If I had to censor my love for dark humor just to save lives of the suicidal, I'd feel melancholic. So please bear with me.
Keeping that in mind and having saved my soul the LDS way, perhaps suicide might prepare my lost soul for a glory so dark that "Telestial" would only add to the confusion.
Although all Christendom might call it "hell", I'd rather call it a dark glory for the wicked, a murky destination interspersed with flashes of what is mistaken for lightning but is actually the arrival of missionaries sent by God to soothe my suffering in the afterlife.
While this cosmological rationalization of the fate of the suicidal in the afterlife may be considered too deep for my followers to fully comprehend, it is designed counter the idea that the least of the LDS glories is always full of gnashing of teeth.
For my understanding of the least of the three glories of the LDS afterlife is of the fitting end to a miserable life where the term "Telestial" comes to mean "the eventual destination of the unbelievers who enjoyed their descent into the darkest of glories only to endure the home visits of elders who minister to them for all eternity."
After long consideration of such a fate, I find it so ridiculous that my melancholy has left me smiling unexpectedly!
It is not schadenfreude - that joy on realizing that suffering is universal - which inspires my change of mood from melancholy to elation.
Rather, I am thankful to the elders and sister missionaries who I have met and helped guide me towards the Light that outshines mortal understanding.
In gratitude of how the Lord works in mysterious ways, I ask myself how any melancholy withstand Him?
It cannot.
For the unconditional love of God Almighty is such that his mercy brightens the lives of all of us who accept his Only Begotten into their lives.
References
Telestial Kingdom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#Telestial_kingdom
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
20150205
20141212
Like a Virgin (satire)
One popular white lie is to say you're still a virgin. Originally, the word "virgin" meant only "unmarried".
Today, its meaning refers to a person who is innocent of carnal knowledge, both of the heart and in the flesh. However, the original meaning still applies to all unmarried single people, as born-again virgins.
Yet the ideal of the virgin is to remain pure and innocent of carnal desire and all temptations of the flesh by dedicating yourself to a worthy cause, be it a religious theology or a political ideology or even a humanist philosophy.
This virginal ideal shall be accomplished by being of service to the cause of your choice, provided you remain free of desire and temptation, all for the common good of society.
By maintaining a chaste mindset, the dedicated virgin is able to sublimate desire into service for her chosen cause.
Since such a path is only an ideal, few of us are able to remain a virgin unless we are free of desire in the midst of the temptations of the modern world, be it television and other forms of technology.
Though a lesser man might succumb to carnal desires in the midst of temptation, the superior man has made the worthy cause noble.
Yet dedication to the noble cause requires the strength of will to purify the mind until it becomes virginal, and thus free of desire.
Desire thus is sublimated into unconditional love for humanity.
This may be sought through meditation and prayer, be it through yoga and/or other spiritual means. However, such dedication also requires each of us to reduce the use of alcohol, cigarettes, illegal drugs, and even meat, depending on the circumstances.
For the purpose of reducing consumption is to dedicate ourselves to the goal of the pure mind and the pure heart that remains free of desire.
Ultimately a person by sheer will and determination will become like a virgin, free of desire to consume and ready to act for the greater good.
Thus the ideal of the virgin is to free yourself from crass materialism, and consciously choose to be of service to the greater good in society.
Such service can be found through work, volunteerism and similar social activities.
Yet only a few people are dedicated to a noble cause.
Whatever path is chosen, the noble cause is each person's choice and requires a simple code of conduct: acceptance that whatever is asked of you, you do it as long as it harms no one.
Thus the ideal of the virgin is the path of innocence, free of the world yet being in service to the greater good of society.
Free of clinging to the world yet ready toserve for the good of us all, those of us dedicated to the noble cause shall realize that the white lie -"still a virgin" - is the metaphor for feeling like a virgin, untouched by desire and free of temptation.
20141031
A Meditation on the Lord's Prayer
In this article I shall quote the Lord's Prayer and interpret it according to what I have learned about the Bible. If this interpretation differs from any other official interpretation, then it is to glorify God and bear witness to the return of the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
First let me introduce the first part of the prayer:
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.
In the first five lines of the Lord's Prayer is the promise that the Kingdom of God will come upon us, though it be without warning. This is a distant reference to the Millennial Age when Christ will rule over the Earth before the End of the (Latter) Days is upon us.
These five lines have been written in my heart as the penultimate Millennial Promise of God sung by the angel of song.
In the second part of the Lord's Prayer we have:
Give us this day our daily Bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
and lead us not to temptation
and deliver us from evil.
Contained in the first line of this part of the Lord's Prayer is the transubstantiation of the body of Christ from the bread of sacrament. Although we as Christians have sacrament on the Sabbath — the day of rest — it represents the renewal of the covenant and reminds us to remain repentant — and thus refrain from sin.
In the third and final part of the Lord's Prayer is the acknowledgement that the Kingdom, the power and the glory is of God, which lasts for a long, long time.
For thine is thy kingdom,
the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.
Commentary:
With respect to the history of Christianity — founded by Jesus and written by Luke, it is like the history of ancient Rome — founded by Romulus and written by the Roman historian Dionysus — and the history of the Hebrews — founded by Moses and written by the historian Josephus — with each founder being born from God.
For Romulus was born by the river Tiber, while Moses came floating down the Nile and Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan.
Over the past two thousand years his being born from God has become the literal truth in the Christ's story as an established Truth that frees all of humanity who accepts Jesus as their savior from their past sins in apostasy, now ritually cleansed away by baptism, provided that they "go and sin no more."
That provision — to go and sin no more — is the essence of repentance.
Afterwards, repentance becomes an ongoing process that is sanctified by weekly church meetings on Sunday, and by daily prayers based on scripture. Indeed, the weekly taking of sacrament of bread and water that symbolizes the body and the blood of the Christ renews their covenant with God. That covenant consists of following the commandments of their church and the observance of fasting and taboos of the respective religious denomination.
In the case of LDS theology, their taboo that addresses addiction consists of no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.
Additionally, the taboo regarding the law of chastity implies no coveting of another person for immoral purposes, such as fornication, be it heterosexual or homosexual. This also includes adultery, including that of the heart e.g. looking upon another person as a sexual object. Finally, there is a taboo against masturbation and pornography.
I can see wisdom in making these things taboo: having no money to buy energy drinks prevents temptation of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
With respect to chastity, my choice of the term "coveting" means the wanton desire to use another person for sexual purposes. Fornication implies a sexual act. As for masturbation, the avoidance of pornography is the result of the taboo against it.
Indeed, the study of the Scriptures — the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) and the LDS scriptures (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) — is purported to be an inspiration to keep the law of chastity.
Though I prefer a cold shower now and then.
Returning to the first part of the Lord's Prayer, I still hear it being sung as though by an angel of song who clearly sings the promise of Jesus Christ to return to rule over the Kingdom of God in the Afterlife when End of Days is upon us.
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Reference:
First let me introduce the first part of the prayer:
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.
In the first five lines of the Lord's Prayer is the promise that the Kingdom of God will come upon us, though it be without warning. This is a distant reference to the Millennial Age when Christ will rule over the Earth before the End of the (Latter) Days is upon us.
These five lines have been written in my heart as the penultimate Millennial Promise of God sung by the angel of song.
In the second part of the Lord's Prayer we have:
Give us this day our daily Bread,
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us
and lead us not to temptation
and deliver us from evil.
Contained in the first line of this part of the Lord's Prayer is the transubstantiation of the body of Christ from the bread of sacrament. Although we as Christians have sacrament on the Sabbath — the day of rest — it represents the renewal of the covenant and reminds us to remain repentant — and thus refrain from sin.
In the third and final part of the Lord's Prayer is the acknowledgement that the Kingdom, the power and the glory is of God, which lasts for a long, long time.
For thine is thy kingdom,
the power and the glory,
Forever and ever.
Amen.
Commentary:
With respect to the history of Christianity — founded by Jesus and written by Luke, it is like the history of ancient Rome — founded by Romulus and written by the Roman historian Dionysus — and the history of the Hebrews — founded by Moses and written by the historian Josephus — with each founder being born from God.
For Romulus was born by the river Tiber, while Moses came floating down the Nile and Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan.
Over the past two thousand years his being born from God has become the literal truth in the Christ's story as an established Truth that frees all of humanity who accepts Jesus as their savior from their past sins in apostasy, now ritually cleansed away by baptism, provided that they "go and sin no more."
That provision — to go and sin no more — is the essence of repentance.
