Organized Religion

[Rah nam]

I stay out of them and let them do what the want to do, and who ever wants to participate can do so.
I personally don't need any religion.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Seawolf

Many people have deep introspective spiritual experiences
in religious rituals and ceremonies.
To another person it may not be stagnating at all but liberating.
Would God want us to be against others experiencing their spirituality different
than we do and seeing them as inferior?

Of course, a person can have a deep spiritual exp doing rituals...and I would hope
they would. Only God sees into their heart, not me.

Inferior? I'm not going there...you can if you'd like.

I think we know that thousands over the centuries have performed rituals and gone to
ceremonies out of fear, guilt, habit and show. Ceremonies in themselves promote
repetitious mindless routine with no heart....albeit, imo, and observation.

If you think they promote ever new wonderful experiences...good.
I don't.
I have eyes and I have friends and I know they are thinking of brunch.

And I have felt the emptiness in the priests' as they perform their 8 am masses...
a classic ritual and ceremony...spoken to the little old ladies afterwards as hard and cold as
lumps of coal.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Inferior? I'm not going there...you can if you'd like.

Ha! Some can and do 24/7/365!

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

If you think they promote ever new wonderful experiences...good.
I don't.
I have eyes and I have friends and I know they are thinking of brunch.

And I have felt the emptiness in the priests' as they perform their 8 am masses...
a classic ritual and ceremony...spoken to the little old ladies afterwards as hard and cold as
lumps of coal.

Oh my Miss Hepburn! May I call you Katie?
Brilliant.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Of course, a person can have a deep spiritual exp doing rituals...and I would hope
they would. Only God sees into their heart, not me.

Inferior? I'm not going there...you can if you'd like.

I think we know that thousands over the centuries have performed rituals and gone to
ceremonies out of fear, guilt, habit and show. Ceremonies in themselves promote
repetitious mindless routine with no heart....albeit, imo, and observation.

If you think they promote ever new wonderful experiences...good.
I don't.
I have eyes and I have friends and I know they are thinking of brunch.

And I have felt the emptiness in the priests' as they perform their 8 am masses...
a classic ritual and ceremony...spoken to the little old ladies afterwards as hard and cold as
lumps of coal.

I'm just saying just because someone does something differently than we do doesn't mean it's not introspective and meaningful to them. We tend to think we know what spirituality is all about in the West, but we don't have the rich religious history that other countries do like in the East, which often involve rituals and all that stuff we see as 'unspiritual' here.

[norseman]

I often go "on retreat" to a Tibetan Buddhist centre in Scotland.
www.samyeling.org

And despite being anti-religious, I do enjoy the temple services - sucker for chants and gongs !

[Baile]

Originally Posted by norseman

And despite being anti-religious, I do enjoy the temple services - sucker for chants and gongs !

I love the religious experience of walking along the shore in bare feet, listening to the wind and waves. Sucker for beach stones, always end up with a pocketful to take home.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by norseman

I often go "on retreat" to a Tibetan Buddhist centre in Scotland.
www.samyeling.org

And despite being anti-religious, I do enjoy the temple services - sucker for chants and gongs !

Wow that temple is so colorful and beautiful! I image it's quite an experience.

"Every Sentient Being is Equal to the Buddha"
Tai Situ Rinpoche

Originally Posted by Baile

I love the religious experience of walking along the shore in bare feet, listening to the wind and waves. Sucker for beach stones, always end up with a pocketful to take home.

that's my kind of experience.

[Tanemon]

I feel alien to organized religion for reasons similar to the objections posters have already mentioned. And also, I suppose I've felt alien to it because I had rather little contact with organized religion while I was growing up.

That other people may choose to participate in organized religion doesn't bother me - except for the aspect of antipathy, bigotry, and potential aggression that the fundamentalist sects in one religion nurture toward people of other faiths (or of no particular "faith"). Tends to become political.

[Seawolf]

It's interesting that the word religion is viewed with such antagonism in Western spirituality, considering many of the popular beliefs are based on Eastern religion. The popular speakers and authors that define our Western new age belief systems are basically rehashing Eastern religious beliefs for our modern society.

It's a bit immature, like biting the hand that feeds, or kind of like a generation that doesn't know the experience of having to fight for freedom, so they take it for granted and ridicule it. We think it's spiritual to be disrespectful and condemn the very thing (religion) that is responsible for us having the spirituality we enjoy today. A little college education in religion would be an eye-opener for many of us, as it would help us appreciate the beauty and wonder of the world's great religions, especially the Eastern ones that we are so heavily influenced by.