What is your personal internal to external ratio in your religion?

[Vinayaka]

I would define 'internal' as stuff you do on your own, more or less, personal stuff, like reading scripture, rituals, meditation. External would be dealing with people, like coming to this forum, chatting with others, going to temples or churches for congregational worship, service to others directly.

Of course there is lots of overlap between the two idea, each could aid the other, or catalyze the other.

For the sake of consistency, let's put the inner number first, and the outer number second.

For myself, for now, unless some intuitive flashes change things, I'd put my religious practice at 80/20. Eighty percent on the inner side, 20% on the outer side.

 

[SalixIncendium]

That's a really good question and a really difficult one for me to answer. Everything I do that's internal manifests externally, but in my understanding, the external is illusory, so because of these, I struggle to assign numbers to this.

I suppose from a transactional perspective, I'm about 50/50. However, from an absolute perspective understanding the illusory nature of transactional reality, it would be 100/0.

 

[Vinayaka]

That's a really good question and a really difficult one for me to answer. Everything I do that's internal manifests externally, but in my understanding, the external is illusory, so because of these, I struggle to assign numbers to this.

I suppose from a transactional perspective, I'm about 50/50. However, from an absolute perspective understanding the illusory nature of transactional reality, it would be 100/0.

My Guru defined a mystic as a person ho lives 2/3 on the inside, and only 1/3 on the outside. That may or may not be helpful.

 

[SalixIncendium]

My Guru defined a mystic as a person ho lives 2/3 on the inside, and only 1/3 on the outside. That may or may not be helpful.

I'm not sure. I'm not a bhakti yogi, so my only outwardly observable "religious practice" would be my morning meditation. I don't do pujas or any other outward practice others might consider religious in nature.

But everything I do in life externally is my religious practice, as interact with others with the consideration of who they are in their true nature. And this isn't exclusive to people.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I would define 'internal' as stuff you do on your own, more or less, personal stuff, like reading scripture, rituals, meditation. External would be dealing with people, like coming to this forum, chatting with others, going to temples or churches for congregational worship, service to others directly.

Of course there is lots of overlap between the two idea, each could aid the other, or catalyze the other.

For the sake of consistency, let's put the inner number first, and the outer number second.

For myself, for now, unless some intuitive flashes change things, I'd put my religious practice at 80/20. Eighty percent on the inner side, 20% on the outer side.

I will say 80/20 too

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Since religion to me is in effect what matters, it is 100% internal. Of course I interact with the rest of world, but the reasons are internal.

 

[Vinayaka]

I'm not sure. I'm not a bhakti yogi, so my only outwardly observable "religious practice" would be my morning meditation. I don't do pujas or any other outward practice others might consider religious in nature.

But everything I do in life externally is my religious practice, as interact with others with the consideration of who they are in their true nature. And this isn't exclusive to people.

Yes, it's tough to figure what's inner and what's outer. My morning puja is done alone, and it's external sort of, but makes me inner. I also do the entire thing in my head while travelling, except for some hand gestures, simulating the visualisation of being at home. Coming here is also an example of 'religion', but I consider this 95% external.

 

[sun rise]

I'm not sure. In my ideal, the inner and outer are unified so that all my actions are reflective of and are motivated by my internal work. Of course I'm far from that state.

I also find external service much easier than internal prayer and meditation.

Take one example of my conundrum: when I see someone who is visibly suffering up to being homeless as I drive around, I try to take a fraction of a second to feel our shared humanity and say a name of God". Is that inner or outerwork? Or for a split second, did I succeed in unifying the two?

 

[JustGeorge]

I'm not sure. If I consider 'external' as religion shared with others, and 'internal' religious actions kept to oneself, I have to note that this pandemic certainly affects things. By these standards, my religious life has probably been 90% internal. Almost everything I do is on my own, other than a few specific pujas or activities I do with the family. RF is the only religious conversation I get(though not all conversation here is religious).

Without the pandemic I can maybe bump it down to 80% internal, as I can visit the temple once and awhile.

 

[The Hammer]

I would define 'internal' as stuff you do on your own, more or less, personal stuff, like reading scripture, rituals, meditation. External would be dealing with people, like coming to this forum, chatting with others, going to temples or churches for congregational worship, service to others directly.

Of course there is lots of overlap between the two idea, each could aid the other, or catalyze the other.

For the sake of consistency, let's put the inner number first, and the outer number second.

For myself, for now, unless some intuitive flashes change things, I'd put my religious practice at 80/20. Eighty percent on the inner side, 20% on the outer side.

Probably around 85% internal, 15% external/people directed. This will probably change as I age and get more time to invest in some volunteer activities.