Go to Religion in the Modern World
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- Go to Welcome to the wannabe messiah network.
we can only change ourself...
but, I read a brilliant article today about "our messages"... we should consider whether they are "cream or scum", they both rise to the top... but they are surely not the same thing...
I cannot force one to live the life of love, I cannot change one to turn toward that path... I can only do what I believe is right and hope that what I offer is closer to cream than scum... or stay silent....
posted by
Metta
on June 16, 2005 at 3:22 PM
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avant-garde - I fully agree there are some advantages or unseen positives
to Blogit. I feel the exchange of ideas can be a real eye opener and in that a learning experience. I must also agree that it does induce, if not a writing discipline, at least a regimen. The one major drawback is the time consumption it is capable of producing if people let it.
posted by
gomedome
on June 16, 2005 at 5:29 AM
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gomer
how blogit has helped me is by focusing on keeping myself inspired and practicing what i talk about. it may not help someone who is jaded; but, i find that my relationships with my children are much improved and i do not fall in with seedy crowds at work. the drawbacks to blogging are obvious: competing over who is 'right'; using deceitful tactics to improve ratings; and, being so addicted to approval that others areas and relationships that one has become compromised.
posted by
avant-garde
on June 16, 2005 at 3:35 AM
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So in other words,
as a great man once said, (and I paraphrase) "remove the plank of wood from your own eye before pointing out the splinter in someone else's eye."
posted by
JanesOpinion
on June 13, 2005 at 5:39 PM
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Numinous - that's the entire point I am trying to make in the last few
postings. We ultimately only have control over our own actions and reactions.
posted by
gomedome
on June 13, 2005 at 5:32 PM
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gomedome
First, don't get all wadded up, I don't advocate any religion. I don't belive that "isms" are very helpful when trying to get people together; I find them to be divisive. However, the concept that if we would all treat each other with respect and compassion this world would be a better place is not untrue, it is only unrealistic. But, when we practice these attitudes in our own lives, we become happier, more plesant and healthier people. It may not change the whole world, but it will change the world of the person who practices it, and that is really all we can do.
posted by
Numinous
on June 13, 2005 at 4:32 PM
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empty_handed_painter - I can say the same thing as well.
My agenda is simply to be a voice against an assumed Christian entitlement.
posted by
gomedome
on June 13, 2005 at 11:27 AM
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well
we all have an agenda
that's one reason I logged on.
I have an agenda
I'm testing it against the public sounding board.
it'll go the way of the seed of the parable.
some wil ltake root and grow well in places
while in others it won't do so well.
but that's what's to be expected.
i really don't care if others like me
i have an agenda.
posted by
Xeno-x
on June 13, 2005 at 10:52 AM
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kingmi -- if we are one living entity, that entity must be the plague
When we are young students with our minds wandering in all directions, we inevitably try to comprehend distance and time in terms of the universe. The distances are too vast, what exactly is a billion years?... and so on and so on. This will invariably lead us to size relationships where we try to imagine that our solar system is merely a large atom with the sun as it's nuclea. Earth one of it's orbiting protons. This renders us as a species sub- microscopic. Inhabitants of an insignificant proton. But just look at what we have done to this little orbiting body? ...in that we are a plague.
posted by
gomedome
on June 12, 2005 at 7:01 PM
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gomedome
You're right. "Catalyst" was a poor word choice. Just think. We got to the bottom of it and neither of us had to go to hell. Imagine that.
posted by
Talion
on June 12, 2005 at 3:10 PM
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Talion -- okay I can agree with that
it was the word catalyst when it sounds like you meant to say vehicle or utility.
posted by
gomedome
on June 12, 2005 at 2:13 PM
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gomedome
There are many things that divide us besides religious principles. Culture, race, class, etc. as well as plain old apathy. As far as religion being a catalyst for change, the American civil rights movement is a good, but not perfect, example. It's not accident that the most well known leaders were also of the clergy. I don't think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been so effective had he been a plumber. Religon motivates and inspires people like no other ideal. When used effectively and correctly (i.e. not as a fund-raiser, or the means to grab power, or to subjugate the masses) religion can be used as one of many tools for change, but it should not be the only one. You can't build a house with a hammer, but it's hard to build a house without one.
posted by
Talion
on June 12, 2005 at 1:29 PM
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Talion - I have to agree that hope is an important component of our ideals
but at what point do we say okay this is a nice idea but it simply doesn't work? What's next? Do we continue to spin our wheels or move on? I much prefer to hear the "this is how it is and this is what we can do to help" than to be nauseated by the very unrealistic "this is how it should and would be if we only learned to act against our human natures" ...Now I have to take you to task on something in your comment.
".....and religion can be the catalyst for such change, if everyone's reading from the same good book."
Oh yeah really? Has this ever happened on this planet?
posted by
gomedome
on June 12, 2005 at 1:11 PM
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gome, we are all one living entity -- very different persons.
Enjoyed reading you today!
posted by
kingmi
on June 12, 2005 at 12:59 PM
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gomedome
I admit, some stuff you find here is of the "Oh, look at me! I'm so special!" variety. Hell, read my journal blog and it can be said of me. But a component of religion isn't simply faith, but also hope. I truly believe that most this world to be a better place, and religion can be the catalyst for such change, if everyone's reading from the same good book. That's where the problem lies. Instead of putting down the books, rolling up our sleeves and getting to work, we get "my book is better than your book" and then the fighting starts. The pedal's to the metal, the wheels are spinning, but we're getting nowhere fast.
posted by
Talion
on June 12, 2005 at 12:40 PM
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