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What brought you to your religion

We Never Know

No Slack
I'm just being courious.

What brought you to your religion?
What sets it apart from the others that intrigued you to choose that one?
 

Aštra’el

Aštara, Blade of Aštoreth
It was an epiphany in the desert and the relationship that proceeded it, which drove me towards developing my current spiritual/ religious system.
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
My intuition that there are things beyond the material. My intuition that living organisms have a whole other dimension to their existence.

The need for virtues and values that are universal and apply to all of life. And a true love of life that never dies.
 

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
I don't have a religion but when I did I was brought to it by being threatened that bad things would happen to me if I didn't.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
I was born into it. The only change I made was to turn from being a theist Hindu to an atheist Hindu. I remain an orthodox Hindu. :D
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Again, I can't write what is central experiences to my spiritual (but not religious) belief because of rule 6. So I'll just write that I became utterly convinced that there was something beyond ordinary existence and that I had to search for a path that both called to my heart and fully satisfied all my intellectual questions.

What sets it apart from the others that intrigued you to choose that one?

Meher Baba made the greatest claim possible - that he was God in human form. My questioning that claim was very deep. I'll note one small piece of part of the answer.

A very close disciple of his, Eruch Jessawala, has told of how he was skeptical of Meher Baba for many years in spite of living close to him. His very skepticism rather than the typical gushing over a figure was very important to me.

Another part was his messages. From the "Highest of the High"

Know you all that if I am the Highest of the High, my role demands that I strip you of your possessions and wants, consume all your desires and make you desireless rather than satisfy your desires. Sadhus, saints, yogis and walis can give you what you want; but I take away your wants and free you from attachments and liberate you from the bondage of ignorance. I am the One to take, not the One to give, what you want as you want.
...
From my point of view, far more blessed is the atheist who confidently discharges his worldly responsibilities, accepting them as his honorable duty, than the man who presumes he is a devout believer in God, yet shirks the responsibilities apportioned to him through Divine Law and runs after sadhus, saints and yogis, seeking relief from the suffering which ultimately would have pronounced his eternal liberation.
 

shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
My first conclusion after a long search was that the individual multitude of diverse contradictory ancient religions, divisions and many belief systems were rooted in ancient cultures and world views,and could not possibly taking into consideration of the universal perspective of nature of our physical existence nor the universal in terms of the nature o the possible spiritual worlds and possible God(s), and no grounding in the objective reality. Too many contradictions to consider any one as a possible choice. Either all religions and belief systems are either in one harmonious evolving dynamic spiritual process, or they are fallible human creations that reflect the culture and times of their tribal origin and have no basis in the reality of our existence.

At the same time that it would be an unfortunate illusion of delusions to believe I should attempt to make choices to justify my worldview.' I realized that most were seeking a sense of community and identity to fulfill their needs, and tribalism rules. I was influenced by the teaching of Buddha that 'nothing is necessary and impermanence rules.

The only objective constancy I found was in science, which is a progressive evolving body of knowledge that acknowledges the limits of scientific knowledge.

As far as my religious choices I am a Baha'i, which for human reasons will always be tentative, because it does acknowledge the limits of human spiritual knowledge, and the unknowable 'Source' some call God(s), It acknowledges that our spiritual knowledge is a constantly evolving changing dynamic, and in harmony with a constantly changing science.. I am a philosophical agnostic, because in reality I do not know. I am fundamentally a Naturalist concerning the nature of our physical existence,
 

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
Hinduism seemed to align with my worldview. I didn't have to change any beliefs to become Hindu.
That's true of most people. But did you try to find if it was the truth? I'm sorry if this is snarky. Perhaps you were making a joke and I missed it. I tend to be that way. I often miss it when it is a joke. My autism makes me literalistic sometimes.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
That's true of most people. But did you try to find if it was the truth? I'm sorry if this is snarky. Perhaps you were making a joke and I missed it. I tend to be that way. I often miss it when it is a joke. My autism makes me literalistic sometimes.

I'm pretty thick skinned. I have two autistic kids.

I worked for years(honestly, most of my life) to find 'my truth'. I can't say 'the truth', because that isn't anything everyone can agree on. Ask 10 different people what 'the truth' is, and you'll be lucky if you only get 13 different answers.

If I thought my worldview was false...well, it wouldn't be my worldview, it'd just be a collection of fun stories to tell around the campfire.
 

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
I'm pretty thick skinned. I have two autistic kids.

I worked for years(honestly, most of my life) to find 'my truth'. I can't say 'the truth', because that isn't anything everyone can agree on. Ask 10 different people what 'the truth' is, and you'll be lucky if you only get 13 different answers.

If I thought my worldview was false...well, it wouldn't be my worldview, it'd just be a collection of fun stories to tell around the campfire.
Wow! All this time you have two autistic kids, and I didn't know it! (Here I go again. I don't know f you are making a joke or not). I was just taking you literally, and I just realized I don't know one way or another.

Never mind. I happen to believe that truth can be investigated, but if you don't believe that, that is fine. I happen to believe there is one truth, though we will disagree with what that is to some extent. That is inevitable. When I discovered the Baha'i Faith, it was the same for me, to some extent it confirmed what I already believed. But afterwards I kept looking to confirm it, looking for a flaw in it. At the same I was trying to justify it at the same time. There was something there, a spiritual essence I could feel in my being so I couldn't let go. I would flaws in it sometimes, and could only see the flaws. But then one day I realized the evidence in favor was overwhelming for my faith, why let a few unanswered questions get in the way?

Well, anyway, that is my story. I hope it wasn't too confusing.. I have no idea what your story is. All I've seen is a few scribbles in a forum.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Wow! All this time you have two autistic kids, and I didn't know it! (Here I go again. I don't know f you are making a joke or not). I was just taking you literally, and I just realized I don't know one way or another.

Never mind. I happen to believe that truth can be investigated, but if you don't believe that, that is fine. I happen to believe there is one truth, though we will disagree with what that is to some extent. That is inevitable. When I discovered the Baha'i Faith, it was the same for me, to some extent it confirmed what I already believed. But afterwards I kept looking to confirm it, looking for a flaw in it. At the same I was trying to justify it at the same time. There was something there, a spiritual essence I could feel in my being so I couldn't let go. I would flaws in it sometimes, and could only see the flaws. But then one day I realized the evidence in favor was overwhelming for my faith, why let a few unanswered questions get in the way?

Well, anyway, that is my story. I hope it wasn't too confusing.. I have no idea what your story is. All I've seen is a few scribbles in a forum.

I'm not joking, I really do have two on the spectrum! One is 15, and the other is 7. I also have a 2 year old(almost 3) who is not on the spectrum. It was quite a surprise when he never developed autism; we were kind of expecting it!

That's awesome how you discovered your Baha'i faith! What did your path look like before you found Baha'i? How did you come to find it?
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I'm just being courious.

What brought you to your religion?
What sets it apart from the others that intrigued you to choose that one?
Actually, I was not looking for a religion but I heard about my religion from my older brother during my first year of college.

Below is what I posted a few months ago to an atheist on another thread:

Were you raised as an atheist or as a religious believer? I was not raised with any religion or belief in God that I can recall. I was not searching for God or a religion when I stumbled upon the Baha'i Faith during my first year of college. I had no interest in God or religion. However, I have always liked learning new things so when I heard about Baha'i I read many books about the religion and also books written by the central figures of the Faith. Not long after that I came to believe it was a true religion because of the facts surrounding the religion and because of the spiritual teachings about the soul and the afterlife and the primary message of Baha'u'llah which is the oneness of mankind and unity of mankind, as well as the promise of world peace. I was also drawn to the social teachings such as the elimination of all forms of prejudice, universal education, and the equality of men and women. You can read about the Main Baha’i Teachings in this article: What Is the Baha'i Faith?

Anyhow, I get off track very easily because my mind is very tangential. What I wanted to say is that I joined the Baha'i Faith I really did not have a belief in God, I joined because I was drawn to the teachings since I am an idealist. As such I was not really that concerned as to whether God existed since my reason for joining was not because I wanted a relationship with God. It was only many decades after I joined that I started to concern myself with God and took that seriously. I assumed that God existed before that because after all I believed that Baha'u'llah was a Manifestation of God, but I did not really know or care what that actually meant for my life or the lives of others. It was only about eight and a half years ago when I started to think seriously about God.
 

mangalavara

सो ऽहम्
Premium Member
Hinduism seemed to align with my worldview. I didn't have to change any beliefs to become Hindu.

