sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Do you favour the simple or the complicated in your religious journey?
Why?
Why?
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Do you favour simple or complicated in your religious journey?
- Thread starter sandandfoam
- Start date
It depends. What aspects of the journey are we talking about? And what is considered complicated as opposed to simple?
The ocpd person in me likes to complicate things and stress about it. The rational person in me likes simple devotion, bhakti. The rational person, fortunately, has been winning out.
I suspect I am not capable of the simple, although that would still be my honest response.
Alas, external signs point otherwise.
Alas, external signs point otherwise.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Like everything else in life, simple when needed, complicated when needed.
I have no general preference for screwdrivers or hammers. When I need to unscrew something, I use a screwdriver; when I need to pound a nail in, I use a hammer.
I have no general preference for screwdrivers or hammers. When I need to unscrew something, I use a screwdriver; when I need to pound a nail in, I use a hammer.
Gjallarhorn
N'yog-Sothep
I prefer the deceptively simple things. It brings a laugh with every development.
Ingledsva
HEATHEN ALASKAN
I'm not on a religious journey.
However I love studying the religions and philosophies of the world.
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Sand Dancer
Currently catless
Simple. That's me.
Simple. As simple as can be: straight Aristotelian logic.
Farrukh
Active Member
waste of time i think.
roger1440
I do stuff
My life is simple. Just treat people the way I want to be treated and put my toys away.
Try to minimize preferences in this regard and just see things for what they are. My desires are relatively simple, but reality in general is a complicated affair. Religions sometimes seem to over-simplify reality for the sake of comfort or the illusion of control. Complexity is mysterious.
jtartar
Well-Known Member
sandandfoam,
This is a pretty good question. I feel that many people want religion to be complicated and hard to understand, because they want something mystic or otherworldly. A study of God's word seems to disagree with this idea.
Consider Luke 10:21, where Jesus said that God had hidden truths form the wise and intellectual one and had revealed it to babes. Here Jesus was speaking about goodhearted people who were just starting to learn about Him. This can be seen by looking up Heb 5:12-14.
Another place that we are shown about things is at 1Cor 2:1, where Paul says that he did not come to teach the people with eloquence of excellence of speech. paul meant that he did no use high sounding words, or words hard to understand when teaching. Really the only places where that Bible states that some things are hard to understand, are places where the people were dull in their hearing or people who Satan had blinded, Rom 10:1-4, 2Cor 4:3,4, Heb 5:12-14, 2Pet 3:15-18.
The path is ultimately simple, but its complex to unravel all the obstacles we've created for ourselves in order to find that simplicity and simply let it be.
Ingledsva
HEATHEN ALASKAN
Ingledsva said:
Wow! That is true conceit where one's religion is concerned.
The religions and philosophies of the world have interesting things to say, and or teach us, about life.
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brokensymmetry
ground state
I favor clarity insofar as I am typically motivated by a desire to find out true things about the world.
I prefer simple, but I always end up complicating things.
Yeah, I still have too many deities in my shrine. I think I'll pare it down (again
). BUT! my regular puja is limited to a few mantras and shlokas on three 4x6" cards. Sometimes I'll recite the Pushpam Mantra, the Lingashtakam or Sri Krishna Ashtothram, but only rarely. So, I'm definitely improving in simplifying.