Unconditional love is the unborn love awaiting a person's existence to manifest itself.
To love is to care for, to die for, and to live for other people regardless of being strangers.
To love unconditionally is to love without conditions attached to that Love.
Rather than saying "I love you", I say "I love the world." Instead of saying "I do it for myself," I say "I do it for everyone, including myself."
Thus is the ideal of unconditional love manifested. Anyone can care for their mother and father. Yet he who knows of God knows of His unconditional love for us all.
Such a Love as this was manifested when Jesus Christ died on the cross for all our sins.
It continues today with the rise of secularism as a challenge to God-fearing people to turn the other cheek when the spiritually ignorant atheists cherry pick quotes from the Bible that challenge the Christian worldview of a loving God.
Indeed, what right do the ignorant masses have to misrepresent Christianity? Free speech allows each of us to question the doctrines of both the Protestant and Catholic churches. They do not give each of us the right to harass believers in a vain attempt to prove religion is for weaklings.
For religion is not for the weak willed, because they shall soon find themselves choosing between mannah and God. Rather, religion is for the strong stomach, because there shall be challenges to one's faith in life.
At the root of these challenges is a lack of faith of the atheists. It makes me wonder what they truly have faith in.
What good is a life in which lack of faith is one's guide? Without faith, are they truly free?
However, even the atheists have their beliefs. I know not what they believe in, but have faith that they do believe, for they are human too.
As for faith, just as I have faith that God is merciful, I hope that the unbelievers have faith in whatever they worship, be it Pikachu or Captain Kirk or even science.
Throughout all of this, I also hope that unconditional love, in its myriad forms, is known to both the believer and the unbeliever. Though I do not know how such a Love would manifest among the unbelievers, I know that Love manifests in the form of the Christ for all Christendom.
For I have faith that unconditional love exists, and that it empowers me to act within the limits of my faith in God.
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
20140925
20140918
This One's for the Atheists (satire)
It is because they fear nonbeing that certain people will try your patience when you mention God or even the Buddha. They who fear thusly deliberately remain ignorant. You cannot get any agreement from them because of that fear of death.
Yet I do not fear death because of having meditated on birth and death, being and nonbeing. Perhaps it is my faith in an imaginary friend that gives me hope beyond belief until fearlessness is my comfort and strength.
Those people who do not understand how belief and faith work are ignorant of both faith and belief. In their ignorance, their fears are revealed.
This state of being that their minds reside in is called doubt and is associated with faithlessness. I as one of the faithful shall not get an answer, were I to ask "what do you believe in and do you have faith in it?"
Gravity causes a stone to fall to the earth, but it is a man who throws it. "Let he who dares to cast the first stone be free of sin."
In writing this post, I cast no stone. It is a testimony of faith. Deal with it.
Yet I do not fear death because of having meditated on birth and death, being and nonbeing. Perhaps it is my faith in an imaginary friend that gives me hope beyond belief until fearlessness is my comfort and strength.
Those people who do not understand how belief and faith work are ignorant of both faith and belief. In their ignorance, their fears are revealed.
This state of being that their minds reside in is called doubt and is associated with faithlessness. I as one of the faithful shall not get an answer, were I to ask "what do you believe in and do you have faith in it?"
Gravity causes a stone to fall to the earth, but it is a man who throws it. "Let he who dares to cast the first stone be free of sin."
In writing this post, I cast no stone. It is a testimony of faith. Deal with it.
20140330
With Silent Awe: A Short Critique of Creationism and their Detractors
Sometimes I find both sides of this argument of creationism versus evolution tend to abuse logical fallacies to prove their point. I do not buy the logic of "either you believe in God or you don't" because it is a fallacy.
Why should I take sides regarding belief and faith with regard to religion?
Like the existence of God, evolution is a matter of belief, for belief that evolution did occur is based on the archaeological evidence, but is actually based on faith in the scientific method. However, the scientific method fails to prove the existence of God because it requires belief in something outside the realm of science, which excludes use of the scientific method.
A Christian would have to base his faith on a fallible source called the Bible, much of which is exaggerated to the point of miraculous — the feeding of thousands as Jesus makes his Sermon on the Mount. As well, logical fallacies are often used to make a point, but on close examination they do not stand to reason — the Cretan tells lies.
This may be why the prudent Christian when faced with such challenges by non-believers claims Christianity is outside the realm of scientific argument and only has to do with the spiritual realm.
Within that realm, ANYTHING is possible. Within the realm of science, the scientific method requires evidence based on collection of data. Merely having faith in the face of lack of evidence is not proof of anything significant.
If we take the Bible as a collection of mytho-poetic prose designed to appeal to some of humanity's spiritual needs, then it becomes useful to the few people who believe. Yet the detractors who side with Christians would then object to calling the prose "myths".
