Hate the Religion, not the Religionist?
I really hate dislike certain aspects of religion. I am sort of a Buddhist, and on again off again go to the local Zen group for their services. The meditation is really useful, I tend to be sort of high strung or on edge and it helps balance me out. But the chanting and whatnot gets to be too much and so I tend to not go.
It just all seems made up and arbitrary, and anyone who claims that something special has been revealed to them I tend to think is misguided or confusing a psychological process for an external communication.
Zen is the closest that I would come to participating in religion as a devotee, and actually I spent a couple months in a lay-monastic situation when I was younger, which was very intense and useful. Most other religions are too externally imposive for my tastes. I just lump all that together with other things that don't make sense unless you're in a self-referential system. It's 'Sit and figure it out for yourself' vs 'THIS IS HOLY WRIT'.
Even Zen fails me on certain key points, such as claiming to be the 'Front Gate' to enlightenment. Ugh, ugh, ugh. That statement is the one that really kills it for me whenever I go. I seriously promise to attend the first Religious/Spiritual group that does not make these sorts of claims. I am totally serious, if you can show me a religion that is not self-aggrandizing, I will sign right up. Except the Unitarians, they don't count.
Just like certain political and patriotic beliefs make sense if you're in a closed system, Religion can seam like a true thing, but it doesn't admit to change without hypocrisy. Changes in revelation seems to be a fashionable accompaniment to changes in human society, not the other way around.
I get like that with politics too, and unfortunately have been pushed into being a strident Democrat the last few years via subconscious need to cling together for safety against certain geopolitical trends. But I look forward to a more even two-party rule consisting of mostly grid-lock wherein my Independent/Libertarian/Green streaks can distract me from my current party affiliation.
It just all seems made up and arbitrary, and anyone who claims that something special has been revealed to them I tend to think is misguided or confusing a psychological process for an external communication.
Zen is the closest that I would come to participating in religion as a devotee, and actually I spent a couple months in a lay-monastic situation when I was younger, which was very intense and useful. Most other religions are too externally imposive for my tastes. I just lump all that together with other things that don't make sense unless you're in a self-referential system. It's 'Sit and figure it out for yourself' vs 'THIS IS HOLY WRIT'.
Even Zen fails me on certain key points, such as claiming to be the 'Front Gate' to enlightenment. Ugh, ugh, ugh. That statement is the one that really kills it for me whenever I go. I seriously promise to attend the first Religious/Spiritual group that does not make these sorts of claims. I am totally serious, if you can show me a religion that is not self-aggrandizing, I will sign right up. Except the Unitarians, they don't count.
Just like certain political and patriotic beliefs make sense if you're in a closed system, Religion can seam like a true thing, but it doesn't admit to change without hypocrisy. Changes in revelation seems to be a fashionable accompaniment to changes in human society, not the other way around.
I get like that with politics too, and unfortunately have been pushed into being a strident Democrat the last few years via subconscious need to cling together for safety against certain geopolitical trends. But I look forward to a more even two-party rule consisting of mostly grid-lock wherein my Independent/Libertarian/Green streaks can distract me from my current party affiliation.
