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I've been thinking of the mysteries of the world lately, the "why are we here" and "what's the whole point" kind of thoughts that most people have every now and then when they're going through a crisis of faith in their life, or when they're emo teenagers. I'm not actually either of these, but my mind has been gently perusing different religious tenents* and allowing them to sift through the filter that is my life's experiences.
I've come to a very important conclusion: Everyone is wrong.
Oh, don't get me wrong, loving your neighbor, trying to be generally nice to everyone, and being good people? These are all good things. It's when you dive deep into religions and look at the world around us now that you can pick out where they're more than slightly skewed and unrealistic.
Let's take Buddhism, for example. (I bet you thought I was going to rant about Christianity, huh?) One of the Buddhist beliefs is that desire leads to suffering (kind of THE big belief, as I understand it) and so the deal is to work to get all desire out of your system, at which point you will reach Nirvana, and they'll play you some cool tunes, or something.
But desire is an inherently human trait, as far as I can tell. All humans want something, though some want less than others. Even those that work to divorce themselves of want are then wanting something - change. There is nothing wrong with this, want in itself is not a bad thing. The important thing is to be able to look at desire and classify it into different areas.
Let me give an example: I want a million dollars (or more). Wanting it isn't a bad thing. The bad thing would be if I then was to take steps to get it that I knew would hurt others, like robbing people, committing fraud, and generally becoming a bad person. It's the action, not the desire, that leads to negativity. If I played the lottery every week, or better yet, got an education, worked hard, and saved up a million dollars (or more), this is a good thing that not only helps me achieve my goal but may also end up helping other people, depending on what I do to get there. There's also the fact that getting to this goal, following my motivation, can help me stay out of trouble in other ways, potentially.
So many religions focus on intent instead of action, desire instead of morality. Desire is what makes us human, there's no stopping it, and there's nothing wrong with it. We are but animals ourselves, with the main difference being that we can weigh our actions against our instincts. This is what makes us who we are and what we should focus on, not completely cutting out what makes us beautiful.
How could I be wrong? How could desire, in and of itself, be a negative thing? Is there more to it than just the action of denying or accepting our desire that is positive or negative? I just don't see it.
*Dictionary.com defines "tenent" as: \Ten"ent\, n. [L. tenent they hold, 3d pers. pl. pres. of tenere.] A tenet. [Obs.] --Bp. Sanderson. Worst. Definition. Ever! (I was looking it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly.)
I've come to a very important conclusion: Everyone is wrong.
Oh, don't get me wrong, loving your neighbor, trying to be generally nice to everyone, and being good people? These are all good things. It's when you dive deep into religions and look at the world around us now that you can pick out where they're more than slightly skewed and unrealistic.
Let's take Buddhism, for example. (I bet you thought I was going to rant about Christianity, huh?) One of the Buddhist beliefs is that desire leads to suffering (kind of THE big belief, as I understand it) and so the deal is to work to get all desire out of your system, at which point you will reach Nirvana, and they'll play you some cool tunes, or something.
But desire is an inherently human trait, as far as I can tell. All humans want something, though some want less than others. Even those that work to divorce themselves of want are then wanting something - change. There is nothing wrong with this, want in itself is not a bad thing. The important thing is to be able to look at desire and classify it into different areas.
Let me give an example: I want a million dollars (or more). Wanting it isn't a bad thing. The bad thing would be if I then was to take steps to get it that I knew would hurt others, like robbing people, committing fraud, and generally becoming a bad person. It's the action, not the desire, that leads to negativity. If I played the lottery every week, or better yet, got an education, worked hard, and saved up a million dollars (or more), this is a good thing that not only helps me achieve my goal but may also end up helping other people, depending on what I do to get there. There's also the fact that getting to this goal, following my motivation, can help me stay out of trouble in other ways, potentially.
So many religions focus on intent instead of action, desire instead of morality. Desire is what makes us human, there's no stopping it, and there's nothing wrong with it. We are but animals ourselves, with the main difference being that we can weigh our actions against our instincts. This is what makes us who we are and what we should focus on, not completely cutting out what makes us beautiful.
How could I be wrong? How could desire, in and of itself, be a negative thing? Is there more to it than just the action of denying or accepting our desire that is positive or negative? I just don't see it.
*Dictionary.com defines "tenent" as: \Ten"ent\, n. [L. tenent they hold, 3d pers. pl. pres. of tenere.] A tenet. [Obs.] --Bp. Sanderson. Worst. Definition. Ever! (I was looking it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly.)