In the case of the Bible, myth is defined as hidden truths revealed by consulting the compendium. This is why a good Bible cross references each chapter and verse against other chapters and verses.
Yet a rational mind that has faith in the scientific method makes the false conclusion that myths have only one definition as a fairy tale that does not hold any truth at all.
Obviously then, if it deals with the spiritual realm, then for atheists, the Bible is devoid of truth. This too is false.
Truth is not based on evidence; it is based on what the mind knows to be true i.e. if an atheist deems the spiritual realm to be unknowable because he really has no experience in dealing with it then, rather than saying so, he concludes that a Christian's experience with the spiritual realm is subjective and thus tainted. Because of his lack of experience, the atheist assumes that the spiritual realm is unknowable.
What the atheist sometimes does instead of stating this, is to mock the Christian's experiences.
However, a Christian's subjective experience of the spiritual realm is his story and is real to him. For the only way to view it is not with derision but with the same respect you pay to your grandparents when they tell you about a time before you were born, WITH SILENT AWE.
Originally posted: December 22, 2012 12:19 AM
Why should I take sides regarding belief and faith with regard to religion?
Like the existence of God, evolution is a matter of belief, for belief that evolution did occur is based on the archaeological evidence, but is actually based on faith in the scientific method. However, the scientific method fails to prove the existence of God because it requires belief in something outside the realm of science, which excludes use of the scientific method.
A Christian would have to base his faith on a fallible source called the Bible, much of which is exaggerated to the point of miraculous — the feeding of thousands as Jesus makes his Sermon on the Mount. As well, logical fallacies are often used to make a point, but on close examination they do not stand to reason — the Cretan tells lies.
This may be why the prudent Christian when faced with such challenges by non-believers claims Christianity is outside the realm of scientific argument and only has to do with the spiritual realm.
Within that realm, ANYTHING is possible. Within the realm of science, the scientific method requires evidence based on collection of data. Merely having faith in the face of lack of evidence is not proof of anything significant.
If we take the Bible as a collection of mytho-poetic prose designed to appeal to some of humanity's spiritual needs, then it becomes useful to the few people who believe. Yet the detractors who side with Christians would then object to calling the prose "myths".
In the case of the Bible, myth is defined as hidden truths revealed by consulting the compendium. This is why a good Bible cross references each chapter and verse against other chapters and verses.
Yet a rational mind that has faith in the scientific method makes the false conclusion that myths have only one definition as a fairy tale that does not hold any truth at all.
Obviously then, if it deals with the spiritual realm, then for atheists, the Bible is devoid of truth. This too is false.
Truth is not based on evidence; it is based on what the mind knows to be true i.e. if an atheist deems the spiritual realm to be unknowable because he really has no experience in dealing with it then, rather than saying so, he concludes that a Christian's experience with the spiritual realm is subjective and thus tainted. Because of his lack of experience, the atheist assumes that the spiritual realm is unknowable.
What the atheist sometimes does instead of stating this, is to mock the Christian's experiences.
However, a Christian's subjective experience of the spiritual realm is his story and is real to him. For the only way to view it is not with derision but with the same respect you pay to your grandparents when they tell you about a time before you were born, WITH SILENT AWE.
Originally posted: December 22, 2012 12:19 AM
To Christians, Jihadis, and Atheists
To those people in ignorance whose own religion demand them to be apart from the world, they have shown no concrete evidence of an immortal soul, save for myths based on neo-Platonic reasoning. In essence, the immortal soul is pre-Christian in its origin, and no ancient Christian council presided to make it doctrine.
For only eternal life is the promise of God's own in the afterlife. In this life, all souls have a finite end. Even your holy books says so.
As for the religious extremists who claim the holy war that they mistake for jihad is the only struggle worthy of a man, they are but a disgrace to their Prophet — praise be unto him — by deceiving their brethren into using their cockeyed version of their religious laws to oppress women, children and men from cradle to grave. Even their Prophet (PBUH) said they are to treat girls as princesses, men as their brothers, and women as queens.
As students (Taliban), these extremists are deaf to the call of Islam (submission) and blind to the nature of things. In their fervent belief, they actually have stopped believing in God's word and only believe in what their ego has held onto dearly. For the believer who believes his ego more than in the word of God is no different than the unbeliever!
Finally, those people who believe neither in God nor in religion, please find merit in the scientific application of meditation and give credit to where it is due. For when such people say that meditation can be used without the layers of belief and faith applied to it, they make it a dead thing which becomes like a placebo when practiced without those layers of belief and faith.
Indeed, the wise see that the Buddhist sutras are no different from scientistic research, except that the former has had a longer shelf life than all the fruits of science.
Originally posted: December 30, 2012 12:26 AM
For only eternal life is the promise of God's own in the afterlife. In this life, all souls have a finite end. Even your holy books says so.
