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Anybody else feel they aren't really a theist or an atheist?

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Comments

  • [DeletedUser][DeletedUser]
    True suchness is one's supreme being, or bhūta-tathatā, is the changeless true reality of all dharmas (phenomena), the absolute truth that they have never been born and never perish. It has other names such as emptiness, true emptiness, ultimate emptiness, one appearance, one flavor, true reality, ultimate reality (bhūta-koṭi), primal state, Buddha mind, true mind, inherent pure mind, the Thus-Come One (Tathāgata), the thus-come store (Tathāgata-garbha), vajra store, dharma-kāya, Buddha nature, dharma nature, dharma realm, the one true dharma realm, the highest truth (paramārtha), the great seal, the great perfection, etc. One's body and mental states, and objects perceived as external are all manifestations of one's true mind, projected from the pure, impure, and neutral seeds stored in ālaya consciousness through causes and conditions.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited February 2011
    T
    That's [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism"]apatheism[/URL] :P
    That term had to be coined by some very strong opinioned atheist or theist. I don't see it as apathetic at all. Apathy implies some kind of mental rut generally. I pretty much feel liberated by not having my identity wrapped up in a label or an ideology. I can move onto other things. Again, I don't care if someone is a theist or atheist or agnostic or apatheist. All I care is that people can find peace of mind and get along. If they can find that in their sermons of compassion and humanistic theories, I don't mind at all.

  • MellowViperMellowViper
    I think being attached to a concept is a prison.

    We imprison ourselves in a certain school of thought, just like how we frame our vision by looking through a window in the wall.

    We increase our scope by looking through a binoculars, but we see far, but do not see the sides that are blocked by the wall.

    For me, I don't want to belong to a preset.

    I'm not theist, atheist, agnostic, I'm just a humble human.
    That's pretty much where I'm at. Ideology to me is self limiting at a certain point. I'll entertain an idea but be happy to give it up if reality proves it wrong or it holds me back in some way.

  • MellowViperMellowViper
    I'm a pandeist.

    A Pantheistic Deist, but ultimately, it doesn't matter.
    Yah, I think there's something within all reality that's alive, that's not just dead, but that it doesn't matter if we explain it 100% right. I think its stranger than we can assume or understand with our limited, monkey minds. I think it matters that we find some type of connection with our surroundings and with other people, that we don't maintain the illusion that the "us" or "me" is completely separate from them or it. That's not impossible for all people to do, and I think that's what Christ and Buddha were ultimately getting at. Maybe I'm a pandeist in that way. If there's a God, I don't believe God has an ego but is the very antithesis of it. Using human language to describe reality is ok, but I don't think its healthy for anyone to act like they have some monopoly on truth. Language is imperfect and very difficult to transmit meaning through. One word to one person can have a very different meaning to another based off of differences in experience tied to the word how the individual filters it through their personality. People should realize that, as a system, language, all dialects, is imperfect as it stands and a work in progress. Maybe in the future, if our post-human successors evolve telepathy they'll be closer to modeling reality with it. As it stands, were not even close though.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    I never dismiss the conventional. Not even the awakened ones dismiss the conventional. That's more food for thought, a means of trying to understand in a way other than what seems natural. A Zen Master would smack you with a stick, but I'm not a Zen master; just taking part in the play. :)
    Yah. I think everyone has fragments of the truth right, conservatives, progressives, atheists, agnostics, adherents of orthodox religions, mystics, etc, so I'd agree with you on that. People have conventional views for a reason, and that's because there's a lot of stability in it. I don't want to stay the same forever though. I want to try to evolve as much as possible. There was something very unconventional about the first hominid that climbed out of the trees and onto the Savanna. There was a lot of danger in it, and the safe route would have been the conventional one to stay safe from predators on the planes, but if they didn't leap out, we'd be stuck with our Chimpanzee cousins in the shrinking jungles of Africa. The point isn't really abandoning the conventional altogether, because its based in previous people finding things that worked for given problems. At one time, most of what's conventional now, was all unconventional in the past but stuck because it offered solutions to given problems. I'll dismiss aspects of the conventional if they're dated and there's new options that are demonstrably better. Like, for one, I think there's better ways to unite people than through cultural victim complexes and nationalism. That's where I part ways with a lot of conservative thought.

  • MellowViperMellowViper
    I think being attached to a concept is a prison.

    We imprison ourselves in a certain school of thought, just like how we frame our vision by looking through a window in the wall.

    We increase our scope by looking through a binoculars, but we see far, but do not see the sides that are blocked by the wall.

    For me, I don't want to belong to a preset.

    I'm not theist, atheist, agnostic, I'm just a humble human.
    I think being attached to a concept is a prison.

    We imprison ourselves in a certain school of thought, just like how we frame our vision by looking through a window in the wall.

    We increase our scope by looking through a binoculars, but we see far, but do not see the sides that are blocked by the wall.

    For me, I don't want to belong to a preset.

    I'm not theist, atheist, agnostic, I'm just a humble human.
    Yah, I think the only way humanity is going to save itself is if those involved don't feel an entitlement for getting credit for it. Its gonna be a group effort. We can't have Lenins, Hoxhas, and Maos putting their statues and pictures up all over the place taking all the credit. It would be a group effort. That's what I see being attached to a concept as being. People generally want to be on the side of good in the world and want to do something to improve the life their given by leaving it better off, which I think is a positive aspect of us as a species. We often tie ourselves up emotionally in ideologies and try to point figures at an enemy. People pick an ideology, because joining a team seems like it can change things more effectively. Its also so, when their envisioned day of glory comes, they can say "I was on so and so's team that did all this good for changing everything for the better. In reality, we all, collectively, just have to do our part to improve ourselves and the small influence sphere around us. Attempting to save all or most of the world at one time often just ends in creating more problems. That's how it worked for about every political and religious ideology that had an over-inflated sense of itself.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited February 2011
    As I see it there are different kinds of atheists. Some believe strongly and make strong statements like "There is no God!". Others make weaker statements like "I have yet to see any evidence that would motivate me to believe in a god."
    To me these are distinctly different.
    That's a good point. I don't dislike atheists or theists. I just find the really assertive ones annoying. Well. I find anyone who thinks they have a monopoly on truth annoying, who think the world would be perfect if everyone just believed what they believe.

    imghttp://farm2.static.flickr.com/1015/1293978130_ecbdbce6f6.jpg


    http://www.anvari.org/db/cols/Funny_Church_Signs/Jesus_Get_of_out_Hell_Free_Card.jpg

    People can believe whatever. All I care is that we don't let the various forms of divisiveness get in the way of finding our vast common ground and getting along with one another.
    andyrobyn
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    The longer I practice Buddhism (12 years, now), the less I know if I am a theist or atheist.
    And the less I know if I want to be either of them.
    And the less I care whether I make up my mind about it.

    Just recently I ran across this quote by Pema Chodron, and it explains what I'm thinking about it:
    “Holding onto any truth blocks true wisdom. The truth could knock on our door and we would not see it because of our fixed ideas. “
    mmo
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited February 2013
    I'm a Don't Care-ist.

    meh :-/
    DaftChris
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    compassion said:

    I think being attached to a concept is a prison.

    We imprison ourselves in a certain school of thought, just like how we frame our vision by looking through a window in the wall.

    We increase our scope by looking through a binoculars, but we see far, but do not see the sides that are blocked by the wall.

    For me, I don't want to belong to a preset.

    I'm not theist, atheist, agnostic, I'm just a humble human.

    You're still attached to a belief.

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    I am on another forum that is extremely theistic, at the moment. Your placement effects your labelling, whether for against or unaffected.
    Unaffected in reality is harder or easier than posturing, alignment, rigid certainty, rigid fluidity or 'why did the road pass under the chicken' mentality.

    Not only do I believe in Cod, he caught me preparing a parley sauce . . . :o
    Kundo
  • andyrobynandyrobyn Veteran
    Non theist is generally the best label I can come up with
  • Geoff-AllenGeoff-Allen
    Interesting topic!

    On the one hand, the argument 4 a God is the incredible fine tuning of the universe -

    http://tinyurl.com/aggt5jc

    On the OTHER hand, if God can reveal himself 2 people - such as the writers of the Bible - why NOT reveal yourself 2 everone & remove all the doubt!

    Why all the mystery!?

    Just a few random thoughts ...

    Cheers
  • Geoff-AllenGeoff-Allen
    Me again!

    Here's a few more thought-provokin links -

    http://tinyurl.com/bgjxsan

    Have a good one!
  • I_AM_THATI_AM_THAT Veteran
    I am god and I don't exist...
    Jeffreymmo
  • Geoff-AllenGeoff-Allen
    Here's a page with more details on the fine tuning -

    http://www.godsci.com/gs/new/finetuning.html

    Cheers
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I would like a kind God and go to heaven. But I don't really believe. At the same time while I pray for Christians I pray to Jesus because the Christians wouldn't want me to pray to the bodhisattvas. (in buddhism prayer is to let the bodhisattvas nature come out and arouse those qualities,, some people have more or less mystical nature and thus everyone is an individual in their relationship to praying)
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran

    It is an "itchy" matter for me. The longer I practice Buddhism, the less I need to believe, and the more I am just mindful.
    Still, there is this desire to think I "know" the answers to these unknowable questions. The itch doesn't go away. It becomes more and more a shrug-your-shoulders kind of itch.
    After all, the only thing that is truly knowable is this very moment. And this very moment seems to be very much grounded in material consciousness.

  • silversilver In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded. USA, Left coast. Veteran
    edited June 2015

    Hey @FoibleFull - do you really think you should be giving @Federica the red-a$$ like this? (This thread started in 2011 fyi). :glasses:

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Again:
    Dredging up old threads

This discussion has been closed.