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I've always studied the ancient teachings and I have always tried to find a common thread that tied it all, from Buddha to Christ, the Prophet, to the ancient Zen masters, the most current science.I think you understand something because I have always wondered the meaning of things, and truth in all teaching. I do not want to talk about different levels of those who spoke, but what they said. A thread that ties all this I think is important. I believe today that this is possible, who explains that there is, and I hope that all of us in the world can learn something more.
I dream of a world where all beings that we are all brothers, and falling walls mentally (most difficult) and you learn something from each other. In the evolution of humanity there is a plan that makes clear the entire journey and all the teachings.
Have you read Paramahansa Yogananda's books. He shows the the similarites amongst some religions i.e. Hinduism and Christianity. Check out 'The Yoga of Jesus: Understanding the Hidden Teachings of the Gospels'. It may be of interest for you.
Also 'The lost mode of Prayer' by Gregg Braden may be of some interest to you as well.
To those of us who categorically assert an Absolute/God (however we define these notions), please remember that your opinion is only that: an opinion, and that many hold different views.
It is as much to claim that this or that notion of God is anything other than an opinion as to say that we understand sunyatta. Both, if 'both' is appropriate, are beyond categories or intellectual understanding. Neither can be said to "exist" as my keyboard or the cat on which it is currently resting are said to exist.
There is a Universal Religion, or at least, as we humans overall become more educated (i.e. less rednecks, racists, fundamentalists), we will eventually all become atheists, i see it before my very eyes, look at kids nowadays in school, ask them about god, they will either say they dont believe, or they "guess" theres a god, but after another hundred or so years, christians/jews/muslims will be a minority and atheists will be the majority, now those of you who are religious are probably thinking "then there will be no more virtues or morals", again i say if you ask those same kids who have no belief in god in school nowadays "is it wrong to kill/rape/steal/be ignorant/pick on someone cus of color creed religion or race" they use their common sense and will answer YES of course it is! All morals and ethics we get from religion, we can come up with ourselves (and did, seens how we wrote our own religions). At least this is how it is in USA, where it is illegal to teach religion in public schools. THANK GOD! lol
So in conclusion, yes there is a universal religion, it is the religion of NO RELIGION, and the number our followers are growing FAST.
Not all religions are the same. Some teachings are simply irreconcilable with one another.
Yeah, I think a world religion or world peace is impossible. There will always be people who rebel because they feel they are being converted or whatever the reason may be. The only way to have a good chance at doing it would be a brainwashing process more powerful than Hitler's. And yet, there would still be people who protest against it. We can only try to coexist
I think if humanity is able to coexist, it'll eventually be able to intermingle and establish a common doctrine on its own. If you look at a lot of religions, they are already mish mashes of previous faiths. Christianity is a combination of Judaism, Buddhism, Isis worship. Gnosticism, Mithra worship etc. I have a fear that much of the world's organized religions contain too many elements of superiority complex for coexistence to even be a possibility though. We can always try, and we should try. Through coexistence and mutual understanding, a one world faith to unify humanity into one brotherhood is only inevitable. However, too many Muslims hate Christians and too many Christians seem to hate Muslims. I'm sort of pessimistic. There's too much ideology and absolutist thinking. I feel that God gave us brains and that his message is to be found in the creation itself. We should use those gifts and not put all our faith into am ansolutist, fundamentalist doctrince, because absolutism is just an excust not to think. Any text that pretends to put the word of God into the limitations of a human language probably isn't getting the whole picture right. I'm not saying there aren't valuable teachings in Islam or Chirstianity or that their holy texts were even intended to be taken entirely literally though,
I think all religions stem from people gaining a transcendent awareness of reality through the dissolution of ego. If there's a common thread, that's it. I think they become dogma systems, though, when initial insights from awakenings become institutionalized and codified. i think the imperfection of language and its inability to transmit meaning is often what creates the sectarian divisions. People are really using language to explain experiences from prophets and Shamen that are impossible to completely explain with words and concepts to begin with.
Universal religion is like a human body comprises of various organ and features - eyes (Allah), ears (God), nose(Buddha), mouth(path as in Lao Zhi), heart (Mother Mary), intestine (Jesus), limbs (Confucius) etc. If any cells in the body are misled from the established teaching of beings' loving-kindness and serenity, the body fells sick. :cool:
I think all religions stem from people gaining a transcendent awareness of reality through the dissolution of ego. If there's a common thread, that's it.
I just read this entire thread to see if my 2 cents worth had already been added and wouldn't you know it... second to last post...
From my investigation into world religions I believe this to be the unifying factor... At least at the core of each religion... Where most religions have gone wrong is they have not explained well enough how to do this, they've just said do it or be punished... They ask us to believe with no real proof (a book written by men who say it is the work of god is not proof or we'd believe the story of Joseph Smith a little more readily... I apologize to any Mormon's out there but you must know by now your the only ones who believe this story and actually I dated a Mormon for 6 years and have met many a Mormon... Most of them didn't believe it either... it was more about status for them)
Buddhism breaks it down into very simple steps. It asks us not to simply believe anything but to experience it for ourselves and decide for ourselves... that is empowerment... A thousand times more potent motivator than the threat of punishment...
But the message is clear... Let go of Ego through your own efforts because you know it is the correct thing to do... Theistic religions also want us to let go of ego and place our "faith" in higher powers. They just miss the boat in explaining how one can do this except to say "do this"...
I think the basis for the higher power they believe in to actually be true. I think there's kind of a higher power that connects all of us together, whether we realize it or not, that we can realize through letting go of ego. It binds us all together, as sentient entities. The mistake organized religions make is they say its something separate from us that can only be accesed through the hierarchy of a religious institution or through the mindless accepting of a rigid, religious ideology.
I think this higher power or this super consciousness or proto-consciousness that all forms of consciousness derive from is just an extension of us. Were basically manifestations or extensions of the godhead, and its in our responsibility to create our own reality that we currently find ourselves in to its fullest positive potential. Were pieces or fragments of god, more or less.
I think when God is wrongly seen as something entirely separate from us, then he becomes this all powerful, wrathful entity we have to appease. In reality, I don't think God punishes us, so much as there's consequences to how we treat eachother. That's how Karma is taught in Buddhism. Its the dynamic of how our personal actions have a direct effect on the whole universal system were plugged into. The only reason we think were separate from the rest of the universe is because of ego, but if it weren't for the external factors, we wouldn't exist. That's why you treat other people right,beause they're part of that extended system, and are ultimately an extension of yourself. The individual is ultimately a homeostasis of those external factors. When you live in a reality that's shared with other living beings, there's certain ways you can't act without having certain consequences happen. Its not that god's angry at you. Its just you're wrongly and destructively approaching the dynamic of reality when you act out of ego and out of ignorance of your connectedness to the rest of the universe.
I think with a lot of religions, they started off on the right track, but later evolved into belief systems that functioned off of fear. The early Christians had a lot of mystical views about being extensions of God as well. They've been branded, historically as heretics and a false form of Christianity. However, I think there's enough evidence, even in the Gospels that got passed down to us, that indicates validity to the Gnostic view.
I found it interesting how much Jesus' temption in the desert sounded like Buddhas enlightenment. He was baptized by John the baptist(which I believe to be symbolic of the washing away of ego), the holy spirit descended on him and the voice of the father told him he was his son. I think the dove represents a bridge between the individual (who is normally held back by the ego) and the divine or the father. The temptation in the desert actually sounds a lot like the face off between Buddha and Mara, and I think it was a holy psychological phenomenon. He was faced with the demons of his subonscious before being united with angels at the end of the 40 days, which sounds an aweful lot like the arrows turning into flower pedals before Buddha. This all happened while he was fasting too, which is a technique employed for the very purpose of letting go of the ego. ..
He was tempted this way till his death at the crucifixion, and I think when he said to carry his cross and follow him, it meant sacrificing petty, temporary, worldly things, like wealth and following his path that he was leading, as much as it meant sacrificing one's own life to stay pure and noble. For him, he resisted the wold so much that the world killed him. I think the act of being reborn, though, like how Christ was reborn in the tomb, is symbolic of how one who successfuly sheds the ego can be reborn as an essentially new person with a new outlook on life.
There's a lot of complexities in Christianity that the "once saved always saved. All you have to do is say the lords prayer" Christians really don't address. I think its the result of a gross mis-understanding of who Jesus was and what the original faith was really about. I don't think Jesus was saying he was the only son of God either. If God created us, then were technically all his children, not just Jesus. I think he was a wise, enlightened person and really the son of God, but no more than anyone else. I find it interesting that in the Gospels he referred to himself in way more instances as the son of man than the son of God.
Comments
Also 'The lost mode of Prayer' by Gregg Braden may be of some interest to you as well.
So God is just an opinion?:p
P
It is as much to claim that this or that notion of God is anything other than an opinion as to say that we understand sunyatta. Both, if 'both' is appropriate, are beyond categories or intellectual understanding. Neither can be said to "exist" as my keyboard or the cat on which it is currently resting are said to exist.
So in conclusion, yes there is a universal religion, it is the religion of NO RELIGION, and the number our followers are growing FAST.
can all religions be wrong? yup
Yeah, I think a world religion or world peace is impossible. There will always be people who rebel because they feel they are being converted or whatever the reason may be. The only way to have a good chance at doing it would be a brainwashing process more powerful than Hitler's. And yet, there would still be people who protest against it. We can only try to coexist
So what will that give the atheists to do once they can't whine about Theists? :P
From my investigation into world religions I believe this to be the unifying factor... At least at the core of each religion... Where most religions have gone wrong is they have not explained well enough how to do this, they've just said do it or be punished... They ask us to believe with no real proof (a book written by men who say it is the work of god is not proof or we'd believe the story of Joseph Smith a little more readily... I apologize to any Mormon's out there but you must know by now your the only ones who believe this story and actually I dated a Mormon for 6 years and have met many a Mormon... Most of them didn't believe it either... it was more about status for them)
Buddhism breaks it down into very simple steps. It asks us not to simply believe anything but to experience it for ourselves and decide for ourselves... that is empowerment... A thousand times more potent motivator than the threat of punishment...
But the message is clear... Let go of Ego through your own efforts because you know it is the correct thing to do... Theistic religions also want us to let go of ego and place our "faith" in higher powers. They just miss the boat in explaining how one can do this except to say "do this"...
I think this higher power or this super consciousness or proto-consciousness that all forms of consciousness derive from is just an extension of us. Were basically manifestations or extensions of the godhead, and its in our responsibility to create our own reality that we currently find ourselves in to its fullest positive potential. Were pieces or fragments of god, more or less.
I think when God is wrongly seen as something entirely separate from us, then he becomes this all powerful, wrathful entity we have to appease. In reality, I don't think God punishes us, so much as there's consequences to how we treat eachother. That's how Karma is taught in Buddhism. Its the dynamic of how our personal actions have a direct effect on the whole universal system were plugged into. The only reason we think were separate from the rest of the universe is because of ego, but if it weren't for the external factors, we wouldn't exist. That's why you treat other people right,beause they're part of that extended system, and are ultimately an extension of yourself. The individual is ultimately a homeostasis of those external factors. When you live in a reality that's shared with other living beings, there's certain ways you can't act without having certain consequences happen. Its not that god's angry at you. Its just you're wrongly and destructively approaching the dynamic of reality when you act out of ego and out of ignorance of your connectedness to the rest of the universe.
I think with a lot of religions, they started off on the right track, but later evolved into belief systems that functioned off of fear. The early Christians had a lot of mystical views about being extensions of God as well. They've been branded, historically as heretics and a false form of Christianity. However, I think there's enough evidence, even in the Gospels that got passed down to us, that indicates validity to the Gnostic view.
I found it interesting how much Jesus' temption in the desert sounded like Buddhas enlightenment. He was baptized by John the baptist(which I believe to be symbolic of the washing away of ego), the holy spirit descended on him and the voice of the father told him he was his son. I think the dove represents a bridge between the individual (who is normally held back by the ego) and the divine or the father. The temptation in the desert actually sounds a lot like the face off between Buddha and Mara, and I think it was a holy psychological phenomenon. He was faced with the demons of his subonscious before being united with angels at the end of the 40 days, which sounds an aweful lot like the arrows turning into flower pedals before Buddha. This all happened while he was fasting too, which is a technique employed for the very purpose of letting go of the ego. ..
He was tempted this way till his death at the crucifixion, and I think when he said to carry his cross and follow him, it meant sacrificing petty, temporary, worldly things, like wealth and following his path that he was leading, as much as it meant sacrificing one's own life to stay pure and noble. For him, he resisted the wold so much that the world killed him. I think the act of being reborn, though, like how Christ was reborn in the tomb, is symbolic of how one who successfuly sheds the ego can be reborn as an essentially new person with a new outlook on life.
There's a lot of complexities in Christianity that the "once saved always saved. All you have to do is say the lords prayer" Christians really don't address. I think its the result of a gross mis-understanding of who Jesus was and what the original faith was really about. I don't think Jesus was saying he was the only son of God either. If God created us, then were technically all his children, not just Jesus. I think he was a wise, enlightened person and really the son of God, but no more than anyone else. I find it interesting that in the Gospels he referred to himself in way more instances as the son of man than the son of God.