Outside the Bubble

I went to a synagogue with my cousin, Kathy[1. Third cousin OR first cousin, twice removed], who was invited by a friend of hers who goes there. Josh Nelson Project, a Jewish rock band, was performing.

I KNOW. TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, RIGHT??!!

Kathy’s friend, Calvin[2. I think this was his name!], ended up buying me a shirt and a CD for $25 after one of the guys at the table said that I obviously needed one. I’m forever grateful, because new music is awesome. Aside from that, the concert (was it that?)/performance was really unique and not like anything I’ve ever seen or experienced before. I’m happy I got to get the CD, though, as I really admired the music. There are some musics you can feel from the instruments via the vibrations, but I felt this from the heart. It’s beautiful and unique, and it wasn’t that it was loud that allowed me to feel it from my heart – it was the energy from the other people in the room we were in! Another thing that intrigued me was that this music was their religion, and yet they did more than clapping – they danced a bit, even moving their booties!

Some kids were there from all around Texas and some places in Oklahoma. They were staying with families who attended the synagogue and had volunteered to “host” them [for the weekend, I guess]. They were basically sixteen year olds, and they were up and dancing and fangirling and fanboying over the band. I don’t know that this ever would have been allowed in a Christian rock concert – the behavior, really, like the booty dancing.

It was an awesome, amazing and a unique experience. :p Afterward, Kathy and I went to Potbelly, a sandwich shop that is much tastier than Subway, and Calvin met up.

If you’re fairly new to my blog and/or you’re completely unaware, in the past I’ve classified myself as a nondenominational Christian, but as time passes I don’t feel that a specific label really needs to be given to me. I’m a Christian, but I like to have an open mind to different and new things and ideas. New experiences are welcomed by me with an open mind[3. Minus a few things I am firmly against for myself, like shock therapy, hypnosis, etc.]. Stephanie described me as a “hard-core Christian”, but whether it’s relevant to her perspective of me now I do not know. I mean, that was in 2011.

Now that you know that…

Before I went to a synagogue, I went on a Joyous Living Retreat. It seemed to be about mostly meditation and finding inner peace.

Yeah. I did not know this before going. I was told it was with her church. Now, I don’t say church; I say “church”. It’s a totally different perspective and take on things. Someone in my group (or seated at the same table as I) said something about Science of Mind, and I came home and researched what it meant. I did this because I was silently freaking out about this whole thing, because the only time I’ve heard science in something that had to do with a religious activity (aside from actual science-science) was in scientology.

It’s all about positive energy and being joyous and living life joyfully, and there was zero prayer and/or mention of God unless it was using his name in the exclamation, “Oh, my God!” Definitely wasn’t what I was used to.

I did get something out of it. I learned that there are some open-minded people in the world, even in Texas. I also learned that religious meditation (meaning meditation regarding how I should live joyously according to my wishes) is not the lifestyle for me. The majority of the time, I felt as though it was being inferred that my being depressed and such was because I was holding onto the past – even when I’ve literally tried my darned hardest to let go of it and pretend it never existed/didn’t matter anymore/etc.

However, I will not look down upon those who live that lifestyle, as it is their choice. Mine is to continue my faith in how I feel is best and works best for me.

The people in my group were really positive, but I wouldn’t have minded being told something that wasn’t positive. When I talk about doing something [like we did] as though it’s in the future [like we did], it doesn’t happen. Also, I receive positive feedback from that, and it doesn’t help me. In fact, doing said exercise made me feel even shittier about myself.

…I wouldn’t, however, mind going to another one of Josh Nelson Project’s concerts again, though. 😉

Anyway, I know this is nearing 1000 words, but I really hope you guys enjoyed reading ALL about my venture outside of the Christian bubble (the strict one, anyway!). 😉

Aside from whatever you wish to say about what I did today, has your perspective of me changed?

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Comments on this post

I’m glad you ended up having a good time! No, my perspective of you hasn’t changed. At first I was confused as to why you would want some negative feedback, but I understand (from experience) that positive feedback can get to a point where you wonder if is being done out of politeness, and you wonder what people really think but don’t want to say.

I believe in God and Jesus, but as a spiritual relationship rather than a religion. I think the Christian religion has been built on a lot of people’s personal opinions and agendas, rather than what Christ wants.

@Robin, I’m not necessarily expecting negative feedback, or anything, really. I was just curious. :p Some people tell me I’m mean, and so they expect for me to still be this mean person as they continue to read my blogs. It typically starts out like this because I don’t agree with something in their blog.

Yeah, Christianity changes too much, and there are so many different versions of it — all of which claim to be the “right” one. I think things should be taken personally (into personal matters) and that one should interpret things in their own way, not in a preacher or pastor’s way.

I thought that you were a hard-core Christian in 2011 mainly because you didn’t believe in things like evolution (something that doesn’t determine whether you’re a good person or not, but something that would get you laughed at where I’m at) and because you upheld your life like a Christian. At the moment, by those definitions, I’d probably still say that you were a hard-core Christian, but in a good way. My friend says that there’s a chapter in the Bible that tells you not to judge people, so if she’s right, you are more Christian than the stereotypical person who hates on gay people and doesn’t accept opinions that aren’t their own (I wish that this stereotype was false, but I’ve actually met people like this, and it bothers me sometimes).

But all that aside, I am glad that you go to go outside your usual bubble! Never leaving any sort of bubble is bad for your knowledge and your perspective. Personally, I am not sure that the dancing is strictly okay in Judaism, but I wouldn’t know.

Has my perspective of you changed? Of course – I’ve learned a lot more about you through reading your blog, and have updated my perspective as I’ve gotten then new information, as you have probably done with me by reading my blog. 😛

@Stephanie,

But I do believe in evolution, to an extent. The part about humans coming from monkeys/other animals I absolutely do not believe. I do, however, believe that animals develop skills and knowledge and such that helps out future generations. :p If that makes sense.

It wasn’t like club dancing or anything like that, it was mostly adults from where I was seated. So picture adults dancing like that. :p It looked like they were having fun, though; I enjoyed being there.

I don’t think the Science of Mind thing is for me because they made it into life and everyday choices turning into future things — basically what I’m dealing with right now is because I don’t know how to control my mind, and I need to learn how, because what I’m going through is the result of previous life choices… Eh. No, thanks.

I don’t care if I get laughed at for something I believe in. I don’t really laugh at others for their beliefs, but if they laugh at mine, they’re clearly not worth my time. 😀

And truth is, I currently live in a scientist bubble, because I attend a technical school with lots of biologists who study fast-paced evolution in bacteria, and for them, not believing in the part of evolution that says that humans evolved from some more primitive species is equivalent to not believing their work.

But perhaps “laughed at” is the wrong word. Because my school is filled with people from everywhere, people are generally accepting of many things. You wouldn’t be picked on unless you were blatantly voicing your own opinions all the time and telling them that they’re wrong, and most of them wouldn’t constantly tell you that you’re wrong either. Basically, they’d take you seriously as a person (but perhaps not a scientist) unless you started preaching to people who didn’t want to hear you. Nobody here takes unwanted preachers seriously.

But you’ve got the right attitude. People who dismiss other people for their beliefs just don’t appreciate the diversity that the world is, no matter what the beliefs happen to be. (Unless the beliefs amount to something similar to “Hitler was awesome”. Then that wouldn’t work so well.)