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Wanted: An Universal Religion without any Dogma and Prejudice!
Hi! Though Jewish and a boyhood in an orthodox environment, an adult me had long ago shed his orthodoxy and developed an open and pragmatic mind. However, I retained the pride of my heritage. It bothered me that throughout the ages my people had been unjustly held in low esteem, be it in writings or in movies or in paintings with Judas and Shylock leading the pack, -- the descriptions of their actions lacking evidence or rational analysis. Hence when I read about Judas' action as depicted in the ebook: I, THY SAVIOUR, I felt vindicated. The narration is rational and convincing when one tries to visualize Jesus' love and compassion and the circumstances happening then.
I write this here because with whatever little I had read about Buddha and His teachings or watched the few interviews of Dalai Lama on TV or come across a couple of short acquaintances of Buddhist Faith, I feel that the whole humanity must shed all the dogma and prejudice to be at true peace with itself.
I write this here because with whatever little I had read about Buddha and His teachings or watched the few interviews of Dalai Lama on TV or come across a couple of short acquaintances of Buddhist Faith, I feel that the whole humanity must shed all the dogma and prejudice to be at true peace with itself.
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In truth, I believe that's what all of us would like. But unfortunately, even those wishing to practise Universal Compassion and Unconditional Love, are subject to the cycle of samsara unless fully Enlightened.
I personally am striving to shed all things which hold me back.... when I attain world domination, I'll let you know. I'll need a Number Two to help me attain complete obedience from, and control of, Humankind, and knock some sense into it!!:crazy:
Until then we'll all just have to keep looking, and doing our best.....!
Nice to have you here!
You know, I was going to post something here regarding Judism(sp?) (JudAism
Anyway, we all know about WW2 and the atrocity against the Jews. But, I never really sat down and read about ALL the crap Jews (is that term politically incorrect?) have taken for centuries.
I was watching a show about the Plague and how it devastated Europe. It showed how it moved throughout Europe wiping out up to 60 to 70 percent of some cities population.
What was interesting and what I didn't know is that eventually, all the God-fearing "Christians" at the time finally figured out the reason the Plague was killing everyone... it was the Jews fault for not believing in Jesus and killing him.
So... what did they do? They started rounding up Jews and killing them. Sometimes 2,000 in a single day in a single city!
It's amazing the crap that people come up with.
Anyway, glad to have you here.
-bf
Welcome to our community.
Jason
I still don't know what to call people from Idaho.
Idaho's?
-bf
Adiana:eek2: :scratch: :winkc:
Yes I am.
-bf
Maybe his ghola....?
-bf
...And while we're on the subject .....
-bf
Naughty, naughty, naughty, Buddhafoot! LOL! :eekblue:
Adiana
- Albert Einstein
Thankfully NirvanaNoob not all Christians are the same. Fundamentalist Christianity is not genuine Christianity.
Shai-hulud Dorthy,
That tornado damn near swept you clear to the other side of Arrakis! You and Maud'Dib best hitch a ride on the nearest Guild ship the hell outta here! Awww... s**t, here come the Saudukar! AHHHHHHH!!!! RUN!!! RUN!!! BACK TO THE SEITCH!!! THEY'RE DEPLOYING THE ATOMICS!!! - crunch - S**t guys, a sand worm just ate my leg!!! Oh the humanity, the humanity!!! F*** the spice, tell Stilgar he's on his own!!! Peace...
Although, Toto did go on to write the soundtrack.
Jason
I knew Elohim would be all over this.
-bf
Bit flimsy on the life of death thing though...?
HH (non buddhist)
ps would probably be a Buddhist but have not got a clue as to what most people are talking about on here.
I think you have more than a clue, HH, don't do yourself down....
PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION.
I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB
THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.
Groucho Marx
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
Many a true word said in jest....;)
FAT CHANCE!
Eveyone feels different, some believe in God, some don't, some pray, some don't, some drink, some don't, the list is endless. We may at some time achieve a time when there is no predjustice, but as for the Universal Religion, never. Some people change religions, as Buddha taught, nothing is permenant. You cannot have a universal religion. It wouldn't work.
