Post an excerpt of something that speaks closely to your spiritual views!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

The following is from the atheist/agnostic Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass, book three in the masterful His Dark Materials trilogy. I'm posting it here because not only is Pullman's prose absolutely gorgeous, it speaks for me as far as spirituality is concerned.

The "child" mentioned is Lyra Belacqua, the heroine of the trilogy, who is basically destined to bring about the end of organized religion. She is in the world of the dead here, talking to the uncountable billions of ghosts of all those who have ever died in all of Pullman's many dimensions. She "knows" this bit of spirituality because she had "read" it from a device that tells only the truth, as it feeds off of Pullman's "Dust," bascially a pantheistic force that binds all conscious matter together. A "daemon," as mentioned here, is a lifelong familiar, basically a personification of one's soul, which dies when you die.

*****

"This is what'll happen," she said, "and it's true, perfectly true. When you go out of here, all the particles that make you up will loosen and float apart, just like your daemons did. If you've seen people dying, you know what that looks like. But your daemons en't just nothing now; they're part of everything. All the atoms that were them, they've gone into the air and the wind and the trees and the earth and all the living things. They'll never vanish. They're just part of everything. And that's exactly what'll happen to you, I swear to you, I promise on my honor. You'll drift apart, it's true, but you'll be out in the open, part of everything alive again."

No one spoke. Those who had seen how daemons dissolved were remembering it, and those who hadn't were imagining it, and no one spoke until a young woman came forward. She had died as a martyr centuries before. She looked around and said to the other ghosts:

"When we were alive, they told us that when we died we'd go to Heaven. And they said that Heaven was a place of joy and glory and we would spend eternity in the company of saints and angels praising the Almighty, in a state of bliss. That's what they said. And that's what led some of us to give our lives, and others to spend years in solitary prayer, while all the joy of life was going to waste around us and we never knew.

"Because the land of dead isn't a place of reward or a place of punishment. It's a place of nothing. The good come here as well as the wicked, and all of us languish in this gloom forever, with no hope of freedom, or joy, or sleep, or rest, or peace.

"But now this child has come offering us a way out and I'm going to follow her. Even if it means oblivion, friends, I'll welcome it, because it won't be nothing. We'll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we'll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was."

~The Amber Spyglass, Chapter 23, Copyright Philip Pullman

********

:hi:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. This is by me:

"This is your only trip. Make it a good one, behave, don't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve hurting, and always tip 25%, because those folks work hard."

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. LOL! I like that!

:rofl:

:thumbsup:

[saltpoint]

5. I think that about covers the bases. Yer durn tootin'.

:toast:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. Hi, baby!!!!

Long time no see?

We on different sleeping patterns, or what?

How's it going, toots?

Got the new Dixie Chicks CD? You have to buy it, just as a matter of support - but it happens to be great.

<smoooooooooooooch>

[saltpoint]

11. I got no problem at all with the Dixie Chicks. They are showing

what REAL citizenship is like, unlike that pseudo-cowboy macho asshole in the White House.

How are ya! Nice to see you again, OldLeftieLawyer.

Sure did like that passage upthread you penned. It's a keeper.

[SteppingRazor]

3. might as well quote my avatar...

This is actually about the end of the 1960s acid culture, but I think it speaks to my view on religion as well. Especially the last line. Anyway, it's from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

"This was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary’s trip. He crashed around America selling “consciousness expansion” without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him too seriously.... No doubt they all Got What Was Coming To Them. All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours, too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped to create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody--or at least some force--is tending that Light at the end of the tunnel."

[WritingIsMyReligion]

20. Wow. That's great!

RIP Hunter!

:cry:

:D

[Goblinmonger]

4. I will turn to Bertrand Russell

I could post a lot of things that I like better, but many would think them too snarky, so I opted for this one, which I try to hold to in my everyday life,

"The forms of zest are innumerable. Sherlock Holmes, it may be remembered, picked up a hat which he happened to find lying in the street. After looking at it for a moment he remarked that its owner had come down in the world as the result of drink and that his wife was no longer so fond of him as she used to be. Life could never be boring to a man to whom casual objects offered such a wealth of interest. Think of the different things that may be noticed in the course of a country walk. One man may be interested in the birds, another in the vegetation, another in the geology, another in the agriculture, and so on. Any one of these things is interesting if it interests you, and, other things being equal, the man who is interested in any one of them is better adapted to the world than the man who is not interested."

