After realizing how un-zen my last post was, and even a bit perturbed that something so small set me off, I decided it’s about time to refocus and think about what’s really important. While I do think elitism is an ugly thing, and I do stand by what I say about not practicing it, it was not the best idea to let one little comment form the NY Times Food and WIne section through me into a spiral of contempt for this faceless person I don’t even know. I have chalked it up to me becoming disgusted with the perspective of negative people and it makes me no better to participate in bitter behavior. I do sometimes feel like I want to stand up for the injustices in this world, and there are moments when I am watching TV and I want to ring a celebrity’s neck just for being so self-involved, but I also see that lingering on those thoughts are counterproductive to myself and to society. So… moving along…
Take a moment to read or look over this article. It’s interesting if you’re the kind of person who has an objective viewpoint on religion and spirituality:
http://buddhism.about.com/od/becomingabuddhist/a/noconversion.htm
I just stumbled upon this article, and it describes exactly how I feel about religion. I have been leaning towards Buddhism for about 3-4 years now, and reading this finally justifies for me that this is where I want to be. After reading this article I feel at home with the idea that Buddhism is not just a religious standpoint, but a state of mind, and viewpoint on the world. I feel as though it is something that would really allow me to apply critical thinking without feeling any of the guilt of “abandoning” my old religion (Catholicism). It lets me declare my viewpoints without thinking they are the ultimate viewpoints and this serge of guilt is what I have found deters me from going to other religions. But like the author of this article says, it doesn’t make any other religion wrong. It’s is just the mechanism in which each individual experiences ultimate transcendence. For me transcendence is more possible with Buddhism. It just makes sense.
Here are some excerpts that really got me nodding my head up and down:
“The truth is, I don’t necessarily think everyone should convert to Buddhism….”
“The first assumption is that an omnipotent and omnipresent entity such as God — or Brahma, or the Tao, or the Trikaya — can be completely understood by human intellect, and that this perfect understanding can be expressed in words to form doctrines that transmit this perfect understanding to others with unfailing accuracy… And I say that’s nonsense. I say no doctrines of any religion, including mine, are the complete truth. All fall short of perfect understanding. All are frequently misunderstood…At the same time, it may be that most of the doctrines of most of the world’s religions reflect some small part of a great and absolute truth, so they aren’t necessarily false, either. As Joseph Campbell may have said, all religions are true. You just have to understand what they are true of.”
“The Buddha taught his monks that Nirvana cannot be conceptualized. In Exodus, God refused to be limited by a name or represented by a graven image. It may be hard for humans to accept, but there are places our almighty imaginations and intellects cannot go.”
“…Christianity because it no longer engaged my heart and mind. Well, the heart maybe, but the mind said “Nope.” But just because I walked away from Christianity doesn’t mean I think Christianity or any other religion is wrong for everyone else.“
“”Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”"
This is of great comfort and understanding to me. It makes sense. I have a long way to go into this foray of mind and soul, but realization is only the tip of the iceberg here.
Here’s to life and living.
RIchard Gere, Uma Thurman… here I come. Nice to meet you. 
