What is religion to you?

Religion can be whatever you want it to be. If you seek to find a psychological basis for religion you will find it, anthropological, sociological, evolutionary, you name it, you can find it.
What I think is more interesting is the development of religion(s) and comparative religious studies. What caused religions to differ--how do they differ--how are they similar? That and Christianity, I find Christianity endlessly interesting...

 

John was supposedly a born-again Christian for about a week during the 70's...There is even a demo of a song called "You Saved My Soul" detailing the fall-out of that phase

 

Religion is a relationship between humanity and the omni-transcendent (God, the Tao, The Universe, The Ultimate Reality, The Ineffable, etc.). Whether you know it or not, believe it or not, care or not, behave or not, the fact that you exist means you are part of this relationship. The nature of your relationship to all of this is, of course, up to you . . . at least until it affects anyone else's relationship to all of this.

The whole idea that religion is a "control," "a crutch," the "cause of all evil," or whatever other generic, pseudo-philosophical dismissal one may give, is nothing more than an excuse to not think about this stuff. Why should I believe any conclusion, however passionately held, of one who does not understand the topic of conversation?

It is precisely that kind of unfounded pseudo-thought that makes one idiot think "God" wants him to fly a plane into a building and another idiot think "God" wants him to start a war. If you made the same assumptions about science, technology, civilization, or almost any other body of knowledge, you would end up living like a cave man, too stupid and fearful to figure out fire. Good luck.

Peace and Love

 

Like every other way of thought, Religion is misunderstood if you confuse it with anything else.

 

Are the categories in the poll mutually exclusive? I think I'd opt for "all of the above."

 

I've said this before in another thread.
More wars have been started because of religion.

Religion is a drug. Religion is the opium of the masses. Even to some, religion is cyanide (poison). :leaving:

 

Religion is a set of beliefs. All beliefs contain truth within them, positive or negative. They are small pieces of a puzzle that humans are attempting to piece together. Many people blame religion for the problems in the world, but they fail to see that is isn't religion, it people. The problem with the word religion is that is based on a SET of beliefs, and therefore a specific religion is difficult to change. There is little difference in these too phrases:

"Religion is the root of all conflict."
"Lack of religion is the root cause of all conflict."
The problem lies in the human ego. We all want a reason for why things aren't the way we want them to be. We are creatures with the ability to have an idea. We have an idea of what a perfect human is, or a perfect society is. We then try to immulate this idea. But there in lies the problem. Perfection only lies in the pure balance of reality, which is difficult to see as humans. Religion is the way in which we try to become perfect. But as facets of reality, we have always been perfect, even with our "mistakes". Right and wrong, good and bad, these are only human perceptions, lacking the ability to see beyond ourselves.

All religions are true, they are just different interpretations of the same reality. Science is a religion as well. Its just a different form of searching for the truth. They are both compatible.

Many have already discovered this. The problem is that many of these people wish to unite all the religions. And the scientists wish to destroy religion. Both of these scenarios are flawed in that they can only be implemented through force of belief.

The only true religion is the one that understands these fundamental and undisputable truths:

1. All things contain truth.
2. All human action is done out of love.
3. All things are perfect.

If humans promoted these truths, not force, then it could make our journey a lot more pleasant. Remember though, perception will not allow us to realise our perfection; even through scientific process we will never be able to grasp all truths; and human beings would be inherently good if they didn't think that other humans were inherently bad.

Maitreya

 

a universal personal intimate relationship with what no one knows anything about, nor has to even pretend that they do, in order to experience it.

oh yes, and i'm quite certain NONE of the options in the poll are accurate.

none seem to even consider the possibility of this perception of it, nor unfortunately, even remotely encompass it.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Since as you claim, that all things contain truth, therefore, according to your logic, a falsehood contains truth.

A truth cannot be false at the same time, otherwise, truth would be meaningless.

If as you say, that "all things contain truth", then, all falsehoods are true.

I suppose, Hitler and the Nazis, launched the Holocaust, as an act of love.
Hmmm....

If as you say, "all things are perfect", then, imperfection is perfection.
Hunger, poverty, disease is perfection.

Why the hell do we even need to eat food, go to work, or buy medicine.
Might as well drop dead, since as you say, "all things are perfect" anyway.

 

than what? let's analyze that claim. What role did religion play in: the Greco-Persian wars, the Peloponnisian war, the Punic wars, the War of the Roses, the Hundred Years War,the Seven Years War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War,the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War?

 

People who think they know all there is to know will sometimes do stupid, destructive things. Please don't let your unquestioned beliefs define you as another one of those people.

In perfect step with those you criticize, you simply expect others to accept an idea without any discussion of what that idea means. Why?
Do you know who you are quoting?
Do you know why he wrote that?
Do you know what he was asking you to understand?
Do you know his relationship to his tradition or what question he thought he was addressing?

Do you have any ideas of your own?

Are these the best ideas you have to offer?

Peace and Love

 

Mathematician and philosopher of science Alfred North Whitehead wrote in The Adventure of Ideas:"There are no whole truths; all truths are half truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." By the same token, can falsehoods contain kernels of truth, and that way be partial truths?

 

Exactly, Okie.

Stev90
All things contain truth. Every falsehood contains the truth that it is false and that its opposite would be true. Or some other truth exists within it but not necessarily these two, but a truth is still inferred.

All human action is done out of love. This entails that all human action is done for the love of something. It doesn't discriminate between what is being loved. Love for country, love for others, love for oneself.

All things are perfect. Imperfection is only a word that humans created to negatively describe that which we do not believe to match our idea of what it should be. In reality, there is only what "is", and what "is" works perfectly within reality through the laws of energy. It exists beyond human existance, and it is balanced, indiscriminant, and it never falters.

We are not all that exists. There is a difference between human truth and "truth". Human perfection and "perfection" are not synonymous.

But to further convey the three fundamental truths:
When you say that a falsehood can not be true and false at the sametime, is true. It is true that Hitler had a love of power, himself, and probably his country, in which he transferred such emotions to his people. Hunger, poverty, and disease are all effects of a large society. Hunger is the perfect reaction to a machine that has failed to sustained itself. Poverty is the inevitable effect of a stratified system, a system created to enforce order. Disease is natures way of controling the population, either through naturally occuring phenomenon or excess of behavior, both of which increase with the number of people in a system. These things are associated with pain and therefore categorized as "bad", but are perfect effects of human action. Whether or not we should try to deal with these issues isn't debatable. But we must understand that for whatever action we take, there will be an opposite reaction, and must be prepared to face this truth.

And the fact that you present arguements that you feel prove the contrary conveys your desire to discover truth, your care for the human condition, and is a perfect reaction.

All religions spawn from a person attempting to illustrate these truths and apply them best as they knew how. They do not represent truth, but they contain truth.

 

option number two is a conclusion that does not fallow its premis, and probably the reason so many people are so adamantly divided in their opinions on it.

=^^=
.../\...

 

A weapon for MASS conformity.......... FUCK ORGANIZED RELIGION... Everyone deserves to experience GOD on their own terms........

 

But you see, thats the problem.

Most everyone has somekind of spiritual thirst, but few have any way of discovering it by themselves, so they join religions in an attempt to do so.

Religion is almost a part of a person's spiritual evolution, but once experienced, you need to keep moving forward and beyond it. People have to grow out of it on their own. We can help them along by presenting different options they may be unaware of.


x

 

religion for me is finding a community of people

who basically agree with my own philosophies and ethics

so far i am most attracted to buddhism and jainism

but i know very little about the older religions

[shamanism]

or the newer ones

[neo-shamanism]

argh

 

religion is
























shit

 

Well, well, I suggest you set up and appointment with Mr. Whitehead and prick his pimples or suck his dick, whichever suits him.

Do you pay your rent in half and expect the landlord to accept that as full payment?

If there are no whole truths, then God is a half-dog, half-Devil, truth is half-false, whatever you say, is a half-truth, a half-lie, a half-fabrication. etc.

Since, anything you say is a half-truth, then, why the fuck, do I have to half-listen to you?

How about crawling to a corner and talk to yourself, pretending you talked to dog, er, I mean, god. :jester:

 

Again, you don't take what was said in context! Rent etc is not what is being said - but I guess you will never be open minded enough to even consider anything philosophical!

Anyway, God is whatever you want him to be, whatever you make him. He can either exist or be fiction, a good figure or bad.

If I listen to a song, I might get a different meaining from it than others will do - doesn't mean they are more right than me does it? People should be able to have different interpretations of what God is to them. I don't know if I see God as this omnipotent being up in Heaven who knows everything about us, but I very much doubt that we are completely alone - then again what this 'other thing' might be..... I don't know.