There are religions that offer a single path to salvation. Those who do not follow that path are damned. I hope that is not true, for I am one of the damned. I see monotheistic religions as fascinating, extremely beautiful, but often represented with such a simplistic narrative. I thank their God for giving us artists or I would be bored beyond bearing.

Other religions realize that there may be many paths to the same thing, maybe even a number of different gods. The path of the warrior, the path of service, the path of devotion, knowledge…

But I think one of the questions all religion tries to answer is the universal question of the soul blind creatures that have been given the curse of self-realization; something like: “What should we be doing here in this place?”

I have two recurring dreams. One involves fighting with a giant. I have never walked away and usually put up a good effort. But I always lose. After I lose, the giant tells me I can ask a single question. I always ask the same one:

“What should I be doing here in this place?.

The answer to me is always a single word, “Witness.”

God has spoken to me, time and again and I thank Her daily. My path is not always easy and I am never satisfied with the product, but at least it is clear and if I think of witness as a verb then I can usually stave off the sadness, grief and rage and I can create.

The other dream is about serpents, snakes big as dragons. I saw a petroglyph of one cut into rock thousands of years ago. I was told that two big water serpents hold up the world, keep it from floating away into the void. I believed it, still do, although in a more metaphorical way. The water serpents turn the world so that we had night and day, cold and hot. As long as they are there, we remain healthy and safe. But we have angered them with the scars we cut into the world, the toxic waste we paint it with, the lack of respect for fellow creatures.

The Water Serpents no longer embrace our world as tightly and we are beginning to see what will happen when they let go.

What shall we do when the serpents let go of the world?

What should we be doing in this place?