Leave it to Beaver and GOD

Walking the streets of Paris, I reminisced about a television show I watched regularly as a kid. Leave it to Beaver ran from 1957-1963 and was as American as apple pie. Even though I was not alive during its original run, this black and white show was welcomed to a new generation in rerun land and I happily participated in its viewing.

The series takes place in a middle-American home, where the Cleaver family lived. There was June (that would be mom) always dressed impeccably with her perfectly coiffed hair along with the strand of pearls that always seemed to grace her neck. I wondered how she cleaned the house and cooked all day in her skirt and high-heels. I never knew any moms who wore anything but jeans and t-shirts while vacuuming and doing the dishes, but as a six-year-old it was certainly fun to fantasize that I would be dressed up at all times when I grew up too.

Ward Cleaver (dad) was either portrayed wearing his suit while heading off to work, or for a more "casual" look, he would replace his suit jacket for a cardigan. Again, I don’t know any dads who dress like this, but hey it was the 50’s, or at least it was TV in the 50’s.

Then there were the two boys, Wally (the oldest and school-girl heart throb) and the focus of the family show, Theodore, who was more commonly known by his nickname, Beaver.

Inevitably the story would be set around the two boys getting into some mischief or another. What struck my fancy as I remembered this show I had not seen in nearly four decades was that the kids always seemed to think their fate was sealed by dad ‘clobbering’ them for whatever trouble they got themselves into. Wally and Beaver tried to fix their mess before dad brought on his wrath to them. The funny thing is, that dad never clobbered them nor did any inkling of wrath make it into the show. He would instead take them into the living room for a chat and they would work out whatever the problem was together. He never raised his voice. He always remained calm. And a hug or two was usually the final outcome along with nice music playing as the issue was resolved.

Always the thinker, I wondered why the Universe chose this moment for me to recall the generalities of this show. What was the message I needed to learn? It came to me nearly as quickly as I asked myself the question, that this show paralleled religion. That may seem far out in left field at first glance, but let me explain.

The night before I had my walk, a man in his late 60’s who is a part of my reiki share group, mentioned how when he was a child if you ate meat on Fridays it was considered a mortal sin in the eyes of the Catholic Church. If a person committed a mortal sin, one would perpetuate in hell for all eternity after this physical incarnation. I had heard the same stories from my mom about her own childhood. So, times changed and the Church started losing people and they decided meat eating wasn’t a mortal sin after all.

So, what does a mortal sin have to do with the show Leave it to Beaver?

The kids always thought they committed some great sin and they would be severely reprimanded for their crimes. In truth, dad always proposed a better solution. Without raising his voice for even a moment, the family found the answers together. Dad can metaphorically represent God. Through patience He helps us resolve our issues too. There is never any fire and brimstone, only Love.

Religions in themselves are not bad. They teach us many great lessons. Unfortunately, they also teach us that man-made rules are the truth. These judgments are merely put in place to garner fear in order to keep the constituents in line with the particular religion's way of thinking. The dogma that is attached to organized religion often harbors sharp voices claiming that their way is the only way and when you do something against God you are a sinner and will be punished for all eternity.

On each episode, the boys made mistakes and immediately jumped on the fear bandwagon without paying attention to their own Inner Wisdom. Wally and the Beav represent this misguided understanding of God by feeling fear and judgment of their own father. They symbolize how young souls not yet comfortable with their own connection to the Divine subject themselves to various religions along with its various dogmatic idealogies. If you ask me, if God was going to torture us for one moment, let alone for all eternity, He would be one mean God.

When you think about it, why would the Almighty Source wish to harm us, His own children? God does not operate out of hate and punishment. He is made from Love just as we are. We are constantly taught lessons and given help to solve our problems together, we simply have to open our minds to be able to notice what lesson is being sent our way.

God doesn’t punish us for all eternity for some sin or another. In fact, the word sin comes from a medieval archery word for ‘missing the mark’. We all miss the mark from time to time, perhaps even daily. Yet, every time we do or say something, we are learning about our True Nature, whether we are aware of it or not. Even the worst criminals are learning what they are not, before they can learn what they truly are.

The only hell that exists is the one we create in our minds while here on Earth. God gave us Free Will to choose. We have been given the opportunity to create whatever Universe we desire. We decide if we are happy or are if we miserable, not a vindictive white bearded God sitting on a throne in Heaven.

Instead of thinking that God is going to ‘clobber’ us, visualize Source Energy embracing you at your Highest and lowest periods. The Universe only sees the Love that you genuinely are. All you have to do is remember it.

Thank you for reading and Namaste! (The Light in me recognizes the Light in you!)