For Argument's Sake....
Alright! So here I am again, I find myself at school waiting this time for my pal to get out of class. My internet connection has gone wonky here for some reason, and I figure I have Microsoft Word, so I can at least type out a Random Rambling on here and copy-paste it to LJ once my network adapter stops being temperamental. It worked fine yesterday, and today, PFFT! It just decided it wanted to call Union break on me, and give me intermittent hope of access to the school network. I’m hoping it’s a fluke and it will work when I get home. If not, I will just have to use the USB I have and upload it via the school computers. I’m paying to have access to the computer labs here by default anyway, I may as well use them right?
Anyhow, that really is not the topic I wanted to discuss today. Today’s topic is actually far more potentially um…upsetting? I guess would be the term…to some, so please don’t take offense to it, because that is not how this is meant to be. I simply sit and observe things, and kind of state opinions or varied viewpoints. The whole point really is to get feedback, so if you have an argument that counters me, go for it! I welcome a challenge! I love them, in fact, just please refrain from bashing, because that is the opposite of what this is about. Anyway, today’s topic is religion. I know, I know, that’s a mine field of sorts, but the reason I chose it is because I grew up with a sort of strict set of religious family values in my grandparents, and some variance-ish with my parents. See, my grandparents, as with the rest of their children (all aunts) are all die-hard Christians, and my father and his family are Catholic. My siblings and I were brought up Christian, and were given no wiggle room with that. I, of course, am a natural deviant, and since the 6th grade or so, have been studying world religions and cultures, and in particular, fell in love with a few. I latched onto with much fervor, the ancient religions of Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Judaism, and Buddhism. I studied them in depth, and while I was in the throes of studying Hindu, my grandmother confronted me at that time about what I thought about church and religion. I told her I was open to all of them, but was currently studying Hindu, and really loved it. She about died right then. She tore into me like a lioness into a wounded zebra. We went back and forth about the topic for a few minutes, and at first I thought I could simply explain it to her, but I could tell it was offending her, so I went with the best answer to avoid a family catastrophe: “You’re right, Grandma. I’m sorry.”
To bring this back to a point I was making, I was brought up in a family where I could not discuss my interests in other religions. My parents used to say ‘So long as you believe in a God or a power greater than yourself I don’t care. Just don’t talk to me about it.’ In any case, as I delved further into my studies, I brought Muslim and varying Christian offshoots into the mix, and as I did this, I thought back over the ancient religions and then the modern ones and I kind of had to laugh. What really is the difference? Think about it! We took religions that had a God hierarchy with one main god heading the pack, like say Zeus or Re…and replaced them with God or Allah, correct? Now bear with me here, I know we also changed their job descriptions and tailored their mannerisms, but the premise is there. They are still spiteful! Why else would there be punishment like say Hell otherwise after death? Would reincarnation not be a better fit to learn a lesson? After all what better way to drive home a point than on a spiritual level where you have to live a life on the opposite end of the spectrum? Kind of makes everything else that’s wonky in the world make more sense, albeit still messed up, it can sort of make sense in some fashion as lessons in life. Of course the topic of reincarnation vs. Hell is another blog to come, so I am going to cut this off right here. Anyway, back to the comparisons: We have God instead of Re. Now we take the lesser gods, like Anubis, Sekhmet and Thoth and turn them into the angels, and have them serve under God with different roles, but still governing power positions over not only other angels, but people and animals as well! Is that not ringing a bell? That means, in a nutshell, we took Re, Thoth, Sekhmet, and Anubis and traded them for, oh let’s say for argument, God, Gabriel, Michael, and Azrael. Funny, isn’t it? Michael, Gabriel and Azrael all do for God different tasks similarly as Thoth, Anubis and Sekhmet did varying tasks for Re. Granted the tasks vary, the point is, the Angels are in like fashion to the demi gods of the polytheistic religions, yeah? So that brings me to one of the real points of the whole premise of this particular topic…WHY do we have such issues accepting each other for our differences? Why do people like to segregate based on religious reasons? I know many people who told me they feel uncomfortable or even intimidated by people of different religions because they are afraid of being judged! That’s just messed up in my opinion. I believe there is no really good reason to judge someone based on such a shallow reason. Religion is a small fraction of what makes a person. People have far more to what makes up who and what they are to their core. If I don’t like you, it’s because I got to know you and you did something to earn that feeling from me. I do not believe in taking the word of mouth chain, I believe in fact and evidence. I like to know for myself, and I am no fool. I can make my own decisions, and I like to think I have a sharp wit and a keen eye for a good person. I have never judged someone based on religion, color, ethnicity, social class, popularity, gender, sexual orientation, none of that. I have had friends of all backgrounds, and you know what, they all taught me a lot of things. In many ways, some of them have been my best mentors in how life really works for the whole, not just the fractional part. After all, the world is made up of multitudes of fractional parts that come together to form one cohesive whole, and to me that is what makes the world beautiful. I love the diversity of this planet in all of its forms, both of the human variety and the natural; that, however, I will save for another blog. ;)
