So now for the non-empirical part. The feeling I felt in my chest was the same feeling I felt when I would speak to Jesus back in the day. It feels like comfort and the absence of loneliness. It feels like you can lean back and there will be something/someone there to hold you up. I guess it feels like you're being held and the weight of the world isn't on your shoulders for a little bit. As nice as that is, it led me to think even deeper (wow who would have thought..). If I can feel this feeling while both praying or meditating, what does that mean for the validity of both religious views? The logic behind that question is this. If one is genuinely legit and the other is not, why do I feel that spiritual connection in both cases? I'm not trying to start a belief war, but I am trying to provoke thought.
So my questions are this.
1. What do you think about Rumi?
2. What are your feelings on meditation.
3. Do you subscribe to a more universal mystic or do you think only one religion has it right
(these are heavy questions so, if you feel uncomfortable answering one, feel free to skip it 🌝)
P.S - Check out this picture of Rumi. Can you tell what's wrong with it? If you can...ummmmm.....you get a cookie.
1.) Rumi is freaking amazing. He's the perfect blend of simple and complex, and his words always seem to speak to me. I will always cherish his work.
ReplyDelete2.) Meditation is also "freaking amazing." I visited a Buddhist monastery over the summer, and it changed my life. They taught me the proper way to meditate, and I learned from the best. I use it almost daily to clear my head.
3.) I am religious, however, I do not think one religion has it right. This is a complicated question, and I'm afraid I can't give much reason behind why I think that way, but it's what I always believed.
The last picture is my man, Leonardo DiCaprio; more specifically, Leonardo DiCaprio from "The Revenant." I want my cookie, haha!
No clue about the picture, except that it looks suspiciously like Coleman Barks...
Deletehttps://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/images/video/barks_video.jpg
BLUE EYES! COOKIE PLEASE!
DeleteSorry, I lack cookies to distribute to those who correctly guessed. =(
DeleteNate, I will not forget my debt of one cookie to you. Rest assured.
Delete1.) I thought Rumi was a pretty cool writer. Although some of his poems were a little more complex than others, I still like the complexity and the simplicity of his poetry. I found the complexity, especially about the poems about alcohol to be rather charming. I loved the common proverb vibes that Rumi was putting off.
ReplyDelete2.) As someone who loves to be in a relaxed state, I find meditation to be relaxing and a good way to find enlightenment and stress-relief. I've only done meditation while doing yoga (which I'm terrible at) and I always felt so at peace, like all my trouble faded away from my mind at that moment.
1.) I grew up in a Christian family (mainly my maternal grandmother is the Jesus lover) in mainly Church of God. I only attended church once in my life and bible school sessions many times, but I never liked going to church. Now that I'm 20 years old, I have grown away from the Christian roots (even though that makes my aunt SO mad). I guess you could say that I would follow a mystic universal rather than devoting myself to one religion. I'm just not a very religious person, but I love learning about deities and other religions from around the world.
I feel that. I'm glad you found Rumi and meditation to be useful!
DeleteI was honestly pretty blown away by Rumi, particularly with the relevance of a lot his words to our modern day lives. I wish I could read his poems in their original language, because of course we have to acknowledge what's lost with the middle man known as a translator. As we learned, he is criticized by Rumi scholars for his translations. So we have to wonder just how much his own discretion affects what we know as Rumi vs what speakers of his language know as Rumi.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have an opinion on meditation. It's always just been something really foreign to me, and even somewhat odd in certain cases. I can't imagine that I would benefit from it if I ever tried it, but it's great that it works for a lot of other people.
My family is Catholic, so I stick with that, although I am of the opinion that it would be impossible for any person to ever get anything 100% right. Everyone's wrong about something, and there's simply not enough clear cut or objective information out there to work with. We can only do the best we can with the limited information and experiences that we have as individuals. If we truly were expected to know everything for sure, then we would've been given better 'instructions' than vague, disputed, easily misinterpreted ancient texts.
+10 points for Leo!
Rumi's work reminds me of many of my religious leaders in high school. The groups that I was involved in were open to different religions, just more or less wanted to speak to us about being kind and how to interpret the life around us. Rumi teaches lessons in his writing the same way that my group leaders taught us lessons. His work told stories within stories and that type of work is my favorite. I would have loved to have Rumi as a mentor or leader in my life.
ReplyDeleteI personally use yoga as my form of of meditation. It relaxes my body and relaxes my mind so that I can have a less stressful day. We as college students should know how stressful life can get. You painted a pretty vivid and intense picture for us in your blog post, unfortunately I haven't had an outstanding moment like that, but I'm sure that must have been so soothing to your mind and body.
I think more than one religion is right. The same way that I think more than one religion is wrong. It would be nice if we had one completely correct religion, but I think that there are rights and wrongs within every religion out there. You just have to find out the path you want to take.
Very well put. I want to start doing yoga, but I need to increase my bodies flexibility first and learn it.
Delete1). Honestly, my favorite part from the Rumi selections was the prose section under "On the Tavern." I found the language and concepts to be incredibly beautiful and profound. In particular, I love the lines, "Being human means entering this place where entrancing varieties of desire are served. The grapeskin of ego breaks and a pouring begins. Fermentation is one of the oldest symbols for human transformation." WOW!!! The richness of that language is just astounding.
ReplyDelete2). I honestly don't know much about it! I know it's important in some religions, but I don't know a lot beyond that.
3). Personally, I find the greatest truth to come from the Bible. However, we're designed to have our own free will and to choose what we believe. That's ultimately a personal decision, and there's a myriad of routes that people pursue with that.
I appreciate your open mindedness despite subscribing to a particular belief. It feels like a breath of fresh air.
DeleteAlright, Pierre:). I appreciate your honesty - a super valuable quality.
ReplyDeleteYou asked about the feeling you have both while meditating and praying. What is the difference? One you're talking to God, and one you know and understand that God is there with you. I believe that God can make His presence known whenever He wants to. We're all wired to crave Him, so those feelings of loneliness and a lack of comfort/support can only be completely satisfied by Him. He is like our Father...He wants to teach us and to be with us. I'm glad you brought up the feelings of (un)loneliness. Same. I've learned this - and still am learning it - throughout college. That if God can completely fulfill me, and I KNOW He can and that I can have that relationship with Him, I have to remember to go to Him first through whatever I face.
Religions: They all can't be right... It really doesn't work. The numerous world beliefs contradict one another. So if only one can be truthful, then what? Believe in nothing? Nah...that doesn't work either because - again, in my opinion - there is so much evidence for God. That's where I'm at with this:)
Questions for you:
Do you believe that the feelings you describe provide additional evidence for the presence of God?
What do you think about God's character? If you believe He is real, then do you believe that He loves you?
What do you believe about Jesus specifically?
Thanks for the post:) You have good questions, as usual. Feel free to respond (or not) as you please!
1. I believe that the feeling I described is additional evidence for God's existence. I see it like this. The various religions of the world are all connected to the same God, force, energy, or whatever you prefer to label it. Each religion simply interprets that God in there own way, and assigns their own laws and regulations based on what they believe that Being wants from them. I feel this way because of the spiritual similarities between all religions. Each religion physically expresses their beliefs in their own ways, but all main religions meet at the same point when it comes to their spiritual beliefs. This then leads me to believe that all these religious founders came into contact with the same being/entity but they were unable to express what they say/felt perfectly. We are human after all and our humanity bleeds into everything we do. This is why you have the errors in every religion. Therefore, because every religion falters in some way, why would I ever trust it with my eternal destiny? The answer is I won't nor should anyone. The whole goal of these Religious founders (if they had a truly caring heart) was to help the rest of humanity reach an encounter with god. They all did it in their unique ways, but that still begs the question "If they were able to find god on their own, why can't I?" I believe the answer is that you can and should, but in your own way and without the beliefs/practices that someone else used. Sure, you should learn from them, but a relationship with god should be purely unique and personal to you and god. You shouldn't need a religion to guide you to that point. I see religions as a crutch for those who aren't at a level of personal growth where they can see this reality for themselves.
Delete2. People seem to be very confused about gods character. Every religion seems to have a different opinion about it, and that's another reason why I think they are bullshit. I will never take the word of another person when I can plainly see the answer for myself. The answer to this is nature itself. The reason I feel this way is because I know 100% that, if there is indeed a God, he made nature and all the rules that it abides by. Knowing this, I can then look into nature, study its rules, and consequently get to know who the real creator is. The more I do this, the clearer the human parts of religion become; further pushing me away from that and closer to the real god. I'm not saying that your beliefs don't worship the real god. In fact, I think it does, but so are Allah, and Buddha. These are just names to help our brains put a face on god. The truth is we could never comprehend or process god in our minds; thus the need to put him into human terms and put him in a box that the masses can understand. Point is, there are many paths to god, but they all share the same qualities. If you would like to know what those qualities are, please read Galations 5:22-23.
3. I personally don't believe in Jesus because I don't need god to be put in a box for me. I don't need or want to experience God through some third party source that wants to tell me what I can and cannot do while simultaneously taking my money and avoiding taxes. What is right and wrong has nothing to do with base rules that apply to everything. It has to do with each moment. Love is the only rule, and Ironically, if you truly love with all your heart in each moment, you obey almost all Christianities rules. If I truly love and care for someone, I'll never murder them or steal from them. I'll never wish harm on them or degrade them because that isn't loving. If you spend your time focusing on how to love people, you will find god. Period. This is why there are some people who have never stepped foot in a church, but have a stronger relationship with God than the old lady who hasn't missed a tithe in 50 years.
I personally think that Rumi is one of the greatest poets to ever live. He had profound views on various things and was a very spiritual individual. That's all I have to say about that.
ReplyDeleteAs for views on religious correctness, there is no way that one religion has everything right and to truly believe that, in my opinion, is very insulting. People throughout the world have different views that they believe in very strongly. You can believe that your religion is the most true, but to say it is *the* right religion, I believe, is very ignorant. We have to acknowledge that the prominent monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) all have common ground that they were founded on. Again, this is just my opinion as someone who looks down on *organized* religion. All religions can be right in their own regard and according to their followers, so rather than saying "my religion is*the* true religion," we need to look objectively at things and respect others and truly practice religious tolerance (Sorry for the rant).
As for meditation, I think it is extremely important to our existence. My mother is a reiki master -- if you don't know what that is, I encourage you to look it up -- and owns a studio where she teaches meditation and reiki classes. I know first hand that these things work wonder when it comes to grounding people and fulfilling them. I believe that meditation is imperative to self care and it should be practiced by everybody.
I glad to see that you understand the difference between organized religion and true personal belief. The very thought that god requires you to enter a building just to make him happy makes God sound more like a spoiled brat than a God worthy of my worship.
DeleteBeautifully thoughtful post, Pierre—and so many thoughtful responses! Because in my own belief system I believe in the underlying unity of all human beings, so I believe that, just as our experiences of anger and love and pain and regret and shame and joy are so similar across cultures, so our experience of the divine, too, is rooted in our common psychology.
ReplyDeleteI have long observed that when open-minded, deeply devout practitioners of different religions share their experiences of communion and transcendence in interfaith encounters, they always manage to find common ground. That means something.
Sure, the three Abrahamic religions all historically worship the same god (despite significant differences in detail); so it's maybe not so surprising that Jews and Christians and Moslems can so easily find shared experience. But when Buddhists and Hindus and Native Americans (those who still follow the old ways) and Zoroastrians and Taoists and Sikhs can recognize familiar elements across religious experience as well—again, that means something.
This is not to deny their differences, which are real and on many levels considerable (and which we must learn to honor and even celebrate, for therein lies the richness of our world). But when we are talking about that deep, far place we *go*—like the place Pierre found himself in that day in the woods with Rumi—whether it’s in prayer or meditation or ritual or revery, that "place" at its most profound level is the inalienable meeting ground of every searching soul, regardless of which god's name we call when we arrive. That place—our human sweet spot, our hearts’ home—cannot be not false, no matter which path you took to get there.
Anyway, that’s how it’s always looked to me... 🧐
Thank you for backing up my point in a much more concise and effective manner. I need to improve on that.
DeleteLike damn. That last paragraph took the cake.
DeleteLeooooooo. Ill take that cookie haha.
ReplyDeleteI ponder the question of whether there is only "one true religion" throughout the word all the time. The conclusion I have seemed to come to in short is no. If you study the main religions in the world, most of the principles are the same. Basically, don't kill, don't steal, be nice. Many religions have split into different denominations because of little disagreements and interpretations of certain rules and points. If all of us came together I think that we would all (or mostly all) agree that we believe in a higher power, and that we should be good to fellow beings on earth and earn our way to some sort of paradise after we die.