everything to work the more I see my own path – my calling – opening up in front of me. I may not fully know where I’m going, but I’m starting to see how I’m going to get there. Sometimes I come face to face with someone else’s worldview and I feel my own Way being pushed on – like it did this weekend, when that happens I need to return to the Beginner’s Mind. Why do I believe that? Why does this bother me? Am I ok with being wrong?

It’s a daring way of life, but one that I just can’t seem to give up. I know that I can’t ask you to walk my way, because it is MY way. But, I’m no more willing to walk someone else’s way, even if it is less risky, or if I’d fit in more. I’ve discovered myself and the Divine walking this path and so I just need to keep plugging on – no matter the risk.

Which is exactly why I have become convinced that we all need to figure out how to walk our own Way. I think that it is in our own Way that the artistry of the soul comes to life and we discover the depths of our joy and connection to that greater, deeper, Limitless that we often sum up as God. I believe the answers to the world’s problems: to war, and hunger; to slavery, and the suppression of women; to emptiness and depression; to the slow slaughter of our planet, all lie in the power of each individual discovering and walking their own Way.

What’s Your Way?

If you were to paint your faith, what would it look like? What colours would you use? What symbols (animals, people, designs) would you include? Do you know your way, or are you still seeking it? Are you blindly walking on in the way you’ve always had, or are you stumbling along in the dark placing one foot in front of the other? Find the colours of your beliefs, paint YOUR faith…