The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
note: I started writing this blog upon returning home from India, thinking I'd love to share details on Hinduism and my experience with (or without) faith. Since then, I've had many in-depth discussions on more religions I can count. Major faith overhaul here!
As I go through various stages of change in my life, I keep hearing the usual sayings, "Have faith, things will work out, you reap what you sow, everything happens for a reason."
Those are fine to hear in a crisis, but what do they really mean? I found myself asking what faith means to me? I have never been a religious person. Yet I strongly believe..
For good and for bad...there seems to be a yin and a yang, some cosmic karma going on that balances the Universe. Is it a God? The Universe? Or simply energy fields based off of our physical vibrations? Physics. Maybe some combination of it all?
Horrible things happen to good people and you wonder how in the world there could be a God. People show incredible generosity and humanity and you wonder how there couldn't be a God.
Somewhere in there, you remember that it's HUMANS running the world right now and both bad and good things happen due to, and because of, humans. Man. Maybe nothing is left up to fate anymore? Or faith?
My grandmother was a very religious Mennonite. The Mennonite's lived by the Bible and focused specifically on peace and non-violence (values I can get behind!) She went to Church often, but my mother never really did. My grandma was a brilliant baker and cook, read the bible every night, served in her church, quilted for women she had never met overseas, and yet still drank wine because (as she used to say) Jesus drank wine! She had big faith in faith. Spending time around her was my first introduction to religion and it was a strong one. My grandparents were married for 67 years and died within a year of each other.
Growing up my parents never pushed organized religion on us, yet they did teach us that our church was in our hearts. Acting with love and kindness everyday was important. This was our way of worship; although I still prayed some days and strayed far away from love OR kindness at times.
A couple years ago I became interested in Buddhism and Kabbalah and read a lot on both subjects. I made a good friend whose parents are Baha'i and learned about that faith (I value the core idea behind the Baha'i faith: in that they believe there is just one God who reveals His will to humanity through different religions and messengers - Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad - each representing a successive stage in the spiritual development of civilization.) I spent a couple of hours the other night asking questions and listening to a good friend who is a Jehovah Witness and discovered I was completely intrigued. I've also been working with Habitat for over a year, a Christian organization. We begin and end each meeting, ceremony or dedication with a prayer and it's changed the way I look at praying. There, it's just us talking to a Higher Power about a project that's important to us. Communicating in common words and terms to God, hoping someone will help us build a house in the timeline we need for a hardworking family. Prior to this, I always felt prayers were so...full of preaching or convoluted with words and names I didn't understand.
And finally in India, I was introduced to - wait, more like hit over the head with - Hinduism.
I definitely value aspects of all of these religions and (surprising myself a bit) I felt that I could relate the most to Hinduism. I'm an extremist and this religion is extreme. There are thousands of Gods that are blue and pink and mulit-coloured. The Gods have multiple arms, elephant heads, pitchforks, animal consorts. and beautiful faces. They are represented in every car, tuk tuk, business and home, and they star in cartoons, company names and even theme parks! There are so many myths and stories that it's hard to keep them straight and often the names change (with spelling or pronunciation) depending on whom you're talking too. It's fabulously over the top and crazy, yet one of the most authentic religions I've witnessed.
It is much too complex to explain the origins of one of the oldest religions in the world, so I will simply share my limited knowledge of Hinduism. There is a holy trinity of Supreme Gods that act as the anchor for thousands of other Gods: Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Conserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer). There is Ganesha (God of everything - wealth, luck, prosperity, happiness), Krishna (God of Love), Yama (God of Death), Hanuman (the Monkey God), Kali (Goddess of time and transformation) and so many others.
There are many stories behind the Gods. Too many to name here, but be sure to ask me about why Ganesha is the first God of worship (although he is Parvati and Shiva's son) and or why Hanuman is a favourite and always reigns over evil. Worshiping Ganesha can remove obstacles, Hanuman puja (a Hindu term for worship) can give you strength and wisdom.
After returning home from the land where spirituality is so important and, yet literally for sale, and then having conversations with many of those involved with organized religions here, I wondered how I'd ever find out how to pray or who to pray too. I find it a little dangerous to pray to a God that you don't necessarily believe in. Or in a temple where you are constantly asked for money.
This is what I know for sure: there were times in India when I really thought things were NOT going to go my way. I prayed to three various "Gods": my grandpas who have passed on and who I believe are angels watching over me, to Ganesha, as I was given a statue from a special friend to protect me on my journey, and to my Traveling Buddha that was a gift given sporadically when a friend I didn't know very well simply "felt I needed it". This little guy has traveled all over Africa, Europe and now to Asia and back with me.
I guess that's my holy trinity and (luckily) they always seemed to pull through for me. It could be that in my hunt for faith, faith found me. I value all religions and want to learn about them as much as I can, but for right now faith exists in the only temple that for me it can - my heart.
