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Does it matters what spiritual teaching we follow

DNB

Christian
Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?
Of course it matters. What's the point to holding to particular tenets or a belief system if they have no truth or merit behind them. Try telling an novice out in the world that all men are inherently good, and watch him get devoured within a minute. In other words, no matter what he believes, he cannot escape the intrinsic facts about his environment. Or, one as an ascetic, who spent his life practicing self-mortification, isolation and meditation, to the point of possibly injuring his health. What an absurd existence if everything that he believed that lead him to such a lifestyle, were not true. The same goes with missionaries, Church goers, jihadists, those who have sacrificial systems, and so on. What an absolute inconvenience and detriment to the world if neither one, or only some, or one, was correct.

In this world there exists objective facts. If you try to either ignore, change or not comply with these absolute truths, there will be inevitable consequences.
In other words, all roads do not lead to Rome - all belief systems do not attain to peace, joy or salvation.

Do your best to find the one and only truth, and abide by what principles are truly revealed by this awareness, no matter how you received them.
 
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Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I know I do not hold the full truth yet.

No one holds whole truth but God and Mohammad (s) and his family (a) relatively hold whole truth. Believers try to gain as much insights, light, power, and goodness from holding on to them.

Going to other then God's doors has consequences though, among, them is being infused with evil Jinn where as they can benefit for temporary worldly pleasures and gains, they will cause the soul to perish.

Those who choose to hold on to the family of the reminder, whether it was Adam's Ahlulbayt (a), or Ibrahim's Ahlulbayt (a) at their times, or Musa's and Haroun's Ahlulbayt (a) which was the family of the reminder before Mohammad (s), they always have to make a choice, will they love God and his light or will they incline to unjust oppressive people or chase the temporary pleasures.

Love of the family of Taha and Yaseen is a sword that cuts the falsehood. It manifests the truth and their stations and signs and lights is with the Humans and Jinn, trying to guide them back.

To prefer darkness over them, falsehood over their truth, and temporary pleasures over everlasting reward has consequences.

To not be able to recognize their sustenance and the sword of God in your soul, has consequences.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
It's interesting that you only list religions as paths to whatever your goal is.

I got my answers outside of religion, and got most of them decades ago. I don't think of myself as searching, nor following anything except my own conscience and my understanding of how the world works. My worldview is essentially unchanged in almost 40 years. Its metaphysics is still naturalistic, the moral values come from the application of reason to conscience, and the epistemology comes from the application of reason to evidence.

Notice that none of it comes from any religion or even other people. I may get ideas reading the thoughts of others rather than inventing them myself, but it doesn't matter where the ideas come from. They have to meet the same personal criteria to be accepted.

The mental map that I used to navigate life was sufficient to lead me to a life that I am happy with, which is why I say that I am not searching for anything except more of the same.

Isn't that the real definition of wisdom - knowing what to want to attain satisfaction? Knowing what brings lasting satisfaction and what doesn't? Intelligence is the ability to get what you want, but wisdom is knowing what to want to achieve equanimity. Should you go for wealth and fame, or love and beauty? Which will make you happier? Which will leave you content and which will leave you wanting and regretful?

Incidentally, when I say I got my answers, what I mean is that I got answers to what could be answered, like how to treat people and what kind of a life I wanted to live, recognized that the rest could not be answered such as about gods and afterlives, and am satisfied with that.

I've asked you in the past to ask yourself if you really are on a path of any kind, what you hope to achieve, and what you have learned about yourself and the world. The reason is because I suspect that there is no path, goal, or learning, just the playing of a part. If not, don't you want to recognize that?

The reason I even suggest this is because in my many years interacting with people who use that language - spiritual journey, spiritual truth - none can describe it at all. None can tell me where they've come from or gone to intellectually or intuitively, and none can give me an insight that isn't trivial. If you are actually accomplishing something, you ought to know what in concrete terms. If you do, great, keep up the good work. I'd love to hear what it was. If not, wouldn't you want to recognize that?

I think of my decade or so in Christianity, where we thought we were being transformed - filled with the Holy Spirit, born again, a new man in Christ. We studied the Bible assiduously in search of divine truths. Eventually, I noticed, that I had learned nothing of value. There was no growth there. There was no journey.

