Re: Religious stuffs really making me irritated
ps2huang wrote:I don't know why; if it's just me, or anybody. When I saw the atmosphere from people of Middle-East or environments, it makes me feel sick. I don't just hate Jewish, I hate people from Middle-East or with the strong disposition of Middle-East stupid religious states of being....
If you can switch the predisposition for fostering hatred for others into compassion, you can enjoy peace within your own life. As James Allen wrote in 'As A Man Thinketh': "To think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all - such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor." This doesn't mean we have to not be concerned with danger to our well being by any particular group. but, it also reminds us we will never be at peace by fostering hatred for another.
On page 90 of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 and 12 the writers mention how the addict cannot afford 'justifiable anger' and it should be left to those better qualified to handle it. With reference to this statement -- it is gospel - there is no argument here. We can always settle such disputes by looking deeply into the person, place, thing or emotion in question and ask if it helps or hurts our recovery program? Does having anger and hatred in our hearts ever increase our peace or does it diminish it? Even if we are justified, so called, in having this emotion does it magically become a peace generator in our life with this newfound license to hate? Or is it still a peace buster whether we have an excuse to be angry or not? The path is clear about which direction to take and all that remains is the release of the anger through compassion of others, inventory work and a conscious contact with God / HP instead of the conscious effort at harboring anger and hatred. Developing insight into the other persons suffering as my Buddhist practice recommends also helps me with releasing anger as well as praying for the individual as the 12 step programs tells us to do. Tired of being angry? Just relinquish control and anger will be diminished. Anger and control go hand in hand.
I was at a religious discussion one time where the group was composed of a wide spectrum of believers and non believers. One atheist said he ran his life by the golden rule. Another person piped up that the golden rule came from the bible, which made the atheist wince. The atheist seemed to take pride in his self sufficiency and did not like to run his life by anything that came out of the bible. Every religion was made by man and as such every religion is imperfect as it is run by man. Despite these imperfections, each religion also has many "perfection's" within it as well. We can still be open to peace generating tools from any of the religions and spiritual traditions that are available to us if we are serious about being at peace. This requires us to run our life by truth and not by prejudice. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them" (Matthew 7:12). Nowadays this verse is commonly referred to as "The Golden Rule," and is more commonly quoted as: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Now, whether you believe in God or believe in Jesus or are an atheist or Buddhist does this wisdom not apply to you? In this case, you can adopt a peace generating tool from the Christians and apply it to your life irrespective of your religious beliefs or lack thereof. Wisdom for living a life at peace is all around us for the taking. But many of us get blinded with labels and personal prejudices. As such, I practice from many religious and spiritual traditions without problems or prejudices and readily look for such gifts irrespective of what label they come under - on the contrary I am most grateful wherever I find them.
The Muslims have a practice of praying five times a day to Allah. For those that do not know, Allah is the same God of the Jews and of the Old Testament that the Christians worship. The Muslims pray at sun up, when the sun is at its zenith at noon, when the sun is part way down in the afternoon, when the sun sets and when they go to bed. Even though I am a Christian and not a Muslim, I borrowed from the Muslim's prayer schedule to use as a reminder for my own prayers. If you are an Atheist you can borrow the Muslim's prayer schedule to be mindful of "gratitude" in your life - you can commune with the universe for all the good that that has been given to you at these same prayer times the Muslims use. If you do not want to develop a practice of gratitude, then what about using it as a reminder 5 times a day to relax your breath, practice mindfulness and bring your thoughts back to the present moment? When you have come to a point of gratitude for being able to open your eyes in the morning and being able to take a breath of air everything else is just gravy so to speak. Gratitude plays an important part with finding inner peace, just as being mindful of the present moment and being aware of anything that causes this mindfulness to wander.
A group of Catholic nuns has a motto of "Charity, Simplicity and Humility." Are these not all qualities we can benefit from whether Jew, Protestant or Atheists? If we think not, then what about developing peace from the opposite end of the spectrum by using Selfishness, Complex Living and Pride? Well, all these qualities whether they be the first group or the second are needed for a balanced life. The key here is that of balance and not to get too far in the extreme territory - for even though water and air are life sustaining necessities, too much of them will still kill us. The point I am trying to make is this; no need to discriminate or form prejudices against other religions - just take what you can apply from these spiritual traditions and use it in your own life to develop peace and contentment within yourself - all it takes is being honest, open and willing.
One time I asked an old Catholic priest if he ever studied about Buddhism when he was training in the seminary. He scowled at me like I was the devil shaking his head and quickly walking away from me. If he was a little more open minded to finding inner peace he might have been able to adopt a few peace generating tools from the Buddhists. Many monotheists believe that Buddhists worship the Buddha like he was a God / god. Well, some do, the misguided ones, but the Buddha was just a human, like the rest of us. Some misguided Christians worship the Pope or a favorite saint, so this worshiping of humans is not limited to the Buddhists. Before leaving his family and princely life for that of a renunciate, the Buddha was Prince Siddhartha of India. Some of Siddhartha's concepts were borrowed from the Hindu's. He added a few things and now other spiritual practitioners are borrowing them from him. Catholic priests are not exempt from being at peace either as the recent headlines shows. With just a little open mindedness, that old priest could have made use of many easily adopted peace generating tools from Buddhism. If you look into your own life, you will see anyone can make use of these 3 pillars of Buddhism that are common to all schools of Buddhist practice. Such tools are available to all irrespective of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. What is stopping you from your life of inner peace?
1- Practicing mindfulness and meditation to develop peace and self awareness of our own true nature.
2- Accepting the liberating wisdom of impermanence and practicing non-clinging and a lessening of craving and desires.
3- The development of compassion for others.
The Gnostic gospel of Thomas was not included in the New Testament due to prejudice. Gnosticism was persecuted at that time and the bishop in charge of what went into the bible only wanted 4 gospels in the new testament. The reason the bishop liked the idea of 4 gospels stemmed from his predisposition with the number 4. There were 4 seasons, 4 directions , (north, south, east and west), the human body had 4 limbs and so on. Jesus' quote in Thomas's gospel sums up man's quest for enlightenment very succinctly in an almost eastern like fashion.
"The disciples asked Jesus, when will the kingdom come? Jesus replied, 'The kingdom will not come by watching for it. It will not be said - look here or look there. Rather, the kingdom of heaven is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it."
The seeds of enlightenment are all around us - we only have to seek the truth and come to peace within to realize this if our guiding light is truth and not prejudice.
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