Religion - From my point of view.
Religion from my point of view.
OK, very few people on the Sift seem to like religion. I get that; Great, all the power to you. To all the faith believers out there; great, all the power to you as well.
These are my thoughts and mine only. Feel free to pick a side, stand firm where you are, refuse to cross a line, stand firmly on the line or enjoy jumping back and forth across the line!
I’m a “live and let live” type of person and I like to see things from all angles and believe in a world where everyone has the opportunity to be right, even when they are wrong!
I see myself not as an atheist or religious, some would call me agnostic. I would call me “none of the above”. I like to think of myself as an observer.
Religion talk on the sift is Taboo, so I want to delve in.
Please don’t just chime in and bash religion, anyone can say “religion sucks”, you can have that opinion but how about contributing something to the discussion…
I see Religion and Spirituality as two separate things.
1). Religion is an organized, group effort to push forward an agenda, which reinforces one’s belief system. (sometimes political)
2). Spirituality is an individual’s personal belief system, which binds them and gives meaning to their life giving themselves a grounding and defining their place within our universe.
Of Religion.
I have personal issues with anyone person or any one organization which tells others what to do or think. I see religion as a tool, originally used to control a population. Religion is stronger than any sword. To dominate a populous through religion is an ideal way to institute agenda. You can give a group of people a combined purpose and subvert them in order to establish control and dominance. Something some people seem to be hardwired towards, while other are destined to be sheep.
In a world formed out of anarchy, religion was a great idea. It was a government. A set of rules presented in all its glory to advance a people. It gave them a common goal, set up morals, set up law and freed the rulers of scrutiny. “A God can not be questioned”
Over the years of civilization, religion has become so ingrained in our society that it has become a constant. People are more lost and emotionally disrupted than ever before and seek to find their place in our changing world. To be embraced by a group and given a book of answers to live by is enough for many to feel content and gives them meaning in their lives. This is the same for religious and non-religious groups. We all have an intrinsic need to belong, humanity is based on community and we tend to group to the like-minded.
Once in our groups, we don’t want one group telling the other group that they are wrong. Opposing groups threaten the entire foundation, which has embraced you and given you peace of mind. Strength in numbers, join a group and not only will they be there when you need them, they will help to defend your chosen set of beliefs.
Of Spirituality.
Believing everyone has the freedom to think for themselves, this is the realm of belief and disbelief. The human mind has an intrinsic creative nature, an ability to create something from nothing. But we are lazy. It is much easier to base one idea off another and continue to evolve that idea until all the gaps have been filled. This is true in religion and in science. The difference is science strives to prove these creative ideas (called theories). Eventually, if the idea can’t be proven, it is set aside and a new creative idea takes it’s place.
In the creative arena of the mind, in reference to spirituality, you don’t need to prove anything. You can run rampant with your ideas. You can cling to a dogma of your choice, or you can expand or eliminate the parts you want. Custom tailored to your own personal needs. No one has the right (although they try) to tell you how or what to believe.
Spirituality is an internal belief system where you can take what you want and tailor it to include your own rules and morals. Sometimes they mirror a specific dogma or an established religion, but the more creative types see what they want.
People hold on the spirituality in different ways, some toy with the deity entirely. You can worship a God, Mother Earth, Zeus, Aliens or a brick of cheese, (I once knew a guy who believed that sandwiches were an alien life form that strives to be eaten so it can control us from the inside – wacky, but if he wants to believe it, then let him.) No one can argue with you, because it’s your “personal” belief. You can believe in Karma or Destiny or you can take life by the horns and make things go your way.
Spirituality is taking that one step further into the imagination and think “What if”!
It’s taking that “what if” and evolving it into something and building a pantheon around it. It’s fun! It’s Creative! It can evolve with every new thought and piece of information you take in over the course of a lifetime. You ball every piece of information and store it as knowledge. You organize it into subsections and use it to give meaning to the lifetime of years you’ve enjoyed. You further evolve this ball to include what happens when your term in this life is complete and finished. Doesn’t it make sense to rationalize that all this stored knowledge was gathered to be used for a purpose beyond the nothing we have all been destined for?
If you hold to a specific religion, you can take its given book of rules and use it to make sense out of your world. Its lessons can help you to explain all of the given situation you find yourself. You can twist the meanings, you can live the meanings word for word and you can see them in parables that can be used to explain and make sense of things you otherwise can’t label and file in your brain. This can also be done by listening to music and picking out phrase after phrase and giving it meaning within the context of your life. Rune stones also work in this way. You pick up a stone, study it’s meaning and explore how that meaning can have a place in your life and what that means to you.
to start and
I for one have no idea what awaits us in the end, and I don’t care, I’m just an observer…
OK, very few people on the Sift seem to like religion. I get that; Great, all the power to you. To all the faith believers out there; great, all the power to you as well.
