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You started off pretty good, but how can you assume the bolded?
No matter how bad things get there are moments of peace and joy within all people. I take this as a given based on my own lived experience, of times when things looked bleak and hopeless, there are still moments of peace, hope, and happiness, a state we keep returning to. We experience this peace in deep sleep, a peace that belongs to everyone regardless of their state. When we wake and we are aware of that peace, how we were lost to the world. This is natural to all, why not to those who are disabled? Their disability is in their body, not to their being. There are people so disabled and yet enter the marathon, their spirit in tact, not despondent.
Inner peace is natural. We forget that when we believe what matters are all external to us, which in reality never brings lasting contentment. If you believe in karma as you say you do, the consequence is borne in the world our mind projects. That is the samsara.
No matter how bad things get there are moments of peace and joy within all people. I take this as a given based on my own lived experience, of times when things looked bleak and hopeless, there are still moments of peace, hope, and happiness, a state we keep returning to. We experience this peace in deep sleep, a peace that belongs to everyone regardless of their state. When we wake and we are aware of that peace, how we were lost to the world. This is natural to all, why not to those who are disabled? Their disability is in their body, not to their being. There are people so disabled and yet enter the marathon, their spirit in tact, not despondent.
Inner peace is natural. We forget that when we believe what matters are all external to us, which in reality never brings lasting contentment. If you believe in karma as you say you do, the consequence is borne in the world our mind projects. That is the samsara.
Perhaps in working with special ed students (including those who cannot really operate at all in regular society), as well as the physically handicapped students (muscular dystrophy, severe burn victims [so bad it made teachers vomit], students who sit in a wheelchair and 24/7 drool flows out of their mouth)...well, I fail to see the joy in many of those students, particularly when they know that they will die before they even graduate from middle school.
Perhaps in working with special ed students (including those who cannot really operate at all in regular society), as well as the physically handicapped students (muscular dystrophy, severe burn victims [so bad it made teachers vomit], students who sit in a wheelchair and 24/7 drool flows out of their mouth)...well, I fail to see the joy in many of those students, particularly when they know that they will die before they even graduate from middle school.
That is sad. To a large part it is due to how a community makes space for people with disabilities. When we look at them as just disabled bodies we do harm to ourselves. When we remember we share the same inner being our attitude will also change.
When i first came to US what struck me as extraordinary was the Americans with Disability Act, protection of their rights. The ramps built for wheelchairs, parking spaces, equipment rentals, i found so much compassion in this. Our town has a Commission on Disabilities and they are very alert in procuring and securing all that people with disabilities need, and protect their rights.
I relate a large part of this sensibility to Christian principles.
All religions are man made, endowed with some principles. They can have positive impact or negative impact based on our own impulses. The heart of Hinduism, for instance, is stoicism. It is self directed, that you bear what has been dealt to you without complaints, you create your own world by your own actions and thoughts, examine your own inner self with introspection and contemplation to find God within, observe ethical behavior towards the world and all beings.
Christianity is more other directed. All religions exhort compassion and service to community. How it gets translated in action depends on many variables.
Reality just exists and we find ourselves in it and have to choose how to respond to it.
While it is true that one's attitude or sense of agency or lack thereof can influence the degree to which one can transcend environment/circumstances or is crushed or dominated by them, I categorically reject the notion that one's challenges or blessings are self-created or chosen. There's no basis for such a notion, and it sets up an an environment of unsavory judgment of people who observably suffer. Or on the other hand, it sets up an environment of unsavory self-aggrandizement of people who happen to have had some good luck.
May I ask, as atheist what is the basis for your thinking or blaming an external invisible being, which you don’t believe exists, is responsible for your challenges and blessings? If i have not understood your position, please explain.
Between thinking an external being is punishing or rewarding you, and the thinking that the difficulties you experience is what you are dealt with and it is upto you to face them and resolve them, which do you think demonstrates agency?
That is sad. To a lrage part it is due to how a community makes space for people with disabilities. When we look at them as just disabled bodies we do harm to ourselves. When we remember we share the same inner being our attitude will also change.
When i first came to US what struck me as extraordinary was the Americans with Disability Act, protection of their rights. The ramps built for wheelchairs, parking spaces, equipment rentals, i found so much compassion in this. Our town has a Commission on Disabilities and they are very alert in procuring and securing all that people with disabilities need, and protect their rights. I relate a large part of this sensibility to Christian principles.
All religions are man made, endowed with some principles. They can have positive impact or negative impact based on our own impulses. The heart of Hinduism, for instance, is stoicism. It is self directed, that you bear what has been dealt to you without complaints, you create your own world by your own actions and thoughts, examine your own inner self with introspection and contemplation to find God within, observe ethical behavior towards the world and all beings.
Christianity is more other directed. All religions exhort compassion and service to community. How it gets translated in action depends on many variables.
i don't see principles as being associated with any specific religion by name.
and I have never ever thought of the social services in the USA, of helping others, as stemming from a religion.
personally, i don't trust any religion that proselytizes, either individually or collectively. because there is an ulterior motive back of it. the religions which proselytize have built into their very fabric, the strongest judgment and harshest criticism for "others", and carry built in a sense of superiority. By viewing others, looking down on others, who don't believe like them as________ (fill in the blank): sinners, going to hell, wrong, infidels, deserving of punishment, lost, ignorant, blind.
every single person along the way in my 65+ years of living, every "friend" that identified themself as "Christian" at some point started putting the pressure on of proselytizing. that is not conducive to friendship and that is where the friendship ended every time. because in no uncertain terms it sends the message "you're not OK the way you are, you need to change and become like me instead."
