Astral Answers: Speaking in Tongues
Dear Shae,
So, I have a problem. I am a Christian. All of my friends are not. I don’t want to make a blanket statement but most Christians I’ve met are ignorant, hateful sacks of shit that I can’t get along with. I much prefer the company of people who don’t believe they have the answers for everything and don’t judge my behavior. The problem is I don’t feel that they respect my faith at all. They make offhand comments like all Christians are stupid or something like that, when I’m standing right there. I don’t make it an issue most of the time because I don’t want to turn them off. Should I be standing up to them? Should I find new, however-stupid-they-may-be friends who share my beliefs?
Sincerely,
Clueless
Dear Clueless,
It seems your problem is that, in general, many people (Christians and non-Christians alike) choose to be hateful and ignorant about matters of spirituality. As someone who is both religious and tolerant, it can feel almost impossible to find like minds. Finding a supportive open-minded spiritual community amidst the turbulent modernity of America is like trying to find baby Jesus in a giant industrial size hay stack. Our personal responsibility is to have the courage to seek the baby Jesus in the haystack, which entails having the courage to call out for it, without caring who hears you speaking in tongues.
WTF am I talking about, pray tell?
Well, in order to find likeminds, you must speak up and be heard. Not everyone will understand you, not everyone will be drawn to your truth. But you will find kindred spirits eventually who are spiritually open-minded as you are. And with regards to speaking up; don’t underestimate the pleasure of eradicating the ignorance of heathens. Sometimes a well-placed comment (“You sound ignorant right now…I thought you were an open-minded liberal”) is all you will need to stand your ground and honor what you know is true. When appropriate, you can take it a step further and educate them (see: ‘not all Christians are alike’ elevator speech).
Don’t even worry about turning them off. If anything you should aim to dial them back and turn them off to the airwaves of ignorance. Remember they are making highly prejudiced comments, so you may slay them with righteous truth. As your good book reminds us, “Str8 is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there B that find it.” (Matt 7:14) Translation: being an a*hole is easy, but following your own personal truth is hard, so most people don’t do it.
Of course you will never be able to correct all the ignorance in the world, but resistance is not futile. The biggest challenge is refraining from judging the judgers. Especially difficult when you are already summoning the courage of David upon your own personal goliaths.
It becomes too easy to blame other people in these situations, so you must frame it in terms of your own personal struggle. One of your struggles may be coming to terms with your WWJD moments. You may hate the thought of even stopping and thinking WWJD because that makes you feel like an uber-JC freak who wears rubber bracelets, goes to a mega church and cruises Christian Rock concerts for virgins. But you need not be That Guy. You’re an open-minded guy who follows that hippie Jesus, so figure out what that really means. I recommend sitting down in a quiet place with a silky pillow, burning some sage, and tuning into the WWJD moments.
Just don’t trance out too hard. Unless you would like to become a mystic.
Quick- BONUS QUESTION
Dear Shae,
How do you know you’re in love?
Cleo
Cleo,
Some people say when you are in love you “float on air”. This euphemism comes from an ancient technique from our Gypsy ancestors, also known as Wind Walkers, who had a time-tested approach to determining the depth of one’s love. It involves attempting to walk on ‘the path of wind’ , which you can find on the rooftop of your local apartment building. If you step off and find yourself floating, you are in love. If you fall, you are not in love. That’s why they call it a “crush”.
Shae Rue writes the advice column, “Astral Answers,” a Heated Forest exclusive! Go to heatedforest.com/advice to ask your question today.