As for the religious extremists who claim the holy war that they mistake for jihad is the only struggle worthy of a man, they are but a disgrace to their Prophet — praise be unto him — by deceiving their brethren into using their cockeyed version of their religious laws to oppress women, children and men from cradle to grave. Even their Prophet (PBUH) said they are to treat girls as princesses, men as their brothers, and women as queens.
As students (Taliban), these extremists are deaf to the call of Islam (submission) and blind to the nature of things. In their fervent belief, they actually have stopped believing in God's word and only believe in what their ego has held onto dearly. For the believer who believes his ego more than in the word of God is no different than the unbeliever!
Finally, those people who believe neither in God nor in religion, please find merit in the scientific application of meditation and give credit to where it is due. For when such people say that meditation can be used without the layers of belief and faith applied to it, they make it a dead thing which becomes like a placebo when practiced without those layers of belief and faith.
Indeed, the wise see that the Buddhist sutras are no different from scientistic research, except that the former has had a longer shelf life than all the fruits of science.
Originally posted: December 30, 2012 12:26 AM
The Cult of the Individual: Man-god or Merely Human? (satire)
Selfish as in self-cherishing, the devotee to the cult of individualism would deny she is in a cult. For the ego, when it is in control of your life, will tell you lies to endure its hold over you.
At its root, selfishness is like death: when the world revolves around you, the easier it is to wander through life, impatient with the concerned religionist, flouting your atheism as if it made you better than a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Satanist, a Hindu, or even a Buddhist.
However, the move from religion to psychology and philosophy of Buddhism ensures our life.
Whether we like it or not, a spiritual friend will come for us, either to set us strait or to help us come to understand that the self that wants attention on its merit is solely the root of suffering and sorrow. As such, narcissism is sure to lead the unwary to self-made hell.
It makes this old fool wonder why people would think they are free when they practice no religion. How free are they really when the self tells them: "Oh, it's another religionist! Let's mock him?"
How utterly vain, and foolish are the selfish!
Were they even a bit wise, they'd work in the soup kitchens and help pass out food and clothes to the homeless — I've yet to hear of that, when atheists care about their fellow man enough to dole out food and clothing for those in need.
I do not know if this is because atheists are modest or if they truly care about the rest of humanity. Hopefully, it is the former because the latter sometimes seems to be so far away when the atheists mock religionists of every faith, be it a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Satanist, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or any other organized religion.
For this cult of the individual is surely not a good thing in this post-modern world. Its practitioners often preach entitlement and enable children to carry on the same selfish ideals of their parents. If you dare to confront them with the Truth, then they distort it into a parody of all that is true.
In response I quote Pontius Pilate, "What is Truth?"
Originally posted: February 12, 2013 6:37 AM
At its root, selfishness is like death: when the world revolves around you, the easier it is to wander through life, impatient with the concerned religionist, flouting your atheism as if it made you better than a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Satanist, a Hindu, or even a Buddhist.
However, the move from religion to psychology and philosophy of Buddhism ensures our life.
Whether we like it or not, a spiritual friend will come for us, either to set us strait or to help us come to understand that the self that wants attention on its merit is solely the root of suffering and sorrow. As such, narcissism is sure to lead the unwary to self-made hell.
It makes this old fool wonder why people would think they are free when they practice no religion. How free are they really when the self tells them: "Oh, it's another religionist! Let's mock him?"
How utterly vain, and foolish are the selfish!
Were they even a bit wise, they'd work in the soup kitchens and help pass out food and clothes to the homeless — I've yet to hear of that, when atheists care about their fellow man enough to dole out food and clothing for those in need.
I do not know if this is because atheists are modest or if they truly care about the rest of humanity. Hopefully, it is the former because the latter sometimes seems to be so far away when the atheists mock religionists of every faith, be it a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Satanist, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or any other organized religion.
For this cult of the individual is surely not a good thing in this post-modern world. Its practitioners often preach entitlement and enable children to carry on the same selfish ideals of their parents. If you dare to confront them with the Truth, then they distort it into a parody of all that is true.
In response I quote Pontius Pilate, "What is Truth?"
Originally posted: February 12, 2013 6:37 AM
20130119
On Ghosts, the Fear of Death and the Affterlife
Most likely, ghosts are nothing more than fictions arising in the mind.
There is nothing wrong about creating fictions in your mind, as long as you get your facts straight, and that fiction obeys physical law but allows for anything seemingly supernatural to be metaphor for subtle qualities of the mind.
Thus, a ghost is actually based on the memory of a deceased loved one or mistaken for a dead family member.
If the latter, the purported "daemon from hell" pretending to be said family member is actually a manifestation of fear of death and the afterlife. It is similar to a wrathful diety.