Afterwards, repentance becomes an ongoing process that is sanctified by weekly church meetings on Sunday, and by daily prayers based on scripture. Indeed, the weekly taking of sacrament of bread and water that symbolizes the body and the blood of the Christ renews their covenant with God. That covenant consists of following the commandments of their church and the observance of fasting and taboos of the respective religious denomination.
In the case of LDS theology, their taboo that addresses addiction consists of no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.
Additionally, the taboo regarding the law of chastity implies no coveting of another person for immoral purposes, such as fornication, be it heterosexual or homosexual. This also includes adultery, including that of the heart e.g. looking upon another person as a sexual object. Finally, there is a taboo against masturbation and pornography.
I can see wisdom in making these things taboo: having no money to buy energy drinks prevents temptation of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
With respect to chastity, my choice of the term "coveting" means the wanton desire to use another person for sexual purposes. Fornication implies a sexual act. As for masturbation, the avoidance of pornography is the result of the taboo against it.
Indeed, the study of the Scriptures — the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) and the LDS scriptures (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) — is purported to be an inspiration to keep the law of chastity.
Though I prefer a cold shower now and then.
Returning to the first part of the Lord's Prayer, I still hear it being sung as though by an angel of song who clearly sings the promise of Jesus Christ to return to rule over the Kingdom of God in the Afterlife when End of Days is upon us.
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowéd be thine Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy Will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Reference:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_the_Apostles#Genre.2C_sources_and_historicity_of_Acts
- Wikipedia article on the Lord's Prayer
- The Lord's prayer - The Singing Nun- this is the song I heard on the radio in the 70s.
20140717
The Buddha is My Christ (satire)
It is a flawed theology to fear a non-Christian would go to Hell practising their own faith, be it Buddhist, Islam, Judaism or any religion other than Christianity that promote moral conduct.
In assuming that if I don't believe in Jesus, then I'll go to Hell, the conservative Christian is endorsing a religious opinion that is based on flawed logic.
In my opinion, this is the devilish nature of that assumption: condemnation of non-believers and fear of non-Christian faiths.
Whether or not I go to Hell is not determined by what I believe, but by how I conduct myself. This too is true in Buddhism. Indeed, both faiths require their members to repent from immoral conduct.
Therefore, the religiously faithful of any religion who follow the tenets of their religion will not go to Hell by practising their faith.
Thus I question the condemnation of unbelievers by any religion. Though, Buddhism endorses us to not to blindly accept what the Buddha said but to test everything that is Buddhist.
Perhaps this is why I like Mormonism. While the history of the Mormon is complex, the willingness of Mormons to be open to limited religious pluralism is a good sign. It shows the ability to adapt to the influence of post-modern eucheminism on Mormon thought.
Because I know that unconditional love is the root of Buddhism and Mormonism, I am sure that it will be possible for me to moderate my Buddhist ideals with Mormon ideals. Yet it is unlikely that the mixing of the different flavors of both faiths will lead to strengthening of my core belief about unconditional love.
For that Love empowers both Mormons and Buddhists to improve their lives for the better.
As I grow in my experience as a neophyte Buddhist Mormon, I hope to disprove the assumption by naïve conservative Christians that the syncretism of Buddhism and Mormonism will condemn me to Hell.
In Mormonism, a member eventually will be reborn in one of three kingdoms, the Celestial, the terrestrial and the telestial. Yet the afterlife is not of this world. Even so, the metaphor of the Mormon afterlife can be applied to this life.
If you follow the moral code of Mormonism, then it is possible to achieve the glory of the Celestial kingdom. If you follow the moral code of a non-Mormon religion, then you may achieve the glory of the terrestrial kingdom. If you follow your own moral code, then the telestial kingdom is for you.
In contrast, if you slip up but stay faithful to the Buddhist precepts of moral conduct, then you may achieve Nirvana, which is freedom from the cycle of birth and death in the Six Realms of Desire. If you just follow your own moral code, then you will live your own life.
Whatever my destiny is as a Buddhist Mormon, my depth of faith in unconditional love determines the strength of my moral code which determines my moral conduct. Through meditation and prayer, it is possible to live by my moral code and improve my moral conduct.
Although I am not perfect, I hope to improve my life by abstaining from caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and dangerous drugs. By doing so I plan on improving my health so that I may live long enough to be of service to other people, which is a core Buddhist tenet.
Since Mormonism is dedicated to service to other people, I find that it is amenable to my core Buddhist beliefs.
In Jodo Shinshu, the Japanese Buddhism that is the faith that I was born in, it is said that its founder Shinran Shonin once said, "I gladly will follow my master Honen to hell."
If conservative Christians might condemn me to Hell for "serving two masters", then that is based cherry picking Biblical quotes to support their religious opinion.
So, I certainly do not believe I am going to Hell. Although I have once stated that the Buddha is my Christ in jest, in all seriousness it is the foundation of the spiritual aspects of my life.
By declaring that "the Buddha is my Christ", I am only confirming the influence of the Buddha and the Christ on inspiring my life as a Buddhist Mormon.
In assuming that if I don't believe in Jesus, then I'll go to Hell, the conservative Christian is endorsing a religious opinion that is based on flawed logic.
In my opinion, this is the devilish nature of that assumption: condemnation of non-believers and fear of non-Christian faiths.
Whether or not I go to Hell is not determined by what I believe, but by how I conduct myself. This too is true in Buddhism. Indeed, both faiths require their members to repent from immoral conduct.
Therefore, the religiously faithful of any religion who follow the tenets of their religion will not go to Hell by practising their faith.
Thus I question the condemnation of unbelievers by any religion. Though, Buddhism endorses us to not to blindly accept what the Buddha said but to test everything that is Buddhist.
Perhaps this is why I like Mormonism. While the history of the Mormon is complex, the willingness of Mormons to be open to limited religious pluralism is a good sign. It shows the ability to adapt to the influence of post-modern eucheminism on Mormon thought.
Because I know that unconditional love is the root of Buddhism and Mormonism, I am sure that it will be possible for me to moderate my Buddhist ideals with Mormon ideals. Yet it is unlikely that the mixing of the different flavors of both faiths will lead to strengthening of my core belief about unconditional love.
For that Love empowers both Mormons and Buddhists to improve their lives for the better.
As I grow in my experience as a neophyte Buddhist Mormon, I hope to disprove the assumption by naïve conservative Christians that the syncretism of Buddhism and Mormonism will condemn me to Hell.
In Mormonism, a member eventually will be reborn in one of three kingdoms, the Celestial, the terrestrial and the telestial. Yet the afterlife is not of this world. Even so, the metaphor of the Mormon afterlife can be applied to this life.
If you follow the moral code of Mormonism, then it is possible to achieve the glory of the Celestial kingdom. If you follow the moral code of a non-Mormon religion, then you may achieve the glory of the terrestrial kingdom. If you follow your own moral code, then the telestial kingdom is for you.
In contrast, if you slip up but stay faithful to the Buddhist precepts of moral conduct, then you may achieve Nirvana, which is freedom from the cycle of birth and death in the Six Realms of Desire. If you just follow your own moral code, then you will live your own life.
Whatever my destiny is as a Buddhist Mormon, my depth of faith in unconditional love determines the strength of my moral code which determines my moral conduct. Through meditation and prayer, it is possible to live by my moral code and improve my moral conduct.
Although I am not perfect, I hope to improve my life by abstaining from caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and dangerous drugs. By doing so I plan on improving my health so that I may live long enough to be of service to other people, which is a core Buddhist tenet.
Since Mormonism is dedicated to service to other people, I find that it is amenable to my core Buddhist beliefs.
In Jodo Shinshu, the Japanese Buddhism that is the faith that I was born in, it is said that its founder Shinran Shonin once said, "I gladly will follow my master Honen to hell."
If conservative Christians might condemn me to Hell for "serving two masters", then that is based cherry picking Biblical quotes to support their religious opinion.
So, I certainly do not believe I am going to Hell. Although I have once stated that the Buddha is my Christ in jest, in all seriousness it is the foundation of the spiritual aspects of my life.
By declaring that "the Buddha is my Christ", I am only confirming the influence of the Buddha and the Christ on inspiring my life as a Buddhist Mormon.
20140618
Entheogens and Their Use in Prophethood (satire)
God chooses people to be prophets, but ignorant people call it madness only to confirm it with medication.
Instead of answering God's call, these poor individuals become the schizophrenic and the bipolar, which are only man-made labels. In the end they die before a cult can be established around them.
