When I was a child I had a book of Bible stories written especially for young children. One of my favorite stories was about Moses and his encounter with the burning bush in the wilderness.  As I remember it, Moses had been hiding out in the wilderness after killing an Egyptian whom he found beating upon one of the Israelite people. Moses let his anger get the better of him and he hit the Egyptian causing to him to die. Then Moses became a wanted man and he took off to hide in the wilds of the wilderness.

While he was hiding out, he came across the burning bush. Moses had never seen such a strange sight, the bush was on fire but it wasn’t being consumed by the flames.  So he crept a little closer to get a better look. Upon approaching he heard a loud voice and received his commission from God to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land.  Upon receiving his commission, Moses left the wilderness, returning to Egypt. The commission he had received upon his encounter with the burning bush, required that he approach Pharaoh and demand that the let God’s chosen people go.

Pharaoh was very uncooperative and his obstinate attitude resulted in ten plagues being brought upon the land of Egypt. As the plagues became increasingly harsh, God’s people were protected, while the Egyptians suffered.  Finally, Pharaoh relented when his own son was struck dead. Moses was able to carry out the instructions that he received from the voice issuing from the burning bush. The Israelites were freed from Egyptian bondage and allowed to leave the land.

Pharaoh soon came to change his mind once again. He set off in hot pursuit of the Israelites with war chariots and horses. It seemed that the Israelites would be trapped with the Red Sea on one side of them and the Egyptians barring their way to escape on the other. God parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to pass through on dry land. There were millions of Israelites crossing through that sea bed, and yet, every single one of them crossed to safety. The Egyptians and Pharaoh lost their lives when God allowed the waters to come crashing down upon them in their pursuit of the Israelites.  Moses served as leader of the Israelites until his death, continuing in carrying out the commission he received all those years before during his encounter with the burning bush in the wilderness.

Star Wars: Fact of fiction? Your answer depends on your perspective. From a purely logical point of view, Star Wars is totally fictional. It is a futuristic sci-fi excursion into a universe of fantasty and illusion. However, from an emotional and even spiritual viewpoint, Star wars are all too real.  The original 1977 movie introduced us to The Force: “…an energy field that surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together” explains the old Obi Wan Kenobi to the young Luke Sky Walker. George Lucas drew some of his inspiration for The Force and its meaning from the work of Joseph Campbell and his book The Power of Myth.

For both the Eastern sage and the modern metaphysician, The Force is a perfect example of the realness embedded in Star Wars. It is not God, otherwise George Lucas would have used that word. Instead, Lucas chose a more universally accepted phrase, one that could potentially be embraced by all religious followers.  The technology in the Star Wars Universe is superfluous to the power of The Force. Lucas makes this point abundantly clear.  If you strip away the technology, you are left with a story spiritual story. It is a hero’s quest. It is the quest of Annakin Skywalker doing battle with himself. Searching for the light inside the dark.

This is a battle we all go through and so from this perception Star Wars is not to be seen as fiction. Star Wars is about a universal battle in awareness.  To the degree that you are unaware of this battle in yourself, is likely the degree you will see Star Wars as unreal, pure fiction.

Do you believe in The Force? Even if you do not understand it, or call it by another name, is there a part of you that “uses the Force?” If there is not, then you will view all of Star Wars as fiction, the storyline plus the inner lives of the characters.  If you do believe in the Force, even in some mysterious or cosmic way, you will be able to understand it’s truthfulness.  Star Wars is about “us” not “them.” It is about every man woman and child and their destiny to rise up against darkness and find their true nature and understand their relationship to The Force.

So next time you watch a Star Wars movie, forget the Hollywood aspects of it, forget that it is just for fun, and see if you can put your attention on yourself. Be Annakin. Be Luke. Be Yoda. You will be surprised how real these movies become.  I believe it is there realness not their fantasy qualities that made them strike a chord with the world back in 1977. What is your point of view? Star wars: Fact or fiction?

Many radical religious people try to scare us with tales of end times, the so-called coming end of the world. Books such as Tim LaHayne’s “Left Behind” series tell us that the end is coming, that the hour is at hand and that we must all repent or be quickly destroyed by the wrath of God, but this is nothing new. People have been talking about end times since before the coming of Jesus Christ, and they will be talking about end times as long as end times have yet to come. In truth, as far as I’m concerned, nothing ever ends.

For me, this end times talk is just a pointless  waste of time, a way for some people to worry about things they have no control over while their lives pass by them. Religion can be a very good thing, providing many people with the spiritual guidance that they need to live good, healthy lives, but it should not get in the way of enjoying the present. Thinking about the apocalypse all the time is just downright unhealthy for the mind and the soul. We should keep ourselves here and now I think, and try to live this life the best that we can.

And the people who talk about end times, always think that it means something horribly rotten is going to happen to everyone but them. Isn’t that convenient. It doen’t seem that they would be so eager to see the apocalypse arrive if they even considered the possibility that perhaps it was going to be a bad time for them as well. But such thoughts never enter these peoples minds.  They are so concerned with seeing other people suffer for their sins, they never see that it would be better to see nobody suffer.  Worldwide calamity would be unpleasant for all.

Of course for some people, end times can be a way to get their lives in order. Thinking that they don’t have much time left to live on earth, they get to the business of living their current lives as best they can, so that they can be ready for the world to end. I have no problem with this – anything that makes you live your life better is fine with me. It’s just people spending their time fantasizing about other people being cast into lakes of fire that strike me as a bit sick and deranged.