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Jewels On The Necklace of The Soul

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Blessed greetings.

In my twenty-five years of life on Earth (seven of these so far spent as a Bahá’í), I’ve had the blessing of meeting and befriending people from a variety of different cultures and religious backgrounds, as well as doing some rather voracious reading and exploring. I discovered many priceless jewels within many religious teachings and practices, and continue to the more I read and ask questions.

In my spiritual practice – in addition to reading my own religion’s Holy Writings, saying my daily prayers and chanting ‘Alláh-u-Abhá’ 95 times – I meditate on the Asma ul Husna (the 99 Names of God in Islam), I practice Mindfulness meditation, discovered shining pearls in the wisdom of Bruce Lee about martial arts and religion, I’ve found my soul set ablaze by Rumi’s Masnavi and The Qur’an, gained amazing new insights about God from The Hebrew Bible, contemplated the mysteries present in the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Life, and I’ve currently begun reading the Chinese classic Xiyouji (Journey to the West) about a Buddhist monk who travels to India in search of Buddhist sutras. Each one of these jewels has given me new perspectives on my own religion and myself as a person.


Though, I suspect that I’m not alone here. I know of various Christians who practice yoga or Buddhist meditation; there are Hindus who have various images of Shakyamuni Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Guru Nanak on their altars in addition to icons of various deities; people in China engage with Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism all at once; and in Japan, they practice Buddhism alongside Shinto.

What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?
 
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JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Blessed greetings.

In my twenty-five years of life on Earth (seven of these so far spent as a Bahá’í), I’ve had the blessing of meeting and befriending people from a variety of different cultures and religious backgrounds, as well as doing some rather voracious reading and exploring. I discovered many priceless jewels within many religious teachings and practices, and continue to the more I read and ask questions.

In my spiritual practice – in addition to reading my own religion’s Holy Writings, saying my daily prayers and chanting ‘Alláh-u-Abhá’ 95 times – I meditate on the Asma ul Husna (the 99 Names of God in Islam), I practice Mindfulness meditation, discovered shining pearls in the wisdom of Bruce Lee about martial arts and religion, I’ve found my soul set ablaze by Rumi’s Masnavi and The Qur’an, gained amazing new insights about God from The Hebrew Bible, contemplated the mysteries present in the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Life, and I’ve currently begun reading the Chinese classic Xiyouji (Journey to the West) about a Buddhist monk who travels to India in search of Buddhist sutras. Each one of these jewels has given me new perspectives on my own religion and myself as a person.


Though, I suspect that I’m not alone here. I know of various Christians who practice yoga or Buddhist meditation; there are Hindus who have various images of Shakyamuni Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Guru Nanak on their altars in addition to icons of various deities; people in China engage with Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism all at once; and in Japan, they practice Buddhism alongside Shinto.

What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?

I retain great respect for the Pagan roots that shaped me, and love reading ancient stories of the Gods from cultures around the world.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?

From Hinduism, the greats from Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Papaji, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo and others.

From Buddhism, various texts on both zen and Tibetan.

From traditional sufism, Rumi, Hafiz and others.

From Christianity, St. Francis of Assisi primarily as well as selected parts of the Bible.

From Jewish Kaballah, various figures such as the Baal Shem Tov

From Native American spirituality, various stories and sayings.

From people without knowing their religion or spiritual beliefs, various songs and statements that I find inspirational. The latest one from earlier today is Arlo Guthrie: "Basically, I think you need two things to get by in this world: a sense of humor and the ability to laugh when your ego is destroyed."
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?
That isn't how it has worked for me. I didn't grow up learning about different paths. I always laughed at phrases like "All religions lead to the same place" and scoffed at various sayings related to interfaith. In my lifetime I only begrudgingly accepted and acknowledged the value of interfaith, because I started out believing all other religions were not as good and because I was curious but not energetically.

I like interfaith people, and I like that other people for some reason enjoy learning about religions. I like other religions, but I don't remember much about them. I wish I did, and I would like to say that I enjoyed learning new things. I generally don't. Learning weighs heavily upon me. I learn things that I think will be easy to remember, that I can use, that I can connect with other people through. I like summaries of religions and abstracts about them. I like to keep them on a shelf where I can feel like I have access to the information. To me that is interfaith. I'll never remember all of the 8-fold path or the complex relationships of the Hindu gods or where the constellations are in the sky.

Honestly I learned about interfaith through begrudgingly engaging with my own scriptures which are interfaith, believe it or not. That is not to say that I don't value other scriptures. I do. One of my scriptures says "All scripture is inspired of God and useful for...." etc. I apply this to all scripture. Everything is for me to use, and every bit of it...anything in ink...is scripture. Movie scripts can have inspiration by God in them. So can scribbles on the restroom wall.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
Blessed greetings.

In my twenty-five years of life on Earth (seven of these so far spent as a Bahá’í), I’ve had the blessing of meeting and befriending people from a variety of different cultures and religious backgrounds, as well as doing some rather voracious reading and exploring. I discovered many priceless jewels within many religious teachings and practices, and continue to the more I read and ask questions.

In my spiritual practice – in addition to reading my own religion’s Holy Writings, saying my daily prayers and chanting ‘Alláh-u-Abhá’ 95 times – I meditate on the Asma ul Husna (the 99 Names of God in Islam), I practice Mindfulness meditation, discovered shining pearls in the wisdom of Bruce Lee about martial arts and religion, I’ve found my soul set ablaze by Rumi’s Masnavi and The Qur’an, gained amazing new insights about God from The Hebrew Bible, contemplated the mysteries present in the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Life, and I’ve currently begun reading the Chinese classic Xiyouji (Journey to the West) about a Buddhist monk who travels to India in search of Buddhist sutras. Each one of these jewels has given me new perspectives on my own religion and myself as a person.


Though, I suspect that I’m not alone here. I know of various Christians who practice yoga or Buddhist meditation; there are Hindus who have various images of Shakyamuni Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Guru Nanak on their altars in addition to icons of various deities; people in China engage with Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism all at once; and in Japan, they practice Buddhism alongside Shinto.

What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?

Our whole life in all it's simplicity or complexity, beauty or ugliness, richness or poverty etc can be a source of insight but the true teacher is God, if He is not teaching us then our wisdom is probably not wisdom at all.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?
Unfortunately, I did not find anything sensible in Christianity, Islam or Bahaiism. My own books have given me a different insight. That is why I am an atheist Hindu and part Buddhist. I follow non-duality, which rejects existence of God and soul.
 

Gargovic Malkav

Well-Known Member
What about you? What sources outside your own religion do you engage with, have inspired your path or given you different insights?

When it comes to my personal development, I don't really have a strong sense of "outside my own religion" when it comes to sources of inspiration.

The attitude of militant atheists is what made me curious about religion, as they made me feel they exhibited the same pretentious and self-righteous behaviour as the (sometimes imaginary) people they judged.

The Abrahamic scriptures (Bible, Apocrypha, Quran) were my "gateway" to the world of religions and spirituality, and more or less formed the foundation of my belief system.
But I don't mind reading scriptures or folk stories from other cultures and traditions.
Since I believe God's signs are in all things, I can see it in all things.
So a lot of inspiration and lessons I also get from random events in daily life from all kinds of people and from creatures and things in general.
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I retain great respect for the Pagan roots that shaped me, and love reading ancient stories of the Gods from cultures around the world.

Interestingly, in spite of my monotheistic belief, I do as well! I just love stories, like Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Kojiki of Shinto.
 
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Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
From Hinduism, the greats from Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Papaji, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo and others.

From Buddhism, various texts on both zen and Tibetan.

From traditional sufism, Rumi, Hafiz and others.

From Christianity, St. Francis of Assisi primarily as well as selected parts of the Bible.

From Jewish Kaballah, various figures such as the Baal Shem Tov

From Native American spirituality, various stories and sayings.

From people without knowing their religion or spiritual beliefs, various songs and statements that I find inspirational. The latest one from earlier today is Arlo Guthrie: "Basically, I think you need two things to get by in this world: a sense of humor and the ability to laugh when your ego is destroyed."

This is all very beautiful, @sun rise. Tell me more about the Baal Shem Tov! I know only a little bit about him, namely that he started the Hasidic movement.
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
That isn't how it has worked for me. I didn't grow up learning about different paths. I always laughed at phrases like "All religions lead to the same place" and scoffed at various sayings related to interfaith. In my lifetime I only begrudgingly accepted and acknowledged the value of interfaith, because I started out believing all other religions were not as good and because I was curious but not energetically.

