DATE: November 16, 2008
LOCATION: Albuquerque, NM
T/R: Gerdean
TEACHER: Merium
TOPIC: The Religious Hangover

MERIUM: Good afternoon, friends of mine, this is Merium, friend of yours.

Group: Hi, Merium. Welcome.

MERIUM: Hi and welcome. It's good to be in your company once more. "Glory, glory hallelujah!" Would that I could sing! I would entertain you with music which you so enjoy. As it is, our musical accompaniment today will have to be one of our imaginations. We could, however, say a prayer. Would you like to say a prayer for the record?

Men-O-Pah: Yes. "Our Father, we thank you for this beautiful day that you have made. We rejoice in it and we praise your holy name. And we thank you, Father, that we are here together and your promise to us that where two or three are gathered together, there shall you be. And so we ask you to guide our thoughts and give our mentors the words that we need to hear. We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen."

Group: Amen!

MERIUM: Due to the intimate nature of today's group, I thought perhaps we could enjoy some more interaction, a little less lecturing on my part and a little more contribution on your part. Teacher Aaron is very adept at drawing people out by asking questions, finding themes that elicit generous responses. I'll follow his lead.

I'll begin by introducing an idea, the idea being the Religious Hangover. "The religious hangover?" You might inquire. "Whatever does that mean?" Well, it's a reference to the lessons we've been receiving from Andromadeus on the sundry kinds of angels, and most recently "the angels of the churches," the religious guardians, speaking to that quality of cultural conditioning that you have received through your exposure to organized religion.

I know all of you here present have and continue to have some degree of association with organized religion and/or residue conditioning, marks on your soul and psyche. Most of them, of course, are to the good and advantageous, for the very nature of gathering together in His name seeking guidance and inspiration from On High is a positive action, one which is stimulated by your own indwelling God Fragment, which yearns to become all that it can be and share its reality with others of similar temperament, and so it is that religionists all enjoy the prospect of coming together with other religionists to share in the spirit.

As the experience of association with evolved religions becomes a part of your consciousness, and as you seek for edification and further insight into your spiritual nature, you are able to let go of those things which no longer serve, and that is what I would like to focus on today if you will indulge me. Let me point out that it is not expected for these to disappear in the blinking of any eye, but they will become less prominent as you consciously unleash your hold on those practices which once held humanity in its grasp that are no longer appropriate.

By now your minds should be teeming with examples from your own experience, perhaps, or from the general knowledge of advancing mores. And so I am going to open the floor to you now to cite some of these examples to contribute to the theme, if you are so inclined. [Pause]

Men-O-Pah: When I was a small boy, my family were staunch Southern Baptist, and they held to a few things that I've since -- and they, too, I think -- have decided they're not appropriate any longer. One of things was the closed communion, which they practiced in the taking of the Lord's Supper only by the members of that particular congregation. If you were an outsider in that congregation at the time that meal was served, they excluded you. You were not allowed to take communion. I believe that the Lord's table is huge and is meant to encompass everyone. "Whosoever will."

Also, in our own church, the one we are in now, the Church of the Good Shepherd, the United Church of Christ, we have at least a half a dozen gay couples in that church, men and women. And we have a few Indians, like myself. And we have one black couple and I wish there were more like those two people; they're really loving people. That would not have been allowed in the old Southern Baptist Church.

If I remember, when I was a teenager that old church burned and we went together and we built it back, and when the church was finally built back we had another pastor, and there was an old colored minister who came down from Carbondale, Illinois, which is the home of Southern Illinois University, my alma mater. And he came down and offered to preach us a sermon and they wouldn't let him do it. They wouldn't allow him to preach. And I think, you know, when that service was over, he stood out in the north exit of that old church and he shook hands with everybody that came by, and I think, you know, there is a scripture, in Mark, that all of us have a burning coal on the top of our head.

Those are a few of the things that … I'm not sure about the Southern Baptists anymore. I haven't been in a Southern Baptist Church in a good many years now, but I think that they have probably waived at least some of those concepts that they had before -- the closed communion, at least. I don't know whether they would allow gay people to be members of their church, or a black man to preach. I don't know. I certainly hope they would.

MERIUM: And so you have recovered.

Men-O-Pah: Somewhat. I feel like I'm on the path.

MERIUM: How about you, Thoroah, have you an example that comes to mind?

Thoroah: Oh, yeah. And I can say that I'm pretty much through my religious hangover. There was a large cloud that shrouded my experience, my religious experience that I pursued most of my life -- got contorted, appropriately so when I got involved with organized religion. The whole realizing of the concept of the original sin, when I was old enough to understand what they were talking about, and the idea that we were still paying for the "original sin."

I was thinking about that the other day and it's the same situation. It's like the issue in this country of slavery, that blaming contemporary people for the advent of slavery into this country is just about as big a stretch as blaming you and me and all our contemporaries for the original sin. It doesn't make any sense. Now, as far as what the "original sin" might represent and people who represent the error of those ways, now that still exists, but living under that shroud of Original Sin is no longer an issue and that's just one of many parts of the hangover that gone for me.

