Church of Don't Be An Asshole
The other night, after watching F. 9/11 we ended up having a religion talk. I loved it! I value my friends opinions and when we can get together and hash it out, it's like a little piece of heaven to me.
For awhile now I've wanted to start a church for people that think like me. Official Name: Church of Non-Assholes. Our only commandment: Don't be an asshole. Let me explain...
My view, which was eloquently put into words by my pal Jzn that night, is that no one will ever truly know 100% if there is a god and what he is about so I don't believe anyone knows for sure. And the minute someone says they do, I sorta cringe mentally. For instance, the Pope, I don't think he knows anymore about what's going on spiritually than me. So when he tells me gays are wrong and not to masturbate, well Mr. Pope, you can keep that advice to yourself.
I don't want to live my life following rules made by someone who thinks they are from god, because how do they know? Not worth the guilt or trouble. We'll only know when we die and maybe that was what "religion" was created for anyways, to make people feel better about having to die. It is man's biggest fear.
Be it my social conditioning or some part of me knows the truth, I can't comfortably say there is no god. I can't be totally atheist. However, I don't think it's necessarily the one in the Bible. I believe Jesus lived, but I don't know if he was the Son of God, I tend not to think so. I believe he was an intelligent philosopher who's teachings I pretty much agree with.
People's realities are based on their experiences and perceptions, so for one person to say "this is God and this is what he wants you to do" is based on how they see the world. So this would apply to people who write religious documents. Like if you took a room full of people and told them to draw the room as they see it, you'd get all different perspectives of the same room.
I can't deny there is something spiritual in the world, outside our understanding, but I don't think anyone knows for sure what it is. I don't think people were put here to see if they'd choose to follow and worship someone or not. I think there is maybe some sort of spiritual being "out there" on another plane of existence that we can't understand or that we can understand in tiny little degrees, but the god of the bible, I'm not buying 100%.
So I guess I'm officially agnostic. Because an Atheist knows for sure there isn't a god, I don't think anyone can know one way or another. However, the thing is if someone believes in a god totally, that's great. My thing is: Don't be an asshole. Don't kill people, don't fuck with me or my loved ones and don't steal from me and you can believe in whatever god you want. Humans love to get into each other's business and especially involving religion.
On another note, I don't look at people who have faith and beliefs as less than me, or uneducated or suckers. As long as they don't look at me that way, we're kosher. In fact, I've learned a lot from dicussions with people who believe all manner of things, like the other night for instance. That's what makes humans great...we're different.
Care to discuss?
posted by Kitten at 11:51:00 AM
4 Comments:
I think we've maybe had this discussion before too. And yes, we are different.
While I would agree that there is no way that anyone can 100% know there is a God or what form he takes, etc. I also 100% believe that there is and that I have a relationship with him. That part of it...believing even when you can't prove it...it's called Faith. Whether I'm right or not may not be quite as important to me as the fact that I believe it.
I also agree that it can be wrong to force your beliefs on others or judge them from thinking differently, however, I also think you need to be open to sharing your own beliefs. Because if I am right...it could be bad news for my friends that I never shared my beliefs with. I'd rather not think that I have friends that will spend an enternity in hell because I never shared how I feel. That's all assuming I'm right. If I'm not...I still feel pretty good about how I'm living my life and that wouldn't cause me any regrets either.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
4:12 PM
That's why I love my friends! We're diverse and understanding. I feel extremely grateful that you care enough to share your views with me out of sheer concern for my soul. And I'd hope I never give you the impression that I'm anything less than sincere when I say I respect your beliefs.
Smooches Jennifer!
4:17 PM
Oops, I dialed the wrong number. Sorry!
-theMan(a.k.a. theSheriff; theStarGrabber; theAsshole; theGreatDeceiver)
5:27 PM
Agnosticism is the ultimate act of faith. it is the complete letting go of definition. it is the humbleness of admitting that one is incapable of having a complete conception of GoD.
to say that one knows god completely is egobased.
that is not faith, it is self righteousness.
true faith is understanding god cannot be defined by dogma, by names, especially bu pronouns that have gender specific intonations. those are all part of god, but by the definition that god is infinite in all ways, they cannot even begin to communicate or properly represent the totality of the divine creative force.
god:love:life
every form of worship is an act of faith in god, every form of non worship is an act of faith in god, because if god is all things, there can be nothing separate from god, meaning not even you!
i like this philosophy, this spiritualism, because it is based on love, acceptance, and understanding that everything is connected. it leads to cooperation rather than competition & acceptance rather than judgement.
i personally believe that experience through the living of a creative & compassionate life is one of the highest form of religiousity that there is. it is living like christ rather than worshipping. gnosticism presents christianity in this light while the constantinian version of christianity does not present it in this manner as effectively.
not being an asshole is part of understnding that there is no separation between you & the asshole (or you & the one you are being an asshole to). it is the ability to empathize & understand that actions are just that, actions, and that they are an integral part of the learning process. best way to deal with assholes is to defuse them. try to make them understand that they do not have to act that way or point out that they are probably not getting the results they want by acting that way.
on the whole sex part of religion (i grew up catholic and definitely had the no touching yourself lessons thrown at me) i would say that it's not that the catholic view of sex is wrong as much as misguided.
if one is familiar with tantra or sex magic, one realizes the powere behind sex & the responsibility that should exist with it. it's not that the act is bad, but a matter of which kind of energy that act is bringing into the world. think of it like this: while in an ecstatic state(any ecstatic state will do as they are all the same energy as sexual energy)you are an antenna. whatever mental & spiritual state you are in, that is the kind of energy you will birth into the world. if you have angry sex, you will bring more anger, if you have tender sex, you will bring more tenderness,if you have shollow meaningless sex, you will bring more shallowness. it's not a matter of good or bad, it's almost scientific.
It's very possible that none of that is true. i mean, no matter how old the tradition, it was created by humans in order to make sense of something. or maybe not, maybe it WAS knowledge divinely given. truth is, it does not matter.
love is all that matters.
and believe it or not, i love every single one of you that reads this.
namaste
12:06 PM
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