However, ghosts do not exist in reality; for they are figments of the imagination "created" by the mind. A Buddhist would call ghosts delusions manifesting as spirits of the dead, and mostly likely projections of fear of death.
This is why Pure Land way came into existence, to prepare people for the afterlife.
One side effect for rebirth in the Pure Land is that it reduces any chance that a person's ghost will linger, provided that the deceased's family fully accept Buddhism as the toolkit to rationalize supernatural phenomena as projections of the mind.
By doing so, the Buddhist becomes acceptable to atheists.
There is nothing wrong about creating fictions in your mind, as long as you get your facts straight, and that fiction obeys physical law but allows for anything seemingly supernatural to be metaphor for subtle qualities of the mind.
Thus, a ghost is actually based on the memory of a deceased loved one or mistaken for a dead family member.
If the latter, the purported "daemon from hell" pretending to be said family member is actually a manifestation of fear of death and the afterlife. It is similar to a wrathful diety.
However, ghosts do not exist in reality; for they are figments of the imagination "created" by the mind. A Buddhist would call ghosts delusions manifesting as spirits of the dead, and mostly likely projections of fear of death.
This is why Pure Land way came into existence, to prepare people for the afterlife.
One side effect for rebirth in the Pure Land is that it reduces any chance that a person's ghost will linger, provided that the deceased's family fully accept Buddhism as the toolkit to rationalize supernatural phenomena as projections of the mind.
By doing so, the Buddhist becomes acceptable to atheists.
20121105
The Buddha Is not A God
It's like deja vu, because I remember writing a previous blog about this topic a few years ago. However, this present entry is based on a higher realization than the previous post was. When I'm done with this one, it's in my best interest to find the previous one, to reference a link to it.
Regarding Buddhism, the Buddha is not a god, yet Buddha-essence is like a gift given to everyone on birth. It takes the Buddha's story to awaken this essence, and every Buddhist who keeps his story a secret is turning the Buddha away. For everyone is free to become a buddha, yet few of them are ready. For they who are unready have yet to understand what the Buddha means to them.
For me, the Buddha means peaceful bliss and the aspiration to be of service to anyone seeking the calm awakening that meditation provides.
Indeed, meditation leads to Nirvana, for it is peace of mind and it is the "other shore" from samsara, this world of birth-life-death.
If this is a turn-off to atheists, then that's their karma for confusing Mahayana Buddhism with monotheism. IMHO Zen Buddhists are closet atheists.
Since Buddhism is the source of my pacifism, my opinions about other Buddhist streams like Zen are biases inculcated in my heart due to the sometimes patriarchal nature of the master-disciple relationship.
True Mahayana Buddhism encourages the equality of all, yet Zen is still stuck in a hierarchal structure that oppresses rather than frees its disciples.
Being free of book-learning, Zen does not promote ignorance as the wise Zen sages have read the sutras. Rather, the no-books faction in Zen imply that quoting the sutras does not make you a Buddhist. Right action then is when the earnest Buddhist practices what he has learned from the sutras in his life.
This then is the essence of Mahayana, for we are all disciples of the Buddhadharma.
Reference:
Amida Buddha is not a God: http://gandhara.blogspot.ca/2011/05/amida-buddha-not-god.html
Regarding Buddhism, the Buddha is not a god, yet Buddha-essence is like a gift given to everyone on birth. It takes the Buddha's story to awaken this essence, and every Buddhist who keeps his story a secret is turning the Buddha away. For everyone is free to become a buddha, yet few of them are ready. For they who are unready have yet to understand what the Buddha means to them.
For me, the Buddha means peaceful bliss and the aspiration to be of service to anyone seeking the calm awakening that meditation provides.
Indeed, meditation leads to Nirvana, for it is peace of mind and it is the "other shore" from samsara, this world of birth-life-death.
If this is a turn-off to atheists, then that's their karma for confusing Mahayana Buddhism with monotheism. IMHO Zen Buddhists are closet atheists.
Since Buddhism is the source of my pacifism, my opinions about other Buddhist streams like Zen are biases inculcated in my heart due to the sometimes patriarchal nature of the master-disciple relationship.
True Mahayana Buddhism encourages the equality of all, yet Zen is still stuck in a hierarchal structure that oppresses rather than frees its disciples.
Being free of book-learning, Zen does not promote ignorance as the wise Zen sages have read the sutras. Rather, the no-books faction in Zen imply that quoting the sutras does not make you a Buddhist. Right action then is when the earnest Buddhist practices what he has learned from the sutras in his life.
This then is the essence of Mahayana, for we are all disciples of the Buddhadharma.
Reference:
Amida Buddha is not a God: http://gandhara.blogspot.ca/2011/05/amida-buddha-not-god.html
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