This excerpt is from The Conquest of Happiness

[saltpoint]

13. That is lovely, Goblinmonger. Russell certainly helps me get my

bearings, especially in a world of Jim Dobsons running around the public schools and talk shows.

Just a great vista into selfhood and world community there.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

21. Now THAT is something I can dig.

Thanks for posting!

:hi:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

59. Those are indeed words of wisdom

[kwassa]

6. Joseph Campbell

“Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.”

[WritingIsMyReligion]

22. Another brilliant man, and another great quote!

:thumbsup:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

60. I like that

[jokerman93]

64. Regardless

of our orientation within the spiritual realm, Joseph Campbell brought a gift to us all. He'll be missed. R.I.P.

[katty]

8. Attention DNC

"Quick...Ain't No Time For Fooling Around and Moaning."


-Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

[WritingIsMyReligion]

23. I love Twain, and I LOVE Huck Finn!

:thumbsup:

[saltpoint]

47. Can I please second you on that? I think Twain is great and HUCK FINN

is just what Norman Mailor said it was: "a circus of fictional virtuosities."

[dalaigh lllama]

9. Something that sums it up for me

Left the Catholic Church decades ago and couldn't find anything to replace it. Went thru some difficult personal times and in the process became much closer to my version of "god." So when I read this, it jumped out at me:

Religion is for folks who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for folks who have already been there."

[katty]

12. luv that quote

[Sapphire Blue]

14. deleted

posted in the wrong place.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

24. Short, sweet, and to the point.

:thumbsup:

[saltpoint]

10. That Philip Pullman passage is a humdinger, WIMR.

"...which was our true home and always was..." Very nice.

I'll toss in a few things:

1. An inquiry:

The Great Song Traveler passed through here
and he opened my eyes to the view
And I was among those who called him a prophet
and I asked him what was true . . .

--Jackson Browne, "Looking Into You"

2. A caption I prefer beneath Salvador Dali's CHRIST OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS:

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

--Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"

3. And an invocation of antiquity:

“I wish there was one person in my life I could show. One instinctive, absolutely unbrisk person I could take to Greece, and stand in front of certain shrines and sacred streams and say, ‘Look! Life is only comprehensible through a thousand local gods. ‘ And not just the old dead ones with names like Zeus--no, but living geniuses of place and person! And not just Greece but modern England! Spirits of certain trees, certain curves of brick wall, certain chip shops, if you like, and slate roofs--just as of certain frowns in people and slouches... I’d say to them, ‘Worship as many as you can see-- and more will appear!’”

Dr. Dysart in Peter Shaffer’s Equus


____________
WritingIsMyReligion, what a great question you put before us this afternoon.

Thank you.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

25. Thank you for the praise, and the most excellent passages!

No problem all around!

:hi:

[rkc3]

15. I have adopted the mantra of most christian (small c) fundies I have

had the displeasure of meeting:

"I'm saved, screw you."

[WritingIsMyReligion]

26. LOL--An interesting quote!

:evilgrin:

[Sapphire Blue]

16. From Elie Wiesel & Rev. Dr. William J. Barber...

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.

Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.

(snip)

In the place that I come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders. During the darkest of times, inside the ghettoes and death camps -- and I'm glad that Mrs. Clinton mentioned that we are now commemorating that event, that period, that we are now in the Days of Remembrance -- but then, we felt abandoned, forgotten. All of us did.

--- Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html

"Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

--- Elie Wiesel, from his Nobel Acceptance speech

http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/ElieWiesel/speech.html

"But for God’s sake, don’t ever give up, because some child is depending on you, some family is hoping for a better day, some worker needs a breakthrough, the voiceless still need a voice, the poor still need an advocate, those in the margin still need to be mentioned, people who are down still need to be lifted, the hurt still need to be healed.

Use your life in the court of humanity to say “I WILL OBJECT UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATERS & RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM!"

--- Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, A Conversation on Poverty and Segregation

http://www.unc.edu/law/povertycenter/audio/barber.mp3

[saltpoint]

17. The planet needs a few more Elie Wiesels and several fewer

Karl Roves.

Nice stuff, sapphire blue.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

27. Elie Wiesel is a wonderful, wonderful human being.

:toast: to him, and to you for posting this!

:thumbsup:

[Sapphire Blue]

37. Thanks for posting the request!

And for the excerpt from The Amber Spyglass! I especially liked this from the last paragraph...

