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I wish most of we theists were able to try not to take ourselves so seriously.
Who knows, if we had the sufficient humility to laugh at ourselves, there may be more of us.
We should learn a lesson from some of you atheists
There is certainly a lesson to be learned here. I have serious doubts some will learn it. In some cases, I know there is no hope they will learn better about what they are going on about. Hopefully others, however, will know better. Learn to laugh at ourselves. Not take ourselves so seriously as you suggest, and most certainly not to take some people seriously at all. As in best to ignore them altogether.
It's not in the public forum. It's in the blog section. But why not. We talk about our beliefs, I merely thought out mine.
My compliments, but I agree. Why not post your creed here easy to find and read, since this is the title of your thread? Or are you just asking if anyone else has formulated something like a creed rather than what it is?
I like the topic by the way, though I suspect there will be the inevitable folks who will quickly label your creed as dogma. I recommend ignoring those folks too, or this thread will turn into another round of people expressing their unyielding heartburn about thinking different from their own. Probably an inevitable evolution for all these threads anyway, so I hope you started this thread with an unlimited supply of antacids.
This matter of a creed is something that I thought quite a bit about even while I was still a catholic. At each mass we would say the creed, out loud. The problem was that it got to be like anything else that is done by rote memory (or simply reading it). People said it without really thinking about it, not unlike the way at masses people rise or kneel depending on when the bells ring. It's not unlike when children say the Pledge Of Allegiance every morning 2,340 times; no thinking, just rote repetition, thus virtually meaningless. I got to the point in the catholic church that I started leaving certain words or phrases out, or silently changed them in my mind as everyone else said the creed out loud. Of course, once I got to Buddhism, where we are fully allowed to think, it really did become up to me to develop my own creed. But that's the difference between a commandments-based religion and a philosophical-based religion.
You had me look up the definition of creed...
I thought I knew what it was and that I had written at least one, but given the definition that I now know better, I guess I have not. Thanks for making us think, and in my case, even learn!
My compliments, but I agree. Why not post your creed here easy to find and read, since this is the title of your thread? Or are you just asking if anyone else has formulated something like a creed rather than what it is?
I like the topic by the way, though I suspect there will be the inevitable folks who will quickly label your creed as dogma. I recommend ignoring those folks too, or this thread will turn into another round of people expressing their unyielding heartburn about thinking different from their own. Probably an inevitable evolution for all these threads anyway, so I hope you started this thread with an unlimited supply of antacids.
Dogma. Hmmmmm.
I deviate from mainstream Buddhist thinking in several places, so I wouldn't call it dogma. For example, I remain unconvinced of nibanna and a bit shaky on reincarnation, and certainly don't agree with the idea that there have been multiple Buddhas in the distant past. So I wouldn't say I'm dogmatic.
I'll leave it up to others much more gifted then myself, to correct others.
It is unfortunate that all too often ego gets in the way of these discussions so that rather than a simple "comparing of notes" as I like to call it, the discussion becomes something else. Whatever that else might be, it seems to cause people to become "testy," confrontational, defensive, insulting and unreasonable just for starters.
One definition of creed is: "a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions".
Yeah, I don't have one of those, because any one creed written down can barely cover all that guides my actions. At best I can surely admit I have written down my thoughts, reason and logic about many a topic that has varying degrees of influence on how I live my life and/or deal with others.
What guides my actions is always a work-in-progress in any case...
I deviate from mainstream Buddhist thinking in several places, so I wouldn't call it dogma. For example, I remain unconvinced of nibanna and a bit shaky on reincarnation, and certainly don't agree with the idea that there have been multiple Buddhas in the distant past. So I wouldn't say I'm dogmatic.
Dogma is not the word I would use either. I was just warning you that others are quick to use that description as yet another way to express their heartburn about what they don't really understand other than in the context of their own heartburn.
Yeah, I don't have one of those, because any one creed written down can barely cover all that guides my actions. At best I can surely admit I have written down my thoughts, reason and logic about many a topic that has varying degrees of influence on how I live my life and/or deal with others.
What guides my actions is always a work-in-progress in any case...
As it should be!
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