I was raised orthodox Jewish so there's not much of our services on TV but my husband was raised Presbyterian/church of scotland (we had a humanist wedding - family readings came from our relatives who were a rabbi - reform my parents have chilled out a bit, husbands family 2 ministers, it was like a comedy of how many celebrants can one wedding have).
Husband will occasionally sing the odd chorus of Jerusalem when he's watching TV, I appreciate it as a nice song for the WI but it means nothing else to me.
The weird thing is I was raised religious and I've found it hard to let go of my religious hang ups.
I have a lot of hang ups around sex and sexuality. I know it's not logical but I don't like men other than my husband seeing my shoulders, knees, hair down, make up on etc. My husband is neurotypical and also an atheist who isn't the least bit possessive (from a different religion too) so he encourages me to wear shorter shorts if it's hot or buy spaghetti strap tops.
Don't get me wrong, I love sex and I had partners before I was married but I couldn't relax and enjoy it the way I do with my husband.
My husband has remarked that I'm totally different now that we're married. I blame the mega religious upbringing and the autistic need to comply, if anyone else has an explanation I'd be interested to hear it.
If we are to find peace we must understand the purpose of suffering and inevitably to navigate our evolution to a higher purpose. If all fear is born from love, and we have the capacity to see that, evil and negative pressures can be controlled across the world from within every man woman and child. He who has the knowledge of truth and holds no fear shall see the light in all the darkness. Example, " you break up with a partner your chest hurts with pain, they have treated you quite badly but it all still hurts and you are not sure how to take away the pain. Ask yourself the question Where is your fear ? The answer is you fear that you will not be loved or have the opportunity to love. When you recognise that a very real love exists beyond the fear, you then in turn except the ultimate peace that resides within it.
I decided last week time doesn't exist. We just age in the present. Time is a human construct. Do you believe there's "something"? Not necessarily God, but a power...possibly like love?
To me, 'Mother Nature' and ' God' are one and the same. They are both personifications of a creator with great power which we cannot explain
.God, whatever that may be, cannot be the operator of us as a puppeteer operates a marionette. Nature is a creator without form. Both are immensely cruel and appear to lack compassion by human terms. But they also created much beauty. God though has had many atrocities committed in His name
As a person, I appreciate and marvel at the beauty created. And in total awe at the universe, the arrangement of stars and planets, ordered and seemingly random in their movement at the same time. And the same applies to the atomic and sub atomic. The more knowledge we get, the more mind boggling it all becomes.
God, Nature, call it what you will. To me it is simply a way that some have of explaining something beyond our understanding. We can analyse the universe, have theories about its origins, try to understand atomic theory. But nothing rational explains the why and how it all came into being. For those that believe in God as a creator that is fine and may give a meaning to their life, but taken to the extremes we see by certain religious sects religion can be an abomination..
I suppose there has to be something that created our universe, nothing gets created on its own (except particles, or that is what we think, looks like magic), maybe its god, or gods or aliens, it does not really matter, it is very unlikely that they are interfereing now, parameters are set and they are waiting until the end of universe to get results.
That comment wasn't really intended to be much more than a humorous dig at my somewhat nebulous self.
I suppose i was none too impressed by certain folks taking selfies of themselves. Worse still, they could apparently be easily switched on or off by some nerk sending them twitters.
I suppose I do have some vague concept of god, but it seems to be more about inexplicable physical 'forces' than imposters who are every bit as bungled and botched as myself. Compared to those infinitesimal forces, why would one bother viewing god as something akin to a mere human? That really would be like buying snake oil off a fairground huckster.
But I still think we should usually be fairly tolerant and respectful of different concepts of god. It seems most of us feel the need to follow something; but I still wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life following something just for the sake of having something to follow. I could also be a follower of Crewe Alexandria FC, and it would still be far more personally constructive than following some self-appointed advocate of projected greatness.
