Thoughts Big and Small At The Alter Of East Temple

You don't have to be religious in order to believe that Zion is a spiritual place. In fact, Zion is one of the few places that believers, agnostics and atheists alike (unalike) can find common ground... join hands, so to speak, and "worship" without compromising their convictions. It would take a real curmudgeon to mis-understand the glory to be found in Zion, and other "freaks of nature."

Look, we do not have to agree on whether God exists or doesn't. All that is needed is a belief in something... something that is bigger and greater than yourself. There will always be a few who see themselves as being at the center of the universe (you know who they are). But for once, just once, try to be receptive... swallow some ego... and come stand with me at the alter of the East Temple. See if you don't feel something... the vibe, the vortex, the Black hole... "God." Something. If you can yawn, then you win. I give up.

It's about as difficult to get to the bottom of "spiritual" as it is to get to the alter of East Temple. After all, there is little "science" to spiritual matters, and there is absolutely no trail to the Temple, just a near perpendicular stretch (and I mean stretch) of sandstone slick-rock, the kind that gives extraordinary traction. 

You see, matters of the spirit often lie below the surface of consciousness. They are like the air we breathe, invisible to the naked eye. We feel "something," like when it caresses our cheek or tousles our hair, but the rigid mindset wants to see in order to believe. Perhaps "Love" is a better example. Everyone experiences love... it's such an omnipotent, multifaceted, and complicated word. It's quite a blunder that our language only devotes one word to "love" when at least a dozen are called for. There is love for children, which is different from love for parents, which is different from love for spouse, which is different from love for country, love for pets, etcetera. Cutting to the bottom line, we cannot thrive without love no more than we can survive without air. Love makes us human, and then makes us better humans. It requires faith, trust, and honesty... you can't see it, but you can feel it.

So yes, I "love" Zion. I love Zion because it puts me in my place... it shrinks my ego. But most of all, Zion connects me to "something" bigger than myself. I'm not finicky about what you call it, be it God, Allah, the Universe, or, just "Something." Why? Maybe it's because of the three toed dinosaur footprint I place my hand into. Maybe it's the mystifying "story" scribblings of prehistoric Indians that I can't wrap my mind around. Maybe it's Zion's kaleidoscope of colors, or its sheer verticality in an otherwise horizontal world. Maybe it's the cobalt blue deepness of ocean skies, or desert varnish... weeping down cliff-faces like tears of the Ancients. Maybe it's the danger, the difference, the risk, the promise of amazement... that it exceeds my grasp. Maybe it's the only remaining truth in a culture of vulture lies. In the end...
  

I don't know 

and 

I don't care

who, what, "why," when, how, or where

sometimes it's better to abandon argument
for the sake of peace 

let acceptance roll over and submerge us 
like a gentle ocean wave 

come up for a breath of fresh air 
in an alternative deep blue sea 

"Something" upon which we can agree
"Something" bigger than you 

"Something" bigger than me

  
And now, an apocalypse of postcards...