Requirements
I'm not a fan of requirements... in general, but especially in religion. You're required to pray 3 times a day. You're required to not eat pork and shellfish or to mix milk and meat. You're required not to eat on certain days, and to say all these prayers before and after your food. Why? ...Because this all-powerful, all-knowing, and obviously all-caring-about-everything-everyone-does spirit said to a while back.
What the fuck is that?
This is the way I see it. I tried that shit; I kept kosher, fasted on the fast days, didn't turn on lights on shabbos, prayed at least once a day, learned Hebrew so I knew what was going on, read from the Torah for my bar mitzvah, all of it. And it didn't work for me. Too many people that did it weren't doing it for the right reasons. They'd speed like hell through the service and then brag about how quickly they went through, when half the congregation is sitting in their seats with their eyes crossed wondering how they're still on page 28 when the leader just closed the book on page 364. "I told you it wouldn't be painful." Fuck that. If you're doing this for the right reasons, it won't be painful. People like that need to get their priorities straight.
I think these "requirements" should be more like suggestions. Here's what you can do, if this is conducive to faith as you see it. If you feel the desire to comply with these ancient regulations and to live the way your religious ancestors did, then so be it! Have at it! But don't do it solely because it is something shoved down your throat when you were younger. Do it because it speaks to you. Do it because this makes you feel closer to whatever spiritual entity/entities you believe in, if there are any. I really doubt that there's some being up there looking at every one of us and getting pissed as fucking hell that someone just had pork loin. Or that they watched the news on Saturday [since when did Sabbath switch to Sunday?]. Or that they had a glass of water on a day when they're supposed to be apologizing to it for all this shit they did wrong during the past year. Because it keeps a journal on every thought and action that every person on the entire planet and any other planets that may have life has done and is doing, and this spirit knows what they will be doing in the future and has THAT written down, too! That's one big fucking book, and one severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome.
I'm not saying everyone should go out and break every rule if that feels right. Don't go killing people and robbing people and sleeping with your friend's hot hot wife. You have two responsibilities, the way I see it. One is to yourself, you have to do what is right for you. What fulfills your needs and makes you feel as complete as possible. Then there is the responsibility to everyone else, as a whole. This brings us to vulgar relativism, in a way, where you don't judge what anyone is doing, or condemn them, unless their actions harm someone. This harm can be to themselves or their neighbours. So, your responsibility to everyone else is basically saying that you don't do something that fucks someone else over. Killing, theft, adultury, are examples of this. These are universal. The non-universal are the responsibilities to self, which is what I was talking about earlier. The religious rules you do or do not follow. If you want to avoid eating shark and thigh meat all the time and bread on Passover and you want to take a day off from everything once a week and you want to wear a wig in public once you get married because all that makes you feel closer to your god, then go for it. Just don't shove that onto me, and please understand that if I'm not partaking, it's because it doesn't speak to me. Keep your judgements to yourself, because I am not hurting you.
What the fuck is that?
This is the way I see it. I tried that shit; I kept kosher, fasted on the fast days, didn't turn on lights on shabbos, prayed at least once a day, learned Hebrew so I knew what was going on, read from the Torah for my bar mitzvah, all of it. And it didn't work for me. Too many people that did it weren't doing it for the right reasons. They'd speed like hell through the service and then brag about how quickly they went through, when half the congregation is sitting in their seats with their eyes crossed wondering how they're still on page 28 when the leader just closed the book on page 364. "I told you it wouldn't be painful." Fuck that. If you're doing this for the right reasons, it won't be painful. People like that need to get their priorities straight.
I think these "requirements" should be more like suggestions. Here's what you can do, if this is conducive to faith as you see it. If you feel the desire to comply with these ancient regulations and to live the way your religious ancestors did, then so be it! Have at it! But don't do it solely because it is something shoved down your throat when you were younger. Do it because it speaks to you. Do it because this makes you feel closer to whatever spiritual entity/entities you believe in, if there are any. I really doubt that there's some being up there looking at every one of us and getting pissed as fucking hell that someone just had pork loin. Or that they watched the news on Saturday [since when did Sabbath switch to Sunday?]. Or that they had a glass of water on a day when they're supposed to be apologizing to it for all this shit they did wrong during the past year. Because it keeps a journal on every thought and action that every person on the entire planet and any other planets that may have life has done and is doing, and this spirit knows what they will be doing in the future and has THAT written down, too! That's one big fucking book, and one severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome.
I'm not saying everyone should go out and break every rule if that feels right. Don't go killing people and robbing people and sleeping with your friend's hot hot wife. You have two responsibilities, the way I see it. One is to yourself, you have to do what is right for you. What fulfills your needs and makes you feel as complete as possible. Then there is the responsibility to everyone else, as a whole. This brings us to vulgar relativism, in a way, where you don't judge what anyone is doing, or condemn them, unless their actions harm someone. This harm can be to themselves or their neighbours. So, your responsibility to everyone else is basically saying that you don't do something that fucks someone else over. Killing, theft, adultury, are examples of this. These are universal. The non-universal are the responsibilities to self, which is what I was talking about earlier. The religious rules you do or do not follow. If you want to avoid eating shark and thigh meat all the time and bread on Passover and you want to take a day off from everything once a week and you want to wear a wig in public once you get married because all that makes you feel closer to your god, then go for it. Just don't shove that onto me, and please understand that if I'm not partaking, it's because it doesn't speak to me. Keep your judgements to yourself, because I am not hurting you.