Your Religion (if any)

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Master J, Apr 27, 2004.

  1. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    Now that's a messiah I could worship!
     
  2. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Are we talking about damnation as in "Christian Hell" or "non existence" or something else?
     
  3. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I'll take whatever they've got.
     
  4. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    Depends.

    If you were the Iban people of Indonesia then damnation would stem from not being tattooed because a person who isn't tattooed is invisible to their gods so damnation could mean that.

    If you were of certain Rapa Nui culture then a woman in the room you're eating could steal your mana and therefore you would lose all life force and be damned as a ghost.

    If you were of the various tribes that amalgamated into Hinduism, you might be reincarnated into endless cycles of lower life forms and never join with the divine, all for cooking while on your period.

    All those beliefs are from religious beliefs much older than abrahamoc religions and therefore, I guess, just as valid.
     
  5. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    Nah, you can ignore those low-flying simpletons. We're onto high altitude spirituality now, apparently ;)
     
  6. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    That was kinda my point actually. I'm not sure I'd be particularly accepting of most deities that were 100% true to the religious texts based around them, especially if they had a global/cosmic influence. There's certain degrees of "OK" and "Not OK" for me.
     
  7. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    When you say "dualism" I think of how that word is used in Buddhism. Integral Theory is *not* dualistic in that sense, because at the integral "altitudes" dualism stops and things go to unity; that is, they're integrated into a common whole.
    Likewise, the idea that complexity=progress (and the rest of modernism) drops away at higher "altitudes."

    Just saying. :dunno:


    Those whom I know do it by looking deeper.

    It's like when Thich Nhat Hahn or the Dalai Lama or the like writes in a book something to the effect of, "If you look deeper you see that clouds are made of non-cloud elements," or, "If you look deeper you see that your enemy is hurting the same as you," or some such thing. It's very easy to throw such statements aside and call them gobbly-gook nonsense, but the Dalai Lama, et al, actually aren't stupid. There is a reality for what they mean when they say "go deeper," and in the same way, when those whom I have personally known say they look deeper into one religion, the differences between it and other religions fade away. They don't think they're making allowances, as you put it. They think they're finding the truth that was always there.
     
  8. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Sounds to me like a buzzword laden reorganization of knowledge rather than a substantive defense for why religious hypotheses about the world should be entertained.

    And yet these sorts of things are all too easy to just make up, then claim that someone doesn't get it when they don't venerate your wisdom. "The way up is the way down. The door to knowledge is never open to a closed mind. Love repays love with all it sows. The force flows through us, all living beings." You're right, these are human truths, but they do not redeem religion or religious thought any more than they do Star Wars.

    Star Wars was excellent, mind.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2015
  9. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    If i had to choose between a Jesus/yah-weh and captain james cook/kane, i'd probably pick cook/kane.
     
  10. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    okay. an example - homosexuality. a no-no in many abrahamic religions yet accepted by those who "look deeper" despite the texts being strongly against it.

    the problem i have is the reconciliation people try to make between the written word and personal beliefs. its like desperately clinging to a belief system that doesnt at all fit a persons current beliefs.
     
  11. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    i'm an atheist; so's my wife, but she's doesn't become an agent provocateur like i tend to do. but we as a family whole heartedly embrace christmas, easter, and other christian religious days. for me, it's a cultural thing (both greek and american) and a time to get together with my family.

    all atheists, i believe, should whole heartedly embrace these "religious" holidays and make them our own secular holidays. it's no different than what christians have already done with the pagan holidays and beliefs that have now become christmas and easter.

    an interesting thing....the whole santa business. i think my kids think that santa does indeed exist. and i'm not discouraging it. the reason being is that at some point they're going to figure out that santa does in fact not exist. and hopefully that will lead them to question the other nonsense some people tell them regarding christmas, you know about baby jesus.

    my oldest has been asking lots of questions about hanukkah and kwaanza. i think next year we're going to celebrate both those holidays, on top of christmas. :)
     
  12. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I'm all in favour of holidays!

    The Father Christmas thing was more of an analogy of how believing in a cosmic parent can hinder enquiry.

    Hmmm... If I join every major religion, that's a lot of holidays! Too bad I'm self employed :(
     
  13. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    whenever i hear of father christmas, i always think "the kinks".

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjaPXihbORk"]The Kinks -- Father Christmas (better audio) - YouTube[/ame]
     
  14. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I'd have to read his stuff, but it sounds like a continuation of the syncretism begun by Victorian occultists that gained popularity in the 60's.

    All transcendental monotheistic systems end and begin with unity. Just like the syncretic Qabala of the Victorian occultists. It doesn't stop them being dualistic.

    Transcendentalism is dualistic in that it follows a binary system; you go from point A to point B. From bad to good, in the most basic terms. In the West and Near East, this started with Zoroastrianism , which laid the basis of good and evil, monotheism, and the idea of ascribing moral judgements to notions of civilisation.

    It is flawed because we know that evolutionary processes that we have studied (in the wider sense, not purely genetics) do not follow a linear, set plan.

    If a god exists, they are blind and mad. Which is why I mentioned Azathoth earlier.
     
  15. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Emptiness can give you a headache.

    I read something by HH the other day where he talks about other religions and how they encourage compassion. He gave the example of a Christian using Christ's sacrifice on the cross as a point to meditate on his compassion for those he died for and in turn working on their own compassion, or the Christian idea that as life is a gift from a creator then it is precious and so is everyone else's life, so we should ensure we are compassionate to ourselves and others. Again that was from a Christian point of view and what that religion can bring to those who follow it.

    It was actually a very nice way of looking at the plus points of various religions and tied it into the Buddhist idea of skillful means where different methods are required for different people.

    The general idea he put forward was simply that different people require different things in their spiritual lives and that's fine.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2015
  16. maressa

    maressa Banned Banned

    your religion?

    I am Catholic, well sort of. I'm not really practicing. What are your religious beliefs?
     
  17. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    Moved to an existing thread.
     
  18. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    Atheist. Not a religion, by the way.
     
  19. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    "Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby" - Penn Jillette
     
  20. greg1075

    greg1075 Valued Member

    Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair color.

    Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sexual position.
     

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