For this is how the modern world deals with God's chosen ones.
Even though a few people become schizophrenic, this is due to stress and the inability of the person to cope with it. However, few schizophrenics develop religious delusions, because most of them are unbelievers.
In contrast, people with bipolar personality disorder make up the bulk of people with religious delusions. This is because, contrary to schizophrenics, only their mood is affected. Were it not for the moodiness, people with bipolar might have become prophets. It depends on how well they handle stress.
However, these are but medical labels which is rejected by the religious masses due to their man-made nature.
In my opinion, a person would only become schizophrenic or bipolar when she does not heed God's calling but instead treats it as a mental condition. Indeed, the atypical antipsychotic risperidone is given to schizophrenics and bipolar people. People given it develop tolerance, and need to be weaned off it. If they don't, then schizophrenic symptoms such as anxiety, delusions, and hallucinations may develop as a result.
This is why medication should be a last resort, and any psychiatrist who insists that a patient has to take it for life is incompetent.
However, from the religious viewpoint, medication is useful only when it helps to induce visions. Therefore risperidone is almost as good as fasting, though there is anecdotal evidence for marijuana and other soft drugs. Even so, because risperidone is legal, it might be useful for the new visionary to use as would phenibut. YMMV.
Just think of risperidone as a doctor-approved entheogen that only works when you take as directed up to the recommended dosage for a few months, and later try to wean yourself off them. It is during the "cold-turkey" period that the visions may appear.
So, please give risperidone a try if you are bipolar and wish to become a God's chosen one. Otherwise, avoid the booze and pot, man.
Instead of answering God's call, these poor individuals become the schizophrenic and the bipolar, which are only man-made labels. In the end they die before a cult can be established around them.
For this is how the modern world deals with God's chosen ones.
Even though a few people become schizophrenic, this is due to stress and the inability of the person to cope with it. However, few schizophrenics develop religious delusions, because most of them are unbelievers.
In contrast, people with bipolar personality disorder make up the bulk of people with religious delusions. This is because, contrary to schizophrenics, only their mood is affected. Were it not for the moodiness, people with bipolar might have become prophets. It depends on how well they handle stress.
However, these are but medical labels which is rejected by the religious masses due to their man-made nature.
In my opinion, a person would only become schizophrenic or bipolar when she does not heed God's calling but instead treats it as a mental condition. Indeed, the atypical antipsychotic risperidone is given to schizophrenics and bipolar people. People given it develop tolerance, and need to be weaned off it. If they don't, then schizophrenic symptoms such as anxiety, delusions, and hallucinations may develop as a result.
This is why medication should be a last resort, and any psychiatrist who insists that a patient has to take it for life is incompetent.
However, from the religious viewpoint, medication is useful only when it helps to induce visions. Therefore risperidone is almost as good as fasting, though there is anecdotal evidence for marijuana and other soft drugs. Even so, because risperidone is legal, it might be useful for the new visionary to use as would phenibut. YMMV.
Just think of risperidone as a doctor-approved entheogen that only works when you take as directed up to the recommended dosage for a few months, and later try to wean yourself off them. It is during the "cold-turkey" period that the visions may appear.
So, please give risperidone a try if you are bipolar and wish to become a God's chosen one. Otherwise, avoid the booze and pot, man.
20140526
Boko Haram Steal Ur Gurls! (satire)
The West doth complain,
And Christ lose 256 pearls.
Tomorrow nobody care,
But their mother's cry out there
In northeast Nigeria
Where Muslims predominate.
What is their future and fate?
Forced conversion for the many,
And slavery for the few.
Oh, what the West really do?
A few of the girls destined
For Islamic marriage cry
Out in freedom but no one
Hears because they are crying
In silence while chanting in
Arabic what they do not
Understand in the depths of
Their hearts: Please free us today.
20140127
Sanity Defines Spirituality as Mysticism
To see God in a moment of madness is not revelation but merely a hallucination.
Though the mad do not know God any more than the faithful. Were one to ask the mad about seeing God, there might not be a coherent answer. If the mad could write about their experience, their journals would remain incoherent.
Yet, to see God is truly a wondrous thing if it transcends all madness, leaving one absolutely sane.
Rare is such a person who has been granted by God to see Him. Few of us know how this blessed event occurs. Some of them even call the event a mystery.
Though the mystery is no hallucination to the person who has come upon this mystery. He may even be inspired to speak about it, and perhaps write his thoughts about the mysticism known as "seeing God".
This is the difference between mysticism and religious obsession.
Other terms for "seeing God" include "experiencing the divine", "being blessed", "satori", and "quiet abiding." Few people will share this experience with other people who are not open-minded to such matters.
Instead, such mysticism can only be appreciated by like-minded people who encourage it.
Originally posted: August 28, 2007 6:19 PM PDT
Though the mad do not know God any more than the faithful. Were one to ask the mad about seeing God, there might not be a coherent answer. If the mad could write about their experience, their journals would remain incoherent.
Yet, to see God is truly a wondrous thing if it transcends all madness, leaving one absolutely sane.
Rare is such a person who has been granted by God to see Him. Few of us know how this blessed event occurs. Some of them even call the event a mystery.
Though the mystery is no hallucination to the person who has come upon this mystery. He may even be inspired to speak about it, and perhaps write his thoughts about the mysticism known as "seeing God".
This is the difference between mysticism and religious obsession.
Other terms for "seeing God" include "experiencing the divine", "being blessed", "satori", and "quiet abiding." Few people will share this experience with other people who are not open-minded to such matters.
Instead, such mysticism can only be appreciated by like-minded people who encourage it.
Originally posted: August 28, 2007 6:19 PM PDT
Prostitution is the World's Oldest Religious Activity (satire)
Our current attitudes towards prostitution are due to social pressures going back millennia regarding sexuality. Few people acknowledge the role that social control plays in determining our attitudes towards prostitution.
Prostitution only became an unsavory profession because of the lies about them made up by religious zealots as a means of social control. However, prostitution used to be a religious function of temple priestesses for the cult of Astarte. Thus, religion used to be the mother of prostitution.
Indeed, the religious zealots' defamation of prostitution was done to control female sexuality. Once religion and prostitution were in bed together, now monotheistic pressure has separated them.
Today's religious zealots also borrowed the idea of marriage and virginity from pagan Roman practice. Prior to marriage, the ancient Roman bachelor party sometimes consisted of deflowering the wife to be by the husband's male friends, which may be related to the Astarte cult.
Hence, the decadent orgies of today's hedonism are merely revivals of old-time religion popular before the "heresies" called Christianity, Islam and Orthodox Judaism arose.
That which is secular is subtly pagan. That which is pagan has been adapted to monotheism.
Today, few prostitutes know of the religious origins of prostitution due to centuries of historical repression.
Perhaps sacred prostitution was all a metaphor for hedonism made holy.
In any case, prostitution is a complex issue which is viewed by civil authorities as a social problem with medical risks such as sexually transmitted diseases in these post-modern times.
This is why most countries will keep prostitution illegal, and thus control sexuality as a commodity.
Originally posted: June 4, 2007 10/00 PM
Prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution
Sacred prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution
Astarte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte
Canadian justice minister rules out legalization:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/20/peter_mackay_rules_out_legalization_municipal_regulation_of_prostitution.html
Prostitution only became an unsavory profession because of the lies about them made up by religious zealots as a means of social control. However, prostitution used to be a religious function of temple priestesses for the cult of Astarte. Thus, religion used to be the mother of prostitution.
Indeed, the religious zealots' defamation of prostitution was done to control female sexuality. Once religion and prostitution were in bed together, now monotheistic pressure has separated them.
Today's religious zealots also borrowed the idea of marriage and virginity from pagan Roman practice. Prior to marriage, the ancient Roman bachelor party sometimes consisted of deflowering the wife to be by the husband's male friends, which may be related to the Astarte cult.
Hence, the decadent orgies of today's hedonism are merely revivals of old-time religion popular before the "heresies" called Christianity, Islam and Orthodox Judaism arose.
That which is secular is subtly pagan. That which is pagan has been adapted to monotheism.
Today, few prostitutes know of the religious origins of prostitution due to centuries of historical repression.
Perhaps sacred prostitution was all a metaphor for hedonism made holy.
In any case, prostitution is a complex issue which is viewed by civil authorities as a social problem with medical risks such as sexually transmitted diseases in these post-modern times.
This is why most countries will keep prostitution illegal, and thus control sexuality as a commodity.
