| I think that the biggest difference between Western and Eastern religion is personal responsibility. It is much easier to do what you're told and count on someone else for salvation (read as 'saving one's arse'). In Christianity, Jesus will do it all for you (or has if you will). Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucianists have to save their own. I remembered a story I heard years ago, and realized it was the perfect juxtaposition: |
| Remember when Jesus was told that Lazarus was dead? He brought him back to life. He healed lepers and cast out "demons". |
| In Buddhism, there is pain in life, and we come back to the pain because we are shackled to the pleasures that are also here. We choose our own destiny by our actions. We also must learn to accept reality and our own responsibilities. |
| Buddha was visiting a large city, and he was surrounded by crowds of followers. A woman came up to him and begged, "My only son is dead, and I am a widow. I cannot survive without him. Please, bring him back to life." The Buddha said, "I will, but you must first bring me a cup of rice." "Oh", said the woman,"I can do that!" "But"< said Buddha,"It must come from a household in which nobody has died." The woman went from house to house, begging for rice. Many people offered to give it to her, but when she asked if anyone had died in that house, the answer was always "Yes, I'm sorry". After many hours of searching, she returned to the Buddha. "Thank you", she said, "I understand." |
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| My own spirituality is mostly intuitive, although my personal philosophy has been drawn from multiple paradigms. Most helpful to me in self-esteem issues is recognition of the Goddess Mother spirit, who has sustained us since the earliest civilization. |
| The universality of spirit is best exemplified in Jain tradition (Hindu sect who wear cloth across their faces so they won't accidentally injure some microscopic being), in the stories of the Bushmen (Mantis the trickster is the precursor to all the trickster mythology), Australian aboriginal (cyclic reincarnation, including all life), and Native American (hence the bear, the psychic mother spirit). |
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| A contemplative lifestyle is comforting (i.e. Buddism) but difficult to implement today in the US. If you can make time each day to block out the world,turn off the phone, etc., and totally relax, you can help yourself melt into the One spirit. |
| The final acceptance of one's real place in the Universe and disolving atom by atom into the One Spirit is essential to completion of the journey. The wheel of lives, which has seemed like a rollercoaster from the earthbound point of view, will become simple and clear from a "higher plane". (higher and plane are earthly namings, for the concept is clearly beyond 3 dimentions or temporal views). Our view is as from the top pyramid of a true multi faceted diamond, and, as we lower the horizon and increase our view we see from infinite paradigms. The times we have reached "enlightenment" here are very brief, beyond words, beyond retelling or reliving; then they will be all. |
| My advice is to play with babies and puppies whenever the opportunity arises. Harvest all the hugs you can. You can be sure that you are loved, and that the more love you have, the more you will get. There can never be too much love. Those who attack your spirit are merely unsure of their own, and you are ultimately responsible only for your own actions, and for the energy you put forth into the universe. |
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| I derive most of my personal spirituality from biology and physics, which support a unified spirit paradigm. I believe in love. I can just relax and feel it in innocence anywhere. Love isn't taught, it must be UN-learned. It is the natural state of being. I believe that hatred, envy, and greed are all social constructs. They are the result of rule making and separatism, of outcaste groups and ostracism. As society mis-directs, parenting follows its lead. |
| The Thomas theorem says, "what man defines as real is real in its consequences". Basically, we are what we think we are, what society has taught us to think we are. If we can UN-think the patriarchal world view, we can construct our own internal peace. At least that's my opinion. |
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"I have resigned myself to thinking that the majority of people are more comfortable letting someone else do their thinking for them than doing the hard work of thinking for themselves. Unfortunately, majority rules." ~Beau 2005 |
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