"We'll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we'll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was."

Lots of great responses in this thread, too!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

38. Yes, that is one of my favorite bits from the entire trilogy.

;)

:hi:

[undergroundpanther]

18. Here goes...

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. "

56. Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html

Thunder perfect mind...

I was sent forth from the power,and I have come to those who reflect upon me, and I have been found among those who seek after me. Look upon me, you who reflect upon me, and you hearers, hear me. You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves. And do not banish me from your sight.And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard! Do not be ignorant of me.
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html

[WritingIsMyReligion]

28. Most excellent.

:thumbsup:

[undergroundpanther]

30. and this...

On the Passage of the Soul
Through the Archons of the Midst
This beautiful fragment tells the tale of the soul of the Gnostic as it makes its passage out of creation, past the "Archons of the Midst", toward its true home in the Light. As the soul approaches each terrifying and fiercely powerful Archon, it presents a key of liberation: to each is given "the mystery of their fear", and the fear's name. (These untranslatable Coptic names are only very roughly represented in the text, below.) Knowing fear "face to face", and naming it, the soul is liberated from the Archons' restraint upon free passage.
................ . . . the souls by theft:
when they take my soul to that place it will give to them the mystery of their fear, which is XAPIHP

And when they take it to the places of all the ranks of the Paraplex,the great and powerful Archon, who is spread out upon the way of the Midst,who carries off the souls by theft:

when they take my soul to that place it will give to them the mystery of their fear, which is AXPW

And again when they take my soul to the place of Typhon,the great and powerful Archon with the face of an ass`s who is spread out upon the way of the Midst,who carries off the souls by theft:

when they take my soul to that place it will give to them the mystery of their fear, which is PPAWP

And again when they take my soul to the place of all the ranks of Jachthanabas, the great and powerful Archon, who is full of anger, the successor of the Archon of the outer darkness, the place in which all forms change, who is powerful,who is spread out upon the way of the Midst,
who carries off the souls by theft:

when they take my soul to that place it will give to them the mystery of their fear which is AWHPNEUPSAZPA

http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/library/frgsp.htm


We are all flames here flickering
by Underground Panther in the Sky
May 16, 2003


In a small place, the size of the first thought, between order and chaos,
there is life and experience. On this we exist for a time,
As a form on Earth balancing our lives between a ring pass not of births
and a ring pass not of entropy/dissolution.
A breath in and out is only a moment of change.

We are all divided hearts, one half of love, the other half of anger.
A battle rages in each person. Until a decision is made one way or the other.

A will is held together by a moment, a thought, an urge, an emotion an experience lived or not yet lived ...
we declare our fantasies to the winds or the flesh.
We have learned so little on our own living inside a cave all alone with
a clear blue sky that holds everything under the sun casting shadows we make and call the truth.
We are made of living contradictions made of transformations,
the creators who do not know what we do.
We are ignorant until we realize we do not want to know what we do...
and when we finally look and can turn away no more, we can stop doing it.

We all can chafe with indignant hypocrisy when we are forced by love itself to take pause
and not proclaim our will triumphant and disfigured to the world.
Yet we also can chafe with frustration and regret when we do not question the origins of our own will
and it manifests as a scar on another's soul. That kills.
And so, we bear the repulsive bounty we have chosen and then say it is our right to be this way,
cracking the egg drinking the poison spreading it on innocent ground in trusting hands,
the world sees us, and the mark of judgement is drawn upon our own lack of foresight
and empathy and our I rages at being so wrong.

We are all flames here flickering from black to white and white to black,
red, green, blue, a rainbow with silver and gold.
We see what we do when we see ourselves through each other's eyes
and do not cover them from fear of what we might see.

We will be free of each other's rule.
But only when each of us by our own desire to be free of laws and rules
when will we stop imprisoning ourselves within the control of our own love,
empathy and compassion denied..??
~ self aware chaos in control in the eye of the hurricane.
Then the 7 can become 1 and all the kings become
but an empty sound when we finally awaken from this long nightmare.

http://gnosticpath.blogspot.com/2006/04/welcome.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

61. Lovely

simply lovely.

