Getting Acquainted

Who is this Rev. Dr. Ray and what will he be doing here?

How it began. . .

As a child, I fell in love with stories, art, and language. I was fascinated with the way these three things could influence, inspire, and impact a person’s life. I could tell you about my early days watching The Man From Atlantis, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, and the Kung Fu TV series. I could go into how my love of comics began and how they influenced what would become a talent for drawing and painting. I could go into how the following three movies laid a deep foundation in my life: the Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve, the Exorcist, and Star Wars IV A New Hope. Of course, many others were influential as well in various ways. I would be remiss if I failed to mention how my love of theater began while on a field trip with my Middle School Spanish class when we went to see The Man of La Mancha.

Since as early as I can recall, I used stories and art (visual, performance, and music) to give life meaning. What I found out well into adulthood was the importance of storytelling and the arts in most religions and spiritual traditions. They were used as spiritual practices and methods of accessing the divine self. Looking back, it was obvious how they helped keep me alive (literally). Connecting the dots now it is very clear how each thing is intimately interwoven in the tapestry that is my life. At the time as I studied one thing and then the next and then the next, I thought I was what my parents’ generation called, a jack of all trades and master of none. Nothing was further from the truth. By studying visual arts, martial arts, theater arts, performing arts, American Sign Language, Theology and Religion, New Thought, and more, I was connecting various aspects of my being and was making myself, a child who had experienced far too much death and trauma, whole. I was not “making” myself whole, I was becoming aware of my wholeness, and that’s a big difference worth noting.

This brings us to this platform and the things I intend to share. I want to share with you and give you access to some of the metaphysical musings I engage in when I watch the newest Marvel film or episode of Star Trek Discovery. As I do this, we will discuss real-life concerns and issues. Whether it is looking at grief and sadness through the lens of WandaVision, Agatha All Along, Origin, and Parallel or looking at what people think power is and what they do with it by looking at The Power, DUNE, and The Diplomat. I want us to take a serious look at applying Metaphysical Mystical spiritual practices to our lives individually and collectively. We cannot heal or transform what we will not face and discuss. So let’s enter the laboratory of heart, mind, and soul where we will look at the consciousness of war, racism, homomisia, transmisia, xenomisia, ableism, sexism, death, grief, rage, loneliness, fear, and so much more. Nothing is taboo and everything is on the table to discuss, deconstruct, dissect, and dissolve so we can start from a new foundation and actually create a world that works for all (more about that as we go on).

If this is of interest to you, then let me leave you with the words of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor who said the following at an American Black Film Festival event, “I don't want a seat or a table, I want the structure!” (Watch here)

Join me as we change the structures and the land itself!

Ubuntu!

Sincerely

Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson