"All Women Are Goddesses As All Men Are God ...."

I recently read Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham which was good, and odd, and made me feel a bit bittersweet and sad about life in the end. But one line jumped out at me:  

"All Women are Goddesses As All Men Are God ...."

The segment the quote is from is about what make us beautiful or important or powerful does not depend on what we look like. But the idea that we are all holy reminds me of an old Buddhist story which roughly goes:

There were three very old monks who worried about their monastery since few visited anymore. They consulted a wise man who after deep thought said "I had a vision of Buddha and I saw that one of you three is the Buddha but I can't tell you which one." Each Monk concluded that they themselves was Buddha. Day by day mutual tolerance increased and slowly the atmosphere of the monastery began to transform, and gradually filled with love. Visitors and Disciples came back and the monastery was once again vibrant and joyful."When we perceive everything in us as divine, we can then attain liberation. Love is the way to attain liberation – this is the fundamental truth".

Or as Ambassador Delenn put in the show Babylon 5

We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.

What would our world look like if we truly believed that we were Gods and everyone we met was a God too. Maybe like me you are thinking "But I don't feel like a God". But maybe whatever we are experiencing (Sorrow or Pain or Joy or Elation or Numbness ....) is because we are living in solidarity with the emotions of others, or providing pathways for others to stand in solidarity with us. And Yes each of those things is easier said then done, especially when we are in the middle of our adventure, so far away from where we started, and still so far away from the final battle which will set everything right.

A while back I was asked to reflect on one of my Pastor's sermons and I wrote a poem which touched on this idea of solidarity and understanding:

What stood out to me,

Was between being a snarky pre-teen and being baptized

Jesus likely lost his father Joseph

Which reminded me he had an untraditional family

With two daddies and one mommy

Which got me to think of what also might have occurred

In the in-between years

Maybe he suffered depression or anxiety

Maybe he had to be told to “Always Keep Fighting” too

Maybe there were times as he stood in the carpentry shop

And he wished to be anywhere else

Anywhere else at all.

Maybe he dreamed of being a dancer, or a writer, or something else entirely

Maybe there were days he could not dream at all

Maybe what gave him hope on the long days was something no one else understood

Maybe it was something he did not understand himself

Maybe he had his first crush on a boy

Or maybe a girl

Or maybe someone had a crush on him

Which confused him since he was ace

Maybe he learned practical jokes from the Angel Gabriel

Maybe he put on scavenger hunts like GISHWHES

Maybe he and his friends created a band

There are so many Maybes,

So many might have beens

But in this moment my heart cries out

For all who are experiencing any or all of these things

And Jesus while you are a character I never quite know what to do with

In this moment I stand in solidarity with what you experienced in Life

And hope you do that same for us

And sometimes as we believe ourselves to be Gods we will feel like The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz and hope no one looks behind the curtain. But we all need to remember that The Wizard was able to help The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Lion, and Dorothy simply by reminding them that they had always had the power to begin with.

"All Women are Goddesses As All Men Are God ...." What might this mean to you?