Belief

[DracoDominus]

Odds are, not many people are going to care about this, but it's something i felt like i should say. I volunteer at my local church every weekend as an A/V specialist in the children's ministry. I run all the videos on the big screen and play the music and mics and such. My family is largely christian, but the way my mind works i just couldn't follow that path. Used to be, i would go in every week and as i listened to children too young to really understand what it was they were learning about get indoctrinated into the world of religion, promising to love god all their lives, getting baptised, etc. the kind of thoughts that ran through my mind were generally nuetral tone, 'well, it's their choice' type thoughts. After a while i started to think about it more and more and those thoughts more typically became 'my god this is brainwashing. how horrible'. But in recent months i've been doing a lot of thinking about my life, and the way i live, and i realised that every religion i've ever seen has always tried to accomplish one thing overall, making people better. Each one had their own criteria for this, but generally it fell into the same catagories (don't steal, don't kill, be kind, etc.) I pondered that thought for about a month before i finally settled on something. Each and every religion has it's own bits and pieces of wisdom. The only real difference between them is one of deity. If you remove that portion of any religion then you'll find that they say a lot of the same things as just about any other religion. I could use this to fuel a hundred thousand different conspiracies, and in-fact i already have within the confines of my own mind, but when i get right down to it the most basic truth is revealed. We all want something to hold on to when things go wrong. The biggest reason people stray from church (if the sermons i've heard are anything to go by) is because they find that their lives are going well and they have other things they want to do. Knowing this, i've decided to begin working on a new project, the creation of a 'church', labeled so only because it promotes religion, devoted to teaching, not about god or gods or creeds or salvation, but about being a good person, being happy, and being wise. I won't claim to know all that much about any of those, but i know i am good at analysis and i can learn everything i plan to teach by analysing every religion i can find, from the most popular (Catholicism, Buddhism, Muslim) to the more obscure (Wikkan, Celtic, Greek/Roman). Combining all of these different Sects i'm confident that i'll be able to inspire someone to be better than they were, and if i can do that for even one person i'll be satisfied that i completed my mission. Not to say i won't keep doing it, but i'll be able to relax and stop pressuring people about it ^^

 

[England my lionheart]

Welcome to the RF

 

[Ben Dhyan]

............i've decided to begin working on a new project, the creation of a 'church', labeled so only because it promotes religion, devoted to teaching, not about god or gods or creeds or salvation, but about being a good person, being happy, and being wise. I won't claim to know all that much about any of those, but i know i am good at analysis and i can learn everything i plan to teach by analysing every religion i can find, from the most popular (Catholicism, Buddhism, Muslim) to the more obscure (Wikkan, Celtic, Greek/Roman). Combining all of these different Sects i'm confident that i'll be able to inspire someone to be better than they were, and if i can do that for even one person i'll be satisfied that i completed my mission. Not to say i won't keep doing it, but i'll be able to relax and stop pressuring people about it ^^

Hi DracoDominus, welcome to RF.

Oh no!!!..not another 'church', why not just complete first the mission of 'graduation' from the mortal state, otherwise just another mere mortal leading other mortals will end up with all of them in the 'ditch', pretty much as it is happening already.

Here is some wisdom from the Zen tradition,....

"The only real service we can render to that which we perceive and interpret in phenomenal existence as 'others' is by awakening to universal consciousness* ourselves." - Wei Wu Wei

* In place of universal consciousness, depending on your religion please substitute the word of your choice, God, Christ, Cosmic, Tao, etc..

 

[Beta]

Odds are, not many people are going to care about this, but it's something i felt like i should say. I volunteer at my local church every weekend as an A/V specialist in the children's ministry. I run all the videos on the big screen and play the music and mics and such. My family is largely christian, but the way my mind works i just couldn't follow that path. Used to be, i would go in every week and as i listened to children too young to really understand what it was they were learning about get indoctrinated into the world of religion, promising to love god all their lives, getting baptised, etc. the kind of thoughts that ran through my mind were generally nuetral tone, 'well, it's their choice' type thoughts. After a while i started to think about it more and more and those thoughts more typically became 'my god this is brainwashing. how horrible'. But in recent months i've been doing a lot of thinking about my life, and the way i live, and i realised that every religion i've ever seen has always tried to accomplish one thing overall, making people better. Each one had their own criteria for this, but generally it fell into the same catagories (don't steal, don't kill, be kind, etc.) I pondered that thought for about a month before i finally settled on something. Each and every religion has it's own bits and pieces of wisdom. The only real difference between them is one of deity. If you remove that portion of any religion then you'll find that they say a lot of the same things as just about any other religion. I could use this to fuel a hundred thousand different conspiracies, and in-fact i already have within the confines of my own mind, but when i get right down to it the most basic truth is revealed. We all want something to hold on to when things go wrong. The biggest reason people stray from church (if the sermons i've heard are anything to go by) is because they find that their lives are going well and they have other things they want to do. Knowing this, i've decided to begin working on a new project, the creation of a 'church', labeled so only because it promotes religion, devoted to teaching, not about god or gods or creeds or salvation, but about being a good person, being happy, and being wise. I won't claim to know all that much about any of those, but i know i am good at analysis and i can learn everything i plan to teach by analysing every religion i can find, from the most popular (Catholicism, Buddhism, Muslim) to the more obscure (Wikkan, Celtic, Greek/Roman). Combining all of these different Sects i'm confident that i'll be able to inspire someone to be better than they were, and if i can do that for even one person i'll be satisfied that i completed my mission. Not to say i won't keep doing it, but i'll be able to relax and stop pressuring people about it ^^

Fair reasoning and hopeful expectations !
But do you know human nature ?
We have had a free for all for the past 6000 years and what we see in the world today is the result of personal human reasoning. Many others have gone before you with the same aspirations of improving the lives of others. Noble thoughts but few to follow. Everyone thinks THEIR OWN WAY is best whatever that is. To inspire 'good' one has to be good and that is the problem with carnal man. None are good ! Not so as to be a perfect example to others at all times.Just one little lapse on your part and your dream is gone.
But no harm in trying friend !

