Religous Views
**DISCLAIMER**
These are ONLY my views. They have absolutly nothing to do with yours, even if I mention your religion specifically. Please don't demean either of us by saying I am "wrong" or "right", my worldview has been shaped by my experiances and the teachings I have paid attention to (ha ha), so it is guarenteed that my reasonings will seem off to most other people.
Labels
I dislike labels, and usually now when people ask me "what I am", I reply that I am Spiritual. If I want to mess with their heads, I reply that I am an Anthropologist ;)
Organized religion
So, I think this was a very human idea. Everyone needs somewhere to belong, and I most definetly feel the pull. Perhaps as a socially-inept juvenile my pull towards 'belonging' was worse than it should have been. However, the fact I was effectivly kicked out of the United Christian Chruch when I was 13 for going to a Jewish school was a catalyst. All I remember thinking was, "this can't be right..."
Sidenote: (oh, the Jewish school was the only private one my parents could afford, and I desperatly needed the smaller class size. Also, they got to sing their hyms to the tun of Gilligans Island. How cool is that!?)
God/Goddess
I believe in a Higher Power, who I usually refer to as the Universe. I believe that everyone sees the higher powers in different ways, and crafts (for the lack of a better term) them into something they can worship. People want to see what they feel comfortable with, they want to hear the rules that seem 'obvious' to them. They want to be right, and they want to follow the "only God/dess/s that exist. Nothing unites human beings like "us vs. them", and I see organized religions as the epitome of this in our everyday lives. Judeo-Christians seem to love a benevolant (or malicious, depending on the book) ruler-setter, who is very jealous of the idea of sharing with other God/desses. Wiccans want ritual and belonging, but without so many rules, and they purposfully bring in a female divinity to perhaps make some people who feel alienated by the paternalistic attitude of the former feel more liberated. Bhuddists like to question 'rules' or teachings on a constant basis, it seems, and it attracts people not as quite into absolutes, but still following a male 'diety'.
Jesus/Bhudda/Mohammad
Ah, this is where I may lose a lot of you. I believe that these people were indeed gifted beyond most measures by the Universe, and they were here to be teachers. I, however, do NOT believe that they were divine in any more ways than I am. Again, going back to the issue of organized religion, humans seem to need figureheads. These people seemed so knowledgeable and had amazing talents and knowledge, so they over time have been granted the status of Gods.
As a bit of a giggle, I explain it this way to my Christian friends:
God was all excited, he was going to help this man be born who would have the ability to heal the human race physically and mentally. He would be called... whatever his Mom decided. God blinked once, and gasped "OMG, they killed him! Well, shit. Ok, maybe it was a touch too much, next time I'll put a lil less juice in the mix."
Enter Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and many other leaders of our time with extraordinary gifts. Juuust enough that we don't nail them to a cross too ;)
(Of course I think he sighed big time with the whole Joan of Arc thing too. Poor God must have been so confused)
Karma
Karma is what keeps me from killing idiots, and also pushes me to do every good deed I can. Egotistical? Sure, I guess. It's like my Bible I guess, keeping me on the straight and narrow. I am quite happy with my views on it, it means I hurt no one including myself. Who can ask for more?
Well, that's it for now. Kind of crazy eh? Love to hear thoughts and commentary.
These are ONLY my views. They have absolutly nothing to do with yours, even if I mention your religion specifically. Please don't demean either of us by saying I am "wrong" or "right", my worldview has been shaped by my experiances and the teachings I have paid attention to (ha ha), so it is guarenteed that my reasonings will seem off to most other people.
Labels
I dislike labels, and usually now when people ask me "what I am", I reply that I am Spiritual. If I want to mess with their heads, I reply that I am an Anthropologist ;)
Organized religion
So, I think this was a very human idea. Everyone needs somewhere to belong, and I most definetly feel the pull. Perhaps as a socially-inept juvenile my pull towards 'belonging' was worse than it should have been. However, the fact I was effectivly kicked out of the United Christian Chruch when I was 13 for going to a Jewish school was a catalyst. All I remember thinking was, "this can't be right..."
Sidenote: (oh, the Jewish school was the only private one my parents could afford, and I desperatly needed the smaller class size. Also, they got to sing their hyms to the tun of Gilligans Island. How cool is that!?)
God/Goddess
I believe in a Higher Power, who I usually refer to as the Universe. I believe that everyone sees the higher powers in different ways, and crafts (for the lack of a better term) them into something they can worship. People want to see what they feel comfortable with, they want to hear the rules that seem 'obvious' to them. They want to be right, and they want to follow the "only God/dess/s that exist. Nothing unites human beings like "us vs. them", and I see organized religions as the epitome of this in our everyday lives. Judeo-Christians seem to love a benevolant (or malicious, depending on the book) ruler-setter, who is very jealous of the idea of sharing with other God/desses. Wiccans want ritual and belonging, but without so many rules, and they purposfully bring in a female divinity to perhaps make some people who feel alienated by the paternalistic attitude of the former feel more liberated. Bhuddists like to question 'rules' or teachings on a constant basis, it seems, and it attracts people not as quite into absolutes, but still following a male 'diety'.
Jesus/Bhudda/Mohammad
Ah, this is where I may lose a lot of you. I believe that these people were indeed gifted beyond most measures by the Universe, and they were here to be teachers. I, however, do NOT believe that they were divine in any more ways than I am. Again, going back to the issue of organized religion, humans seem to need figureheads. These people seemed so knowledgeable and had amazing talents and knowledge, so they over time have been granted the status of Gods.
As a bit of a giggle, I explain it this way to my Christian friends:
God was all excited, he was going to help this man be born who would have the ability to heal the human race physically and mentally. He would be called... whatever his Mom decided. God blinked once, and gasped "OMG, they killed him! Well, shit. Ok, maybe it was a touch too much, next time I'll put a lil less juice in the mix."
Enter Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and many other leaders of our time with extraordinary gifts. Juuust enough that we don't nail them to a cross too ;)
(Of course I think he sighed big time with the whole Joan of Arc thing too. Poor God must have been so confused)
Karma
Karma is what keeps me from killing idiots, and also pushes me to do every good deed I can. Egotistical? Sure, I guess. It's like my Bible I guess, keeping me on the straight and narrow. I am quite happy with my views on it, it means I hurt no one including myself. Who can ask for more?
Well, that's it for now. Kind of crazy eh? Love to hear thoughts and commentary.