Got Hell?... What About the Fear of it?...

Hello Readers, sorry it has been so long since the last post but I have been busy... Went back to school, who would have thought after a Masters, but it is for my career and even enjoyable... at times, but does definitely eat of time in general... Cannot always do what you want,   right?... maybe that will make my writing better? Bigger gaps but content?... We will see...

(Wikipedia) Hell: is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless.


Hell (by whatever name) is feared by billions of followers of all Abrahamic Religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism), and rightfully so as it is horrifically described within their sacred texts and canons. Especially Christian Medieval artwork, wow there was some frightful stuff....

One thing I find interesting is that the earliest of the sacred texts of these religions do not make strong mention of it until later after more writings and as time pasted. Then was really driven to the forefront by the rise of Christianity. So do you believe in Hell? I know I did for 22 years.... but no longer... even with the inability to total shake Western religious baggage... yet...

I would suppose a better question would be... Does the fear of Hell keep you at your local place of worship and/or practice? If you are a Christian and you say no, you are a liar and committing a sin... Shame on you!... haha... sorry could not resist... Back to my point, this is a fraction of what keeps you where you go and what you practice. Now, I must say I cannot speak too much to the Islamic Sector of the Abrahamic Religions just because I have never been to a congregation (but do have a Koran and read it from time to time). Now with Judaism it is a smaller fraction than that of Christianity but is still present, and I am sure their are some that could answer the question with a No and not be a liar, but I think you would be surprised by how few there would be... I know right? How can that be since Christians cannot say no and it be not be truthful but a Jew can? I think it is the follower's of Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew, Hebrew root meaning... Salvation... some trivia for you) use of this idea so heavy because they saw what the power of this idea had, and you still see it to this day.

An even better question for you... Why does it matter if Hell does exist? If you do all you can to uphold a high degree of morals and values (common between all of the Abrahamic Religions) you should not find yourself ending there upon your demise... correct? If you disagree that is fine with me, that is your right and I respect it, but I think that would not be justified by a just God as described by it's canon and every version of the Bible or Tanakh...

My point is, and the thought that came to me to inspire this writing, was how extreme the idea of Hell is, the power of the fear that this idea causes, and how I truly view the idea of Hell (See Author's Perspective Section)... I personally think it is stronger than any fear driven by any secular means... the only close comparison is the fear of death (for those who have it) on a secular (non-religious) level.

I personally know the have felt the power and feeling of believing in Hell, as I was a follower of 2 Abrahamic Faiths in a span of 22 years, and feel for you if you have this fear... and if you are a Westerner Christian (e.g. US Christian Faiths) there is only one way that I found to eliminate this fear, and it just happened, I had a "Religious Wake Up Call", or climbed a couple rungs of the Enlightenment ladder in my book, and that is to seek pure religious truth and do not be afraid to go where the path may lead... and the truth will vary from person to person even if they are both following the same exact Faith identically but neither are wrong... In fact it is the complete opposite... they are both correct. Same goes if there religions are completely different, such as a Muslim and a Jew, in my eyes, can you disprove either (entirely, even though some of the Bible or Koran can be disproved)... No. In my opinion, there are many paths to the same destination (of sorts) no matter the religion, and I am not speaking of Hell, if I were I would be a big hypocrite at this point, I speak of living your life in such a way that upon your passing "you" will find yourself in a better place (depending on religion that "better place" can vary highly between every religion).

I remember a conversation with someone explaining my beliefs, one being that Hell as it is known in West and really most of the word does not exist... The immediate content of the person's reply to this belief was, "Then where is Hitler, since he did not go to Hell"? I found this interesting as a snap response... My answer... "To an existence not desired by anything alive". However, this answer was not fitting to the person and the conversation switched topics... purposely and by my doing, as I could see the person could not look at religion objectively, which most Westerners cannot, I know it took me 22 years, as previously mentioned to be able to look at any religion objectively.

