The real poll: religion

[jim stone]

In Asia people don't give up religions; they just add
more on. Best

[Lorenzo]

...which in reality (if the truth could be known) is the way many religions we think of as "original" are built. A fusing together of the best of everything from the past.

[StewySmoot]

Suffice to say I am Spiritual...

While raised a Catholic, I went through an Agnostic period, but I have seen a miracle or 2 (nothing spectacular like "amputee sprouts new limbs"; just stuff that I couldnt rationalize in the least) and have had moments of prognostication during meditation (again nothing spectacular; it can best be described as similar to synchronicity) that leads me to believe there is something out there FAR! greater than me. And I have Faith in that feeling.

[Bretton]

I guess I'm mostly an agnostic, but militant/proselytic atheism sounds intriguing. Probably my Discordian side showing...

-Brett

[Jack]

Quote @ StewySmoot

that leads me to believe there is something out there FAR! greater than me.

C&F

[TelegramSam]

From what I understand, Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion in many respects. I've known people who have blended Christian theology with Buddhist philosophy. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[Sara]

I consider myself an Agnostic/Taoist. There's really nothing of the Taoist philosophy I disagree with.

I see many Atheists as being just as fanatical as staunch Christians.

[StewySmoot]

C&F

OWA

TANNA

SIAM

[herbivore12]

What's a Discordian?

Here you go, friend Nano:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism

Eris is dead. Long live Eris!

Wikipedia is kinda cool.

[jim stone]

Buddhism is a religion, I think, principally because there
is a transcendental goal, nirvana, which is attained
by spiritual practice. Underlying the transient things
in the world, which come and go, is a great empty
space in which they arise and pass away.

One learns to reside in the empty space,
which doesn't arise or pass away, it becomes
one's refuge. The Buddha called it the Deathless
and also the Unconditioned. As one approaches
that space, one sees that the self for which
one feared and competed simply doesn't exist.

There are just transient phenomena arising
and passing in a very spacious emptiness,
the universe is impersonal through and through,
no self or Self in it anywhere.

Well, you see that doesn't sound like a philosophy
of life. Again, the goal is to attain by practice
a reality beyond the mundane world, which I think
makes it a religion.

This doctrine isn't particularly understood by
Buddhists, most of whom in Asia have very little
idea of what Buddhism is about. They think
it's about pasting gold leaf on the Buddha image
in the temple so that you will have a baby or
get an automobile or...

In the USA people think Buddhism is environmentalism
or psychotherapy or a way of making the world
a better place or a way of healing your inner
child. Very few Buddhists on this planet are
interested in what the buddha taught.

As the song goes, everybody wants to go
to heaven, but nobody wants to die.

Because the Buddha sees the universe as
impersonal through and through, no self in
it anywhere, it's hard to see this as
compatible with a personal God. Efforts to blend this with Christianity
seem to me to either falsify Buddhism or,
more usually, Christianity.

Militant atheism is obnoxious, IMHO.
I'm a non-militant atheist. People who have faith
in God, or trust in their experiences that something
is out there, are just fine with me. Brave.
Hope you're right. Best

[Bretton]

Here you go, friend Nano:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism
Eris is dead. Long live Eris!
Wikipedia is kinda cool.

Here's a neat one I found recently:

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/search.html

[herbivore12]

I like this koan from the beginning of the Principia (per the Wikipedia entry, anyway):

"GREATER POOP: Is Eris true?
MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER: Everything is true.
GP: Even false things?
M2: Even false things are true.
GP: How can that be?
M2: I don't know man, I didn't do it."

Anyway, I'm an atheist, but get on fine with people of faith (as long as they're not standing outside my door trying to sell me something and being real buggers about leaving). My grandparents, who were Catholic, ran a shelter for homeless families for many years; worthy work, with which I was glad to help. I certainly do not hold, as some of my more strident atheist friends do, that all things religious are somehow tainted or bad. I want to say, have you heard Bach? Sheesh.

[jim stone]

Bach! Oh my, maybe I'm a believer after all.

[lilymaid]

From what I understand, Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion in many respects. I've known people who have blended Christian theology with Buddhist philosophy. They aren't mutually exclusive.

I’m not terribly well versed in Buddhism, so someone can tell me if I get the general idea or not.

Buddhism is nice, plausible, and does produce pleasant people, but I think its fundamentally different from Christianity. The differ very much about the concept of “self.” Christianity is about finding harmony by subordinating that self to a higher power, whereas Buddhism is about getting rid of it altogether. I guess I think it’s somewhat like this: In Christianity, we achieve peace by finding ourselves in relation to our God and to Creation, and in Buddhism, we achieve peace by finding that we and everything else are one and the same.

I think the difference that determined my choice was that Buddhism seems to me to have such a negative view of earthly life, as something to free one’s self from. As a Christian, I get to enjoy the physical world, and am encouraged to. (As long as it doesn’t disregard the faith’s moral rules, of course.) It’s all a lovely blessing from my Creator. I suppose if Buddhism’s true that just means I’m not ready to get it this time round.

[Wombat]

What's a Discordian?

A session after the piano accordeon player turns up with three bodhran playing mates.