live it as is...
i won't share it
with you
because i'm selfish!
they're my moments, my life, my pain...!
---------------------
when painting the walls white
wear white from head to toe.
(i'm living in the middle of a mess these days, i'm painting my apt. while listening to music! :D)
---------------------
about a month ago i was talking to this Vietnamese classmate of mine, a very quiet and nice girl... about here and there. she suddenly took a book of sort of prayers or poems (of Buddha) out of her schoolbag, and said she has started going to temple since she has come here...
getting more curious about her faith, i asked her to explain more... she said things that left both of us almost surprised!
i never knew many of my beliefs about life, human and world, my believing-in-no-religion, my nonreligious life are so close to Buddhism!!? (although Buddhism is said to be more like a philosphy than a religion, eh?! but does it make any difference if it's like a real religion or a philosphy?! BTW, what is a real religion?!)
apart from those details of what Buddhists believe in, and how close i found them to what i personally believe, i'm wondering how faiths get shaped in the first place... and how they get spread, and find so many followers with time...!
not that i don't know how sometimes the power and political influences and motivations have helped a religion or a denomination get spread out and even change in some aspects of their ideologies, and even how some "prophets" have made wars and conquered lands to force people to convert into the conqueror's religion..., my question is deepr than that:
what makes human feel the need for faith in the first place?
you might say: well, human needs spirituality and connection to supernatural powers to feel relaxed and relieved...
but what is the reason behind so many changes into it, and why making it a social and collective ritual/gathering/idealogy (some so strange!!) rather than an individual one without inventing rituals ...?
why the emergence of so many denominations?
above all, howcome most of people on earth stay in surface about the religious beliefs and faiths... why don't they ask "why" and "why this religion", "why this way"... ?!
if all faiths are almost the same down in their roots, why so many wars over their surfaces?!
why is there always a fear that a religion or a denomination loses its followers, because of any reason?
why (for many of the religions and faiths) is it usually forbidden to convert into another religion?!
why most of religions (especially old ones) should be passed onto next generations just like genes and genomes that are received with birth from parents?!!
why making such a simple "need" so complicated and a source of wars and clashes?!
i personally feel that most of those "prophets" sought power behind inviting poeple to the religion they were "represent"ing or to "the spirituality and/or the right path and salvation"... who can believe that spirituality requires blood-shedding, massacre, wars, hatred, detention, and...?!
why does a religion need such a power at all ?!!?
(this post is already too long!!! i am pro short posts... becuz it gets boring... this discussion will continue... with more details probably!)
with you
because i'm selfish!
they're my moments, my life, my pain...!
---------------------
when painting the walls white
wear white from head to toe.
(i'm living in the middle of a mess these days, i'm painting my apt. while listening to music! :D)
---------------------
about a month ago i was talking to this Vietnamese classmate of mine, a very quiet and nice girl... about here and there. she suddenly took a book of sort of prayers or poems (of Buddha) out of her schoolbag, and said she has started going to temple since she has come here...
getting more curious about her faith, i asked her to explain more... she said things that left both of us almost surprised!
i never knew many of my beliefs about life, human and world, my believing-in-no-religion, my nonreligious life are so close to Buddhism!!? (although Buddhism is said to be more like a philosphy than a religion, eh?! but does it make any difference if it's like a real religion or a philosphy?! BTW, what is a real religion?!)
apart from those details of what Buddhists believe in, and how close i found them to what i personally believe, i'm wondering how faiths get shaped in the first place... and how they get spread, and find so many followers with time...!
not that i don't know how sometimes the power and political influences and motivations have helped a religion or a denomination get spread out and even change in some aspects of their ideologies, and even how some "prophets" have made wars and conquered lands to force people to convert into the conqueror's religion..., my question is deepr than that:
what makes human feel the need for faith in the first place?
you might say: well, human needs spirituality and connection to supernatural powers to feel relaxed and relieved...
but what is the reason behind so many changes into it, and why making it a social and collective ritual/gathering/idealogy (some so strange!!) rather than an individual one without inventing rituals ...?
why the emergence of so many denominations?
above all, howcome most of people on earth stay in surface about the religious beliefs and faiths... why don't they ask "why" and "why this religion", "why this way"... ?!
if all faiths are almost the same down in their roots, why so many wars over their surfaces?!
why is there always a fear that a religion or a denomination loses its followers, because of any reason?
why (for many of the religions and faiths) is it usually forbidden to convert into another religion?!
why most of religions (especially old ones) should be passed onto next generations just like genes and genomes that are received with birth from parents?!!
why making such a simple "need" so complicated and a source of wars and clashes?!
i personally feel that most of those "prophets" sought power behind inviting poeple to the religion they were "represent"ing or to "the spirituality and/or the right path and salvation"... who can believe that spirituality requires blood-shedding, massacre, wars, hatred, detention, and...?!
why does a religion need such a power at all ?!!?
(this post is already too long!!! i am pro short posts... becuz it gets boring... this discussion will continue... with more details probably!)
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5 Comments:
What an interesting post. It is true many friendly agnostics do find buddhism appealing and it is more a philosphy than a religion.
I also agree with you that religions are man (or woman) made. They are not divine. I put some posts on my blog about how it might just be that Jesus never even existed, but that Christianity did not really need a living Jesus, they just needed the idea.
However some types of Buddhism do have aspects I don't agree with. For example some believe that the handicapped (blind etc.) are suffering as a consequence of their behaviour in a past life (this is one way that some - not all - buddhists interpret the concept of Karma)
Anyway. Please don't apologise for the long post and keep blogging. I find your site very interesting.
Best Wishes
These are very insightful questions you are raising.
"why (for many of the religions and faiths) is it usually forbidden to convert into another religion?" The Founder of every Great Religion has said spoken of a "return." Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad, the 12th Imam -- each came/comes in fulfillment of the promises of a predecessor. God unites, man divides, and it is typically the clergy of every religious tradition who stand in the way of the masses following the "next" great Teacher from God. Sound familiar? These are the teachings of Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, who comes in fulfillment of the prophecies of all the world's religions:
"To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father," the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints"; to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the Father," to Shi'ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn; to Sunni Islam the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."
Many paths, one religion, the religion of God. Mankind is one.
In response to one of the points you raised in your comment on my blog -- thank you for visiting, by the way -- it is my understanding that, as there may well be Manifestations of God for whom there is simply no written record, that there may very well have been Manifestations of God who was a woman. The importance of the feminine and the role of women in the Baha'i Faith is very great.
I have featured your many fine questions and included some of your great photos from flickr -- with credit given, of course -- in a post on my blog today. You have a wonderfully inguisitive mind and the eye of an artist.
یه وقتایی حاضر می شی همه چیتو با یکی قسمت کنی. و این شروع خوبیه برای حماقتهای بعدی!!
me too selfish on ham ziyad
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