Religious ... Spirituality ... Secularism ...
How do you define these terms? Where do you fit in this scheme?
Is is a religious person believe in a specific deity, and follow specific rules set out by that deity?
Is is a secular person believe that anything that is proposed by a religious group should be strike down because of the implication that this group would impose their religion on them?
And what is a spiritual person? Is this person is somewhere in between?
Am I a religious person? Definitely not. I remember being approached by a priest early on to go to church, and I usually say no. My reasons were: 1) I do not want to be told what to believe, and 2) I need direct proof to believe, and just because it comes from the bible, it isn't necessarily true, because it is written by men.
However, I did take a couple of verses from the bible and based my life on it because they were simply good advices: 1) Love thy enemy and 2) If the person slaps you on your left cheek, give them your right cheek. I suppose I chose that because I was in a 'war' situation, and I wasn't quite sure what to do should I meet 'the other side'. It's difficult to understand, but if you practice it, you will realize its transformative power, in you, and in the other person as well. That was how I escaped the 'near-death' situations back in Vietnam.
Frankly, I don't know what to believe, but I am willing to test different ideas. According to one idea, which I think, is the most useful for improving our society, everything is God, and there is nothing that is outside of God. Why are we created? So God can experience, and that experience can only comes from the physical bodies. Why are there 'good' and 'evil'? It's just a contrast so we can experience. We cannot experience something if we are in it. We can experience something only if we are outside of it.
As God create something that is outside of Himself so He can experience Himself, which is an illusion, we in turn feel disconnected from Him ... and there goes our sense of helplessness and sufferings.
In essence, we are all a part of Him. We are All One. The idea that would end divisions between us.
Is is a religious person believe in a specific deity, and follow specific rules set out by that deity?
Is is a secular person believe that anything that is proposed by a religious group should be strike down because of the implication that this group would impose their religion on them?
And what is a spiritual person? Is this person is somewhere in between?
Am I a religious person? Definitely not. I remember being approached by a priest early on to go to church, and I usually say no. My reasons were: 1) I do not want to be told what to believe, and 2) I need direct proof to believe, and just because it comes from the bible, it isn't necessarily true, because it is written by men.
However, I did take a couple of verses from the bible and based my life on it because they were simply good advices: 1) Love thy enemy and 2) If the person slaps you on your left cheek, give them your right cheek. I suppose I chose that because I was in a 'war' situation, and I wasn't quite sure what to do should I meet 'the other side'. It's difficult to understand, but if you practice it, you will realize its transformative power, in you, and in the other person as well. That was how I escaped the 'near-death' situations back in Vietnam.
Frankly, I don't know what to believe, but I am willing to test different ideas. According to one idea, which I think, is the most useful for improving our society, everything is God, and there is nothing that is outside of God. Why are we created? So God can experience, and that experience can only comes from the physical bodies. Why are there 'good' and 'evil'? It's just a contrast so we can experience. We cannot experience something if we are in it. We can experience something only if we are outside of it.
As God create something that is outside of Himself so He can experience Himself, which is an illusion, we in turn feel disconnected from Him ... and there goes our sense of helplessness and sufferings.
In essence, we are all a part of Him. We are All One. The idea that would end divisions between us.
posted by Trang Vuong at 1:33 PM
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