Call it faith; call it religion; call it spirituality. Whatever you call it, the genuine article is

[Atticus]

Last edited Tue Jun 14, 2022, 10:19 PM - Edit history (1)

quiet.

The people who are consistently and reliably kind and helpful and generous and tolerant are not loud or flashy.

They are seldom on TV.

They do not pretend to get daily instructions from a "higher power".

They admit there is a whole lot they don't know.

They are the folks who pay attention to the elderly.

They always seem to have room for another kid at the dinner table.

They may be in a church or synagogue or mosque regularly---or they may not have been inside one for years.

These folks don't preach about what they believe; they demonstrate it.

Darn few of them wear those red caps.

[Metaphorical]

1. I describe myself as a neo-Taoist Techno-Pagan

Last edited Tue Jun 14, 2022, 08:49 PM - Edit history (1)

I believe that there are forces beyond what we can imagine, abstractions of broad, slow processes, perhaps even forces that have sentience, for some arbitrary definition of sentience. I do not believe that they are particularly interested in me, or any of us. I would certainly not worship one - I rather suspect that this would serve only to annoy it, and no one wants to deal with an annoyed god.

I could just as readily claim to be an agnostic, and I usually do; not that I don't believe gods couldn't exist, but only that whether they do or not is immaterial to my own beliefs. Indeed, the only thing that's worse than dealing with an annoyed god is dealing with one that believes in you.

==========================

For a while, in cognitive theory, there was a theory that there was a spot in the brain that, when stimulated, makes you believe that you are in the presence of a higher power. That theory fell out of favor, both because it proved elusive to detect, but also I suspect that the powers that be didn't like the idea that God could be a biochemical process. Not surprisingly, it happened to be in the same general part of the brain that was responsible for delusions of paranoia, along with megalomania.

What I know is that there are some people who are intrinsically good, and religion for them is simply a framework for expressing the acts of kindness and generosity that they would do regardless. There are other people who look upon religion as a blank check to excuse the worst behaviors.

[JoeOtterbein]

6. +1 nt

[Wounded Bear]

2. I've always felt that true spirituality brings people together peacefully...

If your "spriritual advisor" is telling you to hate people, I'd seriously think about finding a better one.

It doesn't really matter what flavor it is, if it is divisive and hateful it is toxic.

I remember a long time ago a bit of internet wisdom I read. Basically it said: At their core, all the great religions of the world have one basic principle: don't be an asshole.

[Skittles]

3. you don't need religion or whatever you call it to be a good person

ya know?

[TxGuitar]

8. I thought the same

The OP doesn't allow for views that don't include supernatural beliefs.

[Skittles]

9. or as I call them

delusions

[Celerity]

16. +1

[ReluctanceTango]

18. From what I've seen

Good people are good despite their religion. Not because of it.

[RicROC]

4. The best answer to the question , "are you a good Christian/Muslim/Jew/atheist/person is...

ask my neighbor.

[lees1975]

22. Well Said

[JoeOtterbein]

5. After a car accident with a tractor trailer on the interstate, I came within inches...

...of the end of my life.

It had just started to rain. I found out that oil and water do not mix, by sliding front-first into the side of the trailer. Totaling the car and leaving me with nothing but a bruise on my right upper-arm from blocking my head from the side of the trailer just before the truck came to a stop.

I kicked the car door open and got away from the car ASAP. Talking to the truck driver and all the others who got out of their cars to help.

Soon fire and police arrived. The first to arrive looked at the car and in a surprised tone, loudly yelled (paraphrasing the rest), "where is the driver?" Someone pointed to me and the EMT stared at me and said, "if you don't believe in God, you should now".

I did not before then, after and now.

But what did happen was the sky looked like candy at that moment. Everything, and everyone, seemed better than before in every way.

Especially my babies.

I still feel that way today.

[kentuck]

11. Sometimes I wonder if we have not been given multiple lives...

...like a cat with nine lives?

But we don't realize that when the car is flipping in the air, waiting for it sit down, that maybe the cat lost one of its lives?

[JoeOtterbein]

15. When my Dad died, my daughter was very distraught when I picked her up at the train station...

... So I told her I believed in the multi universe theory.

And that we all, including me when I die, are living on together in another life.

[kentuck]

20. The First Law of Thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created nor destroyed.

Is life energy?

The law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another...
?
Einstein believed that the amount of energy in our universe remained constant. He postulated the same in his famous equation E=mc2

If life is energy, where does it go when we die?

[ReluctanceTango]

19. When I hear someone say that nonsense about if you don't believe you should now

I remember a boyfriend I had in high school. We had been dating a couple of weeks, so we were in that stupid stage of infatuation. Then one weekend his family was coming back from a visit to an out-of-town relative, and they were hit by a drunk driver. He and his father died. His mother and sister survived.

So what do you believe, then? Was the deity there for his mother and sister, but not for my boyfriend or his father?

The only thing I remember of the next three or four months of my life after that accident was this black cloud of pain wiping out everything else. I can't remember too much of that time of my life. I guess it hurt too much for too long to look back, so I erased whole swaths of it.

[JoeOtterbein]

21. I'm sorry.

And you are right. In my case, I always set the seat as low and as far back as I can when I drive. It may have just been those few inches further back that saved me.

It had nothing to do with any "outside" force.

Thanks for sharing your heartbreaking story.

Love,

Joe

[Rebl2]

7. 👍👍👍

[AllaN01Bear]

10. its called not tooting ones horn or being a flash in the pan, kudos to those who

do gods work quietly without fuss or look at me .

[Hassler]

12. As a long time meditator in the contemplative Christian tradition,

I agree completely. I've learned so much from Laurence Freeman of WCCM and from Richard Rohr's CAC.

[KentuckyWoman]

13. I try but often fail to live up to it.

Love is patient,(I) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.(J) 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,(K) it is not easily angered,(L) it keeps no record of wrongs.(M) 6 Love does not delight in evil(N) but rejoices with the truth.(O) 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.(P)

8 Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13

[shrike3]

14. Lot of those folks are at my church

Catholic church of color. NO Trumpies.

I have become a huge fan of African-American women. They suffer no fools. One African-American gentleman showed up at mass and made the mistake of disparaging the vaccine, the seriousness of Covid. He has not been seen since.

[moondust]

17. You get it.

[Wednesdays]

23. Jimmy Carter.

That was the name I first thought of when reading the OP.

Joe Biden, too.

[MagickMuffin]

24. The Dolphin Brothers: "Host to the Holy"

"Host to the Holy"


It's a different kind of life,
In a different kind of world.
There are ways that matter.
(Host to the holy)
There are signs we must obey.
So you see why,
They keep it all here this way.

If God had it planned it for you,
(Call it our religion)
I'm sure we would know it too.
(Call it our philosophy)
Life's always been good,
Ever since we shaped our history.

Something no one really planned,
Something passing hand to hand,
Silent ways of power.
(Host to the holy)
Those of us will never say.
Well like a new sky,
Waiting to dawn each day.

If God had it planned it for you,
(Call it our religion)
I'm sure we would know it too.
(Call it our philosophy)
Life's always been good,
Ever since we shaped our history.

Life's always been good,
Ever since we shaped our history.



Song here:

[PA Democrat]

25. I saw a guy last Sunday standing at the side of the road with a sign "Honk if you love Jesus"

I just shook my head.