A moment on the 'soapbox'

[-=//Mika~Pants\\=-]

Hello everyone
I look forward to interacting with so many people of different belief structures.
We as humans are a strange and territorial species. We all agree, on a
planetary scale, that there is a source from whence all of this universe came. Be we Christians, Buddists, Tauists, Wiccians, Shamen, Hindu, Scientists, Self Styled Esoteric Philosophers,.. the list goes on and on.
So why do We as a species fight, sqabble and even kill each other over
the name we choose to associate with our concept of God?
We defend our little truth so fervently and rabidly without even peering into the little truths of others. Is essence of God not equally as present in the beautiful words of the Chrisian Psalms as the poetry of the
Sri' Isopanishad or the profound wisdom of the Tau-Te-Ching?
Are "miracles" brought about by Ritual and Will any less miraculous than ones prayed for in the name of (insert prophet here)?
How can we ever achieve a lasting peace anywhere globally if we cant
find common ground in our most base beliefs?
I'm no-one special. I seek knowledge and wisdom from anyone who
would share their unique insights on who and what God is to you. We as
individuals, all hold tiny pieces of an infinatly huge puzzle. Let's begin to
assemble the pieces.

Love ya!
Rev. Mika.
_________________
There can be only one divine source, by any name. Let's try to understand each other and make a better world.

[jonhomebrewer]

i guess to me God is carbon (is that idolatrous?) the way it goes around and around forever is magical end when we die we will still be here. The best way carbon goes around in a cycle is plants giving sugar (and pretty flowers) and dont forget they also give us oxygen then the sugar gets fermented (and the flowers smoked or used as a bittering agent in beer) and the oxygen breathed and during kreusening the wort gives off (Excretes) SO MUCH co2 and round again goes the carbon. I suppose we could throw the alcohol away but i prefer to drink it. True, man distilled spirits but God gave us beer. Now ive justified all of my habits.
jon*&^%$#
jonhomebrewer@yahoo.com whats your God like?

[roney]

so many religions. which one is 'right'? maybe they all have something to say? I'm with the Mahatama on this one.

'there are as many religions as leaves on a tree yet they are all rooted in God'.

peace all

roney

[-=//Mika~Pants\\=-]

I Agree with you both.
Like a soul, carbon passes from one "incarnation" to the next, unchanged as an element. There seems to be a form of divinity in that, reflective of God.

|I also have much respect for the philosophies Ghandi put forth.

What great and wonderful grains of wisdom we can discern in a thinktank such as this.

Well met jonhomebrewer and roney. I hope to chat with you more.

Love to all,..
Rev. Mika.
_________________
There can be only one divine source, by any name. Let's try to understand each other and make a better world.

[tam]

My opinion is that religion is about placating our fears concerning living and death. Some ppl call it a crutch, but a crutch is a tool and i am happy to use any tool available if it helps The thing about organised religion is that it is a way to build and maintain faith which it seems is needed to maintain certain aspects of will power and healing. 'Though I know of at least one atheist who seems to have his shit together in that regard I am not able to do so and I rely on a network of beliefs built up over the years from Buddhist philosophy and meditation. For me the words (religious doctrine) put out by other people are guide ropes or sign posts along the way - going in the same direction but not necessarily for where I am going. if that makes sense...

I don't believe in the soul or that something passes from one incarnation to another. I don't think the world operates on the linear progression that we assign to it I believe this mostly from meditating and comuning with MaryJane, which could make me a totally deluded fool, BUT I have found it very comforting - really takes the pressure off when i remind myself that 'everything' just 'is'. I just wish I could remain with that knowledge but it keeps wandering off to get high

That carbon idea of jonhomebrewer's is very cool

I also believe everyone should get to believe what they like as long as they respect all other living things and if they can't do that then they can or (no offence intended, that sounds a little too dogmatic but I trust you get my meaning) - peace and love!


regards, tam
Don't go postal, go global

[jonhomebrewer]

hey all
i forget where i posted this but my genius, physics ,anal, hopelessalkie?,super smart ,deaf?, voluminous, dogmatic, repug, literal genius, love/hate friend remided me that we (our molecules) are always here so we never die!
he said his bros dont really get comfort from that but i do and others ive reminded do too so just exist and dont take much more than you can give
back at the end

[Echo]

jonhomebrewer, we'll always BE, it's the awarenes of being that leaves our molecules, or does it?

