Around the Survivors a Perimeter Create

[ehowton]

Muslims tell us Islam is a religion of peace; that we shouldn't judge an entire people on a few extremists. Of course the extremists don't think they're extremists, and they certainly don't call themselves that. Hell, look at Christianity and not just the absurd amount of denominations - which would at least be easy - rather the different theological positions which infiltrate and span dissimilar doctrinal churches: charismatics, evangelicalists, continuationists and their polar opposites the cessasstionists, dogmaticists, born-again-ists, fanatacists and fundamentalists...to name a few.

I know Christians and atheists both who are straight-laced as can be, as well as members of both camps whose ethics you'd question frequently. So if spirituality doesn't guide their morals, what does?

Its crystal clear: God hates fags, but there's gays who preach; women are subservient but some women teach! Free will, predestination, works/sew, grace/reap - omnipotent divinity, causation/correlation, monotheistic holy trinity?

Muslims tell us Islam is a religion of peace; that we shouldn't judge an entire people on a few extremists. On what then, should we? I tell you - completely by accident, I've figured it all out: I'll look critically at low-mysticism (and I'm going to come unglued on the next person who tells me Christianity isn't a mystic religion - seriously? - Revelations, anyone???) religions which firstly contain equal parts philosophy, and secondly have no extremism whatsoever (or extra-terrestrial planet-populating ideas, but that's a personal choice).

Have you ever tried to explain to people how you manage to stay so happy through simply maintaining a good attitude, backed up by years of empirical data, only to have the Dalai Lama sit down in your living room and repeat back your own words to you?

Yeah, neither had I.

I was dumbstruck.



I caught his holiness the Dalai Lama in his "first live morning show interview ever" on an impromptu day-off and couldn't believe what the man had to say. After droning on and then listing all the problems currently in the world, Ann Curry asked him, "How do you find contentment in all that?" His reply?

Basically, these problems are temporary.

I love this man! He qualified this with statements concerning human experience and attitude being key to overcoming problems in the world today. Had I not learned this myself through my own experiences, I might've thought this man a loon. Instead, I'm all, "Finally - someone to back me up!" It just turns out that 'someone' is the Dalai Lama. Pretty impressive posse, huh? Next - and this is even better - after Ann asks him how he handles his own sadness [concerning a tragedy] when he can't do what he wants to do, he chuckles at her! Then says,

If there's a way to overcome it, then you don't have to worry. If there's no way to overcome that suffering or tragedy, then there's no use in worrying.

People, I've been saying this for years.

I'll look critically at low-mysticism religions which firstly contain equal parts philosophy, and secondly have no extremism whatsoever. Buddhist practice what is known as the "Middle Way" which is a "path" between extreme sensual gratification and extreme subjective sanctification. God that's smart. let me clarify - There's no such thing as a Buddhist extremist.

So maybe I'm a Buddhist?

That's okay, some accounts suggest Jesus was too.

Comments

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

When I talk about belief why do you always assume I'm talking about God?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

[thesweetestnote.livejournal.com]

Too bad there's no audio on this :(