Originally posted: June 4, 2007 10/00 PM
Prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution
Sacred prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution
Astarte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte
Canadian justice minister rules out legalization:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/20/peter_mackay_rules_out_legalization_municipal_regulation_of_prostitution.html
20131222
Direct Democracy or Who Needs a Leader to Run a Democracy? (satire)
Democratic communism is alive and well in the EU. Though they like to call it Christian socialism or Christian Democracy e.g. Germany, Scandanavia especially Norway.
America fears socialism because it implements the welfare state e.g. workers fund unemployment, and taxpayers fund social welfare. This requires more taxation, which is a Commie plot to steal capital from the 1-percent elites, according to the GOP.
Besides, taxation is assumed to be without representation by the 1-percenters, and thus is anathema to American free-market capitalism which funds Fabian fascism in the US.
Indeed, capitalism empowers all the ISMs that control certain governments, including Communism, facism, and good old American democracy. However, American democracy only works for the politicians you vote into office, NOT the People.
Why? Because State democracy implies that once politicians are voted in, that democracy only benefits them.
Since, historically, the People have never been allowed to run a government, except by proxy through elected representatives, it implies that the State enables a plutocracy.
Because of the assumption that the People are akin to unwashed masses who would argue about implementation of policies favoring the People at the expense of the State, it is assumed that the People are vastly more incompetent than the representatives they elect, and thus a democracy run by the People for the People would never work.
So that is seen in the eyes of the State as anarchy, which is mistaken for the actual chaos of a leaderless society.
Yet direct democracy appears to be anarchy to the State and its representatives, who are supported by lobbies such as BigBusiness, the M-I Complex, and their 1-percent backers.
Why? Because the State assumes that democracy demands a leader. Direct democracy says that an individual may be chosen to lead, but everyone — each being an individual — is perfectly capable of leadership.
Who really needs a leader to run a democracy, except for Statists who are demanding total control over the People so they can continue to run their Fabian facist fantasy?
Is it not time to overthrow the State?
Yes, but the Occupy movement and even Anonymous falsely believe revolutions should be non-violent. This is silly because non-violence successful revolution like the one in the UKraine did not remove the Communists and other Statists, including oligarchs who are merely sharks (robber barons) looking for schools of fish (the People). Thus, colored revolutions are ineffective in making permanent changes to prevent a despotic regime (the current Ukrainian leadership) from being elected and ally with their fellow despots (Putin) rather than their socialist counterparts (the EU).
Both the EU and Russsia along with the Commonwealth of Independent States are both Statist but the EU is a soft form of Communism called democratic socialism, mainly due to religious tolerance, and Russia et al still practice the hard form of Communism whilst pretending to be democratic.
Is it not time for the Ukrainians to overthrow the State? YES! Because keeping its ties with Russia is only bringing evil karma upon its current regime.
As for the rest of the world, the Middle East demonstrates that Islam and Western style democracies are compatible as long as democracy does not offend Islam. Like the Christian Socialists and the Christian Democrats of the EU, the Muslim democrats have to walk on egg shells, due to the fact that the military apparatus is used by the Muslim clerics to ensure that no one who believes in Allah offends Him by becoming secular and thus tainted by consumerism. They do so to protect their people's souls from burning in Hell.
It is our atheist mindset in the West that filters this out of the mass media propaganda, which misrepresents Islam as Salafists oppressing Christians and secularists in the Middle East. This is similar to the way Catholicism and fundamentalist Protestant churches oppress homosexuals and people in common-law marriages. Yet because we have been taught in the West that politics and religion do not mix like oil and water, the Western mass media ignores the religious basis for Middle Eastern society and propagates the myth that political factions are duking it out in Syria.
However, al Qaeda is a militant part of Salafi groupthink. It is funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait along with military advice by the US. Additionally, the US also supports the Syrian National Committee, which thinks it's a coalition of Christian, Shia and Sunni militants fighting jihad against a regime which is clandestinely supported by the US and is supported by the EU, which depends on Syrian oil.
Yet infighting proves that the SNC is unstable enough to implement a civil war with the foreigners who called all Syrian Sunni militants into their al Qaeda of Syria and Lebanon (the Levant) to counter Hezbollah and its patron Iran.
Theirs is truly a holy war, or so the Sunnis think. So when Bashar al-Assad is dethroned, revolution will come and the al Qaeda will launch a real civil war, rather than the proxy war now being fought.
Even so, it is time for a revolution in the West. It cannot be done through non-violence because that does not rid us of the true enemies of democracy, which is not Salafi militants of even al Qaeda. Rather, the true enemy of democracy is the 1-percent elites. Until each of us takes up arms against the elites, there will be no revolution in the West.
Even so, the NRA will not support us. They support the GOP. Likewise, the Democrats will not support us, because they think non-violent confrontation works especially in the form of diplomacy. Yet diplomacy still requires a lot of taxpayers' money to work. Two examples spring to mind: Afghanistan and Iraq. Through the use of bribes and big fucking guns, the US-led coalition in both countries reduced the influence of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
So, the Western revolution against the 1-percent elites will also require money and big fucking guns. It is the pacifist stance of the Democrats that will prevent revolution in America. Likewise in Canada, there will be no revolution.
Even so, it is time to overthrow the State.
America fears socialism because it implements the welfare state e.g. workers fund unemployment, and taxpayers fund social welfare. This requires more taxation, which is a Commie plot to steal capital from the 1-percent elites, according to the GOP.
Besides, taxation is assumed to be without representation by the 1-percenters, and thus is anathema to American free-market capitalism which funds Fabian fascism in the US.
Indeed, capitalism empowers all the ISMs that control certain governments, including Communism, facism, and good old American democracy. However, American democracy only works for the politicians you vote into office, NOT the People.
Why? Because State democracy implies that once politicians are voted in, that democracy only benefits them.
Since, historically, the People have never been allowed to run a government, except by proxy through elected representatives, it implies that the State enables a plutocracy.
Because of the assumption that the People are akin to unwashed masses who would argue about implementation of policies favoring the People at the expense of the State, it is assumed that the People are vastly more incompetent than the representatives they elect, and thus a democracy run by the People for the People would never work.
So that is seen in the eyes of the State as anarchy, which is mistaken for the actual chaos of a leaderless society.
Yet direct democracy appears to be anarchy to the State and its representatives, who are supported by lobbies such as BigBusiness, the M-I Complex, and their 1-percent backers.
Why? Because the State assumes that democracy demands a leader. Direct democracy says that an individual may be chosen to lead, but everyone — each being an individual — is perfectly capable of leadership.
Who really needs a leader to run a democracy, except for Statists who are demanding total control over the People so they can continue to run their Fabian facist fantasy?
Is it not time to overthrow the State?
Yes, but the Occupy movement and even Anonymous falsely believe revolutions should be non-violent. This is silly because non-violence successful revolution like the one in the UKraine did not remove the Communists and other Statists, including oligarchs who are merely sharks (robber barons) looking for schools of fish (the People). Thus, colored revolutions are ineffective in making permanent changes to prevent a despotic regime (the current Ukrainian leadership) from being elected and ally with their fellow despots (Putin) rather than their socialist counterparts (the EU).
Both the EU and Russsia along with the Commonwealth of Independent States are both Statist but the EU is a soft form of Communism called democratic socialism, mainly due to religious tolerance, and Russia et al still practice the hard form of Communism whilst pretending to be democratic.
Is it not time for the Ukrainians to overthrow the State? YES! Because keeping its ties with Russia is only bringing evil karma upon its current regime.
As for the rest of the world, the Middle East demonstrates that Islam and Western style democracies are compatible as long as democracy does not offend Islam. Like the Christian Socialists and the Christian Democrats of the EU, the Muslim democrats have to walk on egg shells, due to the fact that the military apparatus is used by the Muslim clerics to ensure that no one who believes in Allah offends Him by becoming secular and thus tainted by consumerism. They do so to protect their people's souls from burning in Hell.
It is our atheist mindset in the West that filters this out of the mass media propaganda, which misrepresents Islam as Salafists oppressing Christians and secularists in the Middle East. This is similar to the way Catholicism and fundamentalist Protestant churches oppress homosexuals and people in common-law marriages. Yet because we have been taught in the West that politics and religion do not mix like oil and water, the Western mass media ignores the religious basis for Middle Eastern society and propagates the myth that political factions are duking it out in Syria.