Agh! Thinking...

Echo
_________________

[Ska_Pastora]

Ok, I dont mean to offend anyone... but my views on religion often do.

I do not believe in any form of god or other spiritual beings, for that matter. I believe in only science, and while science cannot be use to answer all of the big questions... one cannot expect it too!

I do not understand every aspect of the scientific world. I do not believe anyone does. What I do believe is that the minds that humans, the minds that have evolved from what they were millions of years ago... still cannot comprehend all the aspects of the scientific world.

Thus, religion was created to fill the void that we could not answer. It was created to help stop fear, hate and give people a reason to live in what, at the time, was a very dark and scary world. Some argue the world is still in this state... I have to admit I am one of them.

But, when people of different beliefs met... what they thought to be true, didnt add up with what others thought to be true. These differences caused what differences have always caused... confrontation.
Around the time people were fighting wars for religion, people did not have the right to freedom of speech. The masses were lead by kings and queens who ruled like dictators with an iron fist. Origional ideas really had no place.

These religions, that were ment to stop fear and hate, suddenly spawned fear and hate... People had to hide their beleifs to stay alive. People prayed to their gods with no avail, wars still waged and icons of religion tumbled.
This made some loose faith, for others it made thier faith only stronger. Yet, the wars still waged and churches and cinegogs burned alike.

I guess what I am really trying to say is that Religion was created for two reasons. To answer questions we couldnt, and to stop the fear that so many felt. Its way to easy to say that bad things happen to good people because it is part of god's plan. I could just as easily say, bad things happen to people because they have not sacraficed enough of their kind (which was a beleif in part of North and South America at one time... remember the Aztecs?).

take it easy
_________________
"In the hands of the wise, poison is medicine. In the hands of a fool, medicine is poison."
-Giovanni Casanova

[Lilli]

You know people have called me a hard core christian before but its really laughable because my path that led me to believe was sure a twisted one.

I have been kicked out of or shunned or disfellowshipped ot ofalmost every church I have went to because of my cannabis beliefs. Methodists, Baptists, Assembly of God, Christian Church, Presbetarian, Jehovahs Wittness's and 1 non denominational church. I then gave up for about 10 yrs from oh maybe 27-37and studied Edgar Cacey's studies on reincarnation. Was swayed to that for a 10 yr period but even that changed

My path thru the churches started as a little girl when my mother was murdered and we lived next door to a methodist church so i attended every sun an thru the week. Trying to learn more about this God that would allow her to a been murdered. I hated God often hurling my middle finger to the sky and letting him know. Nothing ever felt right in these churches as a child. id spend the night with friends an go to what ever church they went to that sunday. But even into a young adult I still searched for the true God.
I knew the Churches didnt like my attitudes on cannabis and still studied the bible on my own.

I had 35 yrs of bible knowledge in my head and to this day its like I have a little biblical file clerk in my head and when ever some conversation topic brings a scripture to mind that may have an answer its like the little file clerk starts going thru files till I think I know where the scriptures at an then I look it up. It is just part of me I think in biblical terms because that is where my help has come regardless of any churches shunning or rejecting of me.


It wasnt until a yr after the suicide of my son in 94 did I ever see/feel/hear Gods presance in my life. I seen prayers answered almost instantainously. I seen dreams the Lord gave me come to pass.

My feelings got hurt by one minister who had been making home visits
to console us and answer questions when my beleiefs in cannabis got in the way of him even helping us thru the questions and pain of getting over the suicide.

