Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Posts: 1412
Location: Nouvelle Orléans, Louisiane
Spiritual Path
…I find myself wavering and lost like my lover’s proverbial sheep on a hillside. Is there a God? Is everything I’ve believed and grown up with utter smut? For years I’ve been battling attachment – I was always taught to avoid it – that it causes suffering… and yet I find it impossible to avoid it… until I get hurt and then I swear it off once more, but it never lasts. I have no idea what path I’m supposed to take…. I have never believed in theistic views and suddenly I’m undenouncing the possibility – why? The realization that it doesn’t have to be organized – it doesn’t have to be what we know it as… am I ranting? Yes… but at the same time… I’m searching for clues. I’ve turned to pseudoscience and lately I’m so desperate for answers that I seem to spend all of my time searching instead of experiencing.
Working on my reply...will get it to you within...5 months
Seriously though...I am thinking it over and will have something for you soon.
Hugs,
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:21 am
bleu
Joined: 12 May 2007
Posts: 7
Location: Chambersburg, PA
I vacillate on the same issue, Chord.
On any given day I can fluctuate as wide as the following, landing anywhere between the two extremes...
I believe in god because somehow I inherently feel that god just simply must exist. There have been many times when events and issues in my life inexplicably un-wrinkle and are smoothed by a seemingly external iron force; a deus ex machina, if you will.
I do not believe in god because somehow I inherently feel that god just simply can't exist. There is no proof of god and I am no different than most other humans who thrive on proof. Also, I am desperately afraid to live a life of belief that eventually proves to have been a lie... afraid that when I do indeed die I will be irrevocably crushed when I find out one does not exist.
Ultimately, I remain agnostic.
I simply make every effort to live my life each day as compassionately, as caring and as kindly towards others and towards myself as I can.
I simply am the very best person I can be at all times checking myself and rechecking. If god exists, I will do my best, by my own standards, of course, to ensure that at least that god could be happy with the efforts I have put forth towards living a life of compassion. If god does not exist I can lie on my death bed knowing I made every effort to be the best person I could be while alive.
You find yourself wavering…about whether there is a god or not?
That is something I can only tell you from my point of view…there is something out there. Is it the God of the Christians and Jews. Is it the God of Islam…is it Buddha…I don’t know but there is something there.
As you may know (I have stated it here before) I was raised Catholic but I abandoned that belief system and eventually all organized religions. What you may not know is why. I had a dream. In this dream I was standing in front of a bookshelf filled with books and I kept having this thought run through my mind…“at heart they are all the same just a different name”. Every religious text you can think of was on that bookshelf. There were books, scrolls and tablets on the shelves and I kept hearing or it seemed like I was hearing those words “at heart they are all the same just a different name”. Later as I thought about this dream what struck me was that there were books about religions and beliefs I had never heard of but I found out they were real (Cao Dai for example) and many others. I even found that some actually had no “real” text but they were real beliefs. This is when my really started…I learned all I could about many different religions and beliefs and what I found was that they were all basically the same at heart and to me the wonderful thing is nobody can prove otherwise.
I will not try to convince you to believe what I believe but I will ask you to read many different religious texts and study various religions and spiritual beliefs. Do not try to understand the dogma but try to understand the basis of the beliefs and what is at the core of those beliefs. Look at what the various beliefs teach us and you find like that voice in my dream said “at heart they are all the same just a different name”. All of them teach us how to treat other people, how to live our lives, how to prepare for death, give us a purpose, they teach us what is right and they teach us what is wrong. Not a single one of them I have looked at teaches us to hate.
In my view if they could all be combined into one...that would be the closest to the truth we could get on this plain of existence.
After this long search of mine…once the words finally sank in…once I finally understood (at least in my own mind) life took on a whole new meaning for me and ever since I have been at peace with myself.
Sweetie…you are not ranting…you are searching
Hugs,
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:15 pm
BdeCaunteton
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 955
Location: Iowa City, IA
I don't like to label "God" as God right away. I believe there's forces beyond our understanding that write up our fate -- and humans are too quick to put labels on things so they made religion and different Gods in each religion. This goes along with one of my favorite quotes of all time.
"All Gods are but one God and all Goddesses are but one Goddess, and there is only one initiator and each to his own.' - Marion Zimmer Bradley, "Mists of Avalon"
Imagine that I had this theory since I was 16!!! Not many people can figure out their own spiritual path... I'm still figuring that out but at least I figured religion out.
Spirituality is so individualistic, my spirituality is a mix of "Rent"
"There is no future
There is no past
I live this moment as my last
There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss
"I can't control my destiny
I trust my soul
My only goal is just to be
There's only now
There's only here
Give into love or live in fear"
....and John Lennon's message of peace and love.
In my opinion, you can search if you want when religion and spirituality is in front of you, and that's human! As Victor Hugo once wrote, "Tolerance is the best religion." _________________ “It would be a pity of lesbians and gay men retreated into the same kind of cultural separatism. " - Jeanette Winterson
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