On the subject of religion

[blues90]

I have a narrow view into religion .

I never studied it and my only experience was being brought up with perhaps 6 years of the christian science faith . This is the Mary Baker Eddi deal with the bible and a monitor and some other paper guide all said to break down the code of the bible .

As you know it's all about healing yourself through the mind .

At the age of 13 or 14 and during the time of the cuban missile crisis I became very ill . I was a walking form of death could not keep food down and had unbearable joint pain .

I knew either I would die from this or the attack of the nuclear bombs , my only thought was will I live to reach my next birthday . At that point while laying there with time to think I realized I came from nothing and when I die I will be nothing once again .

I realized and thought how can it be that any man born just as I or anyone else could be closer to a god simply because he wore an outfit and claimed to be the guide of sorts .

No God came to them and spoke and made them the chosen one .

At that time my aunt and uncle had a baby and I was asked to baby sit .
I knew about baptizm and thought how can it be possible that this new born with only eyes on innocence and no possible way to communicate other than crys could possibly had committed sin , he came from nothing , he did not exist 9 or ten months ago .

A very close friend of mine drown at 18 in a lake in Canada , he as I was a joker and part of the first rock band I was ever in , we learned together .
This was my first experience with the catholic religion other than other kids in school not eating meat on fridays .

I was there at the church being one chosen to carry the casket . What amazed me first was the difference in the church compared to mine , how gothic it seemed , how huge it was . The next thing was the motions and the water and the chanting of a language I did not know , the drinking from a golden gobblet and the wiping of the cloth napkin .

He was like I , born into this world from chance , from nothing , his life was over , I missed him he was my friend , I had a difficult time knowing and accepting I would never see him again .

I lost a few friends back then , a girl during highschool where they had a dance called the turnabout where the girl asks the fellow , she came from the hallway and handed me a note and went off , the note was an introduction and an invitation from someone I never saw before .

we went , we talked for hours on the phone, me at home and her at her night job in a laundry .

On returning to highschool one day she was not there to meet me , I found out in first period gym class that some fellows sold her an old wreak of a car and knew from the conversation and tears pouring down my eyes it was she that caused the stares I was getting .

I missed her , it took months to accept she was gone , i would never see her again , winter nights , dark lonely nights staring at the stars that lite the snow . I felt guilt later knowing she was on her way with this wreak of a car to my house for I had not a car , we could finally have time in person , not on the phone or between classes in school , time we never did have . On the bus ride to school I saw the tire tracks cut through the snow covered field and the broken telephone pole .

I look at death as each night going to sleep , you willfully close your eyes and tune out , if no dream accures or one is remembered then you are as you were , nothing .

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Religion is how we cope with reality. They're not the same thing

My condolences for your losses. My philosophy, which satisfies more than any established religion, dictates that every experience be perceived as one's culminating moment, so that at the end there are no regrets.

Works for me.

I was raised with a narrow view of religion. Experience has shown me the value of understanding others' perceptions, with the goal of integrating the best the world has to offer. It takes a while, but it's worth it. And of course, everyone has to clear their own path to enlightenment ... and beyond.

The innocence of a child is nothing to be envied, for everyone will one day face the disappointment of reality. Religion is meant to be the bond that endures despite the betrayal of trust. If you had good experiences as a child, parables will always make sense, just as your parents remain special, even as you discover they too are mere mortals who were just doing the best the can.

I bid you peace.

[groovedaddy]

2. conservation of energy runs against the grain of "nothingness"

Energy can not be destroyed - transformed, transmuted - yes - but not destroyed.
It takes energy to form "something," hence, you (nor anyone else) don't emerge from "nothing," nor return to "nothing." The rest is speculation.

[Fredda Weinberg]

4. Strictly speaking, we compose and decompose. Entropy is preserved

C'est la vie - the only force that reverses natural free energy flows.

[meegbear]

3. ...

:hug:

[madokie]

5. once I cross the threshold between life an death

nothing matters anymore. I was also a kid of 13 during the missile crises and at about that time was when I realized that I no longer believed in a God, any of them however many there is. Oh I might add I shed many tears of fear during that time too.