Were there any aspects of a Hindu worldview that were not yet (and perhaps not even now) aligned with your worldview?

I had something similar going on. Throughout the years, there were actions, habits, and customs that I liked, favored, and started taking on. Later, I discovered that they were all dharmic according to various Hindu scriptures. Now, I am happy to adhere to a religion and way of life that promotes all the actions, habits, and customs that I have sensed as good or noble for years. With respect to my worldview, I have always been inclined toward the existence of multiple divinities and the concept of metempsychosis. Even while I was a Christian, I liked those views, but I had to challenge them philosophically so that I would remain with that particular religion.

And the absence of axionomical expectations.

By axionomical, do you mean 'of or pertaining to what is worthy of law?'

Though I do like turtles.

They are a bit yogic, aren't they? There is also Kūrma, the turtle incarnation of Viṣṇu. Thinking about starting a new sampradāya?

My intuition that there are things beyond the material. My intuition that living organisms have a whole other dimension to their existence.

I've always intuited those things, too. When one has experiences regarding the things one intuits are 'out there,' those experiences can really make one a 'true believer,' yeah? :)

I was born into it. The only change I made was to turn from being a theist Hindu to an atheist Hindu. I remain an orthodox Hindu. :D

I don't know if I've already asked you this, but what is it that makes one an orthodox Hindu? Is it upholding dharma and subscribing to one of the classical darśanas, albeit with modifications like in your case?

Sometimes, I wish I were a nontheistic Hindu so that you would not be the only one (apparently) on RF. :)
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
Were there any aspects of a Hindu worldview that were not yet (and perhaps not even now) aligned with your worldview?

I don't know if its a worldview, really, but rather a practice I don't feel compelled to participate in, and that's arising at Brahma mahurta. Nope, nope, nope. I can stay up until that time... but I can't picture ever getting up that early voluntarily.
 

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
I'm not joking, I really do have two on the spectrum! One is 15, and the other is 7. I also have a 2 year old(almost 3) who is not on the spectrum. It was quite a surprise when he never developed autism; we were kind of expecting it!

That's awesome how you discovered your Baha'i faith! What did your path look like before you found Baha'i? How did you come to find it?
I'm amazed you had another pregnancy and birth after the first one was autistic! Did you realize then that autism is genetic? It used to be at one time that mothers were accused of being "refrigerator mothers", but by the time we had Michael they knew better. We stopped sometime after our son was diagnosed as autistic at 2 1/2. We love Michael, but it is difficult to take care of an autistic child. Then you had another one! Our Michael is less difficult than many children, but still difficult. But we reason sometimes he is better off than children that talk, and get into drugs or other mayhem. Talking autistic children can be a pain sometimes. Michael is now almost 33, and still doesn't talk. What are your autistic children like? People on the spectrum are different from each other, I know. Never mind right now about the Baha'i Faith, I want to connect about our autistic children.

The first famous autistic person I knew was Temple Grandin. It is emphasized in the film about her that she thought in pictures. In what I read about her in real life, that much is true. When I was a teenager I told my father that I thought in pictures, and he didn't believe me. I was astonished. I had no idea what that meant at that time. Later in life I saw a TV movie about an autistic young boy who was supposedly cured who liked to spin plates. I thought hmmm. I'm all the time flipping nickels in the air. In 1991 my son was diagnosed and it wasn't until then that I suspected the truth. I have been informally diagnosed. Someone asked my wife and me questions and I was determined to somewhere on the spectrum. I don't know if I'm high functioning autistic or have Asperger's. Greta Thunberg says Asperger's is her superpower. Did Einstein haver Asperger's? Did Newton have Asperger's? There's no way to know now. From an early age I have been very good at Mathematics and Physics. There is a study where those of the same intelligence have been tested at mathematics between those who are on the spectrum and not on the spectrum and those on the spectrum had significantly higher mathematical intelligence. Furthermore they use a different part of the brain for mathematics.

There is no one gene for autism. What about you? Do you have any autism? I assume not, or you would have said so. But then, you may have a a little of it.
 
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