[burned]

19. HST

Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak arabic, love music, and never forget that you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers, and warriors.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

29. I can most definitely eat that one right up!

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[undergroundpanther]

33. I have come to chew bubblegum and

Kick ass..And I have just run out of bubblegum.. ;)

[Ian David]

31. "We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out"

"Then I will tell you a great secret Captain, perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside; that burn inside the stars themselves. We are Starstuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out." --Delenn, Babylon 5, Episode titled, "A Distant Star"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5



Also:


The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles

* We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.
* We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
* We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
* We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.
* We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.
* We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.
* We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
* We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.
* We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.
* We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
* We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest.
* We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.
* We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity.
* We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
* We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion.
* We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.
* We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.
* We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.
* We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.
* We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.
* We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.


More:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=affirmations

[WritingIsMyReligion]

39. Ah, humanism....

Lovely.

:thumbsup:

[SeattleVet]

32. The goal of a good life is not to show up to the pearly gates...

in a tanned, young looking, well preserved body; it is to show up in a tattered, thoroughly abused & used shell, slide in sideways, martini & cigar in hand screaming:
"HOLY CRAP, WHAT A RIDE!!"

[undergroundpanther]

34. Heh..

I want out now...Screw the martini and the ride..I am a prisoner here,catnapped and I wanna go home!! This ride is making me sick...

I'm Yelling...GET ME OUTTA HERE! This world sux!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

40. LOL!

:rofl:

I LOVE that!

:rofl:

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[kwassa]

35. My favorite Jesus quote

Matthew 22:36-40

36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Basically, love God and love your neighbor. The rest is just details.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

41. Clever dude, that JC was.

;)

[nemo137]

52. Going along with that, my favorite OT quote

Micah 6:8
"What does that Lord your God require of you but that you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?"

[Patiod]

71. Mine's from Matthew as well - Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

------------------------

I don't know about the afterlife part, but I believe those who ignore those in need rot inside in THIS life, and those who help those in need earn their own daily rewards.

[Hoping4Change]

36. I need not shout my faith.

I need not shout my faith. Thrice eloquent
Are quiet trees and the green listening sod;
Hushed are the stars, whose power is never spent;
The hills are mute: yet how they speak of God!



Silence
By Charles Hanson Towne

[WritingIsMyReligion]

42. Now THAT is lovely!

:)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

62. I am printing this one out

thank you.

[Proud_Democratt]

43. Thomas Jefferson quoted........

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823


Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

44. Here's mine

from an old Sufi poem-

Go sweep out the chambers of your heart
Make it ready
To be the dwelling of the Beloved
When you depart, Love will enter
In you, void of yourself
God will display God's beauties.

[kwassa]

49. Rumi?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

56. No, someone else

and for the life of me, I can't remember his name.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. "There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers ...

... exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

Douglas Adams.

This quote appears about 18,500 times on the net, according to Google - quite popular, really.

[Proud_Democratt]

48. Interesting theory....similar to a theory of mine, "The Meaning of

Life", an extension of the Monty Python movie.

[saltpoint]

46. WritingIsMyReligion, here are a few odds'n'ends from the bookshelf

in response to your question.

I'm "close" to some of the sentiments, farther away on others, but here's a few more to add to the collection in this thread:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Some people don’t believe in God but they color eggs at Easter just to change the pattern of their days.”

--Don DeLillo, LIBRA

“I might doubt the divinity of Jesus, but I believed absolutely in the naked youth who appears while Christ is being arrested and then runs off into the night. Why would he be mentioned, except that he did appear and run away in just that manner?

--Andrew Holleran, NIGHTS IN ARUBA

“Tell me, if the Virgin Mary has walked throughout all the land, why has she never entered the wickiups of the Apaches? Why have we never seen or heard her?”

--Cochise, of the Apaches

“Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?”

--Jules Feiffer


“Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it.”

--George Bernard Shaw

“We are all children in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God’s name with the wrong alphabet blocks.”

--Tennessee Williams, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER

“Personally, I much prefer a pope like John XXIII. He looked terribly edible.”

--Salvador Dali

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

--Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., CAT'S CRADLE

“Stay out of churches, son. All they got a key to is the shithouse.”

--Kim, remembering his father’s advice in
William Burroughs’ THE PLACE OF DEAD ROADS

“She can’t help her red skin, and she isn’t heathen. In fact, she’s a Baptist, which is almost like being Christian, only louder.”

--Orson Scott Card, RED PROPHET

“The only devil I’ve ever worshipped is Mickey Mouse.”

--Kenneth Anger

“Someday we’ll go to Tibet and sit on a mountain and work it all out.”

