RELIGIOUS OR NOT RELIGIOUS
Those who srink the question of whether to be religious or not to a question of belief in the existence of God or of belief in something else miss the point: Whether God created humand or humans were born via evolution, the human nature stays the same. The question is whether it is good to be religious, not whether the religious dogmas are true exactly. In the human nature there are any inherent qualities and religion is one of them: it has some function in the workings of human societies and in the lives of individuals or then it is an union of many qualities that have some function in them. Anyway, it is an expression of the human nature and useful in some way. Even an atheist can understand some of the useful sides of prayer and of other kinds of religious life. What there is lacking from life one can ask from God. Already the act of saincerely asking moves us one step closer to the goal, the act of trusting greater power makes us see answers that already exist to our problems, and the act of letting go of our ordinary opinions open our eyes to receive a wider view of the world.
I think that the religions of the world have much in common and should ally for a better world. If they oppose each other, they end up supporting the opposites of each other which is very much the same as supporting the real evil of the world which is as far as I know what they vow to oppose. So they should ally a lot, as much at least as is needed for the avoidance of this pitfal.
Each religion is different. I guess that it would be possible to form a model which fittes them all together. For example: taoism and buddhism wouldn't be religions in the usual western way of talking but spiritual paths, i.e. something atheistical or non-devotional in the religious sense. And shamanism may be connected to a natural understanding of the natural world - something before the tower of Babel...
All these things connect to religions, even though I would not myself classify most of them as religious.
My Favorite Web sites
God created perfect world
Castaneda
Mildening pain
Prayer
Devotional feelings
Some thoughts about christianity
Soul
Kahlil Gibran
The rationality of feelings
Eden wins
Paradise wins!
Gaia and buddhism
What is the Tao?
Wholeheartedly!
Religion instinct
Paradise theory
Saving the world
About following one's heart
Rebellion in Hell
Indian wisdom: the chakras
Evil is weak
No deprivation
Meditation and prayer
More religious pages