I guess I'd identify as a hopeful agnostic. How do you- as an atheist- find the strength to deal with depression and death of a loved one etc. without the hope that there is some kind of afterlife? Not including the alcoholics, seeing as I tend to fall into that trap pretty easily myself. I'm not trying to argue or anything, I'm just wondering. Frankly, you don't even necessarily have to have an answer to such a question I guess.
It's actually easy to deal with death, for me. Death is inevitable. There are more dead people than alive people right now. An afterlife gives false hope of eternity so it becomes easy to waste your life away, praying and worshiping an imaginary friend. Without an afterlife, life becomes so much more profound because it's the only thing you know and ever will know. So really, after you die, I believe it's just nothingness. The particles which made up their bodies will rearrange themselves and become part of the Earth again. Everyone becomes nothing and since all nothing is the same, we all transcend beyond the universe into non-existence, which I believe is more peaceful and blissful than anything in the universe. It's an eternity of not eternity. Other than that, maybe reincarnation is real. But it's not like you remember your previous life so it doesn't really matter.
Ya'll might enjoy this thread, the "anti-religion meme thread": http://forum.grasscity.com/religion-beliefs-spirituality/1056448-anti-religion-meme-thread.html
I'm a home health aide and sometimes residents die. It was kind of hard at first, seeing as I'm in their homes almost everyday and really get to know them. A lot of them are in a great deal of pain when they pass and it helps me to think that they're no longer suffering. It still hurts a little when I come in after a few days off and find out someone who was in great shape (for their age) is gone. I guess it's just the realization that death is a part of living has helped me cope with it.
If you count Buddhism as a religion then you should look into it. There's no god, no spirits, no intolerance for anyone, and the answer to what religious people look for is in themselves.
Lmao what are you talking about? Buddhism is a polytheistic religion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrathful_deities So what was everyone saying about buddhism being peaceful and tolerant? Oh yeah, no.
These deities come from sects in Buddhism. In the Buddhas teachings, he denied any permanent self, soul, and God. These sects adopted these deities after the original teachings. For example some sects practice feeding the hungry ghosts. But this originally came from Hinduism. The hungry ghosts is a realm that Hindus believe a greedy selfish person is reincarnated to. In Buddhism there is rebirth not reincarnation. One has a soul one doesn't. Just like any religion Buddhism is subject to being swayed from the original teachings. Such as Mormonism with Christianity. And in case you didn't know Wikipedia isn't a reliable source, because anyone can change it, and theirs multiple different ones. For example, here's another wiki which says at the very beginning non theistic which disagrees with your wiki link. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism So yeah.
wikipedia is certainly reliable. The trick is to click the references and see if they're correct. Now with that ad hominem outta the way, I know quite a bit about many religions, especially Buddhism. Sorry friend, but it's a bonafide religion with all the trimmings: self denial, sexism, slavery, genocide, and tyranny. krishna was pretty damn awesome until he lost all the attributes that made him so respectable.. Despite all the atrocities Buddhism has committed, I do have to agree that polytheism tends to piss me off far less than monotheism.
Again, Buddhism is subject to being intertwined with other religions. In the original doctrines there is no mention of gods or worship of any kind. God has no place in Buddhism. I'll also say it again; the original teachings deny any permanent self or soul. When one dies there is no after life to go to, and no gods to meet. Find any original doctrine that states there are deities, I bet you can't. What you've listed are texts that have branched off from the original doctrines, and have been mingled with other religions. Btw Krishna originated in Hinduism not Buddhism. Edit: I also looked into the two references for the wiki link. The first link says this in one of it's texts ,"There is another important difference between Buddhist deities and mythological gods or goddesses. The latter are, or were once, considered real -- described as motivated by jealousy, power and other appetites and not very different from physical creatures such as people. The deities of Buddhism are ultimately regarded as manifestations of Emptiness." http://www.khandro.net/deities.htm Anybody can claim to be a Buddhist and still go kill somebody. To say that a religion commits the atrocities is a naive statement; people are the ones who commit the atrocities. Unless the religion states to kill, then it's people turning it into something else. It is also fairly obvious that the Buddhist religion is against murder and is pretty much against harming any sentient creature. That's why many Buddhists are vegetarian. And when violence is necessary for self defense or defense of others, one is supposed to inflict the least amount of harm. Again find me any original doctrine condoning any of those atrocities you've listed. As for self denial you should know of the middle path.
As far as Buddhism and homosexuality goes, I read that balance is valued and they believe that in order for a relationship to be balanced there must be both masculine and feminine energy impying a heteronormative view. Then there's trans*ness which is also forbidden by many religions.
Thats how evolution works. An organism only evolves when it has to, and when its requirements to survive are just out of reach. Thats when the magic happens. You posess all the strength youll ever need. Finding a "higher power" to help yourself out of something like addiction or whatever, is a total cop out in my honest opinion. Dont disempower yourself. And especially dont give your mind to any organization thats responsible for extremely brutal wars and murder. My bad if thats harsh, but it is what it is Kandalls outdoor grow lovin u
The sticker and paint job on the car appeared surprisingly intact! For now at least.... Rapture jokes!