Humans identify with certain religious beliefs out of a deep need for purpose and connection. I've had contact with Buddhists for a couple years and I could see that most of them got relief form delivering themselves to a group of people sharing the same set of beliefs and practices. And also by giving their hearts a honorable path to walk upon throughout their lives brought them purpose, guidance, safety and peace.
Buddhism is still a religion or set of beliefs yes but out of all those that our species as come up with, it's one that I can respect.
I believe that it would be beneficial to understand that ending with religion, criticising it, pointing it's flaws and so on won't solve the problem. Because those deep needs are still there no matter how much we fight religion.
Instead we could shift our focus and try to better understand those deep needs that drive human beings in identifying themselves with religion, cults or even political groups... This way we could present better alternatives to religion.
I for one feel in myself a very deep need in believing, pay respect and gratitude to some kind of higher power: the Cosmos itself feels to me like a very good alternative. I don't really know what the Cosmos is. No one really does. It's a mystery. But you can see it, taste it, feel it. It's all around us and within us.
Mindfullness is actually a very good tool in that it provides us a way to connect to this mystery and achieve some balance within ourselves.
1 comment:
Unfortunatly , I think , when it comes to the need of belonging to this group or that group (be it religious, weekend motorcylcle groups or a group of people who own Shiwawas with hair extensions of the color blue), its getting more and more diverse. And not that it's bad. I think variety and diversity is a great thing that we've been very fortunate to enjoy, exponensialy, for the past 45 years.
The freedom of expression that comes with it is really a great thing.
But, while becoming too diverse, it can also make us feel, more and more, seperate from each other. Because the group X, usually, is against the groups Y and Z (even though it might be involuntary and uncounscious). When people didnt have so much freedom of expression, maybe they were more united and, together, fighting for a cause and for something everyone believed in. There are many historical events that happened from the sixties through the middle seventies. And again, group behaviour. And I dont believe Salazar or the Franquista era is the way to go.
But this diversity it's preocuppying, for me at least. Not in the sense that we should sensor the creative freedom of building new groups, that might, or not, make you feel good and be a part of something you care (or that you make yourself believe you care to be accepted and feel comfortable inside some group), but in the sense that maybe too much of this fragmented need/wish of being part of some group, might abstract you of what it's really important in life. Of being aware of the whys of life. Of being aware of the hows. And, most importantly, of being aware, to the fullest, of your own existance on this thing we call life and all that comes with it. Feeling your existance, and not just live it as a passive and numb passenger wearing google glasses (or Google Iris. Maybe in the next 5 to 10 years, we will get that as a "must have") so you can report everything you do at anytime because you cant deal with your own insecurities and doubts in life, while, in that process, reinforcing a persona you believe yourself to be.
Take that, even this days with the primitive portable phones we have ,that can do anything but clean your buthole, away from the avarage teenager (from countries like USA, Canada, France or Europe etc..) and you will have a depressed human being for the years to come. There are exceptions to the rule, and hope those people do take over the world! But we have to talk mass behaviour when it comes to plagues. Sorry, slaves. Damn.. sorry.. cant find the correct word! Lets call it Slagues. Passive, sleepwalking, numb, uncounscious slagues.
I'm am my self a slague sometimes. Specially when I'm on working mode.
The window for self knowledge has never been wider. But the glass that we use to look through has never been as clouder.
There are very interesting possibilities for the future of our race and for the history of what will life be like for us and for the earth.
I consider myself, most of the time, a spectator. George Carlin has a interview where he talks about this, and I couldn't do it better than him, so I suggest a google search for "George Carlin being specactor".
Maybe when everyone becomes a spectator, and there's nothing left to see, we can move on to greater things.
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