Blah blah blah...
Actually, last night during reunion I had an interesting chat with my Uncle Jacob, my mother and father about religion. I realised that my mother and uncle were very open-minded especially after telling them about my real opinions of religion. Apparently, my cousin Rachel who is one of those gifted students in RGS who doesn't need to go through O levels kind, had a very similar views about God, Christianity and the Bible.
I told them that I felt that organised religion has become, in our modern world, a means for social control/conditioning, and although I don't really know whether there is a God or not, I do accept that religion does have a function, and all spiritual experiences are valid and should not be discounted, and that all paths lead to the same destination. However, humans being imperfect and all, have used religion to further their own selfish agendas, hence Sept 11, Muslim extremists and Christian fundamentalists abound causing lots of pain and shit. Hence I am very suspicious of the Church, temples, clans or any other form of religious institutions that claim that they have the answers to life/death. I mean, like does anyone REALLY know what happens when we die? Can anyone really prove there is a heaven above and hell below?
I see so much suffering around me in the world, and I really don't think God will fly down any day to help us even if we knelt on the floor for 3 weeks with bloody knees and prayed for peace. I think we must be accountable for our own existence. That said, I don't think religions should be abolished or destroyed, these structures exist for a reason. What I think will be more important is to find a structure, or improve current ones, that are open enough, flexible enough for every individual human to be able to come to terms with their own existence and their place on this earth. Not an easy thing to do of course. What I do know is that there is definitely something in life larger than myself, maybe it's god, maybe it's nature, and my mission is to find out to the best of my abilities, how I can improve my existence in this world and in turn contribute to the improvement of others.
Well, I kind of like my family more now! hehehe! My mother especially cuz she's just so cool. What more can you ask?
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 warg
2006-01-29 10:33
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sometimes my religion gives me very bad headaches. sometimes i use it as an excuse to feel alienated. but usually i have faith that god is affectionate to the messed up hamsters and that he has a special place for us in heaven. i also love mother mary, and my guardian angel, who is a fierce lionface seraphim with only one facial expression for the times i'm bad and when i'm sad. its very nice being catholic. its undemanding and unassuming. and pain is pretty. (Reply to this) (Thread) |
|  Hmmm
kueh
2006-01-29 18:58
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Its weird how we are both contemplating about the same issues but the difference lies in the fact that i am an atheist.
I had many discussions about this topic with my uber cool-polish-divorced-female-psychologist in training roomate. She used to be a catholic but has since abandoned the institution after years of reading the bible and contemplating its doctrines. She believes that the religion itself is not to blame but the amount of human intervention and misinterpretation that has led us to where we are. Religion is not to blame, their doctrines all boils down to the same basic principles, all unfortunately uncomprehensible and impragmatic to those in power and control.
THERE IS HOPE, but first there must be the courage and ample love to really carry out what those principles really are. The bible tells us many things, it is nothing but a manifestation of the good and evil within all of us. However, the choice is ours, to do good or evil. Like you said, we are imperfect and thus we abuse this so called freewill bestowed upon us. Some of us learn and others do not repent.
Therefore, we need forgiveness and compassion in order to acknowledge the fact that we are imperfect. She told me that in psychology, the most powerful healing method is not medication or other proven techniques of the practice, but the ability of the psychologist to exhibit compassion and empathy.
I have forgotten a lot of the things she said to me, but they were very enlightening.
She lent me a book named suffering religion, it is quite a difficult read, i stopped reading after the first two pages...will get back to it when i am free.
you should check the book out too.
Finally i would like to add, that religion is not to blame, its the institution and people in power that corrupts it. We each interpret things differently what makes us think that the doctrines presented to us by religious leaders arent mispresented? I guess ultimately, we should put aside our differences and show more forgiveness and compassion maybe that might end the vicious cycle of violence and hatred? The japanese movie Casshern is also a meaningful movie to watch that is if we could put aside the atrocities they commited against our predecessors.(Reply to this) (Thread) |
| CoffeeTalk Kaya Toast
(Anonymous)
2006-02-02 20:09
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Log on to http://coffee--talk.tripod.com for CoffeeTalk Vouchers.(Reply to this) (Thread) |
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