h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi purplesalmon, and a fine bubbly person you be.

Thanks for the reply at the "I'm gonna" thread. 19 posts by the time I got back! It is all a bit too long-winded there for me. I seek that which flows from within so that I can relate it to my own experience of life now and today. I care little for what countless other minds, with much the same apparatus as myself, concluded down through the ages. I agree with you, all things are relative, and we move on so that "concluded" is a wrong word. There can be no conclusion. My mind cannot conceive of a universal urge to life that is not eternal and dynamic.
I think we must submit to that "eternity", and drop the notion that this little corner of Mind, we run planet Earth with, is the hub of it all. We only get bogged down in our own arrogance of thought.

I look forward to the thread you are developing and will certainly drop by. You are of the now and I am always interested in what the individual thinks for themself, right now. I may not be right, you may not be right, but in the land between us is somewhere for that third mysterious beingness to revealed. Some call it Love, but woe, the word, the deed has been corrupted!!

Love, ed.

Merry Meet To Ye Ed!!!!
I am finished with the short version of my story so drop by my page and give it a gander. The full lenghth version is still on hardcopy somewhere in my library of journals and I hope to soon find it and publish it here. Also, as I had to do it in segments, due to the masses of children here, it is backwards. So, start at the bottom and work your way up!

Remember, though, that I'm only making up the story to make a point. That being that all religions basically aim for the same things, just go about it differently. No offense intended there. Just too many similarities to ignore.

BTW, I used your name,unintentionally, as I hadn't met you when I wrote the original.

Bubbly Blessings To Ye, My Friend!!!!

purplesalmon, I visited your page and am sure ed won't mind being creative goo for the purposes of your story.

It is extremely nice to find a student of comparative religion. Like you, I have spent the better part of my life reading about world religions....always hoping to discover something that will make sense of things. Would you be interested in a discusssion on the subject?

Unfortunately, I have less time than I would like for serious discussions, but am going to launch a thread here in the Meditation Garden on comparative religion. I shall call it "comparative religion'. I hope you'll stop by......the rest of you as well.

Unlike ed, I like to explore what countless minds have concluded throughout the ages. The similarities between the sayings of Jesus and Buddha, for example have always fascinated me. And I often find inspiration and comfort in the words of prophets and teachers of all faiths.

H

Okay, gooey ed here!!! It is written, "Thou shall not take the name of the lord your god in vain,".......(grin)

Purplesalmon, Hypatia, I'm sorry, I was a bit clumsy with "I care little for what countless other minds down through the ages..." I trust you were not offended, also. Of course, I am interested. I just don't like going over and over it now that I feel I have gleaned my truth, and discovered it is within us all anyway.
As I wrote, I am more than interested in what you as individuals of today think. If that means comparative religion is the tool to revealing your personal gleanings, so be it. I respect and embrace any soul in reciprocation and know that even if they do offend me, they can be my teacher.
I suspect, purplesalmon, may I call you Drea, you and I can agree on quite a lot, so I look forward to your expose/(nearest thing to an accent.) After your intensive studies, I don't blame you for wanting to tabulate it.
Yes Hyp., prophets and teachers have inspired me; ultimately, to find inspiration from the same source as themselves. The similarities between them; I guess Drea is about to elaborate on those, and no doubt your good self on your thread. You won't punish me on "Thought for the day" will you?!!

Love, ed.

Greetings Hypatia and Ed,

Thank you both for your responses. I like to throw that story in during my sermons. As some of my congregation are learning, all religion can't be all wrong. Everyone, no matter how devout, takes a bit of who they are from sources they are completely unaware of. And, shape it to fit their own religion.Claim it as theirs and renounce any other religion that says the same thing, only in different terminology. In my comparative religion group we are learning more and more how many differences are only different because of the language.The ideas are basically the same.

