Thursday, January 21, 2010

belief and faith without dogma

My mother passed away in December. She was Catholic, but I discovered just recently that she had secret beliefs in folk medicine (magick), psychics and divination. Kind of hazy and overwritten with some guilt from her faith, but like me, she thought these things just existed, whether you acknowledge them or not.

I found myself unable to be terribly sad at her passing, at least in the weeping and wailing sort of sad. She was 85 years old, had cancer, believed that the cancer would kill her, and died peacefully in her sleep.

I found that my own deep set beliefs in the idea that this world and everything in it is just a passing educational step in our real existence precluded any sort of deep grief.
I find myself thinking that she liked being right and knowing things that others did not know. Now she has the real answers and knows things that the rest of us do not know. I bet she is enjoying it.