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As child who got exposed early to religion and it's evils, I think being a mere mortal is too much some times. I try my hardest to keep living life normally...
...But as someone exposed to the idea of hell, I have to put up with my memories in my sleep.
...They are not pretty memories.
...Ultimately I hope who ever is in charge of taking care of my consciousness after it departs the earth has mercy on me, for I can't make the decision to have faith in who ever they are. No matter how hard I try, I haven't become a prophet yet.
...And because of that, men say I am going to suffer for it?
...One thing for sure, it must be nice to know the correct religion. I certainly don't. Does that make me an inferior soul? That's what men say. But I can't exactly trust men. People who know the truth....
You're a perfect example of how fundamentalism permanently scars someone who is vulnerable to guilt and shame. If you don't know in the very core of yourself that you're a valid individual, then it gets in there and eats away and works with that self-doubt.
For what it's worth, thanks to you and others like you that I've talked to over the years, I actually do have an idea how lucky I am.
The answers for you probably lie with some form of therapy. I know how my parents inadvertently inoculated me against the worst features of their own religion: they accepted me unconditionally even when their god would not. As I received the constant messages from my religion of my unworthiness and unsatisfactoriness, they applied to me only intellectually and I assumed they were intended for Other People who had not actually received god's forgiveness as I had. This was something I noticed, even as a child ... why couldn't people just relax in the knowledge of their own forgiveness? Why were they not "feeling saved"? And why was the pastor always railing about people's righteousness being "as filthy rags" to god, without proper qualification?
You're a perfect example of how fundamentalism permanently scars someone who is vulnerable to guilt and shame. If you don't know in the very core of yourself that you're a valid individual, then it gets in there and eats away and works with that self-doubt.
For what it's worth, thanks to you and others like you that I've talked to over the years, I actually do have an idea how lucky I am.
The answers for you probably lie with some form of therapy. I know how my parents inadvertently inoculated me against the worst features of their own religion: they accepted me unconditionally even when their god would not. As I received the constant messages from my religion of my unworthiness and unsatisfactoriness, they applied to me only intellectually and I assumed they were intended for Other People who had not actually received god's forgiveness as I had. This was something I noticed, even as a child ... why couldn't people just relax in the knowledge of their own forgiveness? Why were they not "feeling saved"? And why was the pastor always railing about people's righteousness being "as filthy rags" to god, without proper qualification?
With time one can cure him/herself and without therapy. I did it through deep thinking on my own so it can be done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hiker45
So do you think anyone knows the correct religion?
As far as a "correct religion" that would be none.
I can't relate how anyone can live their entire lives under a spell of superstition and lies.
Ultimately I hope who ever is in charge of taking care of my consciousness after it departs the earth has mercy on me
Given there is not even the remotest modicum of a reason to think that anything happens to your consciousness _at all_ after the death of your body and brain.... I think your fear is misplaced.
Lacking any belief in such things leaves me at a point where the only aspect of death that scares me is the actual process of dying... such as pain and suffering.... but the idea of being dead has absolutely no fear value for me whatsoever. Not even the tiniest bit.
As such as part of any meditation practices I find that exploring thinking about death is quite a healthy and useful endeavor.
I'm afraid of the prospect of decay & death-
but once I'm dead, I'm not worried about what that'll be like,
since (in my atheist perspective) there won't be any me left
to experience the decomposition of my body & absence of my consciousness.
I'm afraid of the prospect of decay & death-
but once I'm dead, I'm not worried about what that'll be like,
since (in my atheist perspective) there won't be any me left
to experience the decomposition of my body & absence of my consciousness.
My late wife didn't like the prospect of rotting in the ground either. Maybe that she was still a believer made it worse for her. It was academic though; for that and other reasons she was cremated, as per her wishes.
I have never understood people's distaste for the dissolution of their bodies, regardless of the method, since if you're a believer, your body is just an empty husk after death and what happens to it doesn't impact your soul. Even if you believe in the eschatological system that says that god will resurrect all the dead, one presumes this isn't impacted by any degree of decay or dissolution of the body, since "the dead" includes many people who died so long ago that their bodies no longer exist in any meaningful way ... clearly, god can work his magic regardless. And of course if you're an unbeliever you believe you'll be in oblivion, your consciousness dispersed, and completely unconcerned with what happens to your body.
Maybe this all comes from an identification of self with body ... this is a false association as I see it, pretty much no matter what your existential beliefs are. Even if you believe your consciousness is emergent from physiological processes such that you and your body are welded together, once you're dead it doesn't matter as both the mind and the body cease to function anyway.
As child who got exposed early to religion and it's evils, I think being a mere mortal is too much some times. I try my hardest to keep living life normally...
...But as someone exposed to the idea of hell, I have to put up with my memories in my sleep.
...They are not pretty memories.
...Ultimately I hope who ever is in charge of taking care of my consciousness after it departs the earth has mercy on me, for I can't make the decision to have faith in who ever they are. No matter how hard I try, I haven't become a prophet yet.
...And because of that, men say I am going to suffer for it?
...One thing for sure, it must be nice to know the correct religion. I certainly don't. Does that make me an inferior soul? That's what men say. But I can't exactly trust men. People who know the truth....
...Have no idea how lucky they are.
HurricaneKid what strikes me about your post is how scarred religion has left you. Nightmares of hell?
These are not memories, they are images that have been imposed on you, images of a world that in fact does not exist. A completely fictional world made up and imagined by human beings. I couldn't be more certain about that. If it was possible to be more than 100% sure, I would be.
Think about it. Where is it? There are 7 billion people living on this earth today. Multiply that out by the number of people who have ever lived - that's a pretty crowded place right? With ever more people being added all the time. All burning away for all eternity. How long can one person burn?
And some of those people apparently sentenced to be there for no other reason than they don't believe in god? The punishment seems a little extreme, to put it mildly, don't you think? This sentence to eternal damnation from an apparently 'loving and just' god? Does any of that make any sense to you?
I can't tell you which 'religion' would be a better fit for you because the only thing I know is atheism.
And all I can tell you about that, is you are free to go about your business with a clear mind, a clear conscience, and the ability to live your life to its full potential, which in my opinion is a good enough reason to be here.
I don't spend much time thinking about death because there is no point in that. I live my life for today. Brooding negatively about the future does not do you any good. Think about the positive, not the negative.
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