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My first time banning a book
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 319272" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Heather, without getting into any rights or wrongs about tihs view or that, I want to share something with you that might help.</p><p></p><p>Technically, we are raising our kids to be individuals. We have to respect their choices with regard to spirituality, sexuality (not that it's achoice) etc. All we can do, is give our kids the best tools we can give them while they're still receptive, then when they step out on their own we stand back, hands at the ready to catch them, and hope we managed to do enough.</p><p></p><p>I grew up in the late 60s/early 70s when the churches were talking about the Second Coming and when there were various sects, gurus etc wandering the streets declaring themselves to be the new incarnation of Christ. The initial gut reaction was to say, "You're a fraud!" but the curious and faithful person inside me was saying, "What if they had said this about Christ himself? Hang on, didn't they?"</p><p></p><p>So I explored all these manifestations and checked them out thoroughly. And yes, they were all flash-in-the-pan weird stuff. Occasionally something interesting would be included, but the more I looked at these, the more I began to see a pattern. And that pattern was - self-interest. Even the ones claiming to be Christ in a new body were themselves only preaching inner enlightenment.</p><p></p><p>There were other religious groups around, some old and some new. Even Christian groups were undergonig a major metamorphosis and so I began to apply the same test to the lot - what did they preach about service to others? What was the message about forgetting the self, and putting others first?</p><p></p><p>Talk about separating the wheat from the chaff...</p><p></p><p>What I have gleaned applies to all religions of the world. As humans, we are all individually selfish. It is simply our innate human nature, it is a matter of individual human survival. But as a species, we survive best when we work together in society. Society survives best when we consider others ahead of ourselves, when we put our selfishness aside and think, REALLY think, about helping other people first.</p><p></p><p>It's all very well to have inner consciousness-raising. It doesn't do us any harm to know ourselves better. But we can learn about ourselves by helping other people. We don't have to turn our focus so far inward that we disappear up our own rear ends.</p><p></p><p>So this message I bequeath to my children and to any of you who want to use it - whatever your moral code in life, you will do better if you work hard constantly to overcome your own innate selfishness. The more you focus on your own desires, the more miserable you risk becomeing as you think about what you don't have. But when you forget yourself in service to others, you find yourself.</p><p></p><p>So for me, the test for world religions (the good, the bad, the wierd, the ugly) is this - what does it teach about service to others? And where is that on the scale compared to inner enlightenment?</p><p></p><p>For me, everything else goes in the rubbish. It has saved me from cults, many times over (again, cults were rife in the early 70s around the university campuses).</p><p></p><p>Heather, is this something you can share with your daughter?</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 319272, member: 1991"] Heather, without getting into any rights or wrongs about tihs view or that, I want to share something with you that might help. Technically, we are raising our kids to be individuals. We have to respect their choices with regard to spirituality, sexuality (not that it's achoice) etc. All we can do, is give our kids the best tools we can give them while they're still receptive, then when they step out on their own we stand back, hands at the ready to catch them, and hope we managed to do enough. I grew up in the late 60s/early 70s when the churches were talking about the Second Coming and when there were various sects, gurus etc wandering the streets declaring themselves to be the new incarnation of Christ. The initial gut reaction was to say, "You're a fraud!" but the curious and faithful person inside me was saying, "What if they had said this about Christ himself? Hang on, didn't they?" So I explored all these manifestations and checked them out thoroughly. And yes, they were all flash-in-the-pan weird stuff. Occasionally something interesting would be included, but the more I looked at these, the more I began to see a pattern. And that pattern was - self-interest. Even the ones claiming to be Christ in a new body were themselves only preaching inner enlightenment. There were other religious groups around, some old and some new. Even Christian groups were undergonig a major metamorphosis and so I began to apply the same test to the lot - what did they preach about service to others? What was the message about forgetting the self, and putting others first? Talk about separating the wheat from the chaff... What I have gleaned applies to all religions of the world. As humans, we are all individually selfish. It is simply our innate human nature, it is a matter of individual human survival. But as a species, we survive best when we work together in society. Society survives best when we consider others ahead of ourselves, when we put our selfishness aside and think, REALLY think, about helping other people first. It's all very well to have inner consciousness-raising. It doesn't do us any harm to know ourselves better. But we can learn about ourselves by helping other people. We don't have to turn our focus so far inward that we disappear up our own rear ends. So this message I bequeath to my children and to any of you who want to use it - whatever your moral code in life, you will do better if you work hard constantly to overcome your own innate selfishness. The more you focus on your own desires, the more miserable you risk becomeing as you think about what you don't have. But when you forget yourself in service to others, you find yourself. So for me, the test for world religions (the good, the bad, the wierd, the ugly) is this - what does it teach about service to others? And where is that on the scale compared to inner enlightenment? For me, everything else goes in the rubbish. It has saved me from cults, many times over (again, cults were rife in the early 70s around the university campuses). Heather, is this something you can share with your daughter? Marg [/QUOTE]
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