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 05-08-2024 at 07:35 AM..
May I ask, as atheist what is the basis for your thinking or blaming an external invisible being, which you don’t believe exists, is responsible for your challenges and blessings? If i have not understood your position, please explain.
Between thinking an external being is punishing or rewarding you, and the thinking that the difficulties you experience is what you are dealt with and it is upto you to face them and resolve them, which do you think demonstrates agency?
I'm not the poster you were addressing, but I'd like to answer your question anyway. Why would anyone think or believe that "an external invisible being" would be responsible for one's challenges and blessings at all? If a drunk driver crashes into me, it has nothing to do with a Deity. If a tornado destroys my house and kills my family, is that G-d's fault? Does G-d cause little children, or anyone, to get horrible diseases, suffer, and die? If a man tries to assault and rape me, as one did when I was 23, is that the will of the Almighty? Of course not; it was the will of that mentally ill, evil man.
I've never felt like I was being punished or rewarded by an external being. Bad things happen due to the frailties of the body, genetics, accidents, and the deeds of other people. Good things happen because of human goodness, medical science, and the innate nature of most people to want to help others. IOW, we are pretty much on our own as humans and have to work out our own solutions to difficulties in life.
i don't see principles as being associated with any specific religion by name.
and I have never ever thought of the social services in the USA, of helping others, as stemming from a religion.
personally, i don't trust any religion that proselytizes, either individually or collectively. because there is an ulterior motive back of it. the religions which proselytize have built into their very fabric, the strongest judgment and harshest criticism for "others", and carry built in a sense of superiority. By viewing others, looking down on others, who don't believe like them as________ (fill in the blank): sinners, going to hell, wrong, infidels, deserving of punishment, lost, ignorant, blind.
every single person along the way in my 65+ years of living, every "friend" that identified themself as "Christian" at some point started putting the pressure on of proselytizing. that is not conducive to friendship and that is where the friendship ended every time. because in no uncertain terms it sends the message "you're not OK the way you are, you need to change and become like me instead."
Our mind projects our world and endows it with the qualities that we superimpose on it. It is for this reason many spiritual paths, and also psychotherapy, emphasizes the quietening of the mind by silencing our thoughts. When the mind is quietened we are left with our spirit which is awareness, fullness, and peace.
i don't see principles as being associated with any specific religion by name.
and I have never ever thought of the social services in the USA, of helping others, as stemming from a religion.
personally, i don't trust any religion that proselytizes, either individually or collectively. because there is an ulterior motive back of it. the religions which proselytize have built into their very fabric, the strongest judgment and harshest criticism for "others", and carry built in a sense of superiority. By viewing others, looking down on others, who don't believe like them as________ (fill in the blank): sinners, going to hell, wrong, infidels, deserving of punishment, lost, ignorant, blind.
every single person along the way in my 65+ years of living, every "friend" that identified themself as "Christian" at some point started putting the pressure on of proselytizing. that is not conducive to friendship and that is where the friendship ended every time. because in no uncertain terms it sends the message "you're not OK the way you are, you need to change and become like me instead."
also:
the concept of "religious superiority" is as abhorrent as the concept of "racial superiority"
and history (and current events) have shown that both lead to the same ugly outcomes when carried out in practice and in action. when people attempt to live by and apply that "principle" in daily life.
also:
the concept of "religious superiority" is as abhorrent as the concept of "racial superiority"
and history (and current events) have shown that both lead to the same ugly outcomes when carried out in practice and in action. when people attempt to live by and apply that "principle" in daily life.
Absolutely. Some times religious superiority includes race, tribe, ethnicity, caste, nation, and all kinds of body and mind stuff, and leads to tragic outcomes of violence, both inflicted and suffered.
Principles on the other hand, when they arise from the right place and not mixed up with any ego of superiority, cannot inflict violence either to self or others.
Given that many people believe that we are all born as sinners, what does forgiveness look like and how can anyone tell they have been forgiven by God? How can anyone else know that forgiveness has been achieved?
Is it just an absence of conscience or guilty feeling? Is it just being a Christian will absolve all your sins if you say you are 'sorry?.
It really makes a mockery of calling anyone a sinner if you cannot find out in some way that they are now NOT a sinner but forgiven.
Again, some people think we are all sinners all the time and cannot be anything else, so how can we be forgiven at all, ever? It seems there is a little explanation which is needed.
At John 20:23 Jesus told (those whom HE was sending) - "If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven.....”
Of course I am penitent (and repenting) when I confess my sins to the priest (not ever easy to do),
and knowing it's by Jesus power that the priest can say "you are absolved your your sins',
and HEARING that with my own ears Having Confidence in JESUS Word also at Luke 10:16 "He who hears you hears me",
I walk out of that confessional KNOWING that Jesus Word is TRUE and I am absolved of that sin,
and that I am FREE to "Go Forth and Sin No More"! (John 8:11)
It doesn't end there;
knowing that I am still weak - I pray for graces and strength to resist further sin,
and HERE Jesus doesn't fail to deliver,
as little by little HE has been TRANFORMING my life by INFUSING Himself to me,
and by HIS power sins that once enslaved me have NO hold!
THIS is the TRUE FREEDOM that he offers to each and every one of us,
and no sin is greater than HIS mercy and power to forgive!
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