question for the fakers out there

so what other reasons are people uber religous? Im open to hear all sides. I did not mean to offend anyone and Im sorry if you were offended. I was just speaking from my own experience and observations. My rant was geared towards the bible thumping religous folks who use their religion as a sword for hate and judgements. I am Buddhist but I do not worship anyone or anything. I have chosen to walk the Buddhist path as a way to learn how to always BE. Be in the moment. Be connected to all around me. Be kind. Be Love. Be me. and to help others Be as well. I think the Dalai Lama is an amazing inspirational figure...but I do not worship him or even try to be like him exactly because the path of the Bodhisatva is different for everybody since we are all individuals. I have never pushed my beliefs on anyone or used them as a reason to hate. Instead I use my beliefs as a way to try and understand all different walks of life. My beliefs center me....they dont create a mental harbor that justify an elitist attitude towards others who are not Buddhist. Does that make sense? I personally find all religions in their purest form to be beautiful. Anything that inspires people to be better people gets two thumbs up from me...regardless of the persons intentions for doing it.

 

how about the best reason of all, to connect more with God? to live a better life? to share what they believe?
your life doesnt have to be screwed..

 

just for the sake of interest. i may or may not be stating this entirely correct, but why do Buddhists believe that there's a rebirth? if there was a rebirth, where are people being reborn? clearly there is not enough people in our census to support that many rebirths over time.

 

THERE IS A QUE OF COURSE! Take a number and line up.

 

Why do christians believe in a god?!?! Clearly there is not enough proof for that either.

The same people who developed the idea of your god are the ones who used to burn people at the stake for saying that the earth revolved around the sun, and they were pretty sure that the earth was flat despite what scientists told them.

of course they were wrong

And you don't need a "connection" with god to be a better person or live a better life.

 

I believe in reincarnation because on a molecular level it makes sense to me. Everything is made up of energy. WE are all masses of vibrating energy....so when our physical body dies the energy that makes up our soul rebirths itself into a new life form...that is if you havnt reached nirvanna in your lifetime. Many Buddhists believe that if nirvanna is reached than the karma cycle is broken and you are free from physical burden and will no longer reincarnate. I havnt gotten to the point of my personal journey yet where trying to obtain nirvanna is of any interest to me though....Im still just trying to Be in the moment with shit! Its the first step and the flippin hardest! =]
But ....did that answer your question Corey?

 

I swear Im not picking on you Corey...just trying to understand....if its to sensitive a subject for you...you dont have to answer.....but why feel a need to get close to God if your already happy? If youre a grounded and balanced individual why would you want to give somebody else all the credit for your work? Granted.....I believe in a higher conciousness....there obviously is something grander than us at work....is that what youre choosing to worship as God?

 

I don't believe in god either, as in jesus.... the bible or anything like that. I believe the whole story of jesus is based on the sun. Its been explained to me a few times, and totally makes sense in my mind. However I do believe in higher purpose. That there could be a much better way of life on earth, but we are all just too distracted to care. I take from many beliefs and keep my own, and most of those cannot be proven nor disproven which allows me to just pick and chose what I want to believe.

 

Well Mandy i'm talking on-line, so it's not exactly of the traumatizing category. Talking to random people with random knowledge is also great practice for my majors. I'm as relaxed as can be. I believe the universe was made by God, including me. I'm an extension of him in some way. I didnt create the universe. So therefore, of course he gets credit.[in my opinion] What does your higher consciousness entail? Are you not entirely sure, or what?

 

Your reincarnation answer sufficed for what I was trying to gather. However, I want to know what you think happens to someone who reaches nirvana and dies.

 

I believe that the higher conciousness is a collective of positive and negative energy put off by people and all living things. Thats why its always important to make wise and concientious choices. The energy you exert is what other people are going to feel who are in your immediate presence....your energy will affect them either positively or negatively and they will act accordingly. Animals and plants are also affected and contribute as well. If everyone lived to their fullest potential and sent out positive vibes then the whole world would be peaceful and beautiful because we would all be feeding off each others energy.

 

Once you reach nirvanna then your soul is freed forever from physical bondage and is released into the higher conciousness as positive energy.

 

buddhism isn't about positive vibes though, is it? it isn't about negative vibes... it's about disassociating with the vibes altogether. detaching one's ego from what is 'percieved' as positive or negative since they are the same thing. can you comment on this mandy?

 

sounds like a conspiracy theory to me. God in Christianity is the same God as in Hinduism, Judaism, and Muslim's.[plenty more in Islam] the roots of these four previously mentioned religions date back further in textual evidence than any other religion, they should definitely be taken into consideration. יהוה, this is how God's name appears in the bible in hebrew in its purest form. this is known as the Torah. the Torah has been unchanged per translation and per transfer. it is a completely reliable source. as God's name appears in Hebrew, it is translated to English as YHWH.[or as some people say Yahwah] In hebrew it is pronounced Yod-Hey-Vav-Heh. This meaning "I am" in Hebrew and English. This is the same God per generation. In Christianity, the original followers were Abraham, Noah, David, Jacob, and Issac. In Judaism Moses, Ismail, and Isaac brought forth the original followers. Muslims first generations were started by following teachings of Moses, Jesus, his apostles, and Noah. The Hindi are a bit of a different animal. There are different tribes that vary in beliefs. However, their originators believed in the same God as in the previously mentioned religions. This was when the Hindi were only in India.

Now Pat, you telling me that this is all a conspiracy is ludacris when held up next to the facts. This didnt just happen because they're trying to draw people in from different angles or something like that.

 

so how did that process begin?

 

this is totally untrue. getcha facts straight. you're comparing apples to carburetors.

do you get your info from xtian pamplets?

 

oh really? do you really want to get into this? dont pretend like you're educated on something you're not.
what proof do you have against mine? please, challenge me. i know you're nothing but an instigator. i'm almost a grad in this field guy.

 

yep. The first law is accepting that life is suffering. Once youve accepted that fact then you can go through the steps of unattaching yourself from misery. Misery mainfests in many forms. One of the first steps is through realizing the interconnectedness of everything around you and beyond. When you come to a full realization of that and live your life being constantly aware of that fact then it becomes easier to put your own ego aside and live purely for the betterment of your environment and not for your own pleasures/ego. I personally have a hard time letting go of my own perceptions on "postive" and "negative" cuz its so ingrained in my brain. Practicing Buddhism [and Im still relatively new at it] has been very difficult because I find it scary to believe that there is a nothing. If there is a nothing then I like to think of it as a positive nothing....but thats just my damn ego gettin in the way again! Im sure as I grow my view will change. However, Buddhism is a very personal journey. There is no right or wrong way to practice it because everybody suffers from different causes and everybody has unique hang-ups. There is no direct path to follow only general guidelines and ideas to ponder in relation to yourself.

 

science

 

good joke