Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Faith and Reason

I begin with a strong disclaimer that the following theory is respectfully my own; it could prove to be volatile as time passes and with appropriate experiences.
Meanwhile, no offense is meant, and no offense is expected.

religion
Spelled Pronunciation [ri-lij-uhn]
–noun

a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

spiritual
Spelled Pronunciation [spir-i-choo-uhl]
–adjective

of or pertaining to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature: a spiritual approach to life.
of or relating to the mind or intellect.

Dictionary meaning of heavy words. There was more explanation, more bullets to clarify if you're interested. But be warned, the more you think about it, the more you try to apply meaning to literal text, the more confused you will become. I found myself circuitously looking up philosophy, mind, faith, conscience, superstition etc etc with still no sense of what I was thinking, what I was trying to find out, and what I wanted Dictionary.com to tell me.

I humbly put across my ideas.

Religion is the human method of exhibiting love, respect, gratitude for their individual Supreme King(s). All explanations lead to the Supreme Being: Evolution and science, yes, yes of course, but why? Because God willed it so.
Coconut breaking, facing East, facing West, lighting fire--individually these motions mean nothing. Religion attaches meaning and purpose to these actions, specifically Organized Religion.
So, method of acknowledgment and communication with a Higher Power or Universe or Energy is your religion.

Spiritual people believe in a soul. They nourish it, are aware of their conscience, try not to cheat, steal or kill people. They believe that their grandma who passed away, is still with them, in spirit.

It may not be something that's explicitly written or taught to you or, you may be compulsively unritualistic, but surely, at least once, you must have bowed your head to make a wish, or petitioned silently to have your team win at football, or avoided the path of a black cat on the day of your exam 'just in case'?

For instance, I try to keep my prayer spot whiff of lavender or sandalwood. Now, either I don't do that or, I form a club of people that do the exact same thing and we decide to meet once a week to clean the ashes together. It don't matter either way, but when I am in my moment, refilling the oils, or lighting the candle, feeling grateful I haven't been laid off from my job yet, guilty for speaking rudely to Mom, anxious for my experiment to work today, please let me know, what part is religion and what part spirituality.

I draw a compound relationship between religion and spirituality. They are connected--like a clock is, to time.
It is normal to want to label objects & emotions, it is normal to want to sort & separate our affinities. The minutes will pass, even if we don't number them.

So then, here is my theory on the subject, and I hope that you will be able to perceive its dimension:
In my opinion, the only few that could attain spirituality sans religion include Allah, Jesus, Krishna...The Universe.

12 comments:

Mental said...

You mentioned spirituality..I read something here

http://jeevanekkhoj.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-path.html

:-)

You are awesome! :-)

drparikh said...

Thanks, M!

I read that blog; it was deja vu of poems and email forwards with cute cat-and-puppy pictures outlining 'what is love?' haha
Can't comment on englightenment though...at least not till I die (according to popular rumor!) ;)

Mental said...

it is a rumor..enlightenment is not for the dead, me believes.. :-)

coming back to your post, I have "faith" in "reason".. :P

drparikh said...

What do you mean...i didn't understand :(

Mental said...


You : Can't comment on englightenment though...at least not till I die (according to popular rumor!) ;)

Me : it is a rumor..enlightenment is not for the dead, me believes.. :-)

********

You : Your entire post on Faith and Reason..

Me : coming back to your post, I have "faith" in "reason".. :P


Do i make any sense now? :-)

drparikh said...

um...second part not so much. Are you referring to an atheistic inclination?

Mental said...

Aila!! meri ma! I am just playing with words...

it usually comes as Faith versus Reason for a lot of people..So in that sense when I said I have faith in reason I am kind of creating a paradox..

God!! I now have to explain my jokes..The world drives me crazy sometimes... :P

drparikh said...

dont feel bad, im damn slow with intelligent jokes :)

Mental said...

are we still alive?? :P

drparikh said...

:) yes!
just been in a whirlwind...

have an awesome new theory im gonna post--soon.
stay tuned.

btw, i forget your name...:(

Mental said...

You forgot my name? Never mind..what's in a name anyway..

So where is the theory?

drparikh said...

everything's in a name!

i haven't a single post in 2010. damn talk about lazy.