Wonder why? :-)

What if Jesus was one of us? That would be so cool!

But the shambolic metaphysics of the “Roman” tradition is an intellectual and spiritual embarrassment. The core beliefs are quite bizarre and deeply unattractive to most rational, non cult members. I was raised in a non-religious family, and speaking as one who has no in-built bias toward any particular religious credo (beyond the unavoidable cultural influences of course), I can say that Christian metaphysics just come across as a confused, ludicrous tangle of beliefs so obviously corrupted [sic] by those who became responsible for their transmission that I find it culturally embarrassing that so many people here in the West claim to believe in their authenticity.

I regard the externalist salvation-seeking religions as one of the heaviest ball-and-chains around mankind’s collective ankle. An internalist, personal-enlightenment seeking philosophy, such as Zen Buddhism, requires no rationality-defying “leap-of-faith” and is both intellectually acceptable and spiritually satisfying to me.

In fact, I’ll go as far to state that the externalist, salvation-seeking belief systems are one of the biggest threats to global peace and to man’s general intellectual development. Believing that your moral and spiritual nature can only be understood by reference to something outside of yourself (and outside of your community) is, and has often been, a recipe for disaster; it leaves individuals unsure of their own nature, in need of guidance and confirmation, and thus open to manipulation.

It’s kind of like having one’s spirituality instantiated in ActiveX controls. You never know when some undesirable influence is going to subvert the software that runs your computer. So, am I now going to liken the internal belief systems to open source software? Yeah, why not! They are no silver bullet, but at least they empower you to fix bugs yourself and don’t leave you dependent for your inner-most well-being on something outside of yourself, something over which you have no control.

Phew, I’m heading deep into the ramble zone now and had better get back to my work.

xxx

I wonder if in the future there will be global wars fought between Lord of the Rings Fans, The Chronicles of Narnia Fans and Harry Potter Fans? LotR Fans believing they are the Chosen Children of Fantasy Novels loved by Children and Adults Alike as they were the first ones and everyone else is merely an homage. Harry Potter fans will start infiltrating Narnia Conventions dressed as a Wardrobe and blow themselves up in protest of the fact that Narnia’s been adapted for radio, tv, stage and screen and HP hasn’t…

*sigh*

There is a big HUGE difference between ‘belief’ and ‘the truth’. No matter how much you believe something to be true (or not true for that matter) doesn’t make it so.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”–The Buddha