Imagine you are a farmer. You have cows. You have mice. You have pigs. You have ferrets. You have chickens. You have dogs. You have every animal you could imagine. This was the life of Farmer Buyer from “Back at the Barnyard”, the Nickelodeon animated television series in the late 2000s. I loved this show and imagined I was on the farm, my animals and I having fun days of play and conversation. Reflecting on simpler times, I wonder if this was a deep longing of my heart. Is there a way I could connect to my cows even though we don’t speak the same language? Could the mice explain to me what they’re thinking? What does it look like when pigs laugh? How creative do I have to be to make our communication happen? I want some expression from them. I want some understanding of them. I want some explanations from them.
In one multiverse, I do hope one day I could be a farmer. A farmer who has a diverse barn full of animals who coexist with powerful synergy. However, the complexities of making this happen seem way too big. At the moment, all I can do is laugh at the possibility.
After pivoting, unlocking, and healing, I have confidence you get a vibe of what these blogs are. They’re not super serious. They’re not super academic. It involves a lot of my own personal belief, my desire to be inclusive, my holistic view, my willingness to change, and my need to be positive. Sometimes it requires a lot of effort to live to my strengths. Sometimes I humor myself with how my strengths reveal themselves in my blogs. Sometimes I have to step completely away from the computer and be creative in other ways. My goal is to welcome others to view the unexpected ways religion, culture, and art can intersect if you try hard enough. My goal is to explore spirituality, diversity, and creativity. My goal is to live in a world like the barn I imagine, filled with animals from all over thriving in harmony.
Breaking Down Barns
I studied religion in college. I studied the origin of religion in college. I believe the purpose of religion is to give purpose to humans. I believe the ethics surrounding religion tend to control people in an unethical manner. I believe the search for meaning found in ancient religion has led our contemporary world to question if there is value in religion. My relationship with religion has been in a cycle of growth and decay since I can remember. I believe people have similar cycles of breaking down and rebuilding circles of thoughts, just like barns. “People are like old barns. Even when they become old, weathered and can barely stand… they still have beauty, purpose, and hold all kinds of memories”.1
I return to Staying Spiritual, the Youtube Channel, to talk about their most recent video, “All Religions Explained”.2 James and Justin have an interesting conversation sparked by the succinct descriptions of Atheism, Buddhism, and New Age Spirituality. They discuss how the origin of religion seems to be rooted in a man experiencing life who others aspire to be. From the root of desire the suggestions one man makes becomes the dogma for their followers. I believe the understanding of religion is much more complex based on the culture you grow up in, but I think this theory is concise enough to represent the religions I have studied.
The “All Religions Explained” touches a little on the New Age Spirituality movement. Before I discuss this, I would not say I or Spectrum of Spirit would identify with the New Age Spirituality movement, for I believe in Jesus, but I do value their perspective on spirituality. The video introduces New Age Spirituality as people who want spiritual freedom, but do not want to deny themselves.3 Instead of denying themselves, they affirm themselves in the spiritual meaning behind cultural practices instead of submitting to a god or religion. I greatly value inclusiveness, and I believe the New Age’s perspective on including cultural practices into your own spiritual practice is very impactful. Although some people’s intentions may be contrary to what you believe and malpractice of cultural appropriation can occur, I still believe affirming oneself in cultural practices can help our world relate to one another spiritually. Stories are better when they become familiar to the audience, when the audience feels comfortable, and when the audience feels like they can access and relate to it. The same goes with old broken down barn or person, and their spiritual and cultural practices.
James and Justin close their “All Religions Explained” video raising my curiosity. Justin talks about how religions see god as one thing or they see god as multiple things, and Justin poses what if god is both.4 What if the eternal infinite unifying force is still multiple. This could take us down a rabbit hole I don’t have time for but I love the process James and Justin go through in this video. James and Justin break down, relate, and then explore the possibilities of spirituality. James and Justin learn the origins, discover the mysteries, dance with their thoughts, journey through their inner light, and come to new conclusions in their spirit and through their processes. Religious teachings influence culture and culture influences religious teachings. With this in mind, I think it’s important to remember some religious teachings aren’t meant to be set in stone but are open to our evolving insight and interpretation. The old broken down barn can hold current life and the new life to come.
Playful Barns
Barns are built to create. Create a lifestyle for the owners of the barn and their surrounding communities. This also applies to religious institutions and spiritual communities. Life with others creates new things. Some of these things are intangible ideas and thoughts. Others are works of beauty that show the collective’s creativity. On special occasions, the ideas a community births lead to the building of objects never thought possible. I believe bringing ideas from different walks of life is a powerful expression of people, adding playful harmony to a group where this was thought to be impossible. I believe this is the miracle happening in barns like “Back at the Barnyard”.
I decided to play around with creating this week. I wasn’t dedicated enough to make a paper barn. However, Artistic Expression, a Youtube channel made to discover the beauty of creativity, inspired me to make a paper car.
Based on the short, “Let’s make a Paper Car”, I grabbed a blue sheet of paper and drew the body of the cars.5 From here, I cut the body of the car out from the paper. Next, I cut out the front and rear windows for the car from a black piece of paper. Taking a black pen, I drew the door handles for the car, the white headlights of the car and the red brake lights on the back of the car. After this I cut out two black wheels and glued them to the body of the car. I did this process again to get both sides of the car. Following, was the most difficult part. I cut out a rectangular shape with triangles on the side. Then I bent all the triangles and glued the outside of the triangles. Lastly, I bent the rectangle to the shape of the body of the car to glue the two bodies of the car together.
Compared to the paper owl, I did not add much of my own creativity here, mainly because I wanted to see if I could do the whole process. However, the ability to play with paper and the glue and create with my hands emptied my mind enough to reflect. I considered how all of the different parts I cut out came together by me manipulating the paper to create something new. Otis, the main character in “Back at the Barnyard” and the name of my new car, meant something more to me than the hour it took me to make. It reminded me of the child inside of me, watching the TV screen as the animals in the barn went on a new adventure. It reminded me of the daydreaming I would do during commercial breaks, of my Maserati parked inside my dream mansion. It reminded me of how I used to write my story and how I am writing my story now. Creating helps me understand how people write their stories to share with others and how this story can influence others to follow a set of rules. However, I would encourage everyone to fight this instinct. I believe inspiration should lead to play instead of coercion. I believe inspiration should lead to questions to break down instead of answers to hold up.
Call to Barns
Be curious. Look for explanations. Don’t expect explanations. Enjoy the journey of exploration. Express your findings through creative measures. Have fun with it. Maybe “Back at the Barnyard” was more than meets the eye. Maybe, in whatever stage of you’re life your in, this process will bring new life and memories to you, just like the old, broken down, playful barn.
Bibliography
- Betty Wingo, “Old Barn Quote BWingo | Old Barns, Old Barn, Quotes and Notes,” Pinterest, last modified January 4, 2019, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464996730276584169/. ↩︎
- “All Religions Explained Redeemed Zoomer Reaction,” YouTube, September 24, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxh5Wud9uug. ↩︎
- “All Religions Explained Redeemed Zoomer Reaction,” ↩︎
- “All Religions Explained Redeemed Zoomer Reaction,” ↩︎
- Artistic Expression, “Let’s Make a Paper Car,” YouTube, September 24, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ncqR81dOBa0. ↩︎
Spectrum of Spirit: A Digital Sanctuary for Spiritual Discourse and Community 
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