God & Dragons

 

I have finally started studying Hinduism. 

I was raised on Catholicism and Lutheranism; spent my teenage years studying neo-paganism, ancient European religions, and Islam; and now, in my twenties, I've been learning about Shamanism from various cultures, Buddhism, and now, Hinduism.

Ever since I was ten years of age, I've felt drawn to religion and philosophy. I think this is because all of it echoes with human strife and joy. Religion and philosophy, I would say, embody the human essence; likely due to the fact that these are mostly concepts sprung from our perception of our experiences. Spreading myself out far and wide, immersing myself as deeply as possible in religion and philosophy, makes me feel closer to humans, to myself, and to truth, God.

This is probably why, so far, I feel that Hinduism resonates the strongest with me. Aside from local variations of Hinduism, this belief system is rather flexible. It does not matter your religion, Hinduism can still be applied as a way of life; it often encourages students to follow what they feel will bring them closer to God (truth). God, in Hinduism, is not necessarily an omniscient being, but rather, God is the essence of everything, God is the truth, God is you, God is me, God is whatever we perceive God to be.

Reading these teachings, I am reminded of when I was in my late teens. I was stagnant, hopeless, wishing for a sign to spark my spirit to life again. So, I spent a day singing to the palm trees, pretending they were housing dragon spirits, a poem I had seen online to the melody of Enya's "Fairytale":

"Silver dragon of the Wyrrh,

  Bring me to you, Take me there,

  Show me the things unseen,

  Take me where your heart has been,

  Teach me the things that I must know,

  Unto me, your wisdom please bestow."

((I do not know who wrote this poem. I had attempted to search for it online with no luck. If you happen to know who wrote it, please, don't hesitate to let me know so that I may provide proper credit.))

 The next day, while walking to morning Taekwondo class, a middle aged Indian woman stepped out of the dry cleaning store.

"Excuse me," she called me over. "You go to Taekwondo over there, yes?"

I confirmed.

"Somebody left their belt on the bench out here. Can I give it to you to take back?"

I agreed.

She beckoned me into her dry cleaning store, where she then went behind the counter and retrieved a purple belt. I had the sudden realization that it was my previous belt. I must've accidentally left it on the bench when I'd stopped to roll up my pant legs. It had been just after my belt changing ceremony, so I hadn't even noticed it was missing.

Embarrassed, I didn't mention that I was the owner of the belt, I simply accepted it.

I can't remember how exactly we got to the topic of philosophy and God, but we did.

Thankfully, I like to arrive at appointments ten minutes early, because the two of us became quite involved in our discussion. So involved in fact, that a customer had come in and we continued to converse, despite the customer's apparent displeasure. The woman eventually tended to her customer before returning to our conversation.

"See he was very impatient, but that does not bother me. Everyone is always in a hurry, I do not need to hurry myself just because everyone else does. Just because everyone else thinks a certain way, does not mean we have to think the same way. I read a little book, I read:

'God is like a chameleon, he appears different to everyone.'"

She soon sent me on my way with wishes of peace. I never saw her again, in fact, I have difficulty remembering even seeing the dry cleaners after that day. The reality probably is that my social anxiety prevented me from looking anywhere but the ground in front of me, and even discouraged me from going to see her again. I have many regrets due to my social anxiety, not visiting the woman again is one of them. I can, however, proudly say that I've greatly improved and now pass up fewer opportunities to interact with the people I want to reach out to.

Anyhow, regardless, I had felt absolutely blessed after that short time with the woman, and I still do. Back then, and even now, I am convinced she had some sort of influence of a dragon spirit, and she was kind enough to grace me with her time and words. She gifted me the message I had prayed for to the palm tree dragons.

Now, here I am, returning to what she had taught me. Since she herself was Indian, I suppose it is not too unlikely that she was reciting the same wisdom which Hinduism teaches. Even if she herself wasn't Hindu, it's so deeply ingrained in so many Indian cultures, that the philosophies still stand.