Freedom from Faith Options

[0madhavadasa0]

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...findpost&p=1297

[babu]

And what is it? 

"WOMEN PUT THEIR VAGINAL JUICES INTO FOOD THEY COOK IN ORDER TO ENSNARE MEN TO THEIR WILL."

And I thought this was my own private spell

[Tapati]

I think though she should inform folks what that "special ingredient" is in the prasadam before they eat.

Well, if I've started a religion, they are cooking for me--no?

[babu]

I think though she should inform folks what that "special ingredient" is in the prasadam before they eat.

Well, if I've started a religion, they are cooking for me--no?

Then do you hunger to eat the food you have inspired folks to create?

[Tapati]

Just a note to say that even though this forum only has one topic so far, I am leaving it deliberately as a placeholder to let atheists and agnostics know that they are just as welcome to this forum as anyone else here.

[0authority0]

Just a note to say that even though this forum only has one topic so far, I am leaving it deliberately as a placeholder to let atheists and agnostics know that they are just as welcome to this forum as anyone else here.

I am not an atheist. That is a religion unto itself.

An agnostic is just a person who is truthful. No one knows anything about spiritual matters. An agnostic just admits it.

[Kalisurfer]

Here is a cool analogy about faith that I am paraphrasing from a book I recently read by Buddhist author Sharon Salzberg, called “Faith, Trusting Your Own Deepest Experiences.”

The analogy describes what happens when we allow fixed beliefs to create our reality for us. Buddhists say that holding such views is like gazing at the sky through a straw.

The sky is considered the unobstructed truth of who we are and what our lives are all about.

When a belief system that is unrealized and handed down to us is used to look at this sky, it is the same as if looking at the truth (sky) through a very narrow tube, allowing us to only see a very small part of the sky while being convinced that we are seeing the whole of it.

When we are attached to our beliefs, we can spend a lot of time comparing straws: “I’ve got a better straw than you, it is saffron and has the clay of the Ganges on it” or “Mine has a gold cross on it with clay from the Jordan River on it”. If we are afraid on top of this, then this fear makes us hold on to the straw with all our might.

Holding on tight to our straw makes one rigid, ready to chastise all others for believing all the wrong things without really listening to what they are saying. The tight straw holders become defensive and resist opening the mind to new ideas and viewpoints.

Confronted by the vastness of the sky, not knowing how to understand its massive proportions, the tight straw holders seek refuge in their one special straw.

Perhaps it is only when we have the courage to put down the straw and view the sky as it is, vast and immeasurable, then and only then can we recognize the varied perspectives each straw gives us.

We may then be able to see the difference each straw gives us, the difference between our favorite straw, our usual everyday straw, our comfort straw, our parents straw, our cultures straw, and the actual sky itself.

If we hold the straw skillfully, we will be able to put it down sometimes and look directly at the sky. If we hold beliefs skillfully, we will not get entangled in them, but will see them as the constructions of our mind that they are.

When we claim our individual right to question everything, including our own beliefs, perhaps it is then that we can leave our dependence on what is familiar and let in heartfelt, realized, open, qualities of faith.

As Alan Watts used to say, “Belief clings, faith lets go.”

[0authority0]

Faith is just as destructive as belief. Both are the result of being brainwashed by a filthy iskcon guru. Or any authority who is so anxious to bring you into the fold. Buyer beware.

Love,

AUTHORITY

[Bhakti]

Faith is just as destructive as belief.  Both are the result of being brainwashed by a filthy iskcon guru.  Or any authority who is so anxious to bring you into the fold.  Buyer beware.

Love,

AUTHORITY

Your statement is a belief based on your faith that people have been brainwashed by Gurus whom you consider filthy. So would not this faith in your own belief be destructive, if your original statement were true?

[0authority0]

My statement is not a belief but it is based on an understanding of thinking and how thinking produces belief.

You can believe in so much but still remain confused and wanting.

Love,

AUTHORITY

[Kalisurfer]

You can believe in so much but still remain confused and wanting.

Now I am beginning to understand, thanx!.

[0authority0]

Budda was wrong.

Believe in nothing. That way your memories will not get in the way of seeing things as they really are.

Love,

YOURMASTER

[Kalisurfer]

Budda was wrong.

Believe in nothing.  That way your memories will not get in the way of seeing things as they really are.

Love,

YOURMASTER

If I go by your philosophy and see things as they are, then I will have to reject you; for you are authority, your name is authority, you write like an authority. Amazingly, your personal quote is, "What is thought? Understand this and you will see through gurus and authorities."

The answer to the question in your quote then has to be: "Tought simply is!"
Therefore ... I can now clearly see through you !
The beauty of this is, it's like your not there at all!
Bye Bye

[Chanahari]

He wants us to become free from authorities.
Therefore, he named himself "authority", and then now tries to alienate us from himself.

This is an aversion therapy applied to spiritual relationships where the participiants are in a hierarchical position with each other.

[metamorphosis]

I can now clearly see through you !
The beauty of this is, it's like your not there at all!
Bye Bye

And for us who are not so lucky, as you who can see clearly through authority, there is the "ignore" feature, where we simply "ignore authority".

Ignore To refuse to pay attention to; disregard.

[Tapati]

I, for one, already have an aversion to authority (not the member, authority in general).

No therapy needed, thanks.

[0authority0]

Tapati,

You and I have a lot in common. I'm not trying to hone in on your husband so don't take this the wrong way.

I wish I had time to take a trip to Monterey!

Love,

YOURMASTER

PS...I was kicked off istagosthi.org... I hope that I did not offend ken. I just posted outside of my boundary, I think. You know me.

[jonny rama]

Forgive me if the following has already been stated, but my eyes are fading and I can't read all the posts.

1.I believe I want freedom from unfree beliefs.(me, I believe).

2.What is religion?
Religion is the misunderstanding of myth.
What is myth?
Myth is somebody else's religion.
(Joseph Campbell, more or less,probably less).

3.I don't believe in God, but I believe
Mary was his mother.
(Martin Sheen, et.al., more or less)

[0talasiga0]

To entertain the idea of freedom from faith
one must first have faith in the idea of freedom

[zanardi]

I liked very much the tube analogy Kalisurfer gave, quoting some Buddhists. See, now the evil minded Kapiladeva is putting his spell on me!