Commentaries by Cynthia

Recently, I was gifted with several spiritual books. One of my favorites is entitled God is No Laughing Matter by Julia Cameron, who also wrote The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write. (Special thanks to my friend, Paul Reece, who gave me the book.)

In her latest book, Julia explores several paths to God and candidly rants about how all-knowing one can become when being spiritual. Her argument is that we, as humans, take our views about our faith too solemnly and tend to become judgmental and controlling when we move into the disciple role. As someone living in the South, I have often noticed the tendency of devotees to bully or threaten other people into adopting their beliefs, and I have previously written about the flaws of Christian fundamentalists. As Julia states: “Bullies in the name of spirituality are really still just Bullies.” And she notes that they are found in other faiths – not just Christianity. In my decision to explore other paths, I would have to agree with Julia’s assessment. I have met Buddhists who lacked visible signs of compassion, as well as New Agers who thought that if you weren’t in a state of bliss 100% of the time, you must be doing something wrong.