Non-religious All One

Why is it that if we don't believe in organized religion we have to be labeled with some other moniker?

Atheist, agnostic, deist, skeptic, SBNR, non-religious etc. are terms used to describe those who don't regularly attend a church, temple or mosque. If we don't attend these institutions some how we are deemed less of a human being by those that do. What gives them the right to think less of us? God? The religious texts they follow? What?

The reason i ask this is because none of the terms used to describe the non-religious fit what i believe and i certainly don't consider myself less of a human. i can't find a complete definition other than human being that comports with my failure to follow any organized religion.

Apparently those on the religious side say if i claim not to follow a religion but can experience awe(which i do) i will eventually believe in the supernatural which leads to God and religion. i tend to disagree with this.

Awe is defined as a mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread and wonder inspired by genius, authority, great beauty, sublimity, or might. i experience awe and wonder regularly in nature, in literature, through art work and music, in the night sky or watching human beings from the very young to the very old and yet i don't follow any organized religion nor do i believe in the supernatural.

i do believe we are all connected and that when our energy is released at death we go back to being part of the universe or All One as i refer to it. But that isn't God and it doesn't require a belief in all sorts of dogma written down by ancient men. If it sounds spiritual it probably is but in a non-religious context.

For a long time i thought i was a deist someone who believed in God but not in organized religion. As i aged, studied and thought more about what the term God meant i found deist to be unworkable. Then agnostic replaced deist and seemed to function for a while because that is someone that thinks any ultimate reality(God) is probably unknowable. i still believe this but agnostic no longer works because i've done the necessary studies, asked the questions, thought about the results and really don't think there is an all knowing God.

Humanist as a word works but its use has been ambiguous over time because its been co-opted as a religion of humanity which again ruins the use of it as a descriptor. It sounds like a cult of humanity.

Being spiritual but not religious(SBNR) is also used to identify people like myself who are inspired by wonder and the private aspects of awe. But again it labels us in terms of religion and i think my real beef is that i don't want to be labeled as anything just because i don't believe in organized religion. 

Atheist doesn't work because i believe we will all blend into the All One when we die. Maybe some would call this God but others would just call it a return of energy to the cosmos. i find most of the references to God mean that what ever it is has a direct influence on our daily existence. You can pray to it, it will help you in times of need, it will punish you when you have strayed, and it will ignore you completely when you think you really need it.

The All One requires nothing nor will it punish you nor is there any dogma you must follow. We were there with the All One before we were born and we return to the All One when we die

i am a human being, if you are reading this so are you...and someday we will be All One.

See ya next week.

Treasure hunting

A goofy things wall

All those things we did as kids are never really far away from my psyche. One of my favorite things to do back then was to hunt for treasures which could be anything at all. A pretty colored rock, an unusual sea shell, a piece of driftwood, or sea eroded glass and some cool out of the way place that no one knew about.

A few adult treasures

My brother and i would collect stuff we had found and lay it out on little alters in spaces we had created beneath buildings under construction. Sometimes the jetty would be our stash place and we would crawl through the rocks on our bellies until we found a small cavern where we could sit up and display our booty. We were always scavenging and finding new cool hideouts. We would leave our treasures all over the place wondering who would find them but the scavenging part was by far the most fun.

In fact i still hunt for stuff. i really can't stop and sometimes will hold others up because i'm so busy looking around. When ever i'm swimming into shore at Cane Bay i take my time while scanning the bottom for whatever catches my eye and when i'm out birding i'm also looking down because you never know what lies hidden.

A bowl full of treasures

Recently while treasure hunting on line i came across an activity that started in England in the mid 1850's. It's called Letterboxing and kind of like Geocaching you are given clues that will lead you to the Letterbox. Originally it started out as a bottle that was placed on a trail where you could then place your calling card after you had found it. Eventually it morphed into a box where hikers could place postcards that the next hiker to find it would clear out and mail. i actually came across one in England while walking in the moors but didn't have a postcard to leave behind or even knew what it was called.

Today in North America the boxes contain a rubber stamp that you ink up and stamp into your journal. Plus you carry your own rubber stamp that you use to sign into the visitors book. Some are hidden to make the quest more difficult and some have the instructions to find them easily available. There is a website http://www.letterboxing.org/ that details how to go about either placing a Letterbox or finding one.

A treasure ship?

Of course when i found the website i immediately looked up St. Croix to see if we had any letterboxes. Nope...none here but there are a few in Puerto Rico and Culebra. i guess i could place one but i'd rather find one. i think the next time i'm in the states i'll take what ever kids are around on a letterboxing hunt. Seems like a fun activity and gets us all out of the house and off the electronic devices. i even have rubber stamps.

Maybe some of you out there might think about looking up boxes in your areas. It would be really cool if you actually go out to find one and brought a child with you. Let me know how it goes.

See ya next week.

Religious hostility rising

This is a shorty today.

If you watch the TV daily or read the headlines in your newspapers on a regular basis you would think that religious hostilities around the world are increasing...but again you might stop and think hold on here...aren't religions supposed to be spreading peace and love? Well if you are seeing a disconnect between religious hostilities and peace and love you would be accurate in your assessment according to a new report released by PEW.

