Depending upon the beliefs of your parents or whoever raises you, people tend to start hitting a wall at about 10 to 12 to 14 (sometime in there).
Often you look at your parents and realize (if you haven't before) that your parents make mistakes and the world is not a fairy tale and you start often to feel pretty insecure about things. There are very few people who come through 10 to 18 completely unscathed enough to become a priest, minister or Nun or something like that.
The world knocks off our rough edges sort of like the world is a sculptor and we are the rock. Hopefully, someone doesn't just split the rock that we are in two and make us either crazy or dead during these times as well.
So, it helps to be a survivor that will survive no matter what.
A Priest once told me that there are basically three kinds of people:
1. people who will survive anything no matter what
2. People who will survive if they get enough help
3. People who won't survive no matter what you do for them
I suppose this Priest had had to watch a lot of people self destruct
and had seen this very clearly.
Other ministers I have met along the way or Holy men or women from around the world have all told me sort of the same thing.
So, if you think you can rescue everyone, You Can't. You are not God.
This is a good place to start.
The other thing often said by Holy people is: "You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him or her drink".
This is also true. I have found it absolutely true regarding all humans as well. So, even though this can be very discouraging, maybe the best thing to do is to look for people you might be able to keep alive and sane and who might survive to 30 to begin with.
I saw this in action while counseling people who were suicidal. Mostly people who are going to talk to you about suicide want you to talk them out of killing themselves.
The rest just do it and don't talk to anyone first at all.
But, what I really wanted to communicate about here is what happens to people from 10 to 30 who might have been exposed to one religion or another.
The first thing that is likely to happen is you start to realize that some parts of your religion are bat shit crazy. (if you are a practical person).
If you aren't practical you might have some other sort of reaction.
My father started teaching me how to think for myself by debating with me about everything starting when I was 8 years old. Of course my Dad was Valedictorian of his High School Class in 1934 too.
By age 12 he told me the following: "You are going to be making decisions the rest of your life. So, you might as well just relax and start making them. It doesn't really matter what you decision is most of the time because you can later change your decision when you get more information." But he also said, "Most of the time you do not have enough information to make that decision correctly. But this is just life. So, you just make any decision that feels right and then change it if you have to later when you get more information that is useful."
I found all these things really important in living my life successfully in all ways. So, I'm really grateful my Dad was so smart and wise by the time I was born. He was 32 when I was born and I was 37 when he died.
I realized by age 10 that I thought most people in all religions were sort of crazy. They were mostly well meaning people but usually sort of deluded. So, when I heard that religions are the opiate of the people I fully understood what this meant.
It means religions are a drug. So, is your relationship to religion a practical one for you?
What I mean by this is: "Is this religion going to cause you to kill yourself?" and "Is this religion going to make you crazy so you harm yourself or someone else?"
If either of these things are true this isn't a practical religion that you can survive and be happy with.
If either of those things are true, you or someone else or many someone else's are going to die at your hands.
This is when you know that religion isn't for you.
I think religion is supposed to enlighten us and help us survive. If a religion doesn't do that then I consider it to be Evil.
So, what is Good?
Good, if you are practical is a religion that teaches compassion and kindness and not killing.
This is my criteria for a good religion.
All religions that don't teach compassion and kindness toward yourself and all others aren't useful to human beings unless those human beings want to die.
And I think wanting to die or harm others is temporary or permanent insanity.
So, understanding this one might live to old age and be happy both here on earth and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment