I went to church today. I clarify, I went to a Catholic Mass today. It had been ages since I went to a Catholic Mass. This is really something since I went to Catholic Mass twice a week for about 12 years. I found myself muttering, i.e. grumbling morosely. Muttering is the correct word since I cannot say I was meditating, nor praying. I was repeating and repeating like a dumb robot whose battery is growing weak. The whole ceremony felt very foreign to me, very culty indeed.
I felt this profound irritation at being there and having to be told that I would be compensated for this life at a later date, at some point in time after my physical death in the "Eternal Life", in the "Forever and Ever and Ever", in the "Everlasting". The sermon was simplistic, meant to appease a misbehaving toddler, nothing profound or deep about it at all.
I have delved into Buddhism, reading as much as I can about it and trying to set aside my ego to truly understand my place in this cycle. Buddhism is not for the fainthearted. Buddhism asks you to live in this world, accept your place in this cycle, accept that everything is impermanent, and understand that you cannot fight change. No, Buddhism is definitely not for everyone, it is hard to understand, live, and foremost, very cerebral, but fills me. The answers don't come quickly nor easily, but when they come they don't just appease, they fill.
Buddhism is also the only religion that does not purport to be the only way, the right way, the only route to "salvation", or the only portal to heaven, i.e. the everlasting life, eternal life, forever and ever. It is the only religion that does not believe that everyone that does not believe in it (the members only club) is going to burn in hell like in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. It doesn't feel juvenile, simplistic, or it doesn't feel like believing in the tooth ferry or in Santa Claus. It cuts deep into the human value system. Value meaning what Y O U value, as opposed to what one has been socialised to beliveve one should value, value being a relative, ever changing term.
I felt this profound irritation at being there and having to be told that I would be compensated for this life at a later date, at some point in time after my physical death in the "Eternal Life", in the "Forever and Ever and Ever", in the "Everlasting". The sermon was simplistic, meant to appease a misbehaving toddler, nothing profound or deep about it at all.
I have delved into Buddhism, reading as much as I can about it and trying to set aside my ego to truly understand my place in this cycle. Buddhism is not for the fainthearted. Buddhism asks you to live in this world, accept your place in this cycle, accept that everything is impermanent, and understand that you cannot fight change. No, Buddhism is definitely not for everyone, it is hard to understand, live, and foremost, very cerebral, but fills me. The answers don't come quickly nor easily, but when they come they don't just appease, they fill.
Buddhism is also the only religion that does not purport to be the only way, the right way, the only route to "salvation", or the only portal to heaven, i.e. the everlasting life, eternal life, forever and ever. It is the only religion that does not believe that everyone that does not believe in it (the members only club) is going to burn in hell like in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. It doesn't feel juvenile, simplistic, or it doesn't feel like believing in the tooth ferry or in Santa Claus. It cuts deep into the human value system. Value meaning what Y O U value, as opposed to what one has been socialised to beliveve one should value, value being a relative, ever changing term.