MERIUM: Yes, that's a big one. It keeps you subservient and submissive to the point where it is impossible to lift yourself up to the noble heights of sonship. Gerdean, what about you? Do you have a religious hangover?

Gerdean: Well, yes! I can't imagine anyone not being indoctrinated in a way of life from which you have emerged without having some experiential wisdom, but mine would be perhaps social in nature, rather than religious, and it has to do with counting noses. I remember in church everybody -- well, not everybody -- the women would inquire, "Well, where's Grace today?" "Where's George?" "Did you talk to Jenny?" or "Did you ask Mabel if she's coming?" as if to say we needed to keep an eye on everyone out of concern for them, but it seemed like meddling. And so I never liked that practice.

And even today, like with our group, I don't like to meddle in why people don't come or -- I don't want to call to find if they are coming. It's a throw back to those early days of

conditioning from the church. It's awkward because part of me certainly does want to know and certainly does want them to be there, and yet that "hangover" still exists, and it's like … "I'm not going to call them. I am not going to ask them. I am not going to care whether they are there or not," although, of course, I do. And so I guess you could say I still suffer from that hangover. If that's the kind of thing you're talking about, or if that counts.

I think, when you were talking earlier, I was thinking more about the hangover that Abraham must have had, having to do with sacrifice, because he was told by Machiventa that sacrifice was not necessary, that our Father did not require sacrifice, and yet he continued to sacrifice for years, "just in case." What I find interesting is that these things have such long-range effects because it was a long, long time ago that I heard Grace and Mabel talking about who was and who was not at church and even longer when Abraham was sacrificing, but we still are affected by those things, like eating meat on Friday. That was a restraint the Catholics were under until they decided it was okay to eat meat on Friday.

Paula: I didn't know they did.

Gerdean: Well, I'm not Catholic, so I don't really know for sure but I think I've heard something to that effect.

Thoroah: George Carlin wanted to know if that was retroactive. (Chuckles)

Gerdean: That's my contribution. Thank you.

Men-O-Pah: In addition to the concept that Thoroah was speaking of, the doctrine of original sin, to tag a newborn babe who has just popped from his mother's womb and right away you take and baptize that baby who has committed no sin whatever, and the notion that the sin of Adam and Eve can be passed onto that baby is absolutely ludicrous. I think God is a lot smarter than that. But for a long time, you know, I thought that sin came down to me. I really did. And I comported myself accordingly. But I like to think that I have learned better.

Thoroah: And the irony of that is that when you're tired of feeling guilty about something, there are those that are going to be there in organized fashion to make you feel guilty about not feeling guilty.

Men-O-Pah: Yeah. I think I told you about the old principle Cherokee Chief "Charlie" [Tsa-li], back in the 1700s, perhaps even before then, when the Christian missionaries started branching out in the colonies and taking the message to the native people, the Indians, and they remarked to Charlie that, you know, the sin of Adam and Eve was passed on to him and he thought that because of that the people crucified Christ, that it was absolutely necessary that he be a sacrifice to remove that original sin from us. And Charlie said, "No, no, no." He said, "We never would do such a thing as that." He said, "If Jesus came to us, we would invite him in and sit him down and we'd have a feast together. We would never do such a thing." And so even back all those years, at the time of Charlie, there are a few people that knew better and so, progress is sort of slow.

Thoroah: Well, consider that we are all -- in one form or another -- pretty much a product, at least in part, of Europeans. (Yeah) And so all of the European traditions, and we know from our history books that there has been a lot of volatility somewhere between Jerusalem and Scotland there has been a lot of volatility in religion, and it has been basically oppressive and divisive, and all of those traditions -- our family's family and their family's family and so on and so on -- they come with us, and we have to shed those things as we-- and, you know, it's difficult because you feel very much isolated sometimes, but when the facts stare you in the face and you have enough conviction of your own belief, your own personal knowledge and awareness and wisdom, you know, when you get to that point then you are not intimidated by the churches … dogma, and so on. It's a great freedom.

Men-O-Pah: Absolutely it is. Hallelujah.

Thoroah: Yes. Glory.

MERIUM: Paula, do you have an example to cite?

Paula: I was just thinking about when I was a kid. My Aunt Stella lived across the street from us and she was a staunch Catholic and she married Uncle Bill who was a wishy-washy Protestant who probably saw the church once a year, if that often, and the kids, they didn't know how to stop having kids, they just kept having them. She had six children; she had two boys and four girls, and the youngest boy was a year younger than me and Buddy was determined to see if he couldn't get me in a position where I would get spanked if I did something I wasn't supposed to do and he was always hoping that he could catch me in something and then he would run and he'd tell Daddy, and he would say, "Uncle Charlie! She did this, she did that" to see if I could get punished and he hoped I would, and my father wasn't averse to spanking. He thought that was good for kids, and I can remember some good hot spankings where I got really, really mad afterwards, mad at my father because he could spank real hard, and-- I got em because I was an only child, they didn't want me to think that I could get away with murder, and so when I did something bad, I got it, just like any other kid. And I used to just hate my father when that happened, and it took me a long time after he had spanked me good and hard to get to the point where I could even tolerate him around me, and yet as the years went by and I got over all that stupid stuff, I realized what a really great person my father was.

And then he got killed in an accident. When he and mother had been on vacation up in New England, they had a wonderful time, and they were on the last lap going home and this woman and her … I don't know, her husband, I guess, was with her -- they came out of the side road that was on the main highway and they were driving in a car that should not have been on the road because the brakes didn't work, so she came barreling out the side, hit the car, Dad went through the front windshield and landed on the pavement ahead. He lived for something like eleven hours. Never came to. And to this day, I hate that woman and I will always hate her and that's a terrible thing to carry with you, but she caused my father to die when he was only in his 50's and he was a wonderful person and I just adored the ground the man walked on, even though I was like all kids, I defied him every so often and then I got a good swift thing right on the seat of my pants where it needed to be, but I have never been able to forgive that woman. She was driving a car that should not have been on the road. She had no way to stop. He had the right of way and she went Ka-boing! And he went through the windshield. That was so terrible.

MERIUM: Yes, that was a hangover that has left you with a throbbing headache. I have talked with you about that situation before and it's just something you will have to live with, as many choose to live with f acts of life that are unacceptable. However, you do point out an interesting thing, that relating to your cousin.

Paula: What?

MERUM: Children today -- adult children -- are very much the same. They seem to want to get others in trouble for their beliefs. You have told the story -- I believe it was that cousin who had derogatory remarks to make about your being Protestant, as being outside the loop, outside the favored few, outside that which is acceptable, and that is a practice that is still quite popular today - each religion enjoying a certain sanctimonious preferment. This is certainly a religious hangover. It was in existence in the days of Christ.

Remember the story of James and John's mother who came to Jesus and asked that her sons be given preferment in the kingdom. She obviously did not understand the true nature of the kingdom. She perceived it as a finite kingdom, a temporal kingdom, and in fact it is a spiritual kingdom. Similar to, perhaps, in politics people will ask for the plum positions on a cabinet or a committee. This is simply a part of the process of evolution, and rather than causing consternation, rejoice that you have the ability to understand why it is that people segregate themselves from each other, alienate themselves from those with whom they do not agree, do not want to be aligned. As the centuries go by, these differences subside because the oneness of humanity and the harmony of your differences begin to take precedence over the wearying effects of petty rivalries and petty politics.

Congratulations to those of you who have drunk deep of the living waters such that you have been able to see how your mind had been befogged. Be compassionate now as you look around and see the suffering that goes on among those who retain their pain, who loyally subscribe to that which serves only to discomfort them. Glory indeed, glory to that spirit that allows you the liberty that Jesus meant to convey when he came here to set the captives free. Setting the captives free is an intricate task, one that requires conscientious and painstaking application. There are some who would hate you for trying to ease their pain. And so you must know when to act. You must know when to inquire after someone's attendance and not merely make a nuisance of yourself or meddle with the souls of others.

Well, I have certainly enjoyed our conversation this afternoon. I'm open to other conversations or further aspects of this one. I will let you decide.

Thoroah: Gerdean had an interesting query yesterday, and it is that, just a query and not all that serious in nature but we were curious about Andromadeus and his relationship with Andromeda.

MERIUM: Yes, there is a connection, similar to how heaven and Havona are connected. It has to do with context of galactic positioning. Andromeda is more of a place; Andromadeus is not necessarily from Andromeda, nor of the Andromeda strain. The Andromadeus [Andromeda deus] "deus" leaves it more toward spirit energy and reality, and also the term Andromadeus alludes to music, the music of the spheres.

Thoroah: That would be something to get our mind around right there - the music of the spheres.

MERIUM: It would indeed, and it is difficult for me to convey certain concepts to your ears, concepts that your mind is incapable of grasping from your finite state. Galaxies are fixed in space but music can traverse the spheres and harmony reaches all the way to Paradise. It would be an interesting study for those of you sci-fi buffs and cosmology buffs.

There is also a word forming here in the mind, Amadeus, that might add some flavor to your studies should you be so inclined. It is this stimulation of the imagination that endears you to me and to each other. It lifts you up out of the basic maintenance mode of living and launches you into the -- (Would you please check the tape? [Tape turned]) -- launches you into the kind of thought that liberates you from the confines of the mortal estate.

And, like we discussed today, venturing into new realms of thinking and perceiving is how we break away from those old constraints that held us bound by ignorance and prejudice into the freedom of light and life.

I will bid you a fond adieu with my thanks and our thanks for your attendance this afternoon and our undying affection for all that you are, all that you have been and all that you will be. Good afternoon. Bye-bye.

Group: Thank you.
END