Originally posted 7/31/2011; original title, “Cobbler’s Faiths.”
Some cobble their religion
from old songs half remembered
stray parental advice
advertising scripts
movie scenes
observations made upon losing virginity
every episode of favored cartoons
lines grabbed from books sniffed out at yard sales
or learned from peers better versed in cool
rare T-shirts
well-shouted poems
It seems as valid
as anything put together
by committees of old men
staring suspiciously at past wisdom
scrapping over papyrus and parchment
and vellum
with an eye toward
power
Each seems to offer
as much comfort to its believers
as the other does to its congregation
My God
is also a crafter
A maker of watches and clocks
Long ago
the Holy Mechanism was turned on
It made a cog of me
I learn the secrets of time
and motion for myself
as I mesh with All
and work in tandem with All
to bring All
forward
Sometimes I do envy
those whose shoes fit well enough
to let them cross these stone-seeded grounds
with such ease
especially on those days when I’m deaf
to the Ticking
and I stumble and stub and bleed
while straining to hear it again
but then I reconsider
and smile through the pain
imagining what more important things
than worrying about me
the Watchmaker may be up to
Dark Matter 
January 4th, 2015 at 6:57 am
I really enjoyed reading this. Thoughtful commentary always welcome, good insight especially so. Thank you for this.
January 3rd, 2015 at 12:34 pm
Ahh. This is awesome. And it answered my wondering when reading your poetry from yesteryears, if you had come to new places in your journey since then.
I’ve cobbled from all of the above and much from personal experience which is, of course, vulnerable to misinterpretation. But so is everything else.
Finally, a week or so ago, at 77 1/2 years I “got” Tillich’s “ground of our being” on an experiential level. It’s called finding “home” in my vernacular and doesn’t exclude being at “home” in suffering, mine or the world’s.
And it include’s the sparrow, because of the oneness of things.
My life and mind have been enriched by sharing your journey which has been very similar to mine. It has helped me realize that all parts of the journey are still in me and to recognize how comfortable I am with that paradox. And to look forward to any expansions I have in store in the time I have left in the school of this life.
Wishing you many new insights, joys and laughter in this year and always.
At this point the laughter, particularly at myself, seems the greatest blessing of advanced years.