However, al Qaeda is a militant part of Salafi groupthink. It is funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait along with military advice by the US. Additionally, the US also supports the Syrian National Committee, which thinks it's a coalition of Christian, Shia and Sunni militants fighting jihad against a regime which is clandestinely supported by the US and is supported by the EU, which depends on Syrian oil.
Yet infighting proves that the SNC is unstable enough to implement a civil war with the foreigners who called all Syrian Sunni militants into their al Qaeda of Syria and Lebanon (the Levant) to counter Hezbollah and its patron Iran.
Theirs is truly a holy war, or so the Sunnis think. So when Bashar al-Assad is dethroned, revolution will come and the al Qaeda will launch a real civil war, rather than the proxy war now being fought.
Even so, it is time for a revolution in the West. It cannot be done through non-violence because that does not rid us of the true enemies of democracy, which is not Salafi militants of even al Qaeda. Rather, the true enemy of democracy is the 1-percent elites. Until each of us takes up arms against the elites, there will be no revolution in the West.
Even so, the NRA will not support us. They support the GOP. Likewise, the Democrats will not support us, because they think non-violent confrontation works especially in the form of diplomacy. Yet diplomacy still requires a lot of taxpayers' money to work. Two examples spring to mind: Afghanistan and Iraq. Through the use of bribes and big fucking guns, the US-led coalition in both countries reduced the influence of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
So, the Western revolution against the 1-percent elites will also require money and big fucking guns. It is the pacifist stance of the Democrats that will prevent revolution in America. Likewise in Canada, there will be no revolution.
Even so, it is time to overthrow the State.
20131204
The Hypocrisy of Religious Violence (satire)
One root of violence is alienation. When a minority has an opposing view to the majority, that minority may become marginalized and alienated from the masses.
This has happened in nations previously colonized by the former British, Belgian, French, German, and other European empires prior to the post-modern period of history.
Another kind of violence is when a people are placed in prison camps during wartime. This applies to the Jewish Holocaust, the Japanese internment camps in the Americas during World War2, and even the imprisonment of Ukrainians in Canada during the Great War (1914-1918).
In our enlightened times in the post-911 21st Century (the post-modern era), prison camps will be used only as a last resort. Indeed, in Canada this also happened when the BC government moved children of Doukhabours from their homes into the former prison camps which once house the Japanese-Canadians displace from the West Coast of BC.
Furthermore, home-grown terrorists with no ties to Al-Qaeda are fervently Muslim but wholly radicalised due to their sympathies for their Muslim brethren in Gaza, South Lebanon and elsewhere in the world such as the Palestinian Diaspora of the Americas and the European ghettos of Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Eastern Eurasia and Central Asia (e.g. Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Turkey and other Muslim enclaves of Eurasia like Kazakhstan), and so willing to turn to violence for purely ideological reasons.
Most non-Muslim people in the West (the Americas, the UK, the Netherlands and other European nations with large Muslim populations) who mistrust the Muslim immigrants are totally ignorant of the Koran (including the Sharias and Hadiths).
A few of them (especially in the US) have even chosen to slander Mohammed and Islam itself, while calling themselves "God-fearing Christians".
What utter religious hypocrisy!
Even Sri Lanka fell into this religious hypocrisy by endorsing Theravada Buddhism as state religion and Sinhalese as state language in 1956. This political act in the mid-20th Century led first to riots and, in the wake of anti-communist fear, finally led to the assassination of the fourth Prime Minister, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, a Sinhalese Anglican Christian, of Sri Lanka in 1959 by a radical Buddhist cleric named Talduwe Somarama. In 1962, Mr. Somarama shed his orange robes and converted to Catholicism before dying as a "martyr" when he was executed in 1962.
However, Somarama was part of a conspiracy headed by Mapitigama Buddharakkitha of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, for the Kelaniya Temple was historically a hotbed of trouble for Sri Lanka since its founding circa 500 BCE in south-western region near Colombo.
Civil unrest due to oppression by the Sinhalese of the Tamil militants later led to the Hindu militants radicalising when they formed the Tamil Tigers in 1976. After much turmoil over the next seven years, civil war broke out in 1983 and lasted until the Sri Lanka Army assassinated the Tamil Tiger founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on May 18, 2009 after over a quarter-century of war.
Violence in the name of God, by Christian, Hindu or Muslim, and even Buddhist militants is religious hypocrisy at its worst. For there is no peace of mind behind any intent to harm others in the name of religion.
This civil war was summed up by Gandhi when he suggested that those who believe that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know religion at all. For religious leaders and politicians have slept in the same bed called warfare since the time of Ashoka.
Originally posted: November 8, 2009 at 10:36 PM
This has happened in nations previously colonized by the former British, Belgian, French, German, and other European empires prior to the post-modern period of history.
Another kind of violence is when a people are placed in prison camps during wartime. This applies to the Jewish Holocaust, the Japanese internment camps in the Americas during World War2, and even the imprisonment of Ukrainians in Canada during the Great War (1914-1918).
In our enlightened times in the post-911 21st Century (the post-modern era), prison camps will be used only as a last resort. Indeed, in Canada this also happened when the BC government moved children of Doukhabours from their homes into the former prison camps which once house the Japanese-Canadians displace from the West Coast of BC.
Furthermore, home-grown terrorists with no ties to Al-Qaeda are fervently Muslim but wholly radicalised due to their sympathies for their Muslim brethren in Gaza, South Lebanon and elsewhere in the world such as the Palestinian Diaspora of the Americas and the European ghettos of Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Eastern Eurasia and Central Asia (e.g. Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Turkey and other Muslim enclaves of Eurasia like Kazakhstan), and so willing to turn to violence for purely ideological reasons.
Most non-Muslim people in the West (the Americas, the UK, the Netherlands and other European nations with large Muslim populations) who mistrust the Muslim immigrants are totally ignorant of the Koran (including the Sharias and Hadiths).
A few of them (especially in the US) have even chosen to slander Mohammed and Islam itself, while calling themselves "God-fearing Christians".
What utter religious hypocrisy!
Even Sri Lanka fell into this religious hypocrisy by endorsing Theravada Buddhism as state religion and Sinhalese as state language in 1956. This political act in the mid-20th Century led first to riots and, in the wake of anti-communist fear, finally led to the assassination of the fourth Prime Minister, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, a Sinhalese Anglican Christian, of Sri Lanka in 1959 by a radical Buddhist cleric named Talduwe Somarama. In 1962, Mr. Somarama shed his orange robes and converted to Catholicism before dying as a "martyr" when he was executed in 1962.
However, Somarama was part of a conspiracy headed by Mapitigama Buddharakkitha of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, for the Kelaniya Temple was historically a hotbed of trouble for Sri Lanka since its founding circa 500 BCE in south-western region near Colombo.
Civil unrest due to oppression by the Sinhalese of the Tamil militants later led to the Hindu militants radicalising when they formed the Tamil Tigers in 1976. After much turmoil over the next seven years, civil war broke out in 1983 and lasted until the Sri Lanka Army assassinated the Tamil Tiger founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on May 18, 2009 after over a quarter-century of war.
Violence in the name of God, by Christian, Hindu or Muslim, and even Buddhist militants is religious hypocrisy at its worst. For there is no peace of mind behind any intent to harm others in the name of religion.
This civil war was summed up by Gandhi when he suggested that those who believe that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know religion at all. For religious leaders and politicians have slept in the same bed called warfare since the time of Ashoka.
Originally posted: November 8, 2009 at 10:36 PM
20130811
Why Militants of Religion Attack Women
Celebration of the female body was also partially supported in Constatinople, though radical Christians back then were known to desecrate any art that depicted nudity.
Some of the battles that the Byzantine Empire fought were with Christians who subscribed to a more militant form of Christianity led by religious leaders sympathetic to Gnostic teachings which claimed that worldliness was evil and that godliness was good.
Due to militancy among the Christians, a pagan mathematician was assassinated by radical Christians in Alexandria for preferring the pagan sciences over the conservatism of Christianity.
IMO militant elements of Islam cater to this same kind of conservatism. Even though the Roman Empire was corrupt before Constantine the Great made Christianity a state religion, its art was did not lead to the excesses of pornography in America.
Although the decadence of Caligula is well known, only writings by authors who were not fond of him are known as it was common to destroy any literature praising him after that emperor's death along with statues of him and his god-horse.
Today, the fans of celebrities sometimes tend to worship almost like gods. Even when they act like drug addicts and never-do-wells, their fans still support them when they go into rehab.
However, American mass media is keen to display the bodies of celebrities as though it is a social good i.e. the right to freedom of expression.
To Muslim conservatives, it is obscenity mainly due to hardliners who fear that such obscenity will corrupt the morals of their youths, especially the men.
What they do not admit is that such obscenity was condemned by Muhammad because he too feared being corrupted by the idols of Mecca.
When a good man who fears corruption lashes out by killing people, that is the root of militancy. It matters not if it was 1500 years ago or last year.
As long as a religion protects its core values with militancy and the threat of death of unbelievers, it is an intolerant religion. This is what American Christians are trying to say.
Yet in more primitive areas of Asia, Christians are not less militant and intolerant as their Muslim brothers and sisters e.g. Brazil after an amateur football game, clashes between Christians and Buddhists in rural areas of Burma, India and Thailand, the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, etc.
Religion promote conservative values, many of which are becoming increasingly outdated. This is why people apostate and leave religion.
As long as religion holds onto traditional values without tolerance of modern values, the violence will continue.
For any religion that allows for killing and other violent forms of repression has lost the core values of non-violence and peace that was integral to its founding.
Hypatia murdered by Christian mob: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HypatiaTo conservatives such as the Muslims, it is obscenity.
20130501
Bipolar World (poem)
In a world of manic depressives,
everyone self medicates,
be it alcohol,
recreational drugs,
religion, shopping or sex.
everyone self medicates,
be it alcohol,
recreational drugs,
religion, shopping or sex.
20130312
My religion has a lot of flavours
I'm a deistic panentheist with a respect for the whole universe, and all sentient beings including me and you, that based on realizing reality (life, the universe and everything) is God (the Absolute).
Then a person might ask me: what of good and evil?
Well, that's like having a magical coin: one side's good, the other side' evil, and the creator of that coin is God who symbolizes moral judgment.
"What about salvation?" another person might ask.
If there is a God, and given that God created the soul within me, which was loaned to me at birth, and knowing that my soul returns to God (with interest), then my mindful practice of unconditional love is in effect a form of salvation in itself.
For the process involved in practicing that love is in effect salvation.
Thus the story of Jesus serves as an inspiration to people who want to know God.
However, the closest thing to God as the Absolute is the description of Heaven!
Essentially, my religion has the following flavors: a Buddhist panentheism in which an almost infinite number of universes exist with an infinite number of Buddhas willing to instruct all sentient beings in their infinite number of Pure Lands, and an infinite number of bodhisattvas able to help all sentient beings awaken to the truth. In this multiverse there also exists the Absolute, which is the closest I get to God.
In practicing Buddhism, Buddha Recitation and meditation are the main parts of the mindful practice that I use to "worship God". This is a worshipless worship since it is empty of worship. It would be incorrect to call Buddha Recitation worship when it is done to remind me of the Buddha. Hence it is called Buddha Remembrance.
Perhaps intellectually understanding a Buddhist concept such as the Absolute is a form of worship, but it too is a worshipless worship since the Absolute transcends a dualistic notion of God. As well, intellectual understanding of a concept has no element of worship.
Calling understanding worship is incorrect. Rather, it is a part of the process of learning.
Returning to mindful practice, it consists of Buddha Remembrance to pay homage to the Buddha, and meditation to help calm my mind. Once my mind is calm, the clear mind arises to help me to the next level of meditation, insight.
With clarity of mind, I am able to attain the samadhi of loving-kindness, that single-minded insight symbolized by the boundless light of Great Wisdom that is Amida and the boundless life of Great Compassion that is Amitayus, both of whom are the dual aspects of Amida Buddha.
Thus, my religion has a lot of Buddhist flavors, and the only sparkle of God is the Absolute which might be similar to the Christian heaven. As a deist, I accept the Christian heaven as a place where all its members live eternally in Jesus. However, Jesus and God are not a part of this Buddhist multiverse, for the Christian Heaven and Hell dwell in their little universe.
What connects God to the Buddhist multiverse is loving-kindness, for both Amida Buddha and Jesus are symbols of the unconditional love known as loving-kindness.
As you can tell, my religion is a panentheism with a deistic component of which the Christian universe as described exists outside of the Buddhist component. Additionally, the deistic component has a respect for the Shinto deities but without any worship of them, because they exist only on an intellectual level.
Were I to practice Shinto it would be best expressed in dance, usually to the tune of Asian music, preferably the Yoshida Kiyoshi's Rising Sun, complete with shamisen and taiko drums.
As well, I have a respect for Veershaivism, the Lingayatism of Basavanna, the Shiva saint of 12th Century India.
As you can tell my religion has a lot of flavours.
Then a person might ask me: what of good and evil?
Well, that's like having a magical coin: one side's good, the other side' evil, and the creator of that coin is God who symbolizes moral judgment.
"What about salvation?" another person might ask.
If there is a God, and given that God created the soul within me, which was loaned to me at birth, and knowing that my soul returns to God (with interest), then my mindful practice of unconditional love is in effect a form of salvation in itself.
For the process involved in practicing that love is in effect salvation.
Thus the story of Jesus serves as an inspiration to people who want to know God.
However, the closest thing to God as the Absolute is the description of Heaven!
Essentially, my religion has the following flavors: a Buddhist panentheism in which an almost infinite number of universes exist with an infinite number of Buddhas willing to instruct all sentient beings in their infinite number of Pure Lands, and an infinite number of bodhisattvas able to help all sentient beings awaken to the truth. In this multiverse there also exists the Absolute, which is the closest I get to God.
In practicing Buddhism, Buddha Recitation and meditation are the main parts of the mindful practice that I use to "worship God". This is a worshipless worship since it is empty of worship. It would be incorrect to call Buddha Recitation worship when it is done to remind me of the Buddha. Hence it is called Buddha Remembrance.
Perhaps intellectually understanding a Buddhist concept such as the Absolute is a form of worship, but it too is a worshipless worship since the Absolute transcends a dualistic notion of God. As well, intellectual understanding of a concept has no element of worship.
Calling understanding worship is incorrect. Rather, it is a part of the process of learning.
Returning to mindful practice, it consists of Buddha Remembrance to pay homage to the Buddha, and meditation to help calm my mind. Once my mind is calm, the clear mind arises to help me to the next level of meditation, insight.
With clarity of mind, I am able to attain the samadhi of loving-kindness, that single-minded insight symbolized by the boundless light of Great Wisdom that is Amida and the boundless life of Great Compassion that is Amitayus, both of whom are the dual aspects of Amida Buddha.
Thus, my religion has a lot of Buddhist flavors, and the only sparkle of God is the Absolute which might be similar to the Christian heaven. As a deist, I accept the Christian heaven as a place where all its members live eternally in Jesus. However, Jesus and God are not a part of this Buddhist multiverse, for the Christian Heaven and Hell dwell in their little universe.
What connects God to the Buddhist multiverse is loving-kindness, for both Amida Buddha and Jesus are symbols of the unconditional love known as loving-kindness.
As you can tell, my religion is a panentheism with a deistic component of which the Christian universe as described exists outside of the Buddhist component. Additionally, the deistic component has a respect for the Shinto deities but without any worship of them, because they exist only on an intellectual level.
Were I to practice Shinto it would be best expressed in dance, usually to the tune of Asian music, preferably the Yoshida Kiyoshi's Rising Sun, complete with shamisen and taiko drums.
As well, I have a respect for Veershaivism, the Lingayatism of Basavanna, the Shiva saint of 12th Century India.
As you can tell my religion has a lot of flavours.
20130210
Buddha Nature as the Original Nature of the Unborn
Indeed, Buddha Nature is the original nature of all sentient beings from before they are born.
Then before we awaken to the purpose of our lives (to become enlightened), we develop the self as real (ego) out of spiritual ignorance and go onto imagine the soul as real out of fear of nonexistence.
Wen we ignore the essence of the primordial nature of the mind (Buddha Nature), we develop the delusion that the ego is real and that the soul exists as a permanent thing which reincarnates.
To the Buddhist, we are merely spiritually ignorant of our True Nature i.e. that our primordial goodness is Buddha Nature.
Only the spiritually shallow call the Buddhist who patiently tries to awaken others to this sublime truth "mad" due to their fear of nonexistence. He would be prudent to not retort in kind, but to realize the spiritually shallow will not awaken to truth because they are attached to their worldliness.
In this way, the Buddhist learns the folly of trying to awaken the spiritually shallow to Buddha Nature.