--Paul Newman in WUSA

[Random_Australian]

50. I know no-one who believes for the reasons I do who has written about it,

but let's say that to me the former part of my screenname is the important bit.

The order inherit in randomness, woven in to the very structure of reality is what it is all about.

We're getting close to a UFT, which may say what I am trying to.

We shall see.

Edit: Whoah holy freak I'm deleting THAT!

[catbert836]

51. You hit the nail right on the head.

It's been so long since I read HDM... maybe I should get to it again.

Ditto for me, but here's my second place:

"Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love."- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

[WritingIsMyReligion]

84. HDM is so amazing....

Glad to know many others also appreciate it!

:hi:

[NMMNG]

53. Two things

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Buddha



This second one I put forth as my denouncement of Social Darwinism, which is alive and well under the current Administration.

"The problem with 'Survival of the Fittest' is the corpse at your feet, that little inconvenience"
Thomas Birdsey to Dominick Birdsey in Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True

[varkam]

74. That's a good Buddha quote n/t

[ozone_man]

92. This is a profound truth

and timeless. If we keep that one passage in mind in life, it would be a far better and more peaceful world. Religious and political dogmas are too often accepted on faith and not reason, handed down from generations without examination.

[Ron Green]

54. From "A Course in Miracles" -

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.

[Book Lover]

55. If I could post a symbol that signifies

silence, I would.

[jokerman93]

57. This one always makes me feel warm and fuzzy

Liber LXXVII
"the law of
the strong:
this is our law
and the joy
of the world." AL. II. 2

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40

"thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay." --AL. I. 42-3

"Every man and every woman is a star." --AL. I. 3

There is no god but man.
1. Man has the right to live by his own law--
to live in the way that he wills to do:
to work as he will:
to play as he will:
to rest as he will:
to die when and how he will.
2. Man has the right to eat what he will:
to drink what he will:
to dwell where he will:
to move as he will on the face of the earth.
3. Man has the right to think what he will:
to speak what he will:
to write what he will:
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will:
to dress as he will.
4. Man has the right to love as he will:--
"take your fill and will of love as ye will,
when, where, and with whom ye will." --AL. I. 51
5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.
"the slaves shall serve." --AL. II. 58
"Love is the law, love under will." --AL. I. 57

Copyright © O.T.O.

It's not my creed, but it might as well be.
O8)
J

[TallahasseeGrannie]

58. This is mine

1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don't have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing.

3 If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud,

5 doesn't behave itself inappropriately, doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

6 doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.

13 But now faith, hope, and love remain-these three. The greatest of these is love.

[kwassa]

63. 1st Corinthinans, chapter 13

Used it at my wedding, as many do.

[jokerman93]

67. Yes!

This is without doubt is one of the great beauties of our western tradition. It never fails to move me, as if it has the power to deepen the heart all by itself.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.

13 But now faith, hope, and love remain-these three. The greatest of these is love.

This is ever-true in our continual becoming - poignant and packed with lifetruth. A meditation, not only for myself -but for the future of all of us, I think. Love starts out as a content-free nominalization of...something we know is crucial but can't yet identify. It challenges us to pursue its meaning - which is never apparent and always changing until we arrive at the face of it that's meant only for us. It's almost as if love itself is less important in the end than the quest it takes us on. Love is another word for whatever is - right now, right here, as we live, breathe and communicate with each other. It's finally hearing the harmony of all those disparate voices - the incoherence and chaos of humanity - knowing itself at last to be the love we sought - to have been that love all along. Childhood's end.

And then it changes. Again.

Yes.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

75. And truly this piece of literature

holds true regardless of whether or not you are a Christian. At least the part about love.

You really "get it." Thank you for your lovely post.

[jokerman93]

65. Here's one from Allen Ginsberg

Footnote To Howl
Allen Ginsberg
Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy!
The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand
and asshole holy!
Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is
holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an
angel!
The bum's as holy as the seraphim! the madman is
holy as you my soul are holy!
The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is
holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy!
Holy Peter holy Allen holy Solomon holy Lucien holy
Kerouac holy Huncke holy Burroughs holy Cas-
sady holy the unknown buggered and suffering
beggars holy the hideous human angels!
Holy my mother in the insane asylum! Holy the cocks
of the grandfathers of Kansas!
Holy the groaning saxophone! Holy the bop
apocalypse! Holy the jazzbands marijuana
hipsters peace & junk & drums!
Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements! Holy
the cafeterias filled with the millions! Holy the
mysterious rivers of tears under the streets!
Holy the lone juggernaut! Holy the vast lamb of the
middle class! Holy the crazy shepherds of rebell-
ion! Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!
Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria &
Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow
Holy Istanbul!
Holy time in eternity holy eternity in time holy the
clocks in space holy the fourth dimension holy
the fifth International holy the Angel in Moloch!
Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the
locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucina-
tions holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the
abyss!
Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours!
bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent
kindness of the soul!

Berkeley 1955

[kwassa]

66. Rumi and Hafiz, two Sufi poets

two short Rumi poems:

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is, Suffer the pain.

Your desire must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen
in time, sacrificed.

__________________________

Listen for the stream
that tells you one thing.

Die on this bank.
Begin in me
the way of rivers with the sea.

______________________________
Hafiz

The sun
Won a beauty contest and became a jewel
Set upon God’s right hand.

The earth agreed to be a toe ring on the
Beloved’s foot
And has never regretted its decision.

The mountains got tired
Of sitting amongst a sleeping audience

And are now stretching their arms
Toward the Roof.

The clouds gave my soul an idea
So I pawned my gills
And rose like a winged diamond

Ever trying to be near
More love, more love
Like you.

The Mountain got tired of sitting
Amongst a snoring crowd inside of me
And rose like a rip sun
Into my eye.

My soul gave my heart a brilliant idea
So Hafiz is rising like a
Winged diamond.


Hafiz - “The Gift”

[Alizaryn]

68. Do unto others ...

[AlecBGreen]

69. My favorite scene from the Bible

From Mark chapter 10 -

46Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

48Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

49Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." 50Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

BE LIKE BARTIMAEUS!

[zara]

70. ...from so simple a beginning endless forms...

...Thus from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been orginally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonder have been, and are being, evolved.
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

[Celebration]

72. Thanks to Ralph Abraham

"I find the whole idea that the world's soul is confined in a space/time continuum of four or ten dimensions extremely claustrophobic."

"As the waves pass the rock, their shape is changed. There is a hologram of the rock within the wave that comes forward and crashes on the beach, then there's a reflected wave back."

[CantGetFooledAgain]

73. Just one of many from Gibran's "The Prophet"

"People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror"

[Chulanowa]

76. Two from Black Elk that do pretty well:

"And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father."

"Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking. "

[Az_lefty]

77. Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

[alterfurz]

78. non-stereotypical Nietzsche

I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought; the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed. -- Nietzsche

[catbert836]

83. He's been so misunderstood since his time.

When I read quotes like that, I'm reminded why Nietzsche was a really great philosopher, and not the Nazi supermen advocate that people have made him out to be.

[nashville_brook]

86. you might enjoy reading paul tillich on nietzsche

misunderstood.... way misunderstood... and beyond misunderstood. :)

i love nietzsche.

[Odin2005]

79. "Post an excerpt of something that speaks closely to your spiritual views"

"The trouble is that God in this sophisticated, physicist's sense bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible or any other religion. If a physicist says God is another name for Planck's constant, or God is a superstring, we should take it as a picturesque metaphorical way of saying that the nature of superstrings or the value of Planck's constant is a profound mystery. It has obviously not the smallest connection with a being capable of forgiving sins, a being who might listen to prayers, who cares about whether or not the Sabbath begins at 5pm or 6pm, whether you wear a veil or have a bit of arm showing; and no connection whatever with a being capable of imposing a death penalty on His son to expiate the sins of the world before and after he was born." - From a lecture by Richard Dawkins extracted from The Nullifidian (Dec 94)

"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time." — Isaac Asimov, Free Inquiry, Vol. 2, Spring 1982, p.9.

"Here's what happens when you die--you sit in a box and get eaten by worms. I guarantee you that when you die, nothing cool happens."
— Howard Stern

"The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance...logic can be happily tossed out the window."
— Stephen King

"If atheism is a religion, then bald is a hair color."
— Mark Schnitzius, on Usenet (1993)

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." - Brennan Manning

[WritingIsMyReligion]

85. I love the Stephen King quote, especially.

:rofl:

Good picks!

:hi:

[Odin2005]

88. Thanks

N/T

[CrispyQ]

80. Wonderful thread idea!!

Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions....

Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

don Juan

from The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Casteneda

===

:kick:

[RandomKoolzip]

81. Albert Camus:

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

[skids]

82. Of many minds...

I change "religion" like I do my socks, and like it that way -- to me what's held as a belief in one's mind is not of huge importance, since reality is what it is regardless, and such matters are far (or rationally should be) from having consequences to everyday existance. I also find that more prosaic writings on the subject matter are unecessarily circumlocuitous, and art and poetry are more compelling -- in fact most of my favorites are from music:

The calmingly serene:

All that you touch
All that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon. -- Pink Floyd, eclipse

The more maverick:

I am the centre of this universe
The wind of time is blowing through me
And it's all moving relative to me,
It's all a figment of my mind
In a world that I've designed
I'm charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad or is it me?
I am the creator of this universe
And all that it was meant to be
So that we might learn to see
This foolishness that lives in us
And stupidity that we must suss
How to banish from our minds
If you call this living I must be blind Hawkwind -- Master of the Universe

"Free your mind and your ass will follow -- the Kingdom of Heaven is within." -- Funkadelic

And the more mindbending:

"He who has known the world has fallen into a corpse; and he who has fallen into a corpse, the world is not worthy of him!" -- Jesus, if you lend credence to The Gospel of Thomas scroll.

"Scientifically speaking, the only difference between life and death is that death lasts a whole lot
longer" -- Dr. Krankeit (played by James Coburn) in Candy (1968)

"Time is an abstract concept created by carbon based life forms to monitor their ongoing decay" --
Thunderclese, the Brak Show.

[htuttle]

87. From The Honest Book of Truth, Book of Predications, Chap. 19, Verse 14

14. Wipe thine ass with What is Written and
grin like a ninny at what is Spoken. Take
thine refuge with thine wine in the Nothing
behind Everything, as you hurry along the Path.

[linazelle]

89. Something that resonates with me

From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (no I'm not an alcoholic)

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.

Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.

These words touch my heart deeply. They are, in fact, the most popular words in all of AA's writings, according to what I found online when looking for the passage.


There's more to the story, but the first passage is the best:

For me, serenity began when I learned to distinguish between those things that I could change and those I could not. When I admitted that there were people, places, things, and situations over which I was totally powerless, those things began to lose their power over me. I learned that everyone has the right to make their own mistakes, and learn from them, without my interference, judgement, or assistance!

The key to my serenity is acceptance. But "acceptance" does not mean that I have to like it, condone it, or even ignore it. What it does mean is I am powerless to do anything about it... and I have to accept that fact.

Nor does it mean that I have to accept "unacceptable behavoir." Today I have choices. I no longer have to accept abuse in any form. I can choose to walk away, even if it means stepping out into the unknown. I no longer have to fear "change" or the unknown. I can merely accept it as part of the journey.

I spent years trying to change things in my life over which I was powerless, but did not know it. I threatened, scolded, manipulated, coerced, pleaded, begged, pouted, bribed and generally tried everything I could to make the situation better -- only watch as things always got progressively worse.

I spent so much time trying to change the things I could not change, it never once occurred to me to simply accept them as they were.

Now when things in my life are not going the way I planned them, or downright bad things happen, I can remind myself that whatever is going on is not happening by accident. There's a reason for it and it is not always meant for me to know what that reason is.
That change in attitude has been the key to happiness for me. I know I am not the only who has found that serenity.

[tjwmason]

90. I'll go with my signature line.

Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, went to East Africa as a missionary in the late 19th century and stayed there his whole life. He worked strongly to build up an indigenous church (rather than on run by whites). He was a major Christian Socialist figure, attacking the treatment of locals under the pre-Great War German colonial rule - and then the post-war British rule as well.

It ties together the fact that Christianity is both a super-natural and a natural religion, eternal and temporal, transcendent and immanent.

[cosmik debris]

91. Bokonon:

"All these truths are lies!" --Kurt Vonnegut

[Lilith Velkor]

93. All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.

In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.

[opiate69]

94. okey-dokey...

Dear god,
Hope you got the letter,
And I pray you can make it better down here.
I dont mean a big reduction in the price of beer,
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet,
cause they dont get enough to eat

From god,
I cant believe in you.

Dear god,
Sorry to disturb you,
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears,
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street,
cause they cant make opinions meet,
About god,
I cant believe in you.