I love diversity and difference. I don't want a "McDonald's" religion which varies not a jot from Azerbaijan to Zanzibar.
Which one?
-bf
Good point! I too would like to see an end to prejudice and dogmatism rather than having a universal religion.
I believe altruistic kindness/compassion is a universal religion and most of the world religions have elements of that inherent in their teachings. I view these common denominators as the universal religion. The more people that practice them the better off we and the world will be.
The complexity and vastness of the human mind requires differences, differences are not bad things, they are expected things. I live and promote the best of our sameness. I believe this is best for me and the people I come into contact with.
To make a graden, you need various types of flowers, shrubs, hard landscaping, etc. A stretch of land on which only one type of flower is grown is not a garden, it's a nursery.
Good enough, Simon, and so far as that statement goes, I agree. I've also read your 30 Dec entry, but want to comment on this Universal Religion stuff. Firstly, "Universal" does not necessarily entail uniformity. That would indeed be tedious. I mean, just look at all the beautiful various church chants that have developed: Bulgarian, Anglican, Scottish harmony, Caribbean, Gullah, Coptic, etc. What a loss it would be, just culturally speaking if the reformation had not happened! Not to mention the wonderful Byzantine and Mozarabic chants, the Jewish chants, the Indian vedic chanting, and on and on.
Not Uniformity at all, but Union or Communion!
And I know you know this, Simon, but I'm writing in a public forum here, the word "catholic" in the Greek means both universal and broad. "Her tastes in music are catholic; she loves jazz, classical, Baroque, Renaissance, rock & roll, Indian music, and bluegrass, but is especially fond of piano music, once known to listen to Beethoven piano sonatas for 36 hours straight."
And having a universal religion does not entail that everyone would be required to follow it or belong to it, either.
Indeed, religious leaders should be broad-minded, as should all peoples everywhere. Did not Lord Buddha and the Lord Jesus both teach others to accept "sinners" (People who either did wrong in the past or were alleged to)? Were they not broad-minded? I like what you say about respecting the lawns and gardens and woods of the real world, and not replacing them with a nursery (whether mentally or other), but I don't think that's really what's at issue.
Sometimes I think the great religious movers of the world may just have been, as-it-were, super-gifted writers who were so full of real concrete ideas that they could not write. OK, so Jesus wrote in the sand once, but we have no record of Buddha, Mohammed, Ramakrishna, Zoraster, or their ilk sitting down and writing a thesis. Mark Twain was great, Plato, Emerson, Thoreau, etc. But outside Jose Ortega Y Gasset, I've never heard of a writer getting people to the state they couldn't sleep for the thoughts going through their heads. These great sages were like THE-GREAT-FORCE-WITH-US while they were with us, or at least for that time. I plead ignorance to how far their power or any mysterious power can possibly exert itself in time, if time can really be said to exist in itself.
(Above I used the phrase, "Concrete Ideas." That may seem to be an oxymoron, at first glance. However, if you've ever gone without sleep for days at a time, you get a glimpse of how things might look to an awakened mind, and a "concrete idea" seems like a valid concept. I mean, these great souls see so many wonderful connections and are so full of the marvels of the universe that their being ends very far beyond the barrier of their body's skin. They are AT-ONE with the Universal source or spring.)
In fact, to the degree that there are already religions out there that are nondogmatic and encourage people to think for themselves, while at the same time teaching us that we are all members of one human family and are here to help and love one another, there already is a universal religion.
To me it's more of a question of WHICH BRANCH of the universal religion you want to belong to, or how many you wish to try to keep up with.
I read through the ebook, I, THY SAVIOUR once again, more slowly this time, and I think I have developed my own answer:
An universal religion must not attempt to eradicate customery practices, as long as those practices do not violate the basic tenets. When it comes to relations between men and God, one should adhere to the pure form of one's own religion, not the syncretic form. When it comes to ordering the relations between men and his neighbors - how we live in society - each grouping has different needs and customs.
Thank you all,
Steven