MagsJ wrote:So being fully sentient/present, brings on all the problems that being fully conscious entails.. a sound reason for the existence of a religion to ground and in-still morals and such in burgeoning communities and society, as a whole.
I do personally think that growing up within the boundaries and confines of a religion, made the process easier and probably more bearable, as life was shrouded in routine, and church, and studies, and Community activities and seasonal events and showcases, and so buffering its congregations from the harsh realities of life.. I think I’ve taken that for granted and as a given.
This is the way that many of us grew up. We don’t recognise the help we’ve had until it is gone. Consciousness doesn’t only bring problems, it put us into an existential dilemma. This is something that the Ancients addressed in stories, whether as myths or allegories, and properly read they can help us today. You see the dilemma at large when young people see their lives as pointless, or when gangs create their own “mythology” and round up the young people looking for purpose. You see it in people who go to the Scifi meetings, or Comicon. They're trying to put meaning into their lives, often because the mythology our society is based on has disappointed them.
MagsJ wrote:Sad, that someone has to die to prove a cause or show humanity it’s failings.. so humanity hates, someone has to die, and then we all go back to love. Can this cycle be broken? are we there yet?
Do we need hate to catalyse love, or can it become a standalone notion and therefore mutually exclusive, and start an era of the end of the negative forces that form human nature?
The problem is that we only see the positive after contact with negative. We don’t have to go so far that people die, if only we could mentally go through experiences and learn from them. The problem with a lot of pseudo-religious stories is that they are only stories and they don’t leave you asking what it meant. Therefore you don’t engage with them in the way the old traditions would have you do. I used to teach that the OT stories are a vehicle for people to get in and travel with until they get the meaning. In that way you become part of the story in the same way as you might if you enacted the story. It helps you see that you have both a benevolent and malevolent side in you. You discover your shadow, which we always fail to take into account.
The divine is in all those things that we can’t take for granted. The divine is what we should align to, so that the power of the divine channels through us. God is love, when aligned to that love it increases. The same goes for all of those gifts of the spirit. It works when you know that you can only ensure that these gifts are around you if you stay conscious and alert to your potential. Confession is necessary because we do fail, but it is only effective if you know your shadow.
MagsJ wrote:That may be why even though I am a non-practising RC, I still attend and enjoy Services with family, as it’s a chance to all congregate together and catch up and be a whole family unit again.. memories rekindled of all growing up together.
I guess that being indoctrinated from birth, really does mean that that religion will always be in our hearts, and in our minds, and in our very being.. regardless of whether we want it there or not.. it is part of our very make up that made us up during the most formative years of our life. What would we have been without it? I always wonder..
I think what you experience with your family at such occasions is that spirit of love and wholesomeness. It feels timeless. It feels right. But it must be worked for, and each of us has to find a way to practise our religion so that it doesn’t degenerate into a meaningless procedure.