thread: 2006-09-08 : Picky-choosy religion, 3 views
On 2006-09-10, Rev. Raven Daegmorgan wrote:
Eero,
I think you might enjoy studying Buddhist philosophy. Its basic teachings—the things that aren't built up out of thousands of years of religious tradition—but the basic teachings of Buddha, are music to my real-world, results-oriented mind.
Buddha was a scientist. And I'm not the least bit kidding when I say that. He was a student of humanity, and he wasn't looking for God or trying to tell anyone who God was (or even if God existed). All that mattered was understanding and reducing suffering, both your own and that of others, in the here and now. It was eminently practical and rational.
He puts forth thinking and understanding as the primary part of achieving this goal. He states not to believe anything he has to say without testing it yourself, and abandoning it if it doesn't work. He says, about religion, about his teachings, that they are only a small part of truth—like the leaves on one tree in a forest.
The rationalist in me loves Buddha—he's one of my heroes, right next to Einstein—because he was a no-nonsense religious figure, he was all about ethics, about empathy, about worrying about the here and now and not some unknown afterlife or spirit realm (even if various sects of Buddhism have since become swamped in ritual and tradition and added these aspects).
