st.bot.32 a dit:
And who decides what is irrational/superstitious? For example, are churches bad, but magick and new age practices are OK?
No! I said secular education, not wiccan education! Children should not be forced to participate in any spiritual ritual, inclusing weird new age practices.
It is easy to dis the religious experiences other people have while propping up your own.
I'm talking from personal experience here. I was deeply religious for about 6 years of my life. I know the monotheistic mindset, having experienced it myself. I also tasted 'religious ecstasy' quite a bit. I know what I'm talking about, even if I wasn't a muslim.
Well for starters the Beatles are pretty much a fusion of...
Wasn't it obvious I was referring to the 1000s of psychedelic classics that were written in the decades after the Summer of Love? Religion stifles creativity. Yes, it may preserve certain motifs and styles, but at the same type discourages experimentation.
The religious experience and creativity are just internally linked. That's why plenty of artists take entheogens or explore world religions and alternate belief systems.
Please, in a thread about Islam and other monotheistic
religions, do not write about the use of entheogens as a
religious experience. It creates unnecessary confusion.
Nope. Nationalism is a religion, as far as I'm concerned.
Yes, but it's bullshit that the disappearance of religion would lead to a rise of nationalism. Again, please keep in mind that the psychedelic experience tends to obliterate national identity. Most of us here are not nationalists. I love my country because it has liberal drug laws, but that is as far as my nationalism goes.
No offense, but how would you know? Have you ever been a true believer?
Yes, and in those days I also had deep respect for Jesus Christ and Mohammed, and their different followers. I've been religious all the way.
Have you ever felt the presence of god? Seen god in everything around you?
First on acid (most convincing), then within the system of monotheism (the post-Vedic Vaishnava religion), and then on shrooms etc. Also numerous times sober or stoned because in general I'm an ecstatic individual.
That is what the deeply devout and orthodox experience.
If they want to be devout, orthodox religionists, let them live in the woods or in a cave. I say you can experience just as much ecstasy living a modern life. And I mean a fully modern life, not the materialistic lifestyle that has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread. Of course we don't encourage that either. As revealed in a recent news item, materialism is linked with low self-esteem. Any truly modern lifestyle that encourages healthy self-esteem will lower materialism and create a natural, genuine spirituality free from nationalism or racism.
There's a reason why the devout are not easily swayed by secularism. Their beliefs, their world, are completely real to them.
I know. They recite and repeat their beliefs over and over and over again. It IS in-doctrine-ation, kept in place by the authority of the revealed scripture. And yes, religious songs are very much part of the indoctrination. And most of those songs suck big time.
I also remember the way I truly freed myself from the belief system (not just from the religious organization, like so many before me had done): it was by reading the truth about our holy books, as discussed by Indologists and other scholars. I realized they were right, and that much of post-Vedic religion was a farce. In fact all monotheism is a farce. It was a tough pill to swallow, and it took me months, but then I was liberated from the shackles of dogma. And what a relief it was!