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My Introduction
Vagabond
Explorer
I ran into this site because I looked up "Buddhist forum" on Google lol. I really think this is good for me. I didn't see any "Introduction" page or whatever, so I decided to go here.
Anyway, I was raised Catholic (not too heavily, I barely went to church) and I was never TOO religious but DID believe in the Christian God and that Jesus was the Messiah. As I grew older, I REALLY got interested in other religions (not in a conversion kind of way, but literally interested in LEARNING about them) It happened when I had a dream about 9/11 actually. I was on the plane next to the hijacker and I actually thought it was real. Either way, I went to the library and got books out on Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, etc...one religion at a time of course. I read a fair amount here and there (still as a Christian) and all this did was turn me agnostic. However, I would look back and notice that the Buddhist books never really turned me down and disappointed me.
What I realized when reading about these other religions was, since this was "information" to me and not "FACT" that was forced down into my brain with the fear of going to Hell and the excitement of going to Heaven, I could easily look at certain aspects of the religion and say "Wow, this is some B.S." lol, in a non-offensive way. I DID know that a lot of stories were interpretations with symbolism and all that. Either way, after doing this with certain religions, I felt more comfortable looking at my Christianity like that. And there ya go, Agnosticism emerged haha.
I believe that if there is a being that created this universe which is so complex, then us fathoming it/him would be the equivalent of a potato bug comprehending the idea of a limited capitalist society, it's literally impossible. The brain simply isn't strong enough to hold such information. I can go on for hours about my agnostic beliefs, but I won't right now lol.
Anyway, I found myself coming back to Buddhism more and more, and especially more than any other "religion" that I had read about. And at this point in my life, I am really getting into the philosophical part of it, for I am still Agnostic in my belief of God. The idea of reincarnation and the six stages of Hell seem a little farfetched to me, however, my family believes I am an old soul for many weird reasons.
Anyway, I am here because I truly can't consider myself a Buddhist yet because of my lack of knowledge and complete understanding and really want to learn more about it, because what I have learned is really amazing and I feel is more pertinent to real life than any other religion I have read about (no offense to anyone out there. If it works for you, it works for you. Like The Buddha had said, "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.")
I live far from any Buddhist community so the only place I can go to for information is the internet, that library, or my friend from India who is more interested in world religions than I am and has been studying them for the majority of his life...He too is agnostic because of everything he has learned, and the reason he doesn't consider himself a Buddhist is not because he "disagrees" with it, but because he doesn't want to be part of any certain "dogma" and even went as far to call it a "cult". Scary stuff lol
Anyway, I hope I can get along with everyone here and will learn a lot
Anyway, I was raised Catholic (not too heavily, I barely went to church) and I was never TOO religious but DID believe in the Christian God and that Jesus was the Messiah. As I grew older, I REALLY got interested in other religions (not in a conversion kind of way, but literally interested in LEARNING about them) It happened when I had a dream about 9/11 actually. I was on the plane next to the hijacker and I actually thought it was real. Either way, I went to the library and got books out on Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, etc...one religion at a time of course. I read a fair amount here and there (still as a Christian) and all this did was turn me agnostic. However, I would look back and notice that the Buddhist books never really turned me down and disappointed me.
What I realized when reading about these other religions was, since this was "information" to me and not "FACT" that was forced down into my brain with the fear of going to Hell and the excitement of going to Heaven, I could easily look at certain aspects of the religion and say "Wow, this is some B.S." lol, in a non-offensive way. I DID know that a lot of stories were interpretations with symbolism and all that. Either way, after doing this with certain religions, I felt more comfortable looking at my Christianity like that. And there ya go, Agnosticism emerged haha.
I believe that if there is a being that created this universe which is so complex, then us fathoming it/him would be the equivalent of a potato bug comprehending the idea of a limited capitalist society, it's literally impossible. The brain simply isn't strong enough to hold such information. I can go on for hours about my agnostic beliefs, but I won't right now lol.
Anyway, I found myself coming back to Buddhism more and more, and especially more than any other "religion" that I had read about. And at this point in my life, I am really getting into the philosophical part of it, for I am still Agnostic in my belief of God. The idea of reincarnation and the six stages of Hell seem a little farfetched to me, however, my family believes I am an old soul for many weird reasons.
Anyway, I am here because I truly can't consider myself a Buddhist yet because of my lack of knowledge and complete understanding and really want to learn more about it, because what I have learned is really amazing and I feel is more pertinent to real life than any other religion I have read about (no offense to anyone out there. If it works for you, it works for you. Like The Buddha had said, "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.")
I live far from any Buddhist community so the only place I can go to for information is the internet, that library, or my friend from India who is more interested in world religions than I am and has been studying them for the majority of his life...He too is agnostic because of everything he has learned, and the reason he doesn't consider himself a Buddhist is not because he "disagrees" with it, but because he doesn't want to be part of any certain "dogma" and even went as far to call it a "cult". Scary stuff lol
Anyway, I hope I can get along with everyone here and will learn a lot
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Mtns
Nice to meet you