A little corner at LEAP

The research compiled by the non-partisan think tank claims that religious hostilities reached a six year peak by the end of 2012. According to PEW, religious hostilities had increased in every major region of the world except the Americas. http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high/

Hot sauce collection at Plaza

i've often wondered what the world would be like if religious instruction wasn't begun when we are children. We have no religious beliefs when we arrive, we are a clean slate. Not one child born on earth comes in with a belief in anything or knowledge about how the world works. Every child is filled with information provided by parents that “believe” they are doing the right thing, me included.

Limin by the F'sted Fort

i'm not going any farther with this except to say that the PEW report is disheartening in so many ways. We see religious heads all over the world either trying to reign in the intolerance or go for the throat. When will they ever come together?

See ya next week.

Living Wage lessons from New Zealand

My father's motto when running his business was to pay his workers more than the competition so they wouldn't steal or use up his precious work time doing unproductive activities. He had employee's that started out with him and were still there when he eventually sold the business because he valued them. He trusted his workers and encouraged their input when things needed to change. He paid them a "living wage".
A month ago we returned from a fabulous trip to New Zealand where the concept of a “living wage” is engrained in Kiwi society. Our introduction to this way of living came when we ordered our first meal. When we tried to tip the waitress after receiving our bill, she was not only insulted by the offer of compensation she went on to explain to us that tips were unnecessary in New Zealand because everyone was paid a “living wage”.
The reasoning behind a “living wage” is that if worker's have no time for their families or their communities because they have to work two and three jobs to survive it is a detriment to the nation as a whole. And certainly it doesn't take spending much time in New Zealand to see that the country hum's along quite nicely.
We never saw homeless people on the streets, beggars or even squalid housing. In the poorer sections we saw very small homes that people seemed to take pride in. There was no garbage on the streets or junk cars lying about. The roads were well maintained and even the unsealed(dirt)roads were better than we find here. There was real pride in their nation and a seemingly communal effort to keep New Zealand desirable for rich and poor alike.
i think we have lost that focus in America. The every man for himself motto has turned many away from community and the nation and divided us into camps that want to preserve something that has already been lost.
Talk now on the political web revolves around those promoting minimum wage and those against it. MIT has a living wage calculator on line that can be used to understand how much a person would need to live in a particular area in the nation with just the basics. http://livingwage.mit.edu/ and just to add to the conversation i've reprinted from the New Zealand governments web site their approach to minimum wage and note that they are reviewed every year.

Note the Fern carving in the yard

There are three minimum wage rates in New Zealand:

• The adult minimum wage applies to all employees aged 16 and over who are not starting-out workers or trainees, and all employees who are involved in supervising or training other employees.
• The starting-out wage applies to starting-out workers. Starting-out workers are:
  • 16- and 17-year-old employees who have not yet completed six months of continuous employment with their current employer.
  • 18- and 19-year-old employees who have been paid a specified social security benefit for six months or more, and who have not yet completed six months continuous employment with any employer since they started being paid a benefit. Once they have completed six months continuous employment with a single employer, they will no longer be a starting-out worker, and must be paid at least the adult minimum wage rate.
  • 16- to 19-year-old employees who are required by their employment agreement to undertake industry training for at least 40 credits a year in order to become qualified.
• The training minimum wage applies to employees aged 20 years or over who are doing recognised industry training involving at least 60 credits a year as part of their employment agreement, in order to become qualified.
  

There is no minimum wage for employees aged under 16 but all other employment rights and entitlements still apply. When looking at whether an employee who is 16 years or older is a starting-out worker, any time spent employed by an employer before the employee turned 16 must be included when calculating the time that employee has been continuously employed.
Employers and employees may agree to any wage rate as long as it is not less than the applicable minimum wage rate. Starting-out workers must be paid at least the minimum starting-out wage rate, and trainees over 20 years of age must be paid at least the training minimum wage rate.
A small number of people hold an exemption from the minimum wage (see the section about minimum wage exemptions).
The minimum wage rates are reviewed every year. The current adult minimum wage rates (before tax) that apply for employees aged 16 or over are:

• $13.75 an hour, which is
• $110.00 for an 8-hour day or
• $550.00 for a 40-hour week.
  

The minimum rates that apply to starting-out workers, and employees on the training minimum wage (before tax), are:

• $11.00 an hour, which is
• $88.00 for an 8-hour day or
• $440.00 for a 40-hour week.
  

Employees have to be paid at least the minimum hourly wage rate for any extra time worked over eight hours a day or 40 hours a week.

Hot water beach and in some spots it was scalding

Personally i think as a nation we need to talk more about community, living wages, the homeless and our failures even as we go on believing we are a wealthy nation but continue to close our eyes to how we are falling apart. Money is not everything...quality of life means more of us, rich and poor, like in New Zealand, can take pride in our country and live decent lives.

See ya next time!

Green Mussels

St. Croix Christmas Parade...2014

It was a fine day for a parade. Just enough clouds to keep it cool and drenching rain at the end of the tramp.

The Spectators

The Rainbows

The Chicken

And last the tramp at the end.