I pray to God every day

I come from a Catholic background (and you can really feel it, even in the atheist members because it's less that people get disowned in this family and more like they get excomunicated) but have frequently suspected as a pagan universalist myself that what I consider God to be is not the same as what others construe.

IrishInManchesterUK said:

given the state of our world, which I believe can only be helped by the Rosary,

It's odd that you should mention the Rosary as I have often considered it the original fidget "toy", in a faith sense, for the way it brings people comfort. I dunno just an observation with how it overlaps with the autistoc experience tbh.

I have deep respect for my Muslim friends as a traditional Catholic - and it was a Pakistani Muslim friend who encouraged me to return to the regular practice of my Catholic Faith some 15 years ago - I do believe that we Catholics can learn much from our Muslim friends in so many aspects, such as thier commitment to thier prayer life 5 times a day, fasting, etc - I’ve since discovered that there are many similarities between Islam and the traditional Catholic faith (pre-Vatican II) that I currently practice and in fact, I was only just chatting to a Muslim friend about this a few days ago 

This reminds me of the “simple” Irish Catholic faith that we learned as children from our grandparents in Rural Ireland - being an Irish patriot, our history has always been that despite persecution, we Irish have always held on our Catholic faith, so much so that being Irish and being Catholic was intertwined, that our Catholic faith defined our Irish identity down the centuries 

Coming from a traditional Irish Catholic rural background and having come back to my Catholic faith 15 years ago (21 years living in the U.K.) I pray a decade of the Rosary every day for everyone’s intentions and I also do Novenas to various saints - this was especially helpful during Covid lockdowns and I have kept it up ever since, given the state of our world, which I believe can only be helped by the Rosary, which Our Lady of Fatima asked us to do in 1917 - Fr. Frank Peyton and Archbishop Fulton Sheen also advocated the Rosary which I have been during all during the month of May which is Our Lady’s month, as I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Knock Queen of Ireland - the Rosary is the most powerful spiritual weapon that we Catholics have in the epic spiritual battle that our world is currently engaged in 

Essentially you're Jedi and believe in the ways of the force

Thank you.  

Beautifully put.  I love the reminder that gratitude is prayer.  Writing out a gratitude list of any length is writing out an amazingly powerful prayer. 

Yes, and I pray all day.  My ultimate goal is continuous connection with God. 

Nice to meet you Number.

I am 42 years of age.

Bodhidharma said ' To have a body is to suffer. Does anyone with a body not know suffering ?' I think with us being a minority in society, we will experience problems and find them harder to process more than most but I think it's how we deal with it . I like to look at it like a mechanism in a watch . To break everything down into little parts and try to understand all the little details and learn what we can from it.

Buddha speaks a lot about Ego in Dhammapada . I have been called Anti social, I show lack of empathy, I scare people , I'm intense etc If that's the case , I can confirm with all honesty I am very polite when doing it . Maybe they get upset when they can't provide the answers or they didn't know anything about the subject to begin with ? 

I don't think we or anyone will fully understand what any of this means or if it means anything at all . Maybe we all reach our individual interpretation from how our experiences have moulded and influenced us . It's wrong to force or influence anyone's views onto others like the NTs love to do . I think it's better to just sit quietly and listen or read and explore quietly.

Maybe if we keep wandering , wondering and asking questions , more importantly asking ourselves questions .. I know I do with the constant monologue and DVD style commentary I have in my head all the time and my child like curiosity .

Emotionally I am a little boy . I hope you keep searching Number. I hope you never stop and never give up and you find your equanimity and your peace, you find your happiness and in turn you continue to be a good and curious person ! 

Take care and all the best. 

I agree - being curious and interested in everything is a good quality to have....I think....but I have come to understand (eventually) that this does make me hyper intense when I am conversing with people on things that interest me.  I can scare and overwhelm people easily.  My nickname should really be WTAF.

You don't mention how old you are.......may I enquire?  FYI - I'm 50's.

Ego is not a mystery to me.  I have been forced to battle that demon or carefully assess and consider it many many times.

Thankfully, I have mellowed and matured and passed through the mangle for a variety of egos, tragedies, failings, flock ups.........and autism.

Hard process life.  Its nice to explore what the bleeding hell it is supposed to be all about and what is expected of us......and perhaps the mega question - what would make me happy?!  I need help with that last one, so I seek it.

A spiritual journey to accompany the mundane (and often dreadful) day-to-day is a good sub routine to have running in your cpu.  I'm definitely a better person these days.  That is very encouraging.  Keeping going, finding some light, a dash of fun....those are hard things.

Its nice to make your acquaintance Neuvalis - whom I think of as 'foxy' fyi.

Kind regards

Number 

Yes ! I think I can . I have often been accused of over thinking things. You're right about maintaining no ego . That's something I try to practice , fail and then try again.

I really appreciate and enjoy being curious and interested in everything , it's a good quality to have... I think. 

I have an opinion about almost all things ....but....I try to maintain no ego associated with them...AND;

a) I have a very open mind to everything....including the opinions of others....and changing my own opinions.

b) I am interested in many things and

c) I like to learn more about everything.

Can you imagine the general "chaos mode" in my head, most of the time ?!

Hello Number,

Thank you . I am thinking / talking about things I don't understand very well and would never pretend I do but I think we're all moving at a different pace . I think you just have to have a very , very open mind to everything . ' Be interested in everything but have an opinion about nothing ' 

I recently started praying

I pray every day for my mum

For my friends to keep them safe and happy

And for myself xxx

Politeness and respect are rarely bad starting points.

I like your omnipotent theology......loose but profound...again, there are defo worse starting points!

Does anybody ask how God is ? I don't necessarily believe God is a person or a being but a presence. I personally believe God is in everything, the trees, the wind , the earth , the rain, nature , animals . To harm the earth and it's inhabitants is to disrespect God . I do pray but I always ask how God is first ... maybe I'm too polite .. I don't know . There is a process to a conversation, I think. 

most days yes. And he always listens, and will answer anything that needs answered, in his own way. 

religion could have made a better difference with this praying stuff.... if they changed praying, to be that praying is doing like... 10 push ups or something.... then their prayer will have a actual life changing result and a positive difference that could set off chain reactions of positivity and change.

Used to. Now I don't.

I got fed up with talking to myself.

I used to but stopped a long time ago.