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Buddhism and agnostic
Last night as I was preparing for my meditation, My son came and knocked on my door. He came in and sat down and we had a most enlightened conversation on Religion and Buddhism.
He first thanked me for not shoving any one religion down his throat as a child, but allowing him to find his own path.
Then he told me that he was an agnostic and that agnostics do have some of the same beliefs as Buddhism.
Me I have no ideas about agnostics. But was very interested in what my son was explaining to me, and why he believed the way he does.
First, he was not sure there was a god, Be it Hindu, Muslim, or Christian. But that God could not be proven either way. He believes that we are all apart of this universe and that in being so we are responsible for the way we treat this earth. He also told me that while there were many unexplained things in life, it would be foolish for him to take them as some mysterious force trying to guide him to some other place and time.
HE siad that like in the buddha teaching he was always trying to find the truth as he saw it , for he had discovered that while the facts may be the same, truth was in the way people saw it. His example was a glass half filled with water. He said the facts are the glass and the water. Some may say it is half full others half empty. Both being true but based on the individual.
I found this very intereesting and was wondering if anyone knew of any good websites or books concerning Agnostic?
He first thanked me for not shoving any one religion down his throat as a child, but allowing him to find his own path.
Then he told me that he was an agnostic and that agnostics do have some of the same beliefs as Buddhism.
Me I have no ideas about agnostics. But was very interested in what my son was explaining to me, and why he believed the way he does.
First, he was not sure there was a god, Be it Hindu, Muslim, or Christian. But that God could not be proven either way. He believes that we are all apart of this universe and that in being so we are responsible for the way we treat this earth. He also told me that while there were many unexplained things in life, it would be foolish for him to take them as some mysterious force trying to guide him to some other place and time.
HE siad that like in the buddha teaching he was always trying to find the truth as he saw it , for he had discovered that while the facts may be the same, truth was in the way people saw it. His example was a glass half filled with water. He said the facts are the glass and the water. Some may say it is half full others half empty. Both being true but based on the individual.
I found this very intereesting and was wondering if anyone knew of any good websites or books concerning Agnostic?
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Comments
Forget about books, MoonLgt, just listen to him, with an open, soft heart. The agnostic is saying "I don't know" which, according to SDocrates is the beginning of wisdom. Let him lead you.
But, if you must read something, may I suggest that you read Candide by Voltaire?
"Atheists are ok, they've pinned their colours to the mast. "I don't believe it", and that's final. That's cool, you know where you are with an Aethist. But Agnosticism? as a life-long state of being? I don'tbuy it.....
A little bit of doubt is ok, like you know, even Jesus had it in the Garden of Gethsemane - 'Lord if this cup could be taken away from me....' kindof, like, I'm not really sure about all this..... then later, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!?" as in, 'you picked a fine time to leave me...!!' So doubt is understandable, in its temporary essence. But Agnosticism? as a permanent state? It's like saying that Immobility is the next form of transport....!! "
It was funny to me!
I attended my Unitarian Universalist church yesterday, and in the sermon was a note that the author (it was a written sermon, one of their classics) considered herself to be a theist because she called the creative force of the universe "God". I believe something like that to, but I call myself a strong atheist. LOL I just don't think "god" is the appropriate word for the "creative force of the universe." It seems that in this case the difference between theist and atheist is all a matter of semantics.
Only goes to show that words fail miserably in attempts to describe ultimate reality . . .
Very true. And there is also a fine line - or, dare I say, a wide overlap - between atheist and agnostic. Like many atheists I know, I don't say that I know for certain that there absolutely are no types of deities whatsover. I just highly doubt that there are - or at least, anything like the major religions of this world profess. And even if there are, I don't really see them impacting my life that much, compared to say, just about any mortal on this planet.
I went to a UU church once or twice. I really liked how they intergrated so many different beliefs together, but on the other hand, I felt like so many beliefs - especially about "God" - became so watered-down that they lost meaning. I know a lot of people try to tolerant and inclusive by saying things like "higher power", but it's not like I want my personal beliefs on what is higher than myself wrapped up with the Christian god as if they were all the same thing just 'cause they say so. And believe it or not, I actually had a Christian once try to convince me that I was really a theist because I believe in love and "God is love". I should have asked them if they believe he flew around in a diaper with arrows, but apparently I was so stunned I forgot to reengage my sarcasm. Maybe that was for the best.
I've had this feeling before, too. Still get it sometimes. However at the UU Church I've gone too, mostly they don't try to pretend that everyone there means the same thing by the word "god." I don't think the word is appropriate for things like the universe or the "creativity of the universe" or "love" or whatever. But if someone else wants to call it "god" I don't mind, as long as they have explained what in the world they mean by the word. LOL
As for the mix of beliefs at my UU church, it seems to me to be more like a "fruit salad" mix of beliefs (metaphor coming from Thich Nhat Hanh) than a "smoothy" if you know what I mean
I took your advice and forgot the books and listened to what my son had to say. It was very enlighting.
We made a luncheon date as our schedule very rarely allows us to have the time to even say Hi, let alone bye.
I was very surprised at how much he had acualty looked into religions and thier meanings. He told me there was alot of things that just didn't seem to fit or he couldn't understand why.
He gave me a for instance, He didn't understand that if god was the creator of universe then why was he to be feared and why was he so jealous and how could he have destoyed his own creations? HE then said that he soon realized that it wasn't god that was or did these things, but what mankind had made him out to be. And that he wasn't sure that God even exsisted.
And as far as Buddhism was concerned ( this one I had to giggle at) He siad it was just impossible for him to be able to sit still and empty his mind at the moment. Also that he could not always see how Buddhist could be so passive in the violent world we live in today.
As for Islam and Muslim, Well that was a long story. So when he started reading about agnostic, It seemed to fit him. andhe did attend the universal church in the next town over, He said that he felt at home, But wondered if he would always feel like that. He wondered if it was only what he could understood right now. If there was something else.
I told him that he was still young and that while it was good for him to truely look at his own spirituality. That over time it would change and yet remained the same as he grew older. The one true wisdom I could give him was to his own self be true. Nothing else mattered.
It was trulya good lunch.