As for the common term everything happens for a reason I've heard both sides, "Isn't that a weak mindset?" and those that believe absolutely everything does happen for a reason. After chatting about it with my sister, I believe that either way, it helps people look at the positives that can come from a negative situation. It allows a sense of purpose and optimism when the most random, awful things are happening. Hey, that's reason enough for me.
Pyaar!
As I go through various stages of change in my life, I keep hearing the usual sayings, "Have faith, things will work out, you reap what you sow, everything happens for a reason."
Those are fine to hear in a crisis, but what do they really mean? I found myself asking what faith means to me? I have never been a religious person. Yet I strongly believe..
there's something bigger than us going on here.
For good and for bad...there seems to be a yin and a yang, some cosmic karma going on that balances the Universe. Is it a God? The Universe? Or simply energy fields based off of our physical vibrations? Physics. Maybe some combination of it all?
Horrible things happen to good people and you wonder how in the world there could be a God. People show incredible generosity and humanity and you wonder how there couldn't be a God.
Somewhere in there, you remember that it's HUMANS running the world right now and both bad and good things happen due to, and because of, humans. Man. Maybe nothing is left up to fate anymore? Or faith?
My grandmother was a very religious Mennonite. The Mennonite's lived by the Bible and focused specifically on peace and non-violence (values I can get behind!) She went to Church often, but my mother never really did. My grandma was a brilliant baker and cook, read the bible every night, served in her church, quilted for women she had never met overseas, and yet still drank wine because (as she used to say) Jesus drank wine! She had big faith in faith. Spending time around her was my first introduction to religion and it was a strong one. My grandparents were married for 67 years and died within a year of each other.
Growing up my parents never pushed organized religion on us, yet they did teach us that our church was in our hearts. Acting with love and kindness everyday was important. This was our way of worship; although I still prayed some days and strayed far away from love OR kindness at times.
A couple years ago I became interested in Buddhism and Kabbalah and read a lot on both subjects. I made a good friend whose parents are Baha'i and learned about that faith (I value the core idea behind the Baha'i faith: in that they believe there is just one God who reveals His will to humanity through different religions and messengers - Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad - each representing a successive stage in the spiritual development of civilization.) I spent a couple of hours the other night asking questions and listening to a good friend who is a Jehovah Witness and discovered I was completely intrigued. I've also been working with Habitat for over a year, a Christian organization. We begin and end each meeting, ceremony or dedication with a prayer and it's changed the way I look at praying. There, it's just us talking to a Higher Power about a project that's important to us. Communicating in common words and terms to God, hoping someone will help us build a house in the timeline we need for a hardworking family. Prior to this, I always felt prayers were so...full of preaching or convoluted with words and names I didn't understand.
And finally in India, I was introduced to - wait, more like hit over the head with - Hinduism.
I definitely value aspects of all of these religions and (surprising myself a bit) I felt that I could relate the most to Hinduism. I'm an extremist and this religion is extreme. There are thousands of Gods that are blue and pink and mulit-coloured. The Gods have multiple arms, elephant heads, pitchforks, animal consorts. and beautiful faces. They are represented in every car, tuk tuk, business and home, and they star in cartoons, company names and even theme parks! There are so many myths and stories that it's hard to keep them straight and often the names change (with spelling or pronunciation) depending on whom you're talking too. It's fabulously over the top and crazy, yet one of the most authentic religions I've witnessed.
There are many stories behind the Gods. Too many to name here, but be sure to ask me about why Ganesha is the first God of worship (although he is Parvati and Shiva's son) and or why Hanuman is a favourite and always reigns over evil. Worshiping Ganesha can remove obstacles, Hanuman puja (a Hindu term for worship) can give you strength and wisdom.
After returning home from the land where spirituality is so important and, yet literally for sale, and then having conversations with many of those involved with organized religions here, I wondered how I'd ever find out how to pray or who to pray too. I find it a little dangerous to pray to a God that you don't necessarily believe in. Or in a temple where you are constantly asked for money.
This is what I know for sure: there were times in India when I really thought things were NOT going to go my way. I prayed to three various "Gods": my grandpas who have passed on and who I believe are angels watching over me, to Ganesha, as I was given a statue from a special friend to protect me on my journey, and to my Traveling Buddha that was a gift given sporadically when a friend I didn't know very well simply "felt I needed it". This little guy has traveled all over Africa, Europe and now to Asia and back with me.
I guess that's my holy trinity and (luckily) they always seemed to pull through for me. It could be that in my hunt for faith, faith found me. I value all religions and want to learn about them as much as I can, but for right now faith exists in the only temple that for me it can - my heart.
As for the common term everything happens for a reason I've heard both sides, "Isn't that a weak mindset?" and those that believe absolutely everything does happen for a reason. After chatting about it with my sister, I believe that either way, it helps people look at the positives that can come from a negative situation. It allows a sense of purpose and optimism when the most random, awful things are happening. Hey, that's reason enough for me.
Pyaar!
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