I know that some folks might think it's odd that I am agnostic, that I'm not a member of any religion, but I follow the tradition of Lent, an observance that revolves around Jesus. But this is my fourth year of giving up something for Lent, and it's starting to catch on among my friends.
It's been a long time since I called myself a Christian. When I left high school without a diploma back in 2000, I was at a low point in my life. I became involved group of hard-line evangelical Christians, and thought I could find a purpose in religion. Just as they told me to do, I would spend hours a day in my room alone reading the Bible. But the lessons I learned from the Scripture were not the ones they intended me to learn. The Jesus I read about looked after the poor and the sick. 21st century evangelical Christianity seems to emphasize unquestioned, blind obedience, but when I read about Jesus I saw a non-conformist who spoke truth to power and paid the ultimate price.
They didn't like my interpretation very much, and said I should "pray more and read it again." Long story short, I left that group after a while, and for many years struggled to define my faith. Even though I no longer followed the Christian religion or identified as Christian, I still followed and believed in many of the things I read in the Bible. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Help those in need. Don't lie and cheat to get ahead. Don't steal from others. Some ideas from other religions or schools of though factored in as well. I definitely believe that we should be kind to the Earth from which we came and which is our home, and idea which is more in line with Paganism than Christianity. I do believe in Karma, that what goes around comes around.
Also central to my system of values is that "all men and women are created equal", which doesn't really come from religion, but from the founding documents of this great nation. Whenever there's a temptation to look down on a homeless guy, or when a well-dressed man in a Lexus acts like I'm beneath him, I always remember those words from the Declaration on Independence. This is generally better received by the homeless guy than by Mr. Lexus.
So I never "found" my faith, instead I built it from the ground up with pieces from Judeo-Christian, Pagan, American values and others. I became comfortable with the fact that I may never truly know whether or not there is some grand Architect out there that built us. More below the Dkos squiggly.
I decided I really liked the idea of giving something up for 40 days, to prove that we can live without one vice or bad habit or worldly convenience. For me, it's not a religious observance, but a celebration of human willpower, and a remembrance of our ancestors in the not-so-distant past who went without the modern conveniences we take for granted now. 20 years ago, there was no Internets. 100 years ago, there were no airplanes. 200 years ago, no cars or electricity. Lent makes me think of what life was like in the time when Jesus lived, when most didn't have access even to such necessities as clean drinking water, and it also reminds me of the millions of people in developing countries that don't have access to basic necessities as well.
I've observed Lent for the past 4 years. What do I give up? Well, it's the "habit" that wastes more of my time than any other: video games. I'm a huge gamer. I'm always playing my Wii, as well as old, classic games. But, gaming wastes a lot of time and does encourage me to be antisocial, to sit in front of the TV and computer and escape from the world. It also encourages me to procrastinate, and it's a nice coincidence that Lent falls during the part of spring semester when the homework really starts to pile up. So it also helps me keep up on my schoolwork. Giving up video games may seem trivial for some, but for me it's huge. I really do spend way too much time with Mario, Luigi, Link, and Donkey Kong.
But this year my agnostic observance of Lent may be catching on. I live with my girlfriend (L.) and another friend who stays with us (B.). My girlfriend's sister (A.) also lives in our building. Out of the blue, B. told me that he, L. and A. wanted to give up something for Lent too, giving up pop and junk food. I was really happy that the four of us would observe Lent together. One thing I didn't do previously was the "Don't eat meat on Friday" thing, but there's been a lot of talk between the four of us after gaining some weight over the holidays that we should try to eat healthier, so going vegetarian one day a week would help with that.
So that means for me, Fat Tuesday has consisted of a video game marathon with plenty of Mountain Dew. I thought about what game I'd be playing at midnight right before Lent starts. The first year, it was the original Legend of Zelda, an old-school classic of classics. Second year, it was the obscure but awesome text-based dungeon game Angband, one of the great granddaddies of all modern dungeon crawlers like Diablo. Last year it was Mario Galaxy 2. I'm a huge Mario fan, and Galaxy breathed new life into the tired and overdone genre of 3-D Platformer. This year? I think I think it will be Super Metroid. Back in the 16-bit era when cinematic games like Resident Evil weren't even a thought yet, Super Metroid set the standard for setting the mood in a game with music and graphics. I can still hear the creepy mini-boss music, with that "something's gonna happen" quality. And that epic battle when Mother Brain comes back to life, it's one the most climactic video game endings of all time. Can I beat it in 3 hours? I guess we'll see.
So after midnight tonight, instead of rotting my brain with video games, I'll devote that time to riding my bike more and hit the gym like I always say I will but never do. I've been getting behind on my schoolwork a little, so I will be able to devote more time to my studies, and of course we'll be eating healthier with less junk food and fatty meats in the house. So for me Lent has become a time of strengthening my body and mind, a time to hit that reset button and get back to basics.
This isn't an indictment of video games, just an acknowledgement that it's good to re-evaluate our habits sometimes. Lent is a good time to free ourselves from habits that are unhealthy, like guzzling pop, chowing on chips and candy, and spending 5 hours on the couch playing Mariokart. Observing Lent has helped me keep my grades up, and this year it will be nice to not have to do it alone. The four of us have been through a lot together, and I think 40 days from now we'll be better off without potato chips and Coca-Cola. You don't have to be a Christian to observe Lent, all you need is a desire to re-evaluate yourself and remember the things in life that really matter.