The Universe Smiles

I wrote the following in mid-February

and many others the same day

Here's one:

            Please imagine that the word "religion" means nothing to you right now, and you're starting with a clean slate of knowledge and imagination, openly perceptive and possibly receptive to a new clue for you.

 

            Religion means “rebinding”.  Think of it as connecting to something larger than yourself.  You become one with the universe.  That’s all that religion is about, no matter which religion you’re talking about or which different words they seem to be using to convey that, or, sadly, distort that.

            The problem with most religious statues is that they are always so serious and stern, or even miserable and sad.  Thus, if they are rebinding to the universe, then that is what the universe is about.  Mostly you see that in the west.  In the east you tend to see this neutral look of contentment on most statues, usually of the Buddha, indicating that he’s totally got it but he can’t be bothered to get excited about it because then he might be sad later and ruin his balance.  His eyes are rarely open.

            That brings us to the Laughing Buddha, the best religious statue in the world.  The reason is easy: he’s smiling!  And not just smiling, he’s really smiling.  He is one happy camper.  He smiles wide with a dot to indicate his third eye, and it radiates from him centrifugally out into the universe with which he is united.

            If there is an arc to the universe, it is a smile.  We start happy, get dragged down, and then raise ourselves back up again.

            Share in the one smile.