What is a temple to you? (ritual, pray, faith, philosophy)

[Mike182]

• What is a temple to you? any place i feel safe, warm and loved. home, in the arms of a friend or a lover, in prayer with my Gods.
• What does it signify? that through all the pain in this world, there is a goodness to it all.
• If you believe in them, why are they important to you? because i like feeling safe, warm and loved

[Kay]

Originally Posted by beckysoup61

It doesn't have to be a specific religions temple, but there are a few questions we could discuss.

• What is a temple to you?
• What does it signify?
• If you believe in them, why are they important to you?

Oh, and please let's keep in civil and courteous.

I think of my body, the world, the entire cosmos as a temple. In particular though, if I really want to "get serious" and connect with Divinity, I just drive up the road into the Rocky Mountains.

[eudaimonia]

Originally Posted by cardero

In some cases a very costly psychological need.

So? Everyone must decide how much their temples are worth to them, just as they decide how much libraries, schools, etc, are worth to them.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[cardero]

Originally Posted by eudaimonia

So? Everyone must decide how much their temples are worth to them, just as they decide how much libraries, schools, etc, are worth to them.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Compared to the worth of human life I do not see how this decision can be so difficult to make. Schools will also be contemplating this decision in the ensuing years.

[eudaimonia]

Originally Posted by cardero

Compared to the worth of human life I do not see how this decision can be so difficult to make.

Sacred values are what makes human life worth living. And so the decision is not as easy as you might think.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[Guitar's Cry]

There's a forest out back of my childhood home where I used to go to growing up. It was a sanctuary in every sense of the word; there, I could be alone, and feel close to the divinity of Nature. It was pure, untouched, wild spirit to me. If I had to choose a sacred spot, that would be it. It's still the place where I feel most safe, and my preferred spot for meditation (when I can get there).

[cardero]

Originally Posted by eudaimonia

Sacred values are what makes human life worth living. And so the decision is not as easy as you might think.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Yes but you cannot practice sacred values if you are dead. To me anyone who places a $40 million dollar value on a mosque, temple, cathedral, church, hall while others bodily temples are homeless, starving, or in sickness doesn’t fully understand the meaning of the word sacred.

[eudaimonia]

Originally Posted by cardero

Yes but you cannot practice sacred values if you are dead. To me anyone who places a $40 million dollar value on a mosque, temple, cathedral, church, hall while others bodily temples are homeless, starving, or in sickness doesn’t fully understand the meaning of the word sacred.

So, no one should donate money to building projects until there is no more starvation or homelessness in the world? I find that this sort of objection degenerates into an absurd egalitarianism if taken the whole way. Do you have a home computer? Go out to restaurants at all? Have a television? Are you evil because you didn't give the money you used to buy such things to charity instead?

Besides, buildings may help keep people inspired and involved in the religion and raise more money for charity in the long run, if that is your focus.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[kiwimac]

A former Prime Minister of NZ, David Lange, was attending a dinner function here in NZ. Sitting beside him was the well-known (In NZ anyway) cartoonist and raconteur Tom Scott. At the end of the dinner the post-prandial (had to get it in somewhere ) chocolates were being handed round.

When the waiter came to Scott, he waved them off saying " No more for me, my body is a temple." to which David Lange said " pass them here, mine's a warehouse!"

This is, of course, a view I can ascribe to!

Mazdayasnans have 'Fire Temples' in which the flame reminds us of Mazda Ahura's purity and warmth, here rituals are performed but they can equally be performed in the believers own home so it is not where they are done that is so much important as that they are done.

A temple then for us is good and useful but not overwhelmingly important. IMO