There is nothing more basic than how we view our relationship to our innermost beliefs about who we are, why we believe what we do about our inner life, our connection to this confining and often contradictory world, and how we should relate to our inner and outer worlds.
There are many approaches to constructing the beliefs that guide our daily life and the world outside our immediate surroundings. There are so many ways of building a set of beliefs about our inner self-dialogue. What happens in the way we talk with our inner selves builds the fundamental manner in how we interact with the world. As we decide what our inner life should be, how we treat our peers, other species, the planet we live on, and the cosmos, our behavior reflects our beliefs.
Research in medicine, science, robotics, and virtual reality complicates the picture we have of what life is, how we should regard other life forms and the small planet we live on. Some people believe in a Supreme Creator, and some people adamantly reject any idea of a deity.
In my life, my beliefs continue to shape what I do and say. Because I grew up in the community that spawned the atomic bomb, my ideas about war and peace are well defined. As time marched on, and more nations acquired the capability to possess and use thermonuclear weapons, my beliefs about violence evolved. When people speak about their Second Amendment rights, I laugh to myself and say "do you honestly believe that your AK-47 will protect you when a nuke goes off near you????"
It has been well documented that nearly all of the men who went to the moon were profoundly changed by the view of a beautiful Earth from 250,000 miles away. They came back and tried to convey how fragile life is here on this planet. Many of them saw the interrelated and necessary importance of the various systems that our planet needs to survive.
There are reasons I suppose that can be used to justify the deaths and extinction of species. Whether one believes in a Supreme Being or not, as a dominant species, our footprint on Earth has been unprecedented. The effect overall has gone forward, while we debate whether profit in this generation justifies the degradation of our air, water, land, and other forms of life.
In Indigenous cultures, their approach to life, water, air, and land has been more cognizant of the ramifications of "defecating in their own nest." As modern life confronted these cultures, each of them has had to struggle to keep their spirituality, routines, rhythms of the seasons, ...their very culture itself.
While there is much to admire about Indigenous peoples, the answer is not for each of us to go back to life as America was before Europeans came and invented the American Holocaust. We must reexamine our attitudes about the Earth, the various ecosystems extant, and what we believe about this small blue planet which is perilously close to becoming another dead rock in space. If this sounds spiritual, it is. If there is nothing else sacred, this planet Earth we call home must be deemed sacred.
Perhaps this sounds overly imaginative. Earth without life would be a travesty. Wealth and contentment cannot co-exist. Money is our world's most destructive addiction. People who have large fortunes are scared of losing them. People who are not wealthy somehow think life would be more likeable if only they were rich.
For millennia, our species lived on a survival basis. Our ancestors became self-aware, and attributed disasters to angry gods. The holy books of the world usually blame god/s, rather than looking at how their own actions contributed to catastrophes. While as a self-aware species we experienced all of the setbacks that any life form would go through, we blamed the world around us instead of looking at ourselves first. Our very self- awareness was the largest factor in the calamities we endured as a family, culture, and species.
The very strong sense of power humanity experienced brought about the experiences some call transcendent. Our spirituality became a deterrent to an understanding of the rapid changes we made to the places we loved. The dynamics of spirituality come from a different way of understanding the Earth. Instead of being focused upon what forces we believe caused our contentment or misery, spiritual exploration lives in each of us as a way of giving and taking in our life experiences. We see the internal as well as the worldly forces that shape our existence. Instead of saying "we are the world," we place ourselves as a part of dynamics that we only have a part in without blaming god/s for our happiness or misery.
Personally, I have always believed that my life course has been a combination of random events and choices I have made. I believe in a Creator, but accept that my choices are my own, not the actions of my Creator.
I have embraced somewhat the mystical nature of this life, and realize that I will not understand the mysteries that confront my curiosity. I have seen the futility of trying to comprehend unanswerable questions that boggle my mind. My lifelong appreciation of Buddhism helped me realize this valuable lesson. The efforts I have made to speak with practicing Buddhists and to understand their unique world view have been essential in my growth.
The studies I have done in my own Christianity have helped me have a better appreciation of the human potential for reaching out to the suffering people I have spent time with in this life. As a boy, I read the New Testament and was deeply moved by the compassion of Jesus, the twelve apostles, and the women who followed him. The suffering Jesus went through helped make humanity understand the message he was preaching. The fact that only one of the apostles lived to a natural death and the rest were killed for being Christian convinced me that they saw that suffering for their beliefs made them more determined in their efforts to follow Jesus.
Indigenous people on their reservations became fine examples of how to structure a society. They suffered horribly for their beliefs. They helped me, grasping my inadequate ability to endure the times that life was not fair.
Whatever helps bring an understanding of why life can be either full of benevolence or suffering, influences how we view the world. Insights and revelations strongly influence the spiritual growth we are or are not experiencing in our lives.
For myself, exploring is the essence of spirituality. Whether you believe in a Supreme Being or do not, to grow in your spirituality is a way of letting yourself loose enough to venture, as Van Morrison once said,"into the Mystic."
