November 4, 2002
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1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
My mother told me to put “protestant” in the blank when a form asked my religion. Sometimes she took me to church on Easter to show off my new dress. My father was not inside a church during the years of my lifetime. He taught me a direct Gnostic spiritual faith that required no mortal intercessors, nor books of rules.
2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
Yes, my father’s faith, that is, but with my own personal spin. After studying many religions and converting to quite a few in succession, I came back to direct communion with the Divine Spirit.
3. What do you think happens after death?
I don’t know. I know I have died and been reborn many times, this soul into a succession of bodies. I remember many deaths, many lives beyond them. That doesn’t mean it will be the same next time.
4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
Winter Solstice Feast
5. Do you believe people are basically good?
I’m trying to transcend beliefs. I have come a long way in that pursuit, far enough not to be making moralistic judgments about good and evil. I know that if a child is born into a loving and enlightened family, and manages to make it to adulthood without suffering abuse, that person is very unlikely to be abusive. People are basically malleable and can be taught to be peaceful and cooperative or violent and obstructive.
Comments (16)
nice stuff, suse. like i said, i just hope i do it right the next time.
This is interesting. So you don’t think there is such a thing as a “bad seed”? That it’s more nurture than nature? I have to think about this.
It may sound odd, but I hope adolescents will meet with a good amount of emotional suffering on their way to adulthood, but at the same time, the comfort of real friends, to put that suffering in a nurturing balance… but I wholeheartedly agree with you, nobody should suffer abuse…
As I shed my beliefs, I also lose certain words from my working vocabulary. One that I’ve been trying not to use is “should”. That’s why I’m so baffled that metaphrontister thinks he’s agreeing with me when he says, “nobody should suffer abuse.” Go figure.
I believe we can outgrow beliefs as we know them. One cannot make a move toward growth without it being sanctioned (authorized) by belief, if only implied. As Christ said: Believe on Me.
I believe that Meta probably means that a kid who’s known challenges and is helped with love and care to overcome them, is likely to grow up uncommonly enabled to withstand the slings and arrows of misfortune.
hmmm….
buddhism is nice.
i dont know what it’s about.
and i’m buddhist.
hmm..
Personally, I’m Catholic. But I try to make sure to hold sets of ideas instead of beliefs. Beliefs are something that are strongly held close to one’s heart and not terribly easily changed. Holding ideas about certain things are a lot easier. I believe however, that it is always important to constantly keep an open mind and never stop learning. So…I try to stay open to a lot of stuff, including ideas from other religions.
Otherwise, I’m all for it! *L* *siigh* He’s just…wow…Okay…corrupting the comment thread here…going now! Sweet dreams…or good morning…or whatever it is where you are when you get this!
Jen
BTW: I liked your idea about sitting on my CBD’s lap…there’s only one fatal flaw to that idea…crashing the bus could be kinda, um…bad.
Madd Luv!
SuSu, you fascinate me.
I would love to hear more about your spirituality. I would just love to sit down with you and ask you a million questions about everything.
I always need a nap after reading you and Sarah….my brain is not used to so much work
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I’m a Buddhist.
I’m a Christian Scientist Mormon Buddhist Catholic Jew with definite pagan leanings.
Once in awhile, I’m a Goofy Sufi with fortunate Hare Krishna friends, so then I’m like a Roman. When in Rome …
Should ah, Would ah, Could ah.
I’ll take the AH, and dump the rest.
I’m trying to transcend my beliefs too.
Thus, I believe in transcendence.
But only until I manage to transcend that as well.
Yes, people are pretty malleable but how do some end up doing bad things when they were never abused in the first place? (I’m not talking about major ‘crimes’ like premeditated murder…for money, for example) Spot
i would love to hear your memories of death…
All people are born “good”
But it’s good as defined by nature, not society.
You need parenting to learn that sharing is better than bashing the neighbor kid’s brains out with a bat over a toy.
Ain’t it fascinating the way several people took this thread as a place to express THEIR beliefs, instead of just taking up the questions and blogging them on their own sites. That guy that’s hung up on his bellybutton really missed my point. I did not imply that I didn’t understand metaphrontister’s point. I SAID that he was mistaken in thinking that what he said agreed with what I said.
Oh, and, to answer VM, no I don’t think it is more one thing than another. Nature and nurture work together and neither is “bad” nor “good”. It all depends on the circumstances, and on one’s perspective on matters. Being awake is a big help.
Wow…I love paradigm’s answer…LOL…I try to stay away from religious labels.I was born a Mormon,with infusions of Protestantism from my Gram, and look to my Celtic/ Native American roots for my spiritualism. I’ve been called a Christian Witch, and I guess that’d work. there’s more to me than meets the eye, and I like it that way.I can’t explain it all here, nor do you wish me to.
Just suffice to say,” You rock!” and know that we are very much on the same wave length….*HUGS* & Pax~Z