I was feeling really odd, depressed one week and that I just didnt fit in anywhere, I had been upset about it an prayed asking God to let me understand an opened my bible. My fingers opened the bible and I was in the New testament right where my thumb was the answer the Lord had for me. I read " If you were part of this world the world would love what is its own,but because I chose you out of the world, the world will hate you as it hated me before you"That was such a comforting passage and just what I needed to understand.

[roney]

God bless you Lilli. You are an example to all. We find God when we follow our hearts. as you have done. I can;t remember where it is in the Bible but it goes sumthink like this..
' an ye shall find me when ye seek me with all your heart'.

I love the scriptures you post. keep 'em comin' sista!!

love and peace

roney

[Rev. Bob]

I can identify with alot of what is said in this thread,
my realizations:
God is everywhere (omnipitant) beyond our comrehention. He also lives in our Hearts. When this body (carbon) gives up and rots WE continue on our quest for God, if this means taking a new body (reincarnation) depending on our Karma from previous lives, we will do that, until we become 'self-realized souls' ie; knowing our relationship to God, the Creator & Sustainer of Life. then we are able to enjoy His Company, and He enjoy ours, for as long as we live:That's forever! i smoke Herb & chant the mahamantra [hare krishna...] & get HIGH, I wait for the day when i can do this without Cannabis....when..

[Ska_Pastora]

What I have always wanted to know (not being of any faith)
Is, when you "find god" as I am sure many of you have... how do you know which god. How do you know the light you found is Jesus and not Buddah?
I have never understood how someone can just determine who to worship, when the figure "hey, maybe there IS a god".

take it easy
_________________
"In the hands of the wise, poison is medicine. In the hands of a fool, medicine is poison."
-Giovanni Casanova

[machete]

Whether you believe in one God or another, or even if you don´t. When you are in contact with nature, with no buildings or any cement around you, just leaves, plants, grass, insects, birds, sounds, fresh water...
Then, you know that what matters most is life, right now, and it can be great. We must return to nature and be friends again. Go into the jungle or any forest, a real one, then you will see my point. If there is a God or not, it doesn´t really matter, nature does matter because it is life in its most beatiful pure way.

Peace.

[Ska_Pastora]

but, we ARE nature.
And almost all we use has come from it.
Metal, plastics, glass, cement... all these things are nature.
Perhaps, not in their purest form. But none the less, nature!

When you are in a city, you are in a jungle... the concrete jungle we have all heard so much about. A jungle that we made ourselfs... out of the rocks, stones, sand and trees around us.
You dont need to go to a jungle to know that life is what matters most. Look around you, you will see life... the way man has made it.
You will understand that every moment could be your last and you must live today, and forget about tommorow.
I think the city is one of the places you should look first when you are searching for life. With all the hazards and deadly things... we put there OURSELFS... it really makes you think.

I dont mean to say your wrong machete. There is nothing further from the truth. Your reality is yours, I cannot change it. I know the feeling you describe when you say to go in to a forest... it is a great feeling. But Im offering another view. A different answer to the same question, or perhaps... a different question for the same answer.

take it easy...
_________________
"In the hands of the wise, poison is medicine. In the hands of a fool, medicine is poison."
-Giovanni Casanova

[Rev. Bob]

Ska Pastora & machete
i agree with what you say
what works for me personally, and other 'attempted' devotees of the ;Big Guy is when I smoke or eat herb I chant : ;" hare krishna hare krishna, krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama, rama rama hare hare"
Bliss

16 majic Words ie; "The Word" is the most powerful thing I know of!

think how powerful it is to tell your Mother - "fuck off you C*#T" that is a powerful thing to say; POWERFUL , so is "I LOVE YOU"

" there are WMD in Iraq"....Bush & Bliar ? = vast destruction..just WORDS..


_________________
Rev. Bob

Use the Cannabis as a Sacrament ;
http://www.thc-ministery-eire.tk

http://www.3mz.utvinternet.com