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear god,
Dont know if you noticed,
But your name is on a lot of quotes in this book.
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true.
Well I know it aint and so do you,
Dear god,
I cant believe in,
I dont believe in,

I wont believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners,
No devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
Youre always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
And its the same the whole world round.
The hurt I see helps to compound,
That the father, son and holy ghost,
Is just somebodys unholy hoax,
And if youre up there youll perceive,
That my hearts here upon my sleeve.
If theres one thing I dont believe in...

Its you,
Dear god.

[pagandem4justice]

95. Range of quotes that speak to me

I'm a Hellenic polytheist, but can think of a range of quotes that speak to my beliefs.

"Nothing to excess." ... "Know thyself." - Mottoes carved at the entrance of the Temple of Apollon at Delphi

***

"...Those whom your smile and grace illumine: their fields flourish with corn-ears, their livestock and wealth multiply, only the very old go to the grave, and strife, which wastes even well-established houses, avoids the family: wives of brothers and husband's sisters sit around one table.

Lady, may my true friends and I be among those, Queen, and may I always care about song..."
- Hymn to Artemis, Callimachus

***

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
- Prayer of St Francis of Assisi

***

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh."
- Jesus, The Beatitudes (New Revised Standard Version)

[greyl]

96. Do your dance! ...plus some George Harrison.

We were talking - about the space between us all
And the people - who hide themselves behind a
wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth - then it's far too late -
when they pass away.

We were talking - about the love we all could
share - when we find it
To try our best to hold it there - with our love
With our love - we could save the world - if
they only knew.

Try to realise it's all within yourself no-one else
can make you change
And to see you're really only very small,
and life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking - about the love that's gone so
cold and the people,
Who gain the world and lose their soul -
they don't know - they can't see - are you one
of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself - then you
may find, peace of mind is waiting there -
And the time will come when you see
we're all one, and life flows on within you and
without you.

[mariema]

97. Begin at the beginning

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." ~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

"Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water." ~Zen Buddhist Proverb

[truthpusher]

98. "WE ARE ALL ASLEEP IN THE ILLUSION THAT WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS....

....AND THAT WE HAVE A BODY AND A MIND AND HAVE THOUGHTS. HOWEVER WE CAN WAKE UP BY REALIZING THAT WE ARE NOT HUMAN WE ARE SIMPLY THE AWARENESS THAT PERCEIVES THE ILLUSION OF US BEING A HUMAN WITH A BODY.THE UNIVERSE IS NOT EXTERNAL, OUR TRUE UNIVERSE IS WHAT THE MIND CREATES FOR OUR AWARENESS THROUGH OUR SENSES.ALL OF OUR REALITY HAPPENS INSIDE OF OUR AWARENESS NOT OUTSIDE.YOUR THOUGHTS,BODY,MIND,BRAIN,SENSES,AND NAME ARE NOT YOU, YOU ARE THE ONE THAT WITNESSES ALL THESE THINGS."

[greyl]

99. Naw, we're all human as far as I know.

Being human is complex, but I don't think there are any grounds to claim that we aren't sharing the experience of being human.
Being a human in our culture carries real world responsibilities.
Delusion absolves us of them.

[nemo137]

101. We agree on this.

We've probably approached it differently, and leave from it differently, but I agree with what you said 100%.

[patrice]

100. "Be ahead of all parting . . .

As though it were already behind you, like the winter that's just gone by.
For amongst these winters is a winter so endlessly winter,
That only by wintering through it will your heart survive.

Be forever dead in Eurydice,
More gladly to rise in the seamless life proclaimed in your own song . . .

Here in the realm of decline, amongst the momentary days,
Be the crystal cup that shattered even as it rang.

. . . .

To all that is muffled and used up,
To all of the silent creatures of the World's full reserve,
the Unsayable Sum,
Joyfully add yourself
And cancel the count.

R.M. Rilke

[Ready4Change]

102. "I quit"

"And when the crowd pressed him with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it, and learn for it and feed it nonstop from his understanding, and to entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, 'I quit.'"

Or maybe this:

(He says unto the multitude)
You are all individuals!

(The multitude replies)
We are all individuals!

(Except for one bloke in the back)
I'm not.

You see, for the most part, I think that religion, especially organized, big religion, sucks the humanity right out of God. Which I think is just laughable, because, if there is a God, the humanity of it is kind of the whole POINT.

Otherwise, this is all one big mechanism, and God is a cog in the works, just like us, and none of this really matters anyway.

[GoodMorningUSA]

103. something that speaks to me

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye(Repeat 2)