 

[DracoDominus]

Fair reasoning and hopeful expectations !
But do you know human nature ?
We have had a free for all for the past 6000 years and what we see in the world today is the result of personal human reasoning. Many others have gone before you with the same aspirations of improving the lives of others. Noble thoughts but few to follow. Everyone thinks THEIR OWN WAY is best whatever that is. To inspire 'good' one has to be good and that is the problem with carnal man. None are good ! Not so as to be a perfect example to others at all times.Just one little lapse on your part and your dream is gone.
But no harm in trying friend !

I like how you think ^^ see, that's the beauty of it though, because it's not my way, or your way, or their way. It's everyone's same ideas, just brought to one place so it can be looked at in even light. I can lapse freely without harming what others learn, because i won't be basing my teaching off of leading by example. I couldn't quite figure out how to put in another quote in the time i have to write this, but it responds to what Ben D said as well: I don't intend to be the perfect person, or make people all do what i do to be better. I don't intend to help people get closer to their relative deities or their religious beliefs. i just want to help people be better by kick-starting the thought process. Think of it like a slingshot effect, or like drafting in a race: I'm going to help others become better than they were by helping them to be better than i am, and then take it even further. As i said, i won't claim to know anything particularly wise or important, but i'm very good at learning things and i'm very good at making connections, and that's all i'll need to teach anyone who's willing to listen. I don't plan to lead, i plan to point and say 'look at that', then let people continue on their own path. Ben D, I don't have a religion in particular, at least not one that anyone else would really consider to be real. I keep my mind open and take in everything i can about everything i can and what happens to me when i die i leave to chance. If it turns out that theirs a heaven or hell, either i'll be an argumentive and stubborn angel, or i'll be the one building palaces in the middle of a burning field. Either way i'll be hard to miss. Until that happens, i'm going to live my life the way i feel it should be lived, as i would encourage others to do had i not found it to be a futile effort in the face of religious safety nets. to stop the fire before it starts, i'll reiterate that i am not against religion, i'm just not with it. I love the idea of people gathering around a common goal and of organizations making people feel better about themselves and trying to improve their lives, i just want to blaze my own trail. I consider myself to be an interesting combination of Omnitheist (belief in all) and, more recently, Homotheist (belief in the power of mankind over it's own devices) you probably don't need to have the two translated, but i wanted to be safe. I thank both of you for your welcome and your thoughts ^^

On a side note, i apologize for leaving such long-winded messages. I like to let my thoughts run their course, and i tend to over-explain.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Homotheism

Lat. homo, man; Gr. theos, god) another name for anthropomorphism (q.v.) coined by Ernst Häekel.

Now while there are many people and even some religions who do hold to an anthropomorphic concept of God, there is much more to it than that. In fact all concepts are just mental constructs meant to stand for something real, but never mistake the conceptual understanding for the actual Reality for which the concept represents for Reality is forever on the other side of conceptual thinking.

 

[DracoDominus]

Homotheism

Lat. homo, man; Gr. theos, god) another name for anthropomorphism (q.v.) coined by Ernst Häekel.

Now while there are many people and even some religions who do hold to an anthropomorphic concept of God, there is much more to it than that. In fact all concepts are just mental constructs meant to stand for something real, but never mistake the conceptual understanding for the actual Reality for which the concept represents for Reality is forever on the other side of conceptual thinking.

I understand that, but unfortunately it has little to do with the topic. It's a fault on my part. Miss-use of a word for my own devices. Honestly i had been un-aware of that meaning, but i studied latin for a short time (even not doing so it would have been easy to put that together) and i assigned it a meaning that seemed relevant.

I apologize for the confusion.

P.S. you seem to be trying very hard to disuade me. Some advice: You don't need to be the devil's advocate, i'm sure he has plenty to do his dirty work already. If you've got a problem with what i'm doing, just tell me and we'll work it out. Otherwise, lighten up ^^ the world needs more jokers. We've got an overabundance of fools.

 

[zenzero]

Friend DD,

Welcome to RF!
Best Wishes.

Love & rgds

 

[blackout]

Check out the UU church maybe.

Why reinvent the wheel?

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Don't worry DracoDominus, please do what it is that you feel you need to do, and don't be concerned about my comments, my first post was partly rhetorical and my comments were only posted for consideration.

May grace be with you whatever you do. Peace.

 

[DracoDominus]

Check out the UU church maybe.

Why reinvent the wheel?

Partially for it's roots, partially because i feel it's been largely ineffective so far. And besides that, if you aren't willing to reinvent the wheel, you may never discover the possibilities of the turbine engine.

Ben d, thank you for your explanation and your well-wishes ^^ good luck in your ventures.