There is something to be learned by this post, that being... If you have the fear of going to Hell, get rid of it. This can be accomplished different ways depending on the person and Faith, if there is an easiest way to rid this fear you must dig within your mind, body, and soul, which obviously isn't easy but the alternatives are not suggested as they are much more radical.


(This is a new section to my writings (posts). It is a short snippet of how I really about the subject. I know I always put in my two cents in the body but I want to be able to expand my feelings and give the audience my outlook, and one that will make many mad, so in the future remember this.)
Author's Perspective:

Hell existed in canon of almost all Abrahamic religions in one manner or another since their respective inceptions but not until they learned the true power the idea of a place of utter and pure suffering would have on it's followers. Then, upon this discovery it has been extorted in many ways due to this idea and what you "have" to do to avoid this place. Religion has molded our world around us that we see today. We are just now seeing more tolerance of other Faiths between Religions, which is good. bottom line the idea of Hell is an amazing mechanism for control period.


(Another new section, hopefully this will not make anyone mad as this is not me expressing views, perspectives, etc., but a way to give you a thought to ponder upon, enjoy)
Thought 4 Thought:
If Hell did not exist in these religions how many more, or less, followers would they have?...

Until next time,

-automachi

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

General Religious Extremism... Why Do You Try Too Hard?...

Hello Readers and welcome back to The Logical Spiritualist to hear another rambling of mine. I hope that you enjoy....

I cannot understand why Extremism in any religious sect exists.Why do you have to try and make everyone believe the way you do? I know there are a lot of answers for this, but really think about it before answering.... It is actually for their benefit only... So the ones that are supposed to be selfless are actually selfish? Yes it is true in some situations (typically in the monotheistic realm in particular). They want their God to know they did everything they could to convert people to his or their Truth.

Now we have to take in to consideration that misunderstanding can play a huge role into this, especially if you are preaching to a congregation of people. Yeah, this trend has started in ancient times and has plagued it through it's (religion in general) entire life time. What I mean by this is people come to a misunderstanding of religious doctrine for two reasons, more often than not, at least in my experiences. The first being told by someone else that you look as a teacher misinformation. That teacher preaching their misguided and poor or lack of interpretation, or something to that affect. How many different religious have spawned out of the same book but think everyone else is wrong?... Yeah, hundreds for all the "Big Books" (Tanakh, Bible, Koran) have created 100s of different branches within themselves. But I digress, the second reason of misunderstanding religious doctrine is over analyzing and making things out of stuff that makes no difference. I will give you an example, people thinking eating Kosher also means you should not use anything that may have animal fat in it like fabric softeners and other crap like that... Come on really!?!... That is over interpretation from someone that needs strict guidance by a good teacher, which most that fall under this group have a cult leader, not a teacher. Take the word from the Logical Spiritualist, having a family member that thinks that they are right and everyone else wrong can destroy the strongest of family relationships to the point where they can never be fixed... again take my Word for it...

Why does everyone get so caught up in the esoteric aspects of religion? Other than the obvious answer that we had to come from somewhere other than an evolving life form that has taken millions of years to get where we are now. This is irrelevant.... Yes it is! Don't argue with me... Sorry about that.... What people need to do is take the book as it is.... Those fables (or truths, whatever) hold the truth to having good moral value and just being a "good person". Do not dig any deeper than you need to in order to be that good person... because when you do dig too deep you will likely fall into one of the two categories I have mentioned above, misguided by someone, or yourself. Wow that would have been a lot easier just to say that, than the paragraph above! <sigh> we live and we learn.... at least some of us do...

I do not care if you are a Muslim, Buddhist, or if you a door knocker (Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, etc.) they all have extremists, some more obvious and in the news than other but they are still there. I never made my local news but I was a Christian Extremist and Messianic Judaism extremist at a time too, at least by my definition. I never killed anybody or anything but in my eyes I was just as bad... The always say hindsight is 20/20...