It's not a new concept by any means. I learned it from my great granddad, a Cherokee Lutheran preacher.He was given the idea by his grandfather,a Cherokee but not a preacher. He was given it from his father and so on. It was almost blasphemous back then. Not accepted that a person could be a redskinned heathen and a preacher at the same time, let alone speak of all religions having truths and merit.
But, my granddad had many listeners and always standing room only on Sundays.

I am very greatful to have been his granddaughter and his student and to be able to follow his teachings on my path to self-discovery and self-awareness, and to have a small but close-knit group of listeners who come to my gatherings each week to learn what I have learned and to learn more as a group.

He opened my mind to the wonder that is life and gave me many gifts that I give to others.He gave me the freedom to find out who I am and to be who I am.And, He lives on through me in word and deed.

Yes, I capitalize He/Him. Not as in God but as in my spiritual guide.

I've rambled on enough for now. I have band practice tonight.

Blessed Be,

Drea

P.S. Ed, you most certainly may call me Drea, my friend. I'd be hurt if you didn't.

Do you know the works of Joseph Cambell?
He spent his life doing comparisons, looking for the similar themes within religions.

Drea, that's music to my monitor, so to speak. Your story I mean, and the Cherokee Lutheran background. We don't get that kind of wonderful blend here U.K. Pity I am not able to reach your gatherings, but we can still get the benefit here.

I had an uncle who belonged to the spiritualist movement, who had a spirit guide he called Red Feather. He drew an amazing portrait of Red Feather and although we have cranks who latch on to the idea of an Indian guide, my uncle Sonny was never that, and he taught me a lot.
I'm sure he knew what tribe Red Feather was from, even must have told me, but I'm ashamed I never took it in.

Hi abbi, dear friend, good to see popping in. I am following your threads to keep up with progress. Keep smiling.

Love, ed.

Abbi, I love Joseph Campbell. He had a wonderful way of cutting through superficialities and getting to the heart of the matter.

Purplesalmon, I have Cherokee blood. Just a little - not enough for a real Cherokee to claim me. My paternal grandmother was half Cherokee, making me one eighth. And my geat aunt, also half Cherokee, married a full-blooded Shawnee. So I grew up with redskins at family gatherings. When I was small I was terribly disappointed that they wore jeans and t-shirts just like I did. I wanted them to wear feathers and buckskins and moccasins and ride ponies - not bicycles. I'm told that at age 4 I asked my father what good it did to have Indian cousins if they looked just like I did.

H

Oh, Abbi,Joseph Campbell is/was a religious mentor to me in my studies!! We draw many of the same parallels from our studies. Kinda how the Ed story got its start.

As for my being of Cherokee descent; sorry to say I have no Cherokee blood whatsoever. My mom does as well as her mother but I was adopted and by all means available I discovered that I am Irish. The Cherokee Nation does not accept adoption so as far as they are concerned I am 1/64 th Cherokee, born of two people sterile as a Dr.'s office!Go figure, huh? They accept me as being Cherokee and for that I am exceptionally proud.I am able to benefit from them as teachers and spiritual guides. And, on top of all that I was recently adopted by the Navajos in Arizona as one of them!!!! I am very lucky to have had that opportunity.

I only have a Navajo name, Aurora Mourninghawk. I haven't adopted a Cherokee name as yet.But, hope to soon.

Blessings To All!!!!

Purplesalmon AKA Drea AKA Aurora Mourninghawk.

No surprise then!
Very interesting
I will stop by your page soon.

I suppose I would be about 1/64
My granny, on one side was (Um *is* I believe)Native.
RIP

I am still trying to pin down the tribe. She married and Irish-German man in Arizona. She moved to Arizona from Kentucky, too many variables to check yet! I was adopted at 6 yrs old in 1958

Hmmm I think I missed a post or two.
*note to self - make eye appointment*

New people and information to read again

My family has had many preachers.
They all pretty much broke away from their family churches.
Odd the limited things I do know about my history

Would be wonderfully weird if somebody here is related in some way Stranger things have happened!