I like interfaith people, and I like that other people for some reason enjoy learning about religions. I like other religions, but I don't remember much about them. I wish I did, and I would like to say that I enjoyed learning new things. I generally don't. Learning weighs heavily upon me. I learn things that I think will be easy to remember, that I can use, that I can connect with other people through. I like summaries of religions and abstracts about them. I like to keep them on a shelf where I can feel like I have access to the information. To me that is interfaith. I'll never remember all of the 8-fold path or the complex relationships of the Hindu gods or where the constellations are in the sky.

Honestly I learned about interfaith through begrudgingly engaging with my own scriptures which are interfaith, believe it or not. That is not to say that I don't value other scriptures. I do. One of my scriptures says "All scripture is inspired of God and useful for...." etc. I apply this to all scripture. Everything is for me to use, and every bit of it...anything in ink...is scripture. Movie scripts can have inspiration by God in them. So can scribbles on the restroom wall.

Everything you say is true, @Brickjectivity. I’m awed at your broad-mindedness and patience. I know that I’m in the same boat. One of the books that first cracked my skull (so to speak) was Huston Smith’s book on The World’s Religions. Have you read it?
 
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Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Our whole life in all it's simplicity or complexity, beauty or ugliness, richness or poverty etc can be a source of insight but the true teacher is God, if He is not teaching us then our wisdom is probably not wisdom at all.

Word ‘‘em up, Brian. As it says in the Book of Proverbs, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Unfortunately, I did not find anything sensible in Christianity, Islam or Bahaiism. My own books have given me a different insight. That is why I am an atheist Hindu and part Buddhist. I follow non-duality, which rejects existence of God and soul.


I see! We all surf on different waves, Aup. That is to say belief in God or gods or the soul is not going to make sense to every person, so each of us finds Truth and Wisdom in a different form.
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
When it comes to my personal development, I don't really have a strong sense of "outside my own religion" when it comes to sources of inspiration.

The attitude of militant atheists is what made me curious about religion, as they made me feel they exhibited the same pretentious and self-righteous behaviour as the (sometimes imaginary) people they judged.

The Abrahamic scriptures (Bible, Apocrypha, Quran) were my "gateway" to the world of religions and spirituality, and more or less formed the foundation of my belief system.
But I don't mind reading scriptures or folk stories from other cultures and traditions.
Since I believe God's signs are in all things, I can see it in all things.

So a lot of inspiration and lessons I also get from random events in daily life from all kinds of people and from creatures and things in general.

@Gargovic Malkav, your post resonates with me on a very different level.

“There is no “outside my own religion”.”

This right here….fact.

The part I bolded in particular is a mirror that reflects my own soul. *sheds tear*
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Everything you say is true, @Brickjectivity. I’m awed at your broad-mindedness and patience. I know that I’m in the same boat. One of the books that first cracked my skull (so to speak) was Huston Smith’s book on The World’s Religions. Have you read it?
I have not, but I may as well look and see if there is a copy in the library.

Looking about I see that there are lectures and interview on this vedanta video channel on youtube, if you search for Huston like this:
Code:
https://www.youtube.com/c/mondaymedia-VedantaVideo/search?query=Huston
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
I see! We all surf on different waves, Aup. That is to say belief in God or gods or the soul is not going to make sense to every person, so each of us finds Truth and Wisdom in a different form.
Yeah, that is the spirit. I do not interfere in my family's theist beliefs. :)
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I have not, but I may as well look and see if there is a copy in the library.

Looking about I see that there are lectures and interview on this vedanta video channel on youtube, if you search for Huston like this:
Code:
https://www.youtube.com/c/mondaymedia-VedantaVideo/search?query=Huston

I saved this playlist!
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
Wonderful! Hopefully, they don’t interfere with yours as well.
They probably will. For example, I want my body to be sent to a medical college and used for study in anatomy dissection classes. I doubt if they will do that. They will perform various death rites over the body of one who does not believe in existence of God, soul, heaven or hell. I will have no control over what they do. Superstitious people who do not know science. I can only request them during my life-time.
 

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
They probably will. For example, I want my body to be sent to a medical college and used for study in anatomy dissection classes. I doubt if they will do that. They will perform various death rites over the body of one who does not believe in existence of God, soul, heaven or hell. I will have no control over what they do. Superstitious people who do not know science. I can only request them during my life-time.

Indeed.
 
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