For he who sees Buddha Nature as the original nature of the Unborn due to his mindful practice consisting of meditation and Buddha Recitation should continue with his practice.
Leaving the spiritual shallow alone, he should associate with his spiritual friends and encourage their mindful practice.
Originally posted: June 27, 2010 2309H
Updated: February 10, 2013 1928H
20130207
My Faith is the Same as a Christian's or a Hindu's
Jodo Shinshu has similarities to Lingayatism and Protestant Christianity in that all of these religions claim that an intercessor between humanity and the Absolute is unnecessary.
Jodo Shinshu abandoned tradition in that priest could marry as happens in Protestant Christianity. In Lingayatism, castes were set aside and lower castes were as likely to be members as upper classes. Likewise in Jodo Shinshu, priests, samurai, merchants and commoners are equal before the Buddha.
Despite the dissimilarities between Honen, Basavanna, and Martin Luther, I can safely say, a Buddhist's faith is no different from a Shaivite's or a Protestant's faith.
If we used the differences between Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism to argue among ourselves, then organized religion is but a place to differ about dogma and doctrine.
However, given that faith is the equalizing factor along with the fact that humanity is free to believe in the form of the Absolute according to the doctrine of their respective religions, nothing is served by argument and differences of opinion.
Although I practice Jodo Shinshu differently from Lingayatism and Christianity, it is sincerity of faith that unites us.
Jodo Shinshu abandoned tradition in that priest could marry as happens in Protestant Christianity. In Lingayatism, castes were set aside and lower castes were as likely to be members as upper classes. Likewise in Jodo Shinshu, priests, samurai, merchants and commoners are equal before the Buddha.
Despite the dissimilarities between Honen, Basavanna, and Martin Luther, I can safely say, a Buddhist's faith is no different from a Shaivite's or a Protestant's faith.
If we used the differences between Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism to argue among ourselves, then organized religion is but a place to differ about dogma and doctrine.
However, given that faith is the equalizing factor along with the fact that humanity is free to believe in the form of the Absolute according to the doctrine of their respective religions, nothing is served by argument and differences of opinion.
Although I practice Jodo Shinshu differently from Lingayatism and Christianity, it is sincerity of faith that unites us.
20130120
Beyond December 6: Transcending "ISMs": Religion and Cyborg Feminism as Holistic Ideology
[Formerly titled Transcending "ISMs": Religion and Cyborg Feminism as Holistic Ideology on December 19. 2007]
Added the punchline on November 3, 2010.
Corrected spelling on November 5, 2012
Nov. 19, 2011 edition made automatic to 20130120.0425
Even though feminism, due to its socialist roots, rejects religion, I am not going to exclude feminists from my questions about what makes us who we are.
Otherwise, another Marc Lepine is in the making due to bullying of the perceived weak by weak-willed people who fear the weak yet pretend to be superior to them, whether it is Lepine's father and late sister, feminist radicals, reviled patriarchal demagogues or even social activists.
Given the rise of feminist paganism and the Goddess feminism movement, I agree with Haraway that with "woman" being a social construct much like "homosexual" and "youth", both movements are reactionary and are based on the hypothesis that in the roots of patriarchism are both the means of oppression of women and their ultimate liberation.
Since the social construct, "woman", arises out of the patriarchy, then feminism is actually rooted in a reaction to it but is in the end both symptom and solution, once a feminist transcends the duality of wo/man.
This is not to imply that cyborg feminism requires religion, but that post-modern fictions and myths are derived from science fiction which are stories based on extrapolations of scientific knowledge, and the stories that turn into cult classics, including animes, Final Fantasy and other online RPGs, and even Hello Kitty, reflect much of what Haraway discusses in her manifesto.
Thus, post-modern pop culture is inspired by various secular ideologies which are ultimately based on socialist revisionism that removed religion's influence on our collective histories, of which feminism was a large influence.
So instead of assuming madness is due to the gods, we assume the person is psychotic and need of help, due to our ignorance about religion which was never used to explain why the things ancient civilization did in the name of God. Rather, we learned that the Pyramids were built to satisfy the egos of the Pharaohs and that the Bible is not a useful reference for factual information - though a few of us got censured by well-meaning Christians for implying that the Bible was "just another book of myths".
But then so are Inuyasha and WoW based on myth!!
In her manifesto, Haraway tries "to build an ironic political myth faithful to feminism, socialism, and materialism". After reading Senft's commentary on Haraway's manifesto, I am inclined to conclude that the Cyborg Manifesto does attempt to transcend patriarchy itself by deconstructing what it means to be a woman by pointing out that "woman" is a social construct much like "homosexual" and "youth". Though, I will point out that her term "myth" does not imply fairy-tales of mythological characters, but rather metaphors necessary for post-modern feminists and their socialist comrades to transcend gender and thus end the mythological gender war.
It is sad then to hear of reactionary feminists adhere to radical feminist ideals to the point of pretending that Marc Lepine is only a symbol of systematic violence against women by the patriarchy, as he originally witnessed such violence in his home and was inculcated in it during abuse by his father. While Haraway does not address such violence in her manifesto, I do tend to get a sense of necessary desensitization by using the cyborg metaphor to transcend the duality inherent in post-modern feminism.
It's not so much about confrontation that should drive feminists to change the world as it is about transcending social constructs such as gender. As long as feminists continue to market the duality of real-world patriarchy versus mythological patriarchy, the gender war will continue victimizing women.
Therefore, December 6 is more about confronting the reality of violence against women than it is about actually changing the world. For in order to change the world, feminists will have to transcend the duality of wo/man rather than just react to the perceived duality of wo/man.
In order to market December 6 effectively, feminists have created as martyrs 14 young women, very few of whom were actually feminists. However, time and time again, they have ignored the symbol of male violence, Marc Lepine.
Indeed, most feminists remain ignorant of the fact that he was a victim of male violence, born to an Algerian father and a Quebecois mother. Indeed, very little facts about his father are known, apart from the fact that he had embraced Western values by becoming a mutual funds salesman yet had retained possibly Berber and thus Islamic influence of cultural values related to the raising of children.
It is unknown whether violence on TV influences gang violence or even violence among young women. One can more effectively argue that poverty may be a far greater influence on violence than violent anime like Inuyasha. My theory on violence in anime is that violence meted out on quasi-mythological characters by other similar characters is amusing at first, but any child who acts out such violence in real life is either going to get smacked down by an older sibling or punished by her parents.
In concluding that in households where the parents are distracted by legislated poverty, children lack supervision and thus "can get away with murder", social scientists are ignored by the State when recommendations to relieve poverty are clearly stated to solve poverty. Locally in BC, the woman judge hired to solve the child care crisis had her request for extra funding refused and a far less amount being given to help her with the provincial government citing "lack of funds". The current BC Liberal regime itself is afraid of losing votes by daring to tax its loyal party members, most of whom indirectly contribute to the daily plight of the poor and especially abused women through their tax breaks, depriving all of the public sector from adequate funding. Creative bookkeeping by the Campbell government's penny-pinchers had hidden this systematic oppression of the underclass, just to stay in power. It continued in the current government of Christy Clark.
Thus, all political parties that fear the loss of votes for making an unpopular move are acting according to the will of the people who vote them in, not the will of the ones who deserve the favour that move provides them.
No doubt in writing her manifesto Haraway performs a similar ignorance of facts by only hinting at the side effects of feminists being a product of the military industrial complex, inculcated through compulsory public education to become women only to react to male dominance by rejecting the patriarchal values learned in public school through enlightenment in post-secondary educational institutes, the traditional hotbed of socialist revisionism of our collective histories.
Therefore, the average reader needs Senft to perform commentary on Haraway since Senft, being an enlightened feminist, can "be the moon pointing to the sun". For me, reading Senft is like reading Shinran: there is no difference between commenting on feminist ideology and Pure Land sutras since both feminism and Buddhism are ideologies first. As well, anyone who declares politics has nothing to do with religion, as Gandhi originally stated, really know nothing about religion at all.
Once you transcend the differences between politics and religion, even the religious statement — "I am that I am" — can be as radical as the feminist hypothesis that "the patriarchy uses the threat of violence to maintain civil order so that States may be prosperous and their citizens productive".
It has been said that "information wants to be free", and that the civilization that is great is the one that rises above religious oppression. But I say that in order to truly be free, one needs to rise above one's political ideology and transcend it. For as long as one clings to whatever flavour of feminism or other ideological "ism", one will remain a product of the military industrial complex, picking sides and fated to endure the hell of dualism epitomized as "wo/man" and similar social constructs.