Growth didn't resume until I left that mode of thinking and believing. Had I not, I might still be stagnating in the same place, looking to a holy book for answers that just weren't there for me. I see these people on TV preaching occasionally, exhorting their audiences to go deeper into their faith and religion, to know Jesus more fully, followed by a story about how Elijah or Abraham had great faith and were rewarded by the Lord, as if there were wisdom or useful instruction there. Rinse, lather, and repeat year after year, and you can see what I mean about people who see themselves as on a journey of discovery who are doing no such thing as was I for those years.

That's why I ask you to consider what you have accomplished looking for answers the way you do. If something, as I said, by all means carry on. If nothing that actually gives you useful guidance or comfort, then shouldn't you recognize that? What do you know now of value that you didn't know five years ago that you learned through what you call spiritual practices?
O am happy you found your answer:)
 

Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
To have preferred the ugly Jinn and illusions of Iblis and choose his sustenance and be immersed in temporary pleasures over the treasures of God's beautiful names and the drink thereof, will face dire consequences.
 

muhammad_isa

Well-Known Member
It's not external religions that save the nation. It's the soul of the people who live the law of love from the heart. And that's why 'spiritual practices' are far more important than compliance to external rules imposed by religious systems.
No, that's wishful thinking.
If we make up our own rules, then we will more often than not be misguided.
Our spiritual inclinations need to be channeled.
Hippies and free-love is a good example of this.
It stems from a sense of rebellion against an establishment which is seen as obsessed with wealth .. so it has a spiritual element, but just following desires leads to failure.

Sometimes we only find out the hard way. We need experience to see that responsibility is important, along with spiritual guidance from scripture.
 

loverofhumanity

We are all the leaves of one tree
Premium Member
Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?

Our beliefs may harm or help others and shape the world we live in, so beliefs which are inclusive of all, involving unconditional acceptance of all, are far better for humanity than those based on supremacy of race, religion, nationality and gender.

For prejudices are a path to war and bloodshed, whereas accepting all humanity as our family leads to peace and the well-being of mankind.
 

Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Our beliefs may harm or help others and shape the world we live in, so beliefs which are inclusive of all, involving unconditional acceptance of all, are far better for humanity than those based on supremacy of race, religion, nationality and gender.

For prejudices are a path to war and bloodshed, whereas accepting all humanity as our family leads to peace and the well-being of mankind.

My view, it's being lead by misguiding leaders that leads to all war and bloodshed. But those misguiding leaders and oppressors and their followers unfortunately think they are doing good for people and bringing good on earth.

The solution to me is to distance oneself from oppressors while clinging to leaders appointed by God, to stop this corrupting deceptive oppressive ways of the oppressing people.

At the end, it may take, destruction of a lot of cities like Noah's people and others were destroyed, when the Mahdi comes.

This might become unavoidable as people seem set on misguidance like in the past.

Believing a superior religion simply means you believe guidance of God is better then misguidance. This is not the cause of wars, but opposite, equating guidance of misleading leaders with guidance of God is the cause of the chaos and oppression on earth.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
The reason I even suggest this is because in my many years interacting with people who use that language - spiritual journey, spiritual truth - none can describe it at all. None can tell me where they've come from or gone to intellectually or intuitively, and none can give me an insight that isn't trivial. If you are actually accomplishing something, you ought to know what in concrete terms. If you do, great, keep up the good work. I'd love to hear what it was. If not, wouldn't you want to recognize that?
I appreciate what you say about your background in Christianity. It sounds familiar to my own. I agree with most of what you say how to them they use the terms, but they are really more like a carrot on the end of stick they will never reach. Rinse and repeat. But, while I recognized all of that, after playing their game for a while too, I began that journey with an experience of that end Goal, before encountering their systems. In my time with them, I was able on my own to find those little nuggets of truth that they more or less just trampled underfoot in their ego-based theologies.

To address some of your points, it would take many posts and perhaps different threads. But something I just posted this morning in this thread touches on your questions in the above quote.

This touches on some of those authentic spiritual nuggets I came accords, which were reflections of what I realized on my own in my own spiritual path, which happened to pass through their doors along the way. As my dear father used to say to me, "There is nothing that you have done or learned in life that you won't be able to use later on." Link: Does it matters what spiritual teaching we follow
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
To many humans, it evidently does not matter, but why should what matters to humans be so important? I thought what matters to God should be most important. Isn't that how it is?
As far as I know, it matters to God what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow. Jesus said as much, at John 4:24, and John17:3.

Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
When I look at the life of the Messiah, and what he said and taught, I do not see that. In fact, he said that the goal of many were far from the same.
Matthew 16:5-12 ; Luke 12:1 ; Matthew 23

Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?
Is this what you believe? What does God have to say on the matter? Do you know, or do you think we cannot know?
You know that being at the point of "maybe" is dangerous right? Since if we do not know, how is it possible to know if we are pleasing God or not... and is that not the important thing, if we want to serve God?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?
According to the Messiah, the answer to that question is very clear. John 3 and countless other scriptures leaves no doubt of the answer.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
No, that's wishful thinking.
If we make up our own rules, then we will more often than not be misguided.
It's wishful thinking that you can force people through violence to be good people.

If you had read my post, you would see that nothing I said would agree that the spiritual path, making clean the inside of the cup, is just "making up our own rules". I fully reject that. That's not spirituality. That's the utter lack of spirituality! That's selfishness. That's narcissism.

Spirituality places the law of love at its center. If you center your heart in LOVE, your actions with be the opposite of selfishness. You will not just make up your own damned rules that just suits yourself! You will consider others as yourself. "Do unto others as you would have the do unto you", is NOT, "make up your own rules".

The point of spiritual practices are to develop the rules of love as the center or core of your very being, out of which all your actions heal and help, never curse and condemn, never force or impose, never do violence to others in the name of a good.

Our spiritual inclinations need to be channeled.
Hippies and free-love is a good example of this.
It stems from a sense of rebellion against an establishment which is seen as obsessed with wealth .. so it has a spiritual element, but just following desires leads to failure.

Sometimes we only find out the hard way. We need experience to see that responsibility is important, along with spiritual guidance from scripture.
You're misidentifying narcissism as spirituality. Spirituality is the opposite of narcissism. For instance, teenagers use the word love to describe their narcissistic infatuations. But that's not love. That's not authentic spirituality either. You are confused. Spirituality stems from Love. And Love arises through surrender of the ego and its self-seeking.
 

Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
God's light judges per truth. If you decide to go the darkness rather then change yourself for the light and ask forgiveness from God, then you are choosing darkness over God. No one forced you to be who you are so as to force God to accept you.

Judging yourself by God's light and holding yourself and others by it accountable is the proper way, but seems people see all that as "ego" based.

Having followed what we desire and doing away with consequences of not following truth, is low petty desires. No one wonder such people see people who believe there is consequences to turning away from God's guidance as egoistic.
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
Honestly, does it matter what religious beliefs or spiritual teaching we follow?
Isn't the "goal" the same or very similar? So should we care if someone is a buddhist, Hindu, Christian, muslim or any other religious believer?
Maybe it is more important to spiritually just look at our own being?

Should it matter if someone does not believe or even refuse to hold any belief in spiritual teaching?
All Beliefs systems are not the same. In fact many oppose others.
 

Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
In some form be one with the deity.

If you believe differently thats ok to me.

I think Quran shows if anyone is truthful in wanting God and strives, God will guide them to his ways. However, such people seek truth and shun falsehood. They maybe mixed in truth and falsehood, but they strive for truth.

Quran also says "whoever believes in God, God guides their heart..."
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
I think Quran shows if anyone is truthful in wanting God and strives, God will guide them to his ways. However, such people seek truth and shun falsehood. They maybe mixed in truth and falsehood, but they strive for truth.
Even i believe in the teaching in sufism i can see outside the teaching of sufism and Islam when I discuss with others. Does not seem like can do that.
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
In some form be one with the deity.

If you believe differently thats ok to me.
Then you are utterly incorrect. The entirety of the Left Hand Path opposes such a thing (Satanism, Luciferianism, Thelema, Golden Dawn, etc.), Buddhism opposes such a thing. Taoism opposes such a thing. Shaivism opposes such a thing, most Norse religions oppose this, ancient Roman and Arab religions opposed this . . . etc.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Then you are utterly incorrect. The entirety of the Left Hand Path opposes such a thing (Satanism, Luciferianism, Thelema, Golden Dawn, etc.), Buddhism opposes such a thing. Taoism opposes such a thing. Shaivism opposes such a thing, most Norse religions oppose this, ancient Roman and Arab religions opposed this . . . etc.
You have your understanding, I explain from my understanding.
 
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