That Western Mindset is Plaguing Me, Still...

Hello Readers, since the inception of this Blog I have tried to think of Posts, typically for days prior to beginning to write them, but some of the most impulsive Posts tend to be the best written and drives the best point home, at least from your author see it... So lets hope impulsive writing proves to be good once more... ;)

So today I was working with this nagging feeling over me, bring down my mood (I have been smoke free for nearly 3 weeks, I should be happy, right?, not so much) down. I struggled through like normal and just let myself drown in my own random thoughts (typically religious, and grand in nature... not sure why... <snicker>). Well that made me think that maybe I should dive head first into Hinduism just to see what our world's oldest [still practiced] religion is all about. Now keep in mind I know a little more than your Average Joe just because of my subjective religious studies, but not a whole lot more than that.

Sooo that is exactly what I did, went reading online and checked out some of the deeper ideas, beliefs, and belief constructs of Hinduism... Interestingly enough about an hour into reading... it was like I was watching myself {third party style} go in a direction I have went before... Looking for comfortable surroundings of sorts... Looking towards a celestial (of sorts) structure of some type(s) of a God system within a religion. It is this thought that draws me into religion... However, I believe the Buddhist's belief of it not mattering at all... why does it matter... should you act any differently due to that reason... no, you should be a good person no matter what... period!

Sooo, with that in mind, why does it matter? Who cares? People who are scared about afterlife possibilities, that's who!...  assuming that this is the 1 and only round, which I personally do not, but that is your opinion and your have the right to have one (at least for the, moment). However, that is neither here nor there, just do not hate on people for believing in something that has absolutely no affect on you in any way... please?

Got a little off track there, my apologies... The reason why the thought came into my mind to look into Hinduism at that point in time was because of their God structure(s), and there is not much, if any really, mention of a Creator God by Buddha, actually he points out how irrelevant the thought is. So given that I was born in the West (the U.S. especially) I have a mindset that I cannot imagine a world without God. Our capitol has the word God mentioned on monuments and in the public over 200+ times and our originally "founding" of this country has deep religions ties to God (Protestant Reformation), so that is hard to shake the importance of  God within my faith...

Luckily that is an advantage to not following a rigid religious structure, or doing what I did and invent your own (Logical Spiritualism (which I am still defining, and may never be fully defined)). So I can cherry pick to a degree, with Buddhism being its foundation (the only religion that science has yet to disprove any aspect of, at least that I can dig up)... Even with this in mind I still have inner conflict about not worshiping a God in the at the of the day... however, I use Buddha's answer to the question about it... Does it really matter? [sum up of what he said, not verbatim] and that helps the conflict while I "sort things out".

So, do I believe in God? Yes, I do. However, that is the end of my answer to that question... 2 years ago, that would have been a long answer and I would probably try to convert you... but not anymore. What changed? Maybe I achieved a greater degree of semi-enlightenment? That I cannot say for sure but I have a completely different outlook and even personality... and personally I think it was for the better... For me and everyone that comes in contact with me...

Making things less complicated sometimes the correct answer comes to the surface...

Till next time,

-automachi

Church of England to the Bible then to a Western Mindset that is hard to Shake...

Well, readers, sorry for the long gap as I have been extremely busy with all kinds of stuff and that has really put a hurting on my writing, so... I am making time even though exhausted... 


Life always seems to come in cycles and come in like a lion but out like a lamb, per se... I have been adjusting to moving, going back to taking class (even though I have a Masters) but love to learn, and working on high profile IT projects... However, you must observe what you believe in and that is bringing Logical Spiritualism to the masses... or something to that affect... I apologize for beings really bouncy on topics but I have had little time to focus on my spirituality this month, a bad thing by all religious standards, ooooopppss, glad I am Logical Spiritualist, so I set the rules and logically I was too busy. ;)

Since we last spoke an event occurred, that event being the Royal Wedding of  Prince William and Princess Katherine. I love the Royal traditions that occur in all areas of the United Kingdom since there inceptions. However, it actually sparked my spiritualist nature... You are probably asking how and what am I talking about?

That would be the Church of England. Their faith, Angelica, is a unique take on Christianity and made me look back to the Protestant Reformation and really the Church of England was one of the first, biggest, and well known splits of Christianity (split from Catholicism), there are numerous reasons why people say they split so pick, I will allow you to draw you own conclusions but I digress. The Church of England seems so close to its Rome counterpart but with less guilt, Haha! Learn to laugh its fun!!!

Lets try to get back on topic, whatever it is... Oh, yeah the Church of England, it is a unique perspective on the Christian faith, as many have said throughout time, the Church of England is a "Middle Ground" between Catholicism and Protestantism. All religions have splinter sects that either take up a majority of the religion like Catholicism to Christianity, or Orthodox Judaism to Judaism, but Christianity "takes the cake" as far as how many splits there have been, or that has the most sects out of any of the major and minor faiths... Why is this a fact? Oh, and yeah... this is a fact.

Personally I think it is due to 2 things, one being that the Bible is written very cryptically and can betaken literally or metaphorically, and two, due to reason one, there are a lot of people that disagree for a plethora of different reasons...

I told myself that I would probably never pick up a Bible and read any of it's contents ever again, now I reconsider my previous statement. I think there is a lot of good things there and Christianity I hold I higher regard now than what I had. Jesus Christ was a great man, a bodhisattva in the least, but I find that the esoteric thing (Creator God, and how it all went down) to get in the way of good (as a whole).

What I mean is that we know that all the mainstream religions promote good values, morals, and standards (or at least if you follow them correctly). So why does where we come from really matter? If we strive to be better people than we will go to a better place, or plain in the end in my eyes. Besides, science has already figured out where we came from. Sorry everyone proof is in the pudding.

So lets try just to follow the rules of goodness of our respective religions and stop telling everyone else they are wrong... It is senseless, if you are a good person and follow a faith not harming yourself or anyone else in anyway than so be it, and you are doing just fine in my book and any other logical persons'.

Sorry for the ramblings, my next post will be of my continued walk in what I find to be right, and suggest you do the same.

Until next time...,

-automachi