I do not discuss religion on my blog when at all possible, because I just don't want the headache of dealing with closed-minded individuals who refuse to understand that people are allowed to have beliefs different from their own. The beauty of all humanity is the diversity of the people who comprise it and, in my many travels around the world, I have learned to love this inevitability of the human condition. This is reflected in my personal beliefs, which are colored by the many religions and peoples I've encountered over the years.
The foundation of my own faith is built on the Buddhist precepts of cherishing all life and doing no harm to any living thing. And though I do not consider myself to be a "true" Buddhist, it is the religion with which I most closely identify, and has been since I first studied it in Thailand a dozen years ago. But I've also studied Taoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Shinto, Confucianism, Bahá'í, Scientology, Wicca, and dozens of other belief systems like Native American spirituality, Aboriginal world-view, and even voodoo. My attempts at understanding the people who inhabit this planet inevitably lead to investigating their faith, and it is a passion that does not easily leave you.
Studying religion is no easy task. You have to be willing to immerse yourself enough to truly appreciate it, yet be detached enough to see how it works. But there is beauty everywhere, and the joy of getting lost in The Holy Qur'an or The Bhagavad-Gita or The Holy Bible or The Tao-Te-Ching or any text of profound belief is intoxicating. There's always the desire to keep going deeper and deeper... trying to find new levels of understanding in that which others have devoted their lives to studying, yet admit to never fully understand themselves.
And now, in a time where religion is doing such a marvelous job of dividing us, there is one thing which I still believe is true: as a species, we will forever be more alike than we are different... all beliefs considered. Whether this is enough to save us from ourselves remains uncertain.
But sure I hope so.
Because it's about the only thing that keeps me from choking the ever-loving shit out of all the dumbasses running amok during the holiday shopping season.
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Thank God, or your concept of a supreme being, should you choose to have one, for Amazon.com. Else I would be choking everyone in the mall to death.
I choked on my Sprite when I read that last paragraph because I was laughing so hard. That made my night.
Nicely written. With a classic Dave punch at the end. 🙂
I once had someone in my comments let me know they were praying for me, and did I mind, since I (also intentionally) don’t blog about my spirituality. My response is that if you want to pray for me, however you choose to do it, I am grateful and flattered and it really shouldn’t matter what I believe. Anyone who is offended that another offers to pray for them is dumb. Well, unless the other person is irrationally praying for your lost or ruined soul–I think that’s not very nice at all.
Oh Revealing post!!!
I understand now… Blogography is just the expression of the three poisons of the Spirit: Greed, Anger, Ignorance!!! 😉
PS. I suppose that Lil Dave reached the nirvana… But I am anxious about Bad monkey !!!
Go ahead and strangle the dumbasses. It just gets them to their deity faster.
You and I so briefly touched on this most serious subject ever so briefly, as I recall. We delved into the nuances of belief and the way a worldview can have an affect on one’s personal interpretation. And I am glad that, even through our differences, we have become fast friends and are willing to “walk by” those things we cannot agree on. But deep in my heart, someday I believe, you will be blessed by the revelation that has led my group for lo these many years; thumbs on the larynx stops the air quicker. Someday you will see the light. I just know it.
I’ve always wondered how people of different faiths seem to attack each other based on their differences instead of focusing on the (far many more) likenesses. Shows how many of us are total bigots. God forbid anyone should be cut from a different cloth.
My faith allows for strangling.
I started this comment several times…I’m still not sure what it is I want to say. There’s always the classic “longtime lurker, first time commenter” thing.
This part of your post: “The foundation of my own faith is built on the Buddhist precepts of cherishing all life and doing no harm to any living thing. And though I do not consider myself to be a “true” Buddhist, it is the religion with which I most closely identify” matches exactly how I feel about religion.
Thanks for the post..and a reason not to kill all those idiots out there.
Nice post.
I’m Wiccan-y, Jewish-y, agnostic-y. And a bunch of other -y’s. I haven’t studied as much, and I’ve kept it more personal… I haven’t so much been on a quest to see where you live, spiritually, so much as just trying to work it out for myself. And where I’ve landed is, like you, on that pluralism, but again from a personal (Roberta-centric) angle… just because this is true (my back hurts because the little disks are compressing) doesn’t negate that that may be true (my back hurts because I have anger I’m not expressing).
I worked with a born-again Christian girl years ago who prayed, behind my back, that I would not be able to attend the Samhain celebration I was planning on going to.
She sucked.
But I got a bad cold and didn’t go.
She sucked hard.
I haven’t been too troubled by the people in the stores this year.
But they should all learn how to freaking drive or just stay the freak off the road.
Happy Yuletime.
🙂
What about Pastafarianism? Surely you must appreciate the idea of dressing up as a pirate on Fridays? 🙂
Does this mean you don’t celebrate Christmas or that you celebrate every holiday that takes place at this time of year? Boy, that could get expensive fast: 8 days of Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Adha, Bodhi Day, etc. No wonder you’re ready to off people: your holiday/shopping season never ends! By the way, what did you get Bad Monkey this year?
Amen!
This post gets a 15 out of 10 😀
What if my personal belief is that people are NOT allowed to have beliefs different than my own? Don’t forget that there is ugliness everywhere too…. 🙂
Roberta: Thanks…. I suspected it, but I am now absolutly SURE someone prayed that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy Christmas, cuz I am all a big stuffed up sneezing mess and it must have been some muslim or athiest or jewish (or whatever) person’s fault!
I was wondering where this post would end. Nice finale. 😉
That was an excellent post Dave.
So fitting that when I read this entry, I get Naked Zen Dave floating. Too bad he doesn’t have his eyes shut in meditation.
So does your view count as Davism? Does The Temple of Dave have a Bad Monk?
Avitable usually cracks me up and his comment nailed it, as usual. Although, he could have easily made it a six-word story.
“Evidently, strangling was not so taboo.”
“Strangling conviction overturned due to beliefs.”
“Shoppers strangled in Dave-induced mania”
Wayne, how about:
Strangling: religious ritual or fun sport?