Me my religion

I like to drink fermented fluids
and get naked in the wooo ids

Past the seeker, as he prayed, came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them, the holy one went down into deep prayer and cried, "Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?"
And out of the long silence, God said: "I did do something about them. I made you."----Sufi story, from "The Spirituality of Imperfection"
I think Arlo's right: We are here 'fundamentally' to find and practice kindness.
P&L, Kevin

There is a great cosmic secret that was hidden by God in the desert near Jerusalem and you must spend your life in a mystical journey of discovery to grasp the knowledge that will always be one grasp away!

Ya ya I can make some bucks on that con, sale a few treasure maps and shiny trinkets and play puppet master.

Oh to be wise again
Get back to those lazy waters

and there is a dull constant tapping in the back of my brain
and incense fills my nose and
the enlightened one sleeps on the floor

Jezebel, wake up and rise, and begone

I don't exactly see kindness as an opiate for the masses...
P&L, Kevin

Kindness and Respect

Things I do and have taught my child to do not because some immortal being says I should, I never said to my kid

"If it weren't for God saying its wrong we would go out and kill some people tonight"

I do it because I think it the right thing to do!

My point exactly. Thanks.
P&L, Kevin

ONE of the many things that annoy me about organized religion is that it uses a lot of mumbo-jumbo rhetoric to blind people to the fact that treating others with charity, kindness, and respect is simply in one's own best interest, and we don't need a higher being to tell us to do that. It may seem a bit crass, but if that were the general philosophy, we'd all win. Why is this so difficult?

I'm a Zarathustra Booster,
It's good enough for me.

I like zara. Was it him who first him who first said we jsut keep going into the fire until we get it right?

I think you guys did really great! The diversity here makes up strong. I (privately of course) was thanking Tarbaby for showing up and stirring up the soup. Sometimes we get to thinking that we are safe from the false accusations of others, and are taken by surprise. I thinks it's great to get a little practice on the subject.

Now if I was really gonna start me a one world religion, I'd of at least designed some cool outfits for everyone, built me a couple of temples like those old Greek jobs (they were cool), and had some parties to commemorate something.

So, if there's any designers out there, please submit your designs asap, anyone with some temples, please put the organization in your wills, and everyone having a party should consider some rituals we could initiate.

Of course there'd need to be some secret core group that has all the fun... volunteers?

adg

I have this feeling the "secret core group that has all the fun"... already resides here.

I believe that too, Ceashel
For me organized religion is to keep people in line, to be able to easily manipulate them, stop them from thinking other then wanted. That's the way I always felt going to church while growing up.

Of course there'd need to be some secret core group that has all the fun... volunteers?
adg

Yep, I gladly volunteer, don't have a temple to hand down or anything else. But I am in for the fun, which I am already having. This is a very inspiring thread thanks to TarbabyJim.
For the rituals: Being a hopeless romantic a bonfire at the beach, some guitar playing and singing, arrival and departure with the blunderite bus would make me very happy.

Oh... Arlo!

Could we have Kool-Aid too? sorry, bad joke

You know there was one in the 20th century who did truly believe in a One World Religion. It was his dream that all the manifestations of God that exist could coalesce into a single manifestation that would break down all the barriers of hatred and such. He is a bit of a comic book character today with his skinny legs and arms and bald head and Will Smith ears and his naive see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil kind of way. His was the vision of the dark and light manifestations of God neutralizing into some utopian peaceful coexistence (of course, being Hindu, that makes him a militant fundamentalist of sorts), One thing I do believe he got right is:

That it is a lot more difficult to love your enemies than to love your friends!