Anyhow, that really is not the topic I wanted to discuss today. Today’s topic is actually far more potentially um…upsetting? I guess would be the term…to some, so please don’t take offense to it, because that is not how this is meant to be. I simply sit and observe things, and kind of state opinions or varied viewpoints. The whole point really is to get feedback, so if you have an argument that counters me, go for it! I welcome a challenge! I love them, in fact, just please refrain from bashing, because that is the opposite of what this is about. Anyway, today’s topic is religion. I know, I know, that’s a mine field of sorts, but the reason I chose it is because I grew up with a sort of strict set of religious family values in my grandparents, and some variance-ish with my parents. See, my grandparents, as with the rest of their children (all aunts) are all die-hard Christians, and my father and his family are Catholic. My siblings and I were brought up Christian, and were given no wiggle room with that. I, of course, am a natural deviant, and since the 6th grade or so, have been studying world religions and cultures, and in particular, fell in love with a few. I latched onto with much fervor, the ancient religions of Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Judaism, and Buddhism. I studied them in depth, and while I was in the throes of studying Hindu, my grandmother confronted me at that time about what I thought about church and religion. I told her I was open to all of them, but was currently studying Hindu, and really loved it. She about died right then. She tore into me like a lioness into a wounded zebra. We went back and forth about the topic for a few minutes, and at first I thought I could simply explain it to her, but I could tell it was offending her, so I went with the best answer to avoid a family catastrophe: “You’re right, Grandma. I’m sorry.”
To bring this back to a point I was making, I was brought up in a family where I could not discuss my interests in other religions. My parents used to say ‘So long as you believe in a God or a power greater than yourself I don’t care. Just don’t talk to me about it.’ In any case, as I delved further into my studies, I brought Muslim and varying Christian offshoots into the mix, and as I did this, I thought back over the ancient religions and then the modern ones and I kind of had to laugh. What really is the difference? Think about it! We took religions that had a God hierarchy with one main god heading the pack, like say Zeus or Re…and replaced them with God or Allah, correct? Now bear with me here, I know we also changed their job descriptions and tailored their mannerisms, but the premise is there. They are still spiteful! Why else would there be punishment like say Hell otherwise after death? Would reincarnation not be a better fit to learn a lesson? After all what better way to drive home a point than on a spiritual level where you have to live a life on the opposite end of the spectrum? Kind of makes everything else that’s wonky in the world make more sense, albeit still messed up, it can sort of make sense in some fashion as lessons in life. Of course the topic of reincarnation vs. Hell is another blog to come, so I am going to cut this off right here. Anyway, back to the comparisons: We have God instead of Re. Now we take the lesser gods, like Anubis, Sekhmet and Thoth and turn them into the angels, and have them serve under God with different roles, but still governing power positions over not only other angels, but people and animals as well! Is that not ringing a bell? That means, in a nutshell, we took Re, Thoth, Sekhmet, and Anubis and traded them for, oh let’s say for argument, God, Gabriel, Michael, and Azrael. Funny, isn’t it? Michael, Gabriel and Azrael all do for God different tasks similarly as Thoth, Anubis and Sekhmet did varying tasks for Re. Granted the tasks vary, the point is, the Angels are in like fashion to the demi gods of the polytheistic religions, yeah? So that brings me to one of the real points of the whole premise of this particular topic…WHY do we have such issues accepting each other for our differences? Why do people like to segregate based on religious reasons? I know many people who told me they feel uncomfortable or even intimidated by people of different religions because they are afraid of being judged! That’s just messed up in my opinion. I believe there is no really good reason to judge someone based on such a shallow reason. Religion is a small fraction of what makes a person. People have far more to what makes up who and what they are to their core. If I don’t like you, it’s because I got to know you and you did something to earn that feeling from me. I do not believe in taking the word of mouth chain, I believe in fact and evidence. I like to know for myself, and I am no fool. I can make my own decisions, and I like to think I have a sharp wit and a keen eye for a good person. I have never judged someone based on religion, color, ethnicity, social class, popularity, gender, sexual orientation, none of that. I have had friends of all backgrounds, and you know what, they all taught me a lot of things. In many ways, some of them have been my best mentors in how life really works for the whole, not just the fractional part. After all, the world is made up of multitudes of fractional parts that come together to form one cohesive whole, and to me that is what makes the world beautiful. I love the diversity of this planet in all of its forms, both of the human variety and the natural; that, however, I will save for another blog. ;)