[groovedaddy]

6. Let's see if the "gods" respond to the summons - check out this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x157107

[sam sarrha]

7. i was 5 when i discovered Santa clause was nothing but a cruel sick joke, i related Jesus to it and

and the whole Christian bullshit thing around it. i became an atheist at age 5. i was also being beaten by a drunken father daily and molested by a family member..

i still had the church mind control brain washing fear of eternal damnation and burning in a lake of fire, all the Free Holyness Pentecostal Holly Roller Church brainwashing, at 5 in Sunday school was in-depth indoctrination of the horrors of 'the book of Revelation'

i decided to commit suicide by gOD, i could not take life anymore. i crawled into the pile of blankets in the bottom of a closet.. and 'cursed gOD', waited for his wrath to utterly destroy me.

nothing happened.. i just realized that every thing was a lie, F'n EVERYTHING.!!! I JUST SHOOK MY HEAD IN DISBELIEF, got up and walked back into it.. i figured things would get better as soon as i was old enough to join the boy scouts, and it was. a whole new world without domination by bat shit crazy family AND CHURCH. it changed my life.

I'm 59 and we had 'duck and cover' all the time, the Russians will kill us all, i thought that was just another Santa type lie, the least if my worries.

in the 7th grade i found an old short wave radio under our old house in an old basement that you had to slide down a plank to get to, after a long crawl on your belly under the house.

i revealed the secret to two of my boyscout buddies under penalty of death.. we sneaked around like partisans evading the Nazi's.. slid down the plank into little 10 x 12 root cellar in a nest of a hole under a pile of dabree, illuminated only by the soft greenish glow of the cats eye tuner on the old 1920's short wave radio..

we sat quietly, they didn't know what i was up to.. i kept checking my watch.. i turned up the volume and "Radio Moscow" came on.. they were horrified and terrified.. but after about 4 minutes we were rolling with laughter from the ridiculous amateurish program.. then 'Radio Havana' came on..jose' and Maria reading a script, obviously for the first time stammering on all the typo's from a quick and dirty translation..

every Saturday we met, one by one quietly sliding down the plank to compare the propagandas of our two countries... our clandestine group grew to about 6 after a while

[madokie]

8. reading this makes me smile

and I thought I had it rough
may peace always be by your side, always be the light with which we see by

[sam sarrha]

9. i have discovered i have Aspergers Syndrome, totally right brain dominant. i see the world in a

light than Neurologically Traditional people.. in my 50's people began to be more interested in my view... or perhaps just more curious. i grew up the weird autistic kid, allot of my whippings as a young child were because of autistic behavior, hand flipping and terror panic attacks when yelled at.. he always wanted me to look him in the eyes.. knowing i was going to be whipped with a willow switch

autistic kids cant deal with peoples eyes.. my devastating venerabilities led me to be victimized, abusers knew i couldn't tell anyone. it wasn't till i was about 14 and my father said, for no reason, he was getting his razor strap and teach me a lesson, i picked up a piece of 1 inch pipe 30 inches long and said i didn't think that was a good idea... that ended it. boy scouts taught me to be goal oriented, and be a go getter or you wont get that badge, scouts saved my life

not long after that i had the bully's in school leaving me alone too

it took a while to find a center i socialization, Aspies usually have no idea what is going on socially.. i went thru a long period of facing fears down and eliminating them.. traveling thru mexico to central america alone on a bus, living in the jungle in a thatched hut, peace corps in africa.. taking imposable jobs just to see what happens, i found i could do almost everything a hell of a lot better than anyone else

i really found wonderful home in Buddhism, it was like comming home after a long terrable journey.. finding a whole bunch of people like myself. my wife is also a Buddhist, we met in 1970, she asked me to a Buddhist meeting..cause she liked my beard.. we finally got married 8 years ago..

i was tested with an IQ of 164 but determined functionally illiterate.

i love DU, i dont get out much lately.. it is a nice place to visit and collect information

i enjoyed your post

[madokie]

10. I see lots of parallels here

you and I.

This place is my hold on sanity and it has been for a while now

[sam sarrha]

11. i am living in winston salem nc... it isn't a well spring of liberal thinking, DU is an oasis

in a desert of apathy and ignorance.. but this is a lot better than where we lived in rural west TN

i am a compulsive collector of information.. DU is a great source when the media is nothing but corporate whores

i just got the shock doctrine.. it is Really well written, and a fascinating story..