Easter has always been a holiday that confused me. As a child, I never really got what was being celebrated, and how the different occasions where connected. My memories of childhood include going to sunrise service (which in Kansas could either be amazingly spectacular mornings of brilliant sunrise colors, or deep snow) with breakfast in the church basement, at some point there was the Easter Bunny at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then dinner at their house.
Potlucks at the church always scared the bejeezus out of me. It was almost as bad as lunch in the school cafeteria. I always felt the outsider. The food was not appetizing to me. Why couldn't we just go eat at Grandma's? To be fair, I always just wanted to get out of that building as fast as possible, and the adults always just wanted to keep talking to each other. But on Easter, sometimes I would get to skip the service and go with "the guys" to help cook. Mostly I sat on some counter and watched Grandpa at work.
What I remember about dinner was ham and Grandma's scalloped potatoes. I really really never liked ham at all. It was, for me, simply a reason to use large amounts of horseradish (I am finding that a good many of my foods are just an excuse to use some kind of condiment or sauce). Scalloped potatoes are the only food of Grandma's I haven't even tried to make vegan.... hers were always the best. And lets face it, Easter is not a vegan friendly holiday!
Easter egg hunts... don't get it. The Easter Bunny gave us inferior gifts than Santa Clause, and made us go find them... then we would have to go out into the cold and find either some kind of egg product or plastic or chocolate version thereof. And if it was a nice day, this was not the thing I wanted to be doing.
Why do adults do this to kids... the symbolism that is. They display this big pagan ritual of fertility, and then refuse to educate kids about sex/reproduction/bunny eggs. To be honest, it just seems so very obvious how much the Christians manipulated shit to get people to follow their holidays. Where is Jesus in any of this? I'm not a religious person, but what that dude tried to teach his followers was dang good.
I don't really know what came first; the end of sunrise services, the removal of the only Reverend that I have ever enjoyed (Reverend Hahn and his wife were from Brazil and truly held a firm foundation of welcoming to that community), or my choice to end going to church altogether(I think I was around 12). But I think it feeds some of my confusion on religion in general. Its a merging of many spiritual practices without much recognition of each other. Kinda like the coming Apocalypse!
Hang in there with me for a moment.
I have been bombarded the past several weeks with people inquiring about how I was personally preparing for the apocalypse. I usually want to ask which one and laugh it off, yet people are super serious when they ask this question. They want to know how I'm storing food, water, shelter, and how i am planning on protecting those resources: guns, guns! They want to know if I have guns. They obviously do not know me... no guns... ever.
And maybe this is where we should introduce some definitions of apocalypse. It can refer to some kind of end of the world scenario, or from the Greeks it can mean "lifting of the veil" or "revelation". According to Wikipedia, it "is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception."
Well, we are certainly in an era full of falsehood and misconception... how can we end it? Can lifting the veil and revealing the lies bring an end to this time and allow us to move forward into a different way of being? Or are is about finding our Buddhist nature?
I always felt that it was my lack of faith; my inability to believe that there is an Easter Bunny, that Jesus died for our sins and then came back 3 days later to haunt us, and that colored eggs had anything to do with any of it, that led to me "leaving the church". I do think Easter sort of led to my inability to believe anything the church taught. This inability to believe continues into my belief in an apocalyptic scenario. Then I heard a woman speak, just this week, and claim that religions are not based on belief, but on action.... And it hit me, well kind of a gentle slap, maybe I'm not so jaded. I just need to look at it from another perspective.
I take what she said to mean that people maybe follow specific religions not for what they say, because most teach a great deal of the same thing, but we are drawn to the actions they ask us to take. Most of them have specific rituals that one should follow if one is to be a good Jew, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Quaker, etc.
To tell our stories, to repeat our rituals, we create a space to commune and to heal whatever is going on for us in the moment. We have songs we sing, prayers we recite, breaths to breath, walks to take, questions to ask... and this comes back to being asked how am I preparing for the Apocalypse. If we can do this, take action, tell the stories our way, we can redefine it. Maybe not be so afraid of the changes that are coming, apocalypse or not.
See, I don't know if I believe in "The Apocalypse". The majority of the scenarios are very similar and have existed as long as humans have existed: humans fucked up, the world ends, we get kicked out of the garden. For me, this is not about climate change, or the global economic crisis. For me, we will only "survive" if we care for one another everyday, and I can't do that if I am busy making sure that I have enough water, food, shelter, protection, weapons, skill, etc only for myself. However, if as a community we can come together we will be able to "survive" together whatever comes our way.
I'm not blind, or in denial, or looking through rose colored glasses; I just don't know what is going to happen. I don't believe in a "happy ever after forever" story (just ask any of me ex's). I also don't think humans will be the last species standing when the sun decides to go out. And I am not too concerned about that. I'm more in the camp of "who is hungry today? Who is thirsty, in pain, in need?"
I do believe that as the shit is hitting the fan (and I do see that is happening all over this planet), that we do need to be doing better at taking care of one another. This is not new. We do need to be taking action. We need some skills. We need to connect with one another. We can not rely on the government to rely on a non-toxic food supply and water supply. Much of what we have relied on the government to take care of, we are going to have to do for ourselves, for each other. As we do this more and more for ourselves (meaning in our neighborhoods) we will be developing community and a movement that protects us just a little bit more the longer we do it. An independent economic structure will emerge. Community accountability will replace the police department. And so much more. Isn't this kind of what Jesus taught? Take care of one another?
So no, I am not preparing for the apocalypse. I am trying to build some skills to become a better member of my community, and then when 2012 does it's thing, I will be even more prepared for the next apocalyptic story.
