Religion stems from our inability, fear or complacent atitude when dealing with our everyday problems. It is this same inability or fear that drives us to turn to ’someone’ or ’something’ else for help, and so we do. At least some of us do. Just the mere thought of being alone in itself, coupled with the knowledge of our own finitude (which is quite a cruel gift, also known as or derived from conscience itself) and the consequences it implies, are so terrifiyng to most of us, that we turn to the ‘knowledge’ that there is something or someone, somewhere, far more powerful than us and that because it is more powerful than us, it dominates some or all aspects of our lives. Whishfull thinking? I’ll leave that for you to decide. I myself do not disavow the hipothesis that there is some other form of life within the confines of our Universe, but nowhere else, not in ‘Heaven’, not in ‘Hell’. Having said that, I think it certainly isn’t interested in the meaningless problems of our everyday lives. My believe is that if you do not fight your own battles, you will forever be lost in the hope that someone else will.
So, in essence, what I am saying is that religion is a ‘man made machine’, and a very flawed one at that, from which questionable good and a lot of terrible things, have surfaced. As a ‘man made machine’, you could have expected it to be, in principle and from the start, flawed, but to see all the suffering it has caused and wheighing in all the good that it has done, I am really inclined to say I don’t see a purpose for it still existing. Especially considering that some of its forms of expression appear to me as mere brainwashing and mind control techniques, like praying the Rosary, for instance. A repetitve, mechanical mind numbing prayer. I know a lot of you will disagree and some of you will even hate me, but all I can say is that I expect you to respect my opinion as I respect yours.
Notwithstanding I do not disapprove of a person being religious. As I believe I am free to fullfill my ‘destiny’ in any way or manner I see fit, knowing that I am the sole responsible being for my deeds and that what I do in life is what defines, me and my very existence, I also believe that a person is free to believe that its passage through this world is overseen by a ‘higher power’. I choose to believe that I walk alone, bar the presence of all those that are dear to me, and that when I have perished, all that will be left is the memory of me and the mark that I have made in this world and its inhabitants, however great or small it may be. We live on in the memories and ‘hearts’ of all of those for whom we have made a difference.
P.S. – I am trully sorry for having written this in English, I know it is not my mother tongue but the whole reasoning was in fact constructed in my mind in that very same language. I am also sorry for the existence of some platitudes in the text but, sometimes, you cannot turn from them in order to best express an idea.
Fevereiro 19, 2007 ás 2:35 pm
Very nice cafeteira
Fevereiro 27, 2007 ás 4:04 pm
Ya, ja li, lololol
Pois, tu querias era mostrar ao ppl que sabes escrever bem english etc e tal….
Jinhos Dre
Março 19, 2007 ás 1:01 am
I completly understant what you tried to express and nobody can accuse you of having thoughts that are contradictive with your own personality or way of life, because soon enough I learned that your one true fear, the one mere thing thats disquiets you, is the lone thought that one day you will die. And still you prefer not to embrace that ’someone’ that could make your (our) existence a lot easier to explain. And although I can’t disagree with your reasons for not embracing God into your life, I must say that there is a (not so) thin line that one must draw between God (or call it faith) and religion.
It is not my intent to moralize nor to try and prove you wrong, so I’ll just explain as best as I can what goes on between me and God, hoping you’ll understand my point of view. I think I’ll start by saying that I do believe in God. And like you, I believe I was born to be the best individual that I can be, and to help others in anyway possible. I also believe that He watches over me and always will. And that doesn’t mean I rely exclusively on him to make my way thoughout my life, because that’s not the way it works – and I learned that the hard way – I must do every thing in my power to live my life the best way that I can, because no one else will do that for me. I do not believe there are standard ways to get trough to God, I pray in conformity with what goes on in my heart, and I honestly know that He listens to me and helps me improve myself. So I envisage each day as mission I have to accomplish, and when the sun sets and I lie in bed waiting for my eyes to shut and my brain to halt I rewind and take a good look back to what I’ve done and I try to wake up the next day a better man, and I know He’ll still be there to help me accomplish my mission. And when I die, I believe I’ll meet Him and then I’ll learn the completeness of both worlds.
Março 19, 2007 ás 8:10 pm
Very well, I understand and respect your opinion and I see that you’ve done the same. What confuses me is people that internpret religion and faith in the way that I described, that trully infuriates me. After having read your opinion I can see clearly that you are not one of those zealots and although I don’t share some key points in your opinion I am glad that you worte it down and I am glad to know that it is exactly you said it was. I can only wish that you are right and I am wrong in the key point of your opinion (God’s existance) and that when we cease to exist all of us are embraced by him. I wish this is so in spite of not belieaving in it at all.
Setembro 19, 2007 ás 3:50 pm
Não me apetece escrever em inglês, desculpem.
Para mim, há certas coisas inerentes a ser humano. Amar, sede de conhecimento, ser do benfica, etc. Ter fé é inerente ao ser humano, quando nada mais o pode ajudar. E nesse campo eu concordo que se deve ter fé em algo. Eu tenho a minha fé, e acho que me torna mais forte. Tão forte que me pode levar a atingir os meus próprios milagres. Quanto à religião.. dispenso. Eu não preciso de um padre para me dizer naquilo que tenho e não tenho de acreditar. Finalmente parece-me extremamente cruel e sem sentido o “ser” deixar de existir depois da morte.. talvez haja algo mais.
Forte abraço