My spiritual journey throughout the years has left me with ultimately with more questions than answers. As I move towards achieving the right livelihood in career choice, I want to make sure I choose the “right” religion to aspire by on a personal level.
I think whichever religion I choose will ultimately be contingent on a variety of factors, most importantly tolerance. I want to choose a religion that doesn’t judge others based on their lifestyle choices, and doesn’t see people outside the religion as “immoral” or “unjust”. I have in fact plenty of atheist friends who themselves are not bad people, and yet they’re stigmatized by their religious peers.
At the same time I want to choose a religion with rigid moral values. Every religion in and of itself aims for some sort of spiritual enlightenment that can be subsequently attempted by achieving of a set of moral codes. Hinduism pushes for practicing parts of the dharma, Christianity and Judaism has the 10 commandments, and Buddhism has the Eightfold Path (just to name a few). As long as these standards mesh well with my personality, I’m more likely to be supportive of the religion. After spending 3 years “practicing” Buddhism and 2 years going to church on/off again, I still am left in a fixed state of bewilderment.
The belief in God supercedes most faith systems in the United States. I’m not against the idea personally in believing some sort of higher power, although my belief in God doesn’t necessary parallel Western religious philosophies. In fact I’m more likely to subscribe to Newton’s clockwork theory, where God created us and left us to our devices. Although, it’d be pretty cool if we were in a “Sims” like universe where God was controlling our every move.
I also want to see religion in a different manner than most people. While people classify religions based on tax codes and the amount of “followers of faith” it has, I can see any rigid institution or “group” as a religion. You could argue the K-12 educational school system is a religion, or the push for University degrees a religion. In a sense they are all subscribing to the notion that higher education is important, and that can be achieved in an institutionalized setting as rigid as the University. I’d make the argue that the Ron Paul Revolution is a religion, but that might get some people more agitated towards me than anything else.
In the end, we should all choose what we believe in. As long as we aim for our standards of morality without imposing it on others, I think the world will be a much better place.
My own personal religion would thus intertwine the following elements. :
1) Tolerance: of others, their lifestyles, their choices, their religions.
2) The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
3) The Right Livelihood: Living a life of purpose, more about what you do as a profession* (more info Sunday)
Thanks for reading. I was a bit skeptical to write a blog post about religion but I think in this day and age, tolerance can overcome the massive differences in various opinions and faith.
