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June 8, 2006 The well-known poet Emily Dickinson composed the hymn, "Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church — I keep it, staying at Home — With a Bobolink for a Chorister — And an Orchard, for a Dome — Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice — I just wear my Wings — And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, Our little Sexton — sings. God preaches, a noted Clergyman — And the sermon is never long, So instead of getting to Heaven, at last — I'm going, all along." Emily Dickinson was temporarily beatified by her Sunday morning orchard experience. In a somewhat comparable vein, Frederick Smith is temporarily beatified by his experience of watching the video "The Private Life Of Plants" and David Gleeson is temporarily beatified by Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot." Now, all we need is a few dozen poets, storytellers, and composers to create the format for a regular Sunday Service. More poets and storytellers and musicians can add hundreds of stirring pieces later. Soon the World-wide Church of Nature will be a popular movement. As do people everywhere, nature-people need a collective social focus and a regular ceremony where they can frequently celebrate their collective devotion. Why not call this focus the "Worldwide Church of Nature"? After all, there's already the "Worldwide Church of God." People often focus and share their enthusiasm for the natural world. Rather than celebrate just gods and saintly persons, nature-people celebrate birds, fishes, stars, moons, storms, trees, plants, and persons like Emily Dickinson who were far ahead of their times. Some religious people call such persons "prophets." Enthusiasms need to be shared. So far, as far as I know, atheists and agnostics haven't yet gotten their act together and created a regular service expressing devotion and praise, a service which can be held in a building each week or maybe several times a week, so that in rain or shine, gale, sleet, or snow, the nature-people can meet and celebrate their strong binding religion. This Worldwide Church of Nature is long overdue. So Gleeson and Smith, will you help organize it? Note that a religion need not be organized to celebrate something supernatural. I've provided an online definition of religion here. This defintion is taken directly from the website http://www.answers.com/topic/religion re·li·gion (rĭ-lĭj'ən) n. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. The life or condition of a person in a religious order. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion. idiom: get religion Informal. To become religious or devout. To resolve to end one's immoral behavior. [Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religiô, religiôn-, perhaps from religâre, to tie fast. See rely.] ------------ About the author: John L. Waters is an amateur psychologist and independent researcher on self-healing, integration, and problem-solving. John has created art, music and songs, prose and poetry, and helped people solve a difficult problem. For more information, read: John's letters of recommendation: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/recommendations about John's self-healing and integration: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/index.html about John's independent research: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/index.html about John's seeking an agent or a publisher: http://www.writers.net/writers/39295 Email: blueguntwo@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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