This summer I've decided to try to get a better understanding about world religions. So, I'm going to try to read the Old and New Testaments and Qur'an and if I get a chance maybe some Hindu and Buddhist books. This experiment is all about understanding. I'm not really sure what I'm going to discover, but if anything I'd like to say that I understand what people are talking about when they discuss religion and what they believe in. Maybe I'll find a faith that I like and want to be a part of along the way or maybe I'll figure something out about my own personal philosophies, but we'll just have to wait and see! Hope you enjoy!
Since today is the last official day of summer vacation I thought that now might be a good time to look back at this summer and sort of reevaluate everything I hoped to accomplish and what I actually had time to do.
So, while I had originally hoped to get through The Torah, Bible and Qur’an this summer, I have to admit I didn’t get anywhere close. Although I’m mildly disappointed that I didn’t get to half of everything I wanted to, I am rather impressed at how much I learned from every day experiences rather than holy books themselves. I think my goal at the beginning of the summer was to get a better perspective on the way that religion affects us socially and politically for the most part since I had studied the effect of a lot of different religions on different countries in my AP Comparative Government class and wanted to see for myself what each religion had to say in their own books. Now, however, I think that while I’m still really interested in the social ramifications of religion, I’m also more interested in the spirituality behind each religion too.
I think I may have mentioned in one of my earlier posts how impressed I am by faith. I think it takes a lot of courage to believe in something so whole heartedly that you just know it exists. I think that this last year I’ve reached a place where I don’t specifically believe in any particular god or follow any religion, but I’ve discovered some aspect of spirituality within myself that I’m really impressed with. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but there’s something that I believe in so strongly that I’ve started to see how faith really works. Not that this blog is about my beliefs, but I think I’ve realized that I do believe in something. I’ve really started to appreciate the power of the mind and our ideas and I think that that’s something I can believe in. Somehow, I think that our thoughts our feelings are just so powerful that I don’t think something like death can destroy them. I guess that even though our physical bodies will eventually decay and age with time, something about our minds is just too amazing to disappear that easily. So, I think I’ve reached the conclusion that our thoughts, our ideas live on despite everything. This has proved really comforting to me recently, because it’s made the whole concept of death a lot less frightening since I now think that I know that people who I love will always be with and waiting for me since nothing can destroy their thoughts.
On a completely different note, I’ve decided that this whole “Religious Adventure” is going to have to be a lifelong journey. I’ve been really impressed by everything I’ve learned in the bits of reading I’ve done and services I’ve attended and I’m going to make a commitment to continuing all the readings I’ve been trying to accomplish and try to attend more services and take time out of my day to reflect on what I’ve learned.
So, on that note, here’s to the end of summer and I’ll definitely keep my readings going and keep posting throughout the year!
<3
So, I was in the Pecos this last weekend for a camping trip, but on the way up the mountain I ran into this Benedictine Monastery and thought a picture was warranted. I’m not sure, but I think the Benedictine order is a subset of Catholicism. Also, I thought the last picture was interesting on the topic of those peace prayers I talked about last week.
As many of you guys might know, one of my favorite musicians is Regina Spektor. In her album Far (which this song is from) she spent a lot of time sort of mulling over religion and how it can help or hurt us, among other things. This song stood out to me because it makes the really honestly true point that even people who don’t believe in a god still pray or try to believe in one in times of struggle. I know that I don’t necessarily associate with any particular religion, but when something bad or difficult happens I have prayed. I think that people in general would like to believe that there’s something bigger than themselves out there and that someone cares about them. It also sort of made me think why it is that we’re so much more willing to believe in a god when we need one but why it’s easier not to believe in one when we’re doing just fine. I do realize that there are plenty of people out there who don’t believe in a god even when they’re going through difficult times and people who always believe in one, but I think that this song speaks for itself when Regina suggests that we’re less likely to laugh at God when we could use his/her help.
