Sincere Question to Anyone who Believes in God (page 7)

LittleToe

Like the Dude, my comments are non-religious.

You've heard of a leap of faith. Gotta make that leap at some time

((((Big Tex)))))
((((Nina)))))

Felicitations to both of you. I enjoyed this thread. Although I don't believe in a god or goddess, I'm going to insert my loose belief system in here, just because I enjoy it so much.

I've been interested in Zen for the past few years and have reached such a pleasant place with it. It's a great comfort and actually helps me a lot in daily dealings with people, children, etc. Btw, the term for a meditator and loose believer in the whole philosophy is "Zennist," I think.

Anyway, I "believe" in reincarnation almost in the way I believe in Santa Claus. It's fun, enjoyable, harmless, and comforting. The idea there may be a universal spirit and it survives death and goes on to another life is wonderful. I've even had two dreams of what seemed so realistic to me to indicate they were memories of past lives.

What I've gotten away from is the dogmatic, almost-mathematic, approach to spiritualism. Ha, a great bumper sticker I see every day is: My karma ran over your dogma. And it's true for me. There's no need to convert anyone, it's a wonderful idea that we can live over and over again.

There's also little oddities that seem to fit in: such as, of course, deja vu; also, when you meet someone and feel a deep affinity for them (even one of your children seem especially close sometime)--this could be that you've lived in a relationship with them in other lives; the fact that there IS a part of you that observes what your "mind" is thinking--who is this observer? The Zen answer is that it's the universal spirit that is ever-living; and my own observation is that many people dream at times that they're flying--who's to say this doesn't come from a time when we lived as birds?

Anyway, I've fallen in love with Zen Buddhism and practice it almost every day. In the past, people at work were difficult for me to get along with at times. Now, it's more that I live in the Now and past events (even just a minute or two ago) are PAST and don't exist and don't trouble me. Of course, that's the ideal.

Some of my favorite books are:

"Happiness" by Zen monk, Matthieu Ricard
books by Charlotte Joko Beck
"The Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman (& his others)

And many many more.

Namaste, (meaning loosely "the divine in me recognizes the divine in you")
Pat

patio34

Hm-m-m,

I wonder why no paragraphs nor any formatting was available. Sorry, it's so long and the paragraph spacing didn't come thru--that makes it hard to read.

P.S., got it--I had to uncheck the HTML formatting. But I still don't get any editing options such as highlighting, italics, bold, etc.

Too bad.

wednesday

Jws so removed me from any concept of Jesus, redemption, etc, I had totally lost any closeness with God, and esp. Christ. They give Christ no place in their religion.

It is good to feel able to believe again.

I don't t feel the need to shove it down anyones throat, or to be "right". I don't have to be "right".

It just feels so liberating.

Big Tex

You've heard of a leap of faith. Gotta make that leap at some time

I hear you Ross, I really do. But it's the mechanics that stump me right now. Perhaps I'm not ready, or in the right place. See I can tell myself "I believe XX" but that doesn't mean I really do. I tried that once, and actually thought I had succeeded. But it wasn't real, and so that means neither was my faith. If that was a sham, then so was my faith.

Could I have a pair of ruby slippers that I can just click three times instead?

Felicitations to both of you. I enjoyed this thread. Although I don't believe in a god or goddess, I'm going to insert my loose belief system in here, just because I enjoy it so much.

Pat!! Wow this is fantastic. It's like old home week. I feel like taking everyone to a pub or something. I'm so glad to hear from you again. Please give a big howdy from me to your sister. Both of you were very kind and patiently friendly with my nonsense back in the day.

Although I don't believe in a god or goddess, I'm going to insert my loose belief system in here, just because I enjoy it so much.

I'm moving away from the idea that there is a God with a white beard, floating amongst the clouds judging us. I tend to think, at least now, that whatever we call this Higher Power, its energy began life. After that, I'm unsure how much interest or control it has. I tend to think, as I posted to jgnat earlier, that this Higher Power is not all-powerful. I think he/she/it has limits.

I've been interested in Zen for the past few years and have reached such a pleasant place with it. It's a great comfort and actually helps me a lot in daily dealings with people, children, etc. Btw, the term for a meditator and loose believer in the whole philosophy is "Zennist," I think.

Okay bear with a couple of ignorant questions: Is Zen related to Buddhism? Is the belief system similar or the same? What are the similarities and differences? Just as a passing note, my 13 year old daughter is very interested in Buddhist ideas and even has a little porcelein Buddha in her room. We also bought her a yin/yang rug, which delighted her. I want to expose both of my children to different ideas and philosophies and let them choose.

What I've gotten away from is the dogmatic, almost-mathematic, approach to spiritualism. Ha, a great bumper sticker I see every day is: My karma ran over your dogma. And it's true for me. There's no need to convert anyone, it's a wonderful idea that we can live over and over again.

I like that, I really do. I need to remember it. But like I said before Pat, I don't really want to be reincarnated. Maybe next time I'll come back as some Muslim woman married to some fanatical al-Qaeda wife-beater. Or even worse -- Paris Hilton.

There's also little oddities that seem to fit in: such as, of course, deja vu; also, when you meet someone and feel a deep affinity for them (even one of your children seem especially close sometime)--this could be that you've lived in a relationship with them in other lives; the fact that there IS a part of you that observes what your "mind" is thinking--who is this observer? The Zen answer is that it's the universal spirit that is ever-living; and my own observation is that many people dream at times that they're flying--who's to say this doesn't come from a time when we lived as birds?

Funny you say that, but I get that 'deja vu' feeling all the time. I really mean it. Of course it's never about anything important, just boring day-to-day things, but every time I know I've seen this. Not done it, but saw it in the past.

As for relationships, I felt that way about Nina. When I met her, and I've told her this many times, it felt like wearing an old and comfy pair of jeans. Just a perfect fit that was so natural and comfortable.

Seriously now, do you think that we are recycled? That we come back again and again? And if so, then why? What is the purpose? If we never remember the previous life, except in flashes, then any mistakes or lessons learned are lost aren't they?

Some of my favorite books are:

"Happiness" by Zen monk, Matthieu Ricard
books by Charlotte Joko Beck
"The Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman (& his others)

Thanks! jst2laws gave me a reading assignment last night, so come paycheck next week I'm off to the bookstore! I've been in the mood for something new reading wise anyway.

Be well my friend,

Chris

Elsewhere

I would be most relieved if atheists are right. If they are, then when I die all I get is oblivion. I can handle that, even welcome it really.

I think you'll handle oblivion just fine... considering you handled it just find before you existed.

When I think of death, the thing that bothers me the most are all of the things to come that I will never have known about. That new book, or new movie or that person I'll never know or that cool new technology.... whatever they all may be.

To me life is like reading a really interesting novel. I keep turning the pages wanting to know what happens next. Death is having the last half of the book go missing before I can read it.

Big Tex

When I think of death, the thing that bothers me the most are all of the things to come that I will never have known about. That new book, or new movie or that person I'll never know or that cool new technology.... whatever they all may be.

Yeah me too. It's the curiosity factor: what happens next?

But to quote Professor Dumbledore: "Death is but the next great adventure."

Of course in my case . . . . .

Sincere Question to Anyone who Believes in God

LittleToe

patio34

patio34

wednesday

Big Tex

Elsewhere

Big Tex

jgnat

Mad

Mad

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