By the Way, I'm a god.

Pope Francis, Bill Murray, and the Falling Standards for Deities

“Trust me, you’re not God - this is twelve years of Catholic school talking.”

“No, I’m not the God - I don’t think - but I am a god.”

Bill Murray’s transformation from arrogant egotist to humble servant of humanity in “Groundhog Day,” is, of course, a romantic comedy classic and is claimed as the perfect expression of their spiritual doctrine by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Taoists, Muslims, and Jews (and possibly Wicca and Shintoism as well, for all I know).

(Bill Murray and Andie McDowell in “Groundhog Day”)

By the end of the tale, Murray’s character no longer thinks he’s a god. He finally decides his curse of reliving the same day over and over unto eternity is actually a blessing, and devotes himself to being of service everywhere he can, while developing all his latent skills to a place of mastery. Which, of course, ends up earning him the love of the woman of his dreams - once he is no longer trying desperately to woo and win her in one day.

But it is curious how easy it is these days for people to proclaim that they are, in fact, a god (or goddess as the case may be and often is). Clearly, the characteristics and powers required to become a deity have downgraded over time, given the number of Facebook profiles I have seen which unabashedly proclaim that you are viewing the life story of one who is not only a goddess, but a Queen, a Mistress of the Maitrix, a Princess of the Angelic Realm, or what have you. And the qualifications for a guy to call himself a shaman have now fallen so low that apparently all you need do is pick up a guitar, learn a few Peruvian tribal Icaro chants, discreetly access some plant medicine, and charge $500 a pop for your services over a weekend of tripping and puking.

No offense here to genuine trained and dedicated curanderas, who have my respect and appreciation.

Online goddesses and queens there are in plenty, but it is rare to encounter a man who is actually willing to advertise himself as a god. Perhaps this is because it has seeped into the collective consciousness of dudes everywhere that this assertion would earn swift ridicule and condemnation as the grandiose delusion of an unrepentant patriarchal chauvinist. Self-proclaimed goddesses are okay, but dudes beware!

Similarly, it is perfectly fine for a woman to go online and say, “If one more aging white guy starts to mansplain me about my own profession, I will hit him upside the head.” You go, girl!

But picture what would happen if a guy were to put up a post which said, “If one more past-her-prime woman of color starts lecturing me about the sins of the patriarchy, I’ll slap her a good one!”

Appalling, of course. But both statements are unabashedly ageist, sexist, racist and violent. However, the woman would likely be applauded while the man would certainly be cited for hate speech and find himself suspended from Facebook. This is worth thinking about.

I bring out this curious reality in response to the currently raging controversy over the death of Pope Francis, much of which seems to be to be based on his unfortunate status as an old white Catholic man, rather than on his actual words and deeds as Pontiff. Much of this condemnation is coming, it seems to me, from women who are understandably focused on the longstanding patriarchal abuses of the Roman Church, rather than on the man himself.

Francis was s humble servant, a fallible and fairly humble man who never pretended to sainthood. He stood up to DT, stood up to the genocide in Gaza, elevated the status of Mary Magdalene (removing the centuries old falsehoods about prostitution), and preached interfaith tolerance and understanding. It is really time to let go of this knee-jerk gender, race, religion and age-based condemnation.

God is God. We are His/Her children and can choose the path or reunion, or not as we prefer. We are, as Paramahansa Yogananda said, waves on the ocean of God…but even upon reunion we are still the children of the Divine. This business of calling oneself a goddess is rather embarrassing and I always cringe when I see it online. These days it’s a definite red flag for a “delete friend request” click. Same goes for shaman dudes.

I know at least two genuine shamans. And they would never use the term.

How easy, refreshing, and simple it can be to simply fall humbly back on being made in the image of our Father/Mother/Creator, with no need to imply any divinity beyond that conferred by our status as Children of the Divine.

End of lecture. Back to working on humble responses to the online counterattacks.

Hmm - or maybe back to choosing silence? Now that would be humility for you. Not quite there yet, obviously!

Pray for me, friends. :)

love,

Michael