When I was a kid my mother dragged me around to all the churches. Holy Rollers. Mormons. Lutherans. Normal Baptists. A Catholic Mission. She tried to get along with people but something always came up and we’d move to another church. I put up with the bullshit of going to church until I was old enough to skip out.

I hated Church back then. Now I’m an Old Fart. Nobody’s forcing me to attend church, so it’s no big deal. I even step into a church from time to time just to look around. Feel the cool stillness. I like it. Back then, it was not so nice.

All those people in their Sunday cloths. Pretending to be good. Especially the men. The women seemed more natural in the church setting. I figured they were being honest. It was the men that looked uncomfortable and out of place. They showed up to please their wives. They’d rather be chasing tail or hugging a bar. Maybe one or two were honest. The others…looking at them gave me the creeps. Especially the Preacher. I figured he must have some really sick shit bubbling in his mind. And in fact, one of those Preachers got busted for molesting a kid. You’d think it was a Priest. But no, it was a good old time Baptist they nailed.

And so it goes. Religion, church-going religion, never appealed to me.

Then, in the late Sixties, Eastern Religion made the scene.

I’ll give you a hint: The Beatles and Mia Farrow hung out with him.

And then there was this guy:

Timothy Leary’s pal. Another psychologist. The difference, this guy gave it all up and became a monk. Wrote a book called BE HERE NOW. A kind of acid zonked Buddhist diatribe. Look at him. Always smiling. I never took any of these people seriously. Lots of people did. Lots of people found their religion in Buddhism and Yoga and Nature Faiths.

I like the Tree Huggers. I had a girlfriend used to drag me to The Center For Spiritual Living. A tree hugger outfit. They worshipped just about everything. She Wolf Mother Goddesses. Jesus. Buddha. Zoroaster. You name it. I liked it when they wore stag horns around Christmas time. I highly recommend the place. The reverend could bend spoons like that Israeli dude used to do on the Mike Douglas show…

I’m not putting them down, mind you. I’m all in with the Tree Huggers. Even my mother dug Religious Science. Because even though she was a nut they genuinely liked her.

And what is the deal with Monotheism, anyway?

I mean, let’s look at it. Billions of people all over the world believe a huge bearded dude invented and rules the Universe. Does that make any kind of sense? From there, is it too much of a stretch to believe that the Earth rests on the back of a big ass Turtle? Or that trees have souls? I figure It’s all good. Certainly Tree Huggers are not dangerous.

Unlike the major religions, there’s no Hate in Religious Science.

Anyway, I’ve gotten off base here. I’ve drifted into a discussion of Religions, which is not what I set out to do. I mean to discuss the Meaning Of Life. There’s a reason why we’re here, right? The PURPOSE of it all…

Isn’t that what I’m trying to get at? After all, I’m pushing Seventy. I ought to be thinking about it.

Well, there’s always another post.

Meanwhile, I’ll pursue my own current purpose in life.

Raw Survival…