In order for humanity to be truly free, all it takes is taking a breath and liberating oneself of ideology. For me as a Buddhist anarchist , that seems to be the subtle message contained in the Cyborg manifesto: the process of liberation includes freedom from "isms", even if it means transcending the Buddha and anarchy to support the Christian left.
Even Marc Lepine was fighting against the duality of patriarchalism versus feminism by hating feminists.
In hating feminism, he actually hated the deprivation of maternal nurturance by his recently separated mother after learning to hate her through the beatings his father treated him to for not being a good son.
This shows the failure of patriarchalism, in which the father's power, instead of defending his family from poverty and legitimate threats, is perverted into forcing his family to live by his rules, only to lose power completely through separation and divorce.
Thus, the failure of patriarchalism is evident in the rising divorce rates, the increasing incidents of teen violence, and the mass murders which continue to be a part of our post-modern lives to this very day.
What we need today is not another ISM to replace old traditions with newly minted ones. Rather, we need to transcend the dichotomy of wo/man for something as old as early Christian idealism, which is something the feminists, due to their socialist conditioning, totally ignore.
Yes, we need a transhuman ideology which emphasizes unity, not division, between the sexes. It won't be found in feminism, for the roots of such a world transforming ideology demands that we stop denying God's existence, because so far the current dualism of patriarchalism versus feminism is actually tearing our post-modern society apart with its feel-good sophistry and its ego-centred idealism.
Indeed, we may need to centre the body politic with good, old-fashioned religion for the masses not unlike Matthew Fox's manifesto.
Added the punchline on November 3, 2010.
Corrected spelling on November 5, 2012
Nov. 19, 2011 edition made automatic to 20130120.0425
20121218
On Losing Friends, and Making Money from Blogspot
Hmm, I'm losing people from my GooglePlus Circles, most likely due to the articles I have written being too outspoken.
I make no apologies for airing my opinion about politics and religion. I try to do so mainly from my blog, though I often write the first draft on G+, cut and paste them to my blog.
However, I've noticed most of my posts about computers tend to get less hits than the posts about politics and religion.
Oh, and according to latest statistics, my blog should make me about $100 in about 100 weeks (circa 2014).
After a couple weeks of posting on my blog, I've realize that I need about 8 hours of time daily to make that goal in a shorter time.
So there's no point in reposting old articles unless I add more to them, beefing up my argument with Wikipedia "evidence".
I make no apologies for airing my opinion about politics and religion. I try to do so mainly from my blog, though I often write the first draft on G+, cut and paste them to my blog.
However, I've noticed most of my posts about computers tend to get less hits than the posts about politics and religion.
Oh, and according to latest statistics, my blog should make me about $100 in about 100 weeks (circa 2014).
After a couple weeks of posting on my blog, I've realize that I need about 8 hours of time daily to make that goal in a shorter time.
So there's no point in reposting old articles unless I add more to them, beefing up my argument with Wikipedia "evidence".
20110527
Christian Meditation
As a religion, Christianity is not the only path to salvation. For there is also animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Satanism, neo-paganism, and many other religions.
As well, there is nothing in Christianity that states "consistently pray to Jesus, and you will be cured of social anxiety and depression."
Rather, what is stated is that by confession of your sins and calm reflection on your errors through prayer and meditation, it is possible to achieve the spiritual healing through daily application of a Christian-based meditation.
With regard to meditation, there is nothing wrong with getting closer to Jesus through the Christian meditative experience. I do not believe it leads to any of the spiritual errors suggested by Christian critics, who base their criticism on fear and ignorance.
Christian meditation is not New Age meditation, since it is based on the Bible.
According to Saint Gregory of Sinai, the goal of Christian meditation is "seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, beyond the minor phenomenon of ecstasy."
Yet such meditation is not for every Christian.
Reference:
Christian Meditation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_meditation
As well, there is nothing in Christianity that states "consistently pray to Jesus, and you will be cured of social anxiety and depression."
Rather, what is stated is that by confession of your sins and calm reflection on your errors through prayer and meditation, it is possible to achieve the spiritual healing through daily application of a Christian-based meditation.
With regard to meditation, there is nothing wrong with getting closer to Jesus through the Christian meditative experience. I do not believe it leads to any of the spiritual errors suggested by Christian critics, who base their criticism on fear and ignorance.
Christian meditation is not New Age meditation, since it is based on the Bible.
According to Saint Gregory of Sinai, the goal of Christian meditation is "seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, beyond the minor phenomenon of ecstasy."
Yet such meditation is not for every Christian.
Reference:
Christian Meditation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_meditation
20110215
Religion through Asian Eyes
My understanding is that hell is a temporary abode, a Purgatory. It's not a place of "burning in Hell for eternity", despite the notion of the "fire and brimstone" version of Hell.
There is nothing in the Bible to confirm such an event, save by misinterpretation of "fire and brimstone".
Yet brimstone is a euphemism for "cleansing", as is the fire symbology. Everything in the Bible points more to "sins" being "burned away", leaving the soul purified.
Though, Revelations appears to have been written to prevent believers from committing suicide were they to believe in reincarnation. The early church councils ruled against incorporating reincarnation into their doctrine because it was likely not to get believers to stick around long enough to amass property that would be bequeathed to the Church on death.
Even today, in rare situations, unscrupulous religious leaders might pressure new converts to confess their sins so that later, subtle emotional blackmail could be used to keep them in the fold and be willing to pay tithe. Most converts are well aware that they are under no obligation to confess their sins openly, yet may do so before a trusted church leader in order to facilitate spiritual healing.
Why? Because man is a social animal, the risk of "excommunication" motivates most converts to do whatever is necessary to become a part of the congregation. By confessing their sins, converts resolve to "sin no more" and thus be repentant. In doing so, they are healed spiritually and are welcome into the congregation.
In contrast, I like the Chinese way of worship, where a believer has a rich spiritual life by not only paying his respects as a Buddhist for the afterlife, as a Taoist for health, and as a Confucian for family.
When you closely examine Falun Gong, it looks like a smorgasbord of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and qigong. Indeed, you could practice the qigong but not join the protests, and they put no pressure on you with that regard.
However, within the Japanese sensibility about spirituality, there is a generalist flavour to it where a spiritually minded person can be Buddhist and Shintoist, yet have a Christian wedding, and even participate in pagan rituals known as matsuri.
There is nothing in the Bible to confirm such an event, save by misinterpretation of "fire and brimstone".
Yet brimstone is a euphemism for "cleansing", as is the fire symbology. Everything in the Bible points more to "sins" being "burned away", leaving the soul purified.
Though, Revelations appears to have been written to prevent believers from committing suicide were they to believe in reincarnation. The early church councils ruled against incorporating reincarnation into their doctrine because it was likely not to get believers to stick around long enough to amass property that would be bequeathed to the Church on death.
Even today, in rare situations, unscrupulous religious leaders might pressure new converts to confess their sins so that later, subtle emotional blackmail could be used to keep them in the fold and be willing to pay tithe. Most converts are well aware that they are under no obligation to confess their sins openly, yet may do so before a trusted church leader in order to facilitate spiritual healing.
Why? Because man is a social animal, the risk of "excommunication" motivates most converts to do whatever is necessary to become a part of the congregation. By confessing their sins, converts resolve to "sin no more" and thus be repentant. In doing so, they are healed spiritually and are welcome into the congregation.
In contrast, I like the Chinese way of worship, where a believer has a rich spiritual life by not only paying his respects as a Buddhist for the afterlife, as a Taoist for health, and as a Confucian for family.
When you closely examine Falun Gong, it looks like a smorgasbord of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and qigong. Indeed, you could practice the qigong but not join the protests, and they put no pressure on you with that regard.
However, within the Japanese sensibility about spirituality, there is a generalist flavour to it where a spiritually minded person can be Buddhist and Shintoist, yet have a Christian wedding, and even participate in pagan rituals known as matsuri.
20101222
Freedom for Girls Essential for Social Enlightenment
In order for human beings to become socio-culturally enlightened, human society must continue to give the option to women earlier in their life cycle to break from traditional patriarchal mores, so as to free them from their current social conditioning.
This is not an advocacy of matriachalism, as both patriarchalism and this latter ideology rely on dominant-submissive dichotomy which conditions their respective society.
This is not an advocacy of matriachalism, as both patriarchalism and this latter ideology rely on dominant-submissive dichotomy which conditions their respective society.
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