These are my thoughts and mine only. Feel free to pick a side, stand firm where you are, refuse to cross a line, stand firmly on the line or enjoy jumping back and forth across the line!
I’m a “live and let live” type of person and I like to see things from all angles and believe in a world where everyone has the opportunity to be right, even when they are wrong!
I see myself not as an atheist or religious, some would call me agnostic. I would call me “none of the above”. I like to think of myself as an observer.
Religion talk on the sift is Taboo, so I want to delve in.
Please don’t just chime in and bash religion, anyone can say “religion sucks”, you can have that opinion but how about contributing something to the discussion…
I see Religion and Spirituality as two separate things.
1). Religion is an organized, group effort to push forward an agenda, which reinforces one’s belief system. (sometimes political)
2). Spirituality is an individual’s personal belief system, which binds them and gives meaning to their life giving themselves a grounding and defining their place within our universe.
Of Religion.
I have personal issues with anyone person or any one organization which tells others what to do or think. I see religion as a tool, originally used to control a population. Religion is stronger than any sword. To dominate a populous through religion is an ideal way to institute agenda. You can give a group of people a combined purpose and subvert them in order to establish control and dominance. Something some people seem to be hardwired towards, while other are destined to be sheep.
In a world formed out of anarchy, religion was a great idea. It was a government. A set of rules presented in all its glory to advance a people. It gave them a common goal, set up morals, set up law and freed the rulers of scrutiny. “A God can not be questioned”
Over the years of civilization, religion has become so ingrained in our society that it has become a constant. People are more lost and emotionally disrupted than ever before and seek to find their place in our changing world. To be embraced by a group and given a book of answers to live by is enough for many to feel content and gives them meaning in their lives. This is the same for religious and non-religious groups. We all have an intrinsic need to belong, humanity is based on community and we tend to group to the like-minded.
Once in our groups, we don’t want one group telling the other group that they are wrong. Opposing groups threaten the entire foundation, which has embraced you and given you peace of mind. Strength in numbers, join a group and not only will they be there when you need them, they will help to defend your chosen set of beliefs.
Of Spirituality.
Believing everyone has the freedom to think for themselves, this is the realm of belief and disbelief. The human mind has an intrinsic creative nature, an ability to create something from nothing. But we are lazy. It is much easier to base one idea off another and continue to evolve that idea until all the gaps have been filled. This is true in religion and in science. The difference is science strives to prove these creative ideas (called theories). Eventually, if the idea can’t be proven, it is set aside and a new creative idea takes it’s place.
In the creative arena of the mind, in reference to spirituality, you don’t need to prove anything. You can run rampant with your ideas. You can cling to a dogma of your choice, or you can expand or eliminate the parts you want. Custom tailored to your own personal needs. No one has the right (although they try) to tell you how or what to believe.
Spirituality is an internal belief system where you can take what you want and tailor it to include your own rules and morals. Sometimes they mirror a specific dogma or an established religion, but the more creative types see what they want.
People hold on the spirituality in different ways, some toy with the deity entirely. You can worship a God, Mother Earth, Zeus, Aliens or a brick of cheese, (I once knew a guy who believed that sandwiches were an alien life form that strives to be eaten so it can control us from the inside – wacky, but if he wants to believe it, then let him.) No one can argue with you, because it’s your “personal” belief. You can believe in Karma or Destiny or you can take life by the horns and make things go your way.
Spirituality is taking that one step further into the imagination and think “What if”!
It’s taking that “what if” and evolving it into something and building a pantheon around it. It’s fun! It’s Creative! It can evolve with every new thought and piece of information you take in over the course of a lifetime. You ball every piece of information and store it as knowledge. You organize it into subsections and use it to give meaning to the lifetime of years you’ve enjoyed. You further evolve this ball to include what happens when your term in this life is complete and finished. Doesn’t it make sense to rationalize that all this stored knowledge was gathered to be used for a purpose beyond the nothing we have all been destined for?
If you hold to a specific religion, you can take its given book of rules and use it to make sense out of your world. Its lessons can help you to explain all of the given situation you find yourself. You can twist the meanings, you can live the meanings word for word and you can see them in parables that can be used to explain and make sense of things you otherwise can’t label and file in your brain. This can also be done by listening to music and picking out phrase after phrase and giving it meaning within the context of your life. Rune stones also work in this way. You pick up a stone, study it’s meaning and explore how that meaning can have a place in your life and what that means to you.
to start and
I for one have no idea what awaits us in the end, and I don’t care, I’m just an observer…
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