What's In A Name?

I sit here trembling a bit at the audacity and what some might call the "sacrilege" of Roxie's spiritual blog. At the same time, it feels right.

So, let me talk about the title: Dude! And Other Sacred Shit.

First, I want to share a contemporary God. This is an offspring of the Jesus who lived on the streets and spoke the common tongue. In case you haven't noticed, the most common way that people address their friends today is: "Dude!" The feminist in me struggled with the seemingly gendered nature of that term. All I can say is "Dudette" didn't work (LOL). Plus, I confess to more than one god in my spiritual galaxy. There's God,Lord, Cara (guardian angel), Buddha, and Mary to name a few. The god who speaks to me comes as a gentle male voice. Do I think the God is male? Not for a minute (well, maybe for a minute . . .). I don't believe that physical gender and spirituality go together. I think my Dude has what we might describe as male and female qualities. Dude is a hybrid, still evolving and complete at the same time. A mystery (as he should be).

Dude is a spiritual being of our time. He's rooted in Christian and Buddhist language and concepts since those are the languages I know; those are the languages I can interpret. But, this Dude (like Jesus and Buddha) speaks of this day and age and its manifestation of the sacred. This Dude has a Blackberry and a laptop, plays the Wii. He also sleeps on city streets and eats from dumpsters. He's at a football game and in the mountain lake where you take your kayak. He's a black rapper and a college president. He's a brilliant woman scholar and an abused child. When you tell Dude your story, no matter what your story, he's been there and she understands.

This Dude has had and seen his share of sacred shit. He's not afraid of it or of its language. I can't relate to a god that's been crucified, but I can relate to one whom my government has imprisoned and humiliated. I can relate to one who's been raped by his own holy men. I can relate to one who grew up playing baseball or soccer and who dated the Prom Queen. I can relate to the god who knows the working of corporate conglomerates, pimps, and teen-age girls who are pregnant. I can relate to the god who loves alcoholics and drug addicts just a tad more than wall street hotshots. This Dude thinks all of us are mortal particles in an ocean of sacred shit. This Dude recycles! Roxie