I'm beginning to pray to a Divine thing

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Maybe the mods will banish this OP to another forum, but I wanted my readers to know the truth. I believe Gandhi, Jesus, Confucius and others preached the same sermon. There may not be a Heaven, but I try to walk the walk, instead of doing the talk. I've experienced life with the homeless: and it has changed me in ways words cannot describe. When I pray, I may only be talking to myself: but that's okay.

[gateley]

1. Yes. That's okay.

:hug:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. It's not okay that I left out Mohamed. I opologize

[gateley]

7. You're forgiven. Go and sin no more. :-) nt

[TheKentuckian]

3. That is natural and you are doing it rationally, wisely, and broadly. Sure it's okay

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. Let's all of us pray to whatever we feel is Divine...

Let's pray the Gulf of Texaco will be fixed FOR REAL, real soon, instead of letting TV propaganda prey on our hearts and minds.

[onager]

13. Even us atheists? No, thanks.

n/t

[cleanhippie]

23. Careful, not everyone prays.

I'm cool with you believing what you want, but don't try and and make others do it too!

[patrice]

4. The whole assumption that heaven/hell are some/where/time/how/thing else is not intrinsic to Christ

ian dogma.

[rrneck]

5. If it gets moved to R/T

it will be the most coherent OP there.

[Fumesucker]

8. That particular bar is so low you'd need an excavator to even reach it.. n/t

[rrneck]

9. True that!

:rofl:

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. Even if nothing outside yourself is listening, stating things with intent

has an affect on your own being.

:hug:

I prefer to believe that all of the above are among the "all that have come before" and i like the belief that i am able to share in their company. I enjoy being able to create my own spiritual framework and take great joy in selecting bits and pieces from a great many sources. It is like religious scrap-booking and it is a beautiful thing. A tradition from here...a ceremony from there...a work of art from yet another, a prayer, a meditation... As long as there is a peace and a contentment and love and it does not harm...it is right in my most humble view.

Thank you so much for your work with the homeless. Another :hug: just for that.

[ironbark]

14. Wonderfully said and applicable to those of us who have no or no particular god, belief or religion

.

It’s a glorious banquet table of human history, traditions, scriptures and wisdoms free to all to draw from and celebrate.

The greater the cross cultural exchange and drawing on each others traditions the better it gets.
For me it doesn’t get much better than this ‘traditional’ gem-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MucVWo-Pw

Small gift of appreciation…hope you enjoy it ;-)

[FedUpWithIt All]

16. Fantastic! Thank you.

:7

[seabeyond]

11. hugs.

i would say so much more.. but hey. du. lol

[ironbark]

12. I was going to respond- “What’s her name”? until I read your post ;-)

“I've experienced life with the homeless: and it has changed me in ways words cannot describe.”

It is said that “The wound is the aperture through which the light of god shines”…
When it comes to those wounded or broken by life perhaps it shines both ways…into and from them
;-)

I share your experience and your sentiments…I have lived with the homeless and worked with the mentally ill, prisoners, drug addicted and youth in State care and custody.

I can honestly and unequivocally say that I preferred the company of all of the above to that of my professional peers and, at times, even to that of my friends.
There is an honesty, openness, compassion and sense of true community to be found among the homeless, ill and drug addicted that is rarely found in suburbia.
Sometimes there is threat or danger…but it to is usually open, in your face and short lived….nothing to compare to the protracted surreptitious shanking that can occur at the boardroom table with the bureaucrats ;-)

If your interested, Google M Scott Peck and/or ‘True Community’.
He describes the role of disaster (or pending disaster/relapse) in forming true community and its qualities.
And homelessness is certainly a disaster…the notion of true community does not diminish or romanticize that.


“When I pray, I may only be talking to myself: but that's okay”

No one gets out of this life alive. If the materialists are right and you have been talking to yourself you and they will never have the opportunity to know ;-)

But if your >not< talking to yourself you (and they) will find out.

All the best.
And thanks for one of the few positive and significant threads seen here for some time.

[Critters2]

15. Confucius taught ways of maintaining order through submission to

very hierarchical systems of family and nobility. Not at all what Jesus or Gandhi taught.

[uberllama42]

18. Right. If anything, Jesus advocated the radical abolition

of the kind of social structures Confucius believed in. I really don't know what it could mean that Jesus and Confucius preached the same sermon.

[RagAss]

17. Actually, the Divine prays to us everyday. We don't listen.

[cleanhippie]

24. Actually? Really? Can you prove that?

Unless you can, its not "actually", it is more like "I believe that...."

[RagAss]

25. Who can prove they even exist outside of the mind?

[cleanhippie]

26. What does that have to do with your previous assertion?

[New Earth]

28. I really like this comment!

It is so true...it is there waiting for us to acknowledge its existence. I had an amazing experience of this about a week or two ago. This is probably not the best forum or thread to get into it though...

[dmallind]

19. Feel free

The only problems start when you want to make rules for the rest of us based on what you think it says back.

Avoid that and you are welcome to enjoy and benefit from your prayers in any way you see fit. You certainly do not need my assent to do that, but you have it nonetheless.

[rrneck]

20. +1

:thumbsup:

[Silent3]

21. This?

[cleanhippie]

22. I'm cool with that!

I'm cool with whatever you want to believe, as long as you don't try to force it on anyone. Good for you.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. You are a Universalist, which is a good thing...

or at least I think so, since I'm one too.

Most religions have some universalist beliefs incorporated in them, but how well that are observed varies all over the board. Christian universalists have been around since the earliest days when at least two of the major churches preferred not to deal in the specifics of dogma. Nowadays, UU's, Quakers, and a few others try to keep that spirit alive.

Personally, as a Universalist Quaker, I see each religion out there as seeing a different face of God-- kind of like the blind men and the elephant. Since I grew up in the Christian tradition, I see little reason to go too far afield and become a Muslim or Buddhist when I can happily be a Quaker and have a respect for Muslims and Buddhists.

The whole point of God is that no God can be fully understood or defined by us-- wouldn't be God if we could actually see or talk to he/she/it/allthree. So, why bother with all that arguing over the specifics and simply accept what evidence of God we as individuals can see and accept.