Copyright 2016 by Peter Reum-all rights reserved
There are many approaches to constructing the beliefs that guide our daily life and the world outside our immediate surroundings. There are so many ways of building a set of beliefs about our inner self-dialogue. What happens in the way we talk with our inner selves builds the fundamental manner in how we interact with the world. As we decide what our inner life should be, how we treat our peers, other species, the planet we live on, and the cosmos, our behavior reflects our beliefs.
Research in medicine, science, robotics, and virtual reality complicates the picture we have of what life is, how we should regard other life forms and the small planet we live on. Some people believe in a Supreme Creator, and some people adamantly reject any idea of a deity.
In my life, my beliefs continue to shape what I do and say. Because I grew up in the community that spawned the atomic bomb, my ideas about war and peace are well defined. As time marched on, and more nations acquired the capability to possess and use thermonuclear weapons, my beliefs about violence evolved. When people speak about their Second Amendment rights, I laugh to myself and say "do you honestly believe that your AK-47 will protect you when a nuke goes off near you????"
It has been well documented that nearly all of the men who went to the moon were profoundly changed by the view of a beautiful Earth from 250,000 miles away. They came back and tried to convey how fragile life is here on this planet. Many of them saw the interrelated and necessary importance of the various systems that our planet needs to survive.
There are reasons I suppose that can be used to justify the deaths and extinction of species. Whether one believes in a Supreme Being or not, as a dominant species, our footprint on Earth has been unprecedented. The effect overall has gone forward, while we debate whether profit in this generation justifies the degradation of our air, water, land, and other forms of life.
In Indigenous cultures, their approach to life, water, air, and land has been more cognizant of the ramifications of "defecating in their own nest." As modern life confronted these cultures, each of them has had to struggle to keep their spirituality, routines, rhythms of the seasons, ...their very culture itself.
While there is much to admire about Indigenous peoples, the answer is not for each of us to go back to life as America was before Europeans came and invented the American Holocaust. We must reexamine our attitudes about the Earth, the various ecosystems extant, and what we believe about this small blue planet which is perilously close to becoming another dead rock in space. If this sounds spiritual, it is. If there is nothing else sacred, this planet Earth we call home must be deemed sacred.
Perhaps this sounds overly imaginative. Earth without life would be a travesty. Wealth and contentment cannot co-exist. Money is our world's most destructive addiction. People who have large fortunes are scared of losing them. People who are not wealthy somehow think life would be more likeable if only they were rich.
For millennia, our species lived on a survival basis. Our ancestors became self-aware, and attributed disasters to angry gods. The holy books of the world usually blame god/s, rather than looking at how their own actions contributed to catastrophes. While as a self-aware species we experienced all of the setbacks that any life form would go through, we blamed the world around us instead of looking at ourselves first. Our very self- awareness was the largest factor in the calamities we endured as a family, culture, and species.
The very strong sense of power humanity experienced brought about the experiences some call transcendent. Our spirituality became a deterrent to an understanding of the rapid changes we made to the places we loved. The dynamics of spirituality come from a different way of understanding the Earth. Instead of being focused upon what forces we believe caused our contentment or misery, spiritual exploration lives in each of us as a way of giving and taking in our life experiences. We see the internal as well as the worldly forces that shape our existence. Instead of saying "we are the world," we place ourselves as a part of dynamics that we only have a part in without blaming god/s for our happiness or misery.
Personally, I have always believed that my life course has been a combination of random events and choices I have made. I believe in a Creator, but accept that my choices are my own, not the actions of my Creator.
I have embraced somewhat the mystical nature of this life, and realize that I will not understand the mysteries that confront my curiosity. I have seen the futility of trying to comprehend unanswerable questions that boggle my mind. My lifelong appreciation of Buddhism helped me realize this valuable lesson. The efforts I have made to speak with practicing Buddhists and to understand their unique world view have been essential in my growth.
The studies I have done in my own Christianity have helped me have a better appreciation of the human potential for reaching out to the suffering people I have spent time with in this life. As a boy, I read the New Testament and was deeply moved by the compassion of Jesus, the twelve apostles, and the women who followed him. The suffering Jesus went through helped make humanity understand the message he was preaching. The fact that only one of the apostles lived to a natural death and the rest were killed for being Christian convinced me that they saw that suffering for their beliefs made them more determined in their efforts to follow Jesus.
Indigenous people on their reservations became fine examples of how to structure a society. They suffered horribly for their beliefs. They helped me, grasping my inadequate ability to endure the times that life was not fair.
Whatever helps bring an understanding of why life can be either full of benevolence or suffering, influences how we view the world. Insights and revelations strongly influence the spiritual growth we are or are not experiencing in our lives.
For myself, exploring is the essence of spirituality. Whether you believe in a Supreme Being or do not, to grow in your spirituality is a way of letting yourself loose enough to venture, as Van Morrison once said,"into the Mystic."
Copyright 2016 by Peter Reum-all rights reserved
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