Whhoooo aaaarrreee yyyooouuuu?

I'm not about to write anything profound. This isn't some sort of epiphany, but I feel inspired nonetheless. That's what life is really about, right? Recounting over and over again, nothing new under the sun.

I love reading people's quotes (usually via Facebook status updates or random books I'm reading). Many times I have witnessed someone quoting a person who is not of the same religion, ethnicity, gender, or other form of identity, yet for some reason the idea behind the quote is something they can relate to.

For example, quoting Rumi, Jung, Freud, or Gandhi. Rumi was Muslim. Jung, Christian. Freud, Atheist. Gandhi, Hindu. It's funny because this lady at this Women's Disciples assembly I went to a month or so ago quoted Martin Luther King, and she made a joke that no matter what the rest of her speech entailed (like... if it were complete crap) she would have gotten a lot of head-nods and maybe some "Amens!" just because she quoted King. You know it's true!

We look at these people (and others) with adoration because of their genius, profundity, revolutionary contributions to our specific lives, our country or the entire world. Many of their words have become timeless, taken out of context and perpetuated through independent and collective lives everywhere. They become apart of us... and Us.

What blows my mind is how it's possible for people to be so segregated still. So many many of these great people have given such great insight... bridges built upon ideas expressed in languages... bridges that truly can link each of us in some way so that respect and love for each other can cross freely, gracefully from one person to another. We allow these people to inspire us (otherwise read: God inspires us through them), but yet there are still so many obstacles in the world. What's up with that?

I am always curious about people's spirituality and/or religion- where they came from and where they're going. It's a pretty easy question when you don't think about it. Most people in the U.S. (well.. barely, more and more people identify as being agnostic, especially us young ones) would respond to "Christian" if asked what their religion was. However, is it really that black and white of a question? If you're a Christian then does that mean you only have to rely on Jesus the Christ and "The Word" as the tools that mold your spirituality? What about all those other people? What about your parents? What about the random homeless person that you met on a bus that said something so bizarrely profound or observant it made you drop to your knees when you got to your hotel room, asking God, "Did you just talk to me?!"

In other words, are any of us 100% Christian?

A few months ago one of my pastors and I were talking about our faith journeys. It was agreed upon that both of us were born into Christianity, and that much like a Jew is born into Judaism, a born-into Christian may or may not be practicing. In fact, neither of us were sure that we'd buy into Christianity had we not been born into it. I myself have had an interesting journey, exploring Wicca (tree-hugger for life) as a pre-teen and during college various "New Age" material. I find what parts I relate with and keep them, allow them to enrich me and my current situation, and I leave behind the parts that just don't work. I couldn't begin making a pie-chart of religions I feel have made me who I am.

Here's a piece from Lupe Fiasco's song "Words I never said":

Jihad is not a holy war, wheres that in the worship?
Murdering is not Islam!
And you are not observant
And you are not a Muslim

(Who's he talking to here? Isn't he talking to Muslims who take their religion to the extreme... and Christians (+whoever else) who fail to recognize their prejudice against Islam because of the murderous whack-jobs who claim it?)

That being said, if each of us were to examine every contributing factor to our spiritual being I bet very few can say they are 100% anything. And with THAT being said... why again is it that we find it so difficult to relate and get along? Why can't we just focus on the good stuff and kind of drop the other stuff. Like when your boyfriend forgets to pick up his socks and he knows that drives you nuts. Or your wife is always rambling at you when you get home from work. You still love each other, so you learn to work with or tune out those obnoxious disagreements.

Sorry if I sound too much of a hippie- all peace, love, and harmony. But that's what Jesus calls me to be. It's what Gahndi, King, Rumi, and a whole bunch of other people call me to be. Those people are God's instruments of justice, restoration, and peace.

Anyway, so think as if you are Alice in Wonderland. You're stuck in your subconscious, exploring all of these things that you like, dislike, please, and scare you. In the midst a giant hookah-smoking Caterpillar asks you, "Who are you?" Can you come up with anything better than, "...I hardly know[?]"