The bad thing is I can not offer any suggestions as to how to fix this problem, as it has plagued family members of mine for my entire life and still see no solution. Sometimes religion can bring such a darkness upon someone that not even the light of loving-compassion cannot shed light on. Truly sad... again take my Word. 

My advice to this is this and only this... If you are feeling deceived by yourself or someone else in regard to religion back up and take a minute to look logically at the situation and make the right decision, if not you could end up on the path to extremism.

Hoping to inspire thought in a seemingly thoughtless world, your friend. -automachi.

A Foundation Faith?... The First Building Block of Complex Religious Perspective...

Hi there readers, if there are any of you out there, either way this serves a purpose. Anyway,... I have been away for so long because I was unusually freaking busy for 3 weeks, it seemed, but as hindsight is always 20/20 I do not necessarily think my lack of Blogging was due to busyness alone. Really I have not had anything to complain about in some religious sect that I could rant about.

This Blog is about my own spiritual development and intense displacement of Western thinking in the regard to religion and the path to find what I believe to be the divine truth. I need to take perspective and do what needs to be done. A further and more objective analysis of religion is required to find what I hold to be truth, truth rooted in logic, as all absolute truths must be.

As I look back at the Blog Archive of Blog Posts I think, "well, it was written pretty well but... in some degree I have been judgmental". Which was one my main reason I believe for my religious "awakening" occurring. I never want to be judgmental, even of the religions, or of the followers of said religions, that are really frickin out there, and maybe even written by L. Ron Hubbard =}. Really though I think even if you believe in aliens under the earth that makes everything happen (because people do) you should be able to believe in it and practice their religion accordingly (as long as it does not harm others, of course).

But I digress....and do have an announcement to make. I do have a Foundation Faith to what I coin Logical Spiritualism. Everyone is probably wondering what a Foundation Faith is, well... that is because I just made it up. However, it is relevant and will make sense... in a moment. 

A Foundation Faith to me is the basis of my belief in my religion, Logical Spiritualism, there is that word again. The Foundation Faith is the first building block in my religious construct. So what is my Foundation Faith?... Buddhism!... Yes, I am serious... Jeesshh... If any one reading this knows me and has for years we will give you a moment to pick your jaw up... Okay... Can we move on... Okay...

I find that the all teachings of Gautama Buddha to not be dismissive by science, which all other mainstream religions are,... except maybe the far fetched ones that I must disqualify based on general logic and reason. I love the fact that Creation, or a God(s), is not the purpose of the religion, or a main thought, it really holds no place in the basis of Buddhism. It is all about reducing suffering in all sentient beings, or at least that is the best one-liner describer I can think of.

I still have trouble not thinking of a Creator God, and to be honest I cannot say there isn't one but I know that what I need to do now is reduce suffering, in myself, and everyone around me... and everyone I ever meet for the rest of this life and all others... A side note, I was an arrogant "spirit-filled" toxic Messianic Jew and prior to that an  arrogant "spirit-filled" toxic Christian. I told everyone about it too, for 24 years... I started at 5, preaching and speaking in tongues, as the Christian, and about 11 years ago flipped to Messianic Judaism as the person in my family that I followed the path of did the same. It seems I could not think for myself when it came to religion, this is my fault. I might have attained an enlighten state already if I would have took the path less traveled, thanks Robert Frost;)

Now everyone may need some time to pick there jaws up... Okay, lets struggle on. Why did this dramatic change happen? I do not known exactly and think it will be a number of years before I find out why. However, I know that it is was right because I am not a toxic person anymore. I am just a student of all religions following the main principles of Buddhism (I am not a Buddhist, I have not taken the oath, not sure it I every will) that is still finding truth using logic, science, and reason while studying, thereby being what I have coining a Logical Spiritualism.

So do you have a Foundation Faith?... Do you want one?... Better yet do you need one?... If you answered yes to any of those start to study, pick up a lot of books and define yourself,... let no one define you.

Final Thought: You need not find the right religion... You need to find the right religion for you...

Until we meet again.

-automachi