zone_of_reen84
Does that imply that we have become a race where we choose to do bad instead of good? Maybe a majority? And does that mean that we are moving closer to a point where we had become hopeless as humankind? More so, I am wondering if the restoration can be achieved even without the intervention of God.
We become accustomed to serving ourselves instead of others or God. Often times when we do the things that please us sometimes come at a cost of hurting others. So in that sense in the Christian perspective, that would be considered evil. And yeah, even as a non-Christian I do see the worship of indulgence of the self as destructive to pretty much everyone.
But what do you mean by restoration? If it's a sort of Utopian ideal of harmony I don't think that ever existed. The inner drive to seek power, control, and status is embedded into our species psyche since we are so hierarchically minded . Communism was supposed to be the great equalizer of society but even in China it only exists in name. Can't really talk about equality when you have rural chinese living in squalor while the children of CCP elites come over stateside with utterly ridiculous amounts of money.
Short of a planetary level extraterrestrial events like invasion, or the star trek universe becomes reality, we're kind of in a bind. And even if we did come together, it would only be temporary. 9/11 was a day that saw a tremendous amount of unity, but that came down harder and faster than the friggin towers themselves it seems like.
With that, makes sense that people are hoping that SOMETHING has the handle on this, cause the idea of existing in chaos alone is frightening to a lot of people.
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I give respect to Jesus, because He taught values that are much needed today. Somehow, I feel that Our humanity has declined. In the news, crime rates increase yearly. It's obvious that we need someone like Jesus who teach us the right ways. However, do we need to create a religion out of Jesus' teachings? His teachings are clear: LOVE. Why do we need a structured religion in this case, Christianity, when we can just follow His commandment: Love God, Love Each Other. I just see that religion has turned into a sort of institution in which a hierarchy exists and the point of the commandment has diminished. To love is pretty basic, it's a common language that people anywhere in the world understand and practice.
I'm also concerned because, some religions seem to create confusion and conflicts that make us destroy each other.
Crime has actually plunged dramatically since the 90s. One thing to consider is that media bombardment of things to fear, despair, and doubt has increased exponentially. Cynically speaking, this may not be accidental. Not only does giving things to make people anxious about increase ratings and revenue, but it keeps people discordant.
Why is it difficult to simply love? Because knowing the practice, and living it are two entirely different things. I practice zazen, which is a sitting meditation where you simply breathe and be in the present moment. Sounds simple, but once you put yourself in a situation where you begin to start really paying attention to yourself and your own breath you'll star to see how utterly chaotic your brain is in how it's constantly moving, processing, thinking, distracting your distractions. It's kinda like being locked in a dark room with your psyche.
Practicing loving-kindness is a lot like that. The idea is simple, and it even pleases us to do it; However, it gets really difficult when you are carrying a lot of baggage. Our own fears, insecurities, ignorances, prejudices cloud our ability to be mindful and compassionate. Talk about a convicted ***** and you'll see people who don't even know the person get viscerally violent in the kind of horrific acts they want to do to them; they don't even think about asking "why did this happen". the criminal may have had a long painful history of being beaten and sexually abused as a child. And sometimes people really don't like it when you try to "humanize" them because it conflicts with their justice boners. And that's part of the problem in which we are in love with our own narrative and idea of "justice" than being 'simply loving'.
We kind of need the structure really. We are chaotic but most of us seek order. We are broken and we seek help, we are students and we need teachers, we are lonely and we need a family.
Faith communities give people the opportunity to seek friendship, family, a connection with people that share beliefs and be able to teach the parts of life that we can't always learn on our own persona experience. Christianity is a revealed faith, and unless you're a saint a person won't just simply be able to deeply understand and life the faith entirely on their own. The events and rituals also serve a purpose. Humans do a lot of communicating, especially through actions and symbolism. They help bring mindfulness and awareness to a practice to make it a living breathing thing than simply a concept inside your head. simply reading about humanity's connection with God and Jesus through his suffering is a different experience than to actually experience a direct real connection and unity with the whole of humanity and Christ through the Eucharist.
The elements of religious practice aren't required in practice, but they're still imporant in what they encourage and inspire. My altar here at home doesn't really need to exist but it calls me to practice, the statue of Guanyin inspires my practice to be loving and compassionate, the picture of the virgin mary reminds me of my wife's practice and also a reminder that compassion extends to even the people who I may have big disagreements with. The offerings of incense and fruit serve to reinforce the intent of my practice, and it being so low to the ground not only calls me to meditate but it also reminds me of humility.
Yeah, I guess I could do without that but it's easy to lose sight of the depth and beauty of practice when you're stuck in your head and suffering and need it most. The faith tradition brings it front and center.
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I understand. It's because Christians believe that the only way they can become faithful followers is through accepting Jesus in their lives. I see nothing wrong in that but still, we can still be moral-conscious individuals without an organized religion.
I agree, but that's a difficult sell to Christians.
Ties to that whole humanity is broken thing, and on top of that Christianity is a faith that holds revealed and absolute truths backed by infinite power.
So they'll ask what's to keep you from doing whatever you want? Those are the kind of people that for however many years of their life they were taught about compassion, they don't seem to actually understand what it means. They only understand power and punishment. You can't be moral and right because you have nothing that you fear, and nothing to keep you in line.
It's really difficult to meet halfway with people who are pessimistic about humanity and are only there long enough to get a chance at the afterlife.
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