Thread: My Religion

There are no words to describe it. Watching your baby's face the very instant she first becomes aware of what music is as you dance around the room at 3 in the morning to Mozart, and she smiles in wonder. Seeing the flash of understanding the very first time she realizes that that thing in front of her is a dog's furry black face looking back at her. Watching the awakening of Life. It is it's own justification. My religion is a series of impromptu rituals that reintroduce me to that feeling of awe.

I look at the religions of the world and I do not see that. I see stories people tell themselves to make them feel less afraid of dying. I see people grasping at a mundane "meaning" or "purpose" of life, because they do not feel that overwhelming awe at how breathtakingly beautiful Life is in its own right.

The meaning of life is Life. Life is always beautiful, even when it is excruciatingly painful. It is so clear if you just turn off your mind for a moment and let it in that it doesn't even require faith.

God is irrelevant, just a concept that narrows my appreciation for Life, reduces my awareness, limits my understanding and separates me from Life, which is a deception. The only things outside of myself that I need to know about are the other expressions of Life that are around me. And those aren't really outside of me at all. Just different windows looking in on the same thing. A window opens, a window closes, it makes no difference to Life.

This is my religion.

I don't think I, or anyone else, could have said it better. Wonderful post, splansing.

My religion is a series of impromptu rituals that reintroduce me to that feeling of awe.

Yes, that is a no brainer

I can certainly appreciate you religion Splansing. The things you mention are indeed wonderful. I too have enjoyed the spontaneity and awesomeness of child rearing and the awe of everyday life. How we get to where we are from where we started. The singing of the birds in the spring. The fury of thunderstorms. The list truly is infinite. As a Christian and child of God though, my religion more focuses on the sacrifices of life to ensure that I shall have everlasting life. How will the choices I make today possibly affect my afterlife with my creator. I venture to guess that we both enjoy many things about life each and everyday and in fact are in awe of many many things. What makes me comfortable in life and comfortable with the thought of death is that I know (without scientific reasoning) That when my life on earth is over I will be going to a better place. If by some far fetched idea I am wrong, well it cost me (financially) nothing and has helped to make me a better person while on earth than I might otherwise be. That is my religion.
Merry Christmas to you and your family and heres to a prosperous New Year.

"Whatever attitude to human existence you fashion for yourself, know that it is valid only if it be the shadow of an attitude to Nature. A human life, so often likened to a spectacle upon a stage, is more justly a ritual. The ancient values of dignity, beauty, and poetry which sustain it are of Nature’s inspiration; they are born of the mystery and beauty of the world. Do no dishonour to the earth lest you dishonour the spirit of man. Hold your hands out over the earth as over a flame. To all who love her, who open to her the doors of their veins, she gives of her strength, sustaining them with her own measureless tremor of dark life. Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and the dawn seen over the ocean from the beach."
- Henry Beston, The Outermost House (1928)

I do not believe I am going to a better place after I die. What could be better than this? I do not have to live forever to be eternal. Life will always exist.

Originally Posted by splansing

There are no words to describe it. Watching your baby's face the very instant she first becomes aware of what music is as you dance around the room at 3 in the morning to Mozart, and she smiles in wonder. Seeing the flash of understanding the very first time she realizes that that thing in front of her is a dog's furry black face looking back at her. Watching the awakening of Life. It is it's own justification. My religion is a series of impromptu rituals that reintroduce me to that feeling of awe.

I look at the religions of the world and I do not see that. I see stories people tell themselves to make them feel less afraid of dying. I see people grasping at a mundane "meaning" or "purpose" of life, because they do not feel that overwhelming awe at how breathtakingly beautiful Life is in its own right.

The meaning of life is Life. Life is always beautiful, even when it is excruciatingly painful. It is so clear if you just turn off your mind for a moment and let it in that it doesn't even require faith.

God is irrelevant, just a concept that narrows my appreciation for Life, reduces my awareness, limits my understanding and separates me from Life, which is a deception. The only things outside of myself that I need to know about are the other expressions of Life that are around me. And those aren't really outside of me at all. Just different windows looking in on the same thing. A window opens, a window closes, it makes no difference to Life.

This is my religion.

Thank God for your healthy baby. God gave you your baby.

I don't see that it matters much what you call it.

I do not believe I am going to a better place after I die.

Well that may be true for you.

Originally Posted by freecell

Well that may be true for you.

It's a shame that you will never appreciate a rose, how could you if you believe that a better rose must exist when you die?