I have many things on my mind today. I honestly do not know where I'm going with this blog today, so we'll just see what happens.
I think I'm going to start with religion today. I know, things not to discuss with friends: politics and religion. But, I have had people confront my beliefs recently and just want to talk about my experiences. So, I will.
I believe in a power higher than myself. I believe in kindness, gratitude and compassion and love. I believe in some sort of afterlife, as I have had some experiences that lends to that belief. I believe that I am in no way better than anyone else but I also believe that I have a special purpose in life. I believe each person is given gifts to share with others and to make the world a better place.
I also believe, that people have used religion for many many years to understand their surroundings, to understand happenings in life that don't make sense, to find comfort and meaning. I believe there is nothing wrong with that. However, I also believe people have used religion to hurt, harm and control people.
I am not going to go into a long drawn out story, but I am going to say this. I have found more freedom and love in my life since I let go of things like guilt and shame and dogma. I have found happiness in not trying to define a higher power or put a higher power in a box or even trying to define something I consider to be bigger than myself. Human beings, for the most part, believe in this omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God and then have the nerve and arrogance to believe they understand and comprehend the whole of who that God is and what s/he wants or demands or desires. If we believe in such a great God, how do we so arrogantly presume to know him? How do we allow base human emotions to allow wars, hate and discrimination to occur in the name of a God? Do you see this contradiction? Yes, many of the gods of this world, people and their higher powers have what they believed to be an inspired word of that God. But, can you not see how this word may have been contaminated throughout time? Is that a consideration you are willing to even make? How is it, that in a book about a God, other's have been held in the same regard? For example, in the Bible, Paul and his teachings are often held in the same regard as the words of Jesus.
I'm just saying, rather than being so insistent that we understand all that is God, maybe we be humble enough to say, we don't understand. What if, instead of getting into ugly battles with people who think differently than us, we take the time to understand where they are coming from and love them and extend kindness and compassion. How about instead of indignant righteousness, we give out humbleness and love and a willingness to just listen and understand. My understanding is not your understanding. Whatever God you believe in gave you a brain and the ability to think about things. However, we were also given the ability to feel compassion and humbleness and to understand that part of life is constant learning.
I know what I've said may offend some but please know that is not my intention. My only intention with this post is to promote some thinking and to just workout my own feelings and thoughts.
Thanks for letting me ramble :)
I think I'm going to start with religion today. I know, things not to discuss with friends: politics and religion. But, I have had people confront my beliefs recently and just want to talk about my experiences. So, I will.
I believe in a power higher than myself. I believe in kindness, gratitude and compassion and love. I believe in some sort of afterlife, as I have had some experiences that lends to that belief. I believe that I am in no way better than anyone else but I also believe that I have a special purpose in life. I believe each person is given gifts to share with others and to make the world a better place.
I also believe, that people have used religion for many many years to understand their surroundings, to understand happenings in life that don't make sense, to find comfort and meaning. I believe there is nothing wrong with that. However, I also believe people have used religion to hurt, harm and control people.
I am not going to go into a long drawn out story, but I am going to say this. I have found more freedom and love in my life since I let go of things like guilt and shame and dogma. I have found happiness in not trying to define a higher power or put a higher power in a box or even trying to define something I consider to be bigger than myself. Human beings, for the most part, believe in this omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God and then have the nerve and arrogance to believe they understand and comprehend the whole of who that God is and what s/he wants or demands or desires. If we believe in such a great God, how do we so arrogantly presume to know him? How do we allow base human emotions to allow wars, hate and discrimination to occur in the name of a God? Do you see this contradiction? Yes, many of the gods of this world, people and their higher powers have what they believed to be an inspired word of that God. But, can you not see how this word may have been contaminated throughout time? Is that a consideration you are willing to even make? How is it, that in a book about a God, other's have been held in the same regard? For example, in the Bible, Paul and his teachings are often held in the same regard as the words of Jesus.
I'm just saying, rather than being so insistent that we understand all that is God, maybe we be humble enough to say, we don't understand. What if, instead of getting into ugly battles with people who think differently than us, we take the time to understand where they are coming from and love them and extend kindness and compassion. How about instead of indignant righteousness, we give out humbleness and love and a willingness to just listen and understand. My understanding is not your understanding. Whatever God you believe in gave you a brain and the ability to think about things. However, we were also given the ability to feel compassion and humbleness and to understand that part of life is constant learning.
I know what I've said may offend some but please know that is not my intention. My only intention with this post is to promote some thinking and to just workout my own feelings and thoughts.
Thanks for letting me ramble :)