That is part a problem of theology for those religions which place a heavy emphasis on belief. Although I do agree that it can be a social and cultural factor such as in the nation-state.
One has to first believe, but that is not what religion should be all about; it should be a way of life. What we believe should be put into practice in our daily lives. Baha’u’llah said to let deeds, not words, be our adorning.
Did your isolation include that from a religious community. I do not mean to pry but I was talking about the echo chamber of religious communities which reinforce a view point. If you were not part of such a community you were not exposed to the same type of conduct I am talking about. Although I would add I do not think Baha'i is the type of religion which has created communities on the scale of Christianity or Islam.
I have not participated in the Baha’i community for most of my 48 years as a Baha’i. I have had personal reasons for that and those have changed over the years. But it is not only Baha’is I am isolated from, I generally do not like socializing in person, only online. I am an introvert so I prefer being alone. Seeing people all day at work is all that I can handle. People chatting about what I consider petty things tends to annoy me. I know that is what most people like to do so I try to keep to myself.
“I appreciate your pointing that out. I had never really thought of it that way.”
Yah it was a common point when I was religious.
You were religious? I would never classify myself as religious, I just happen to believe in God and Baha’u’llah.
A problem is a lot of our society has changed to revolve around those things as a necessity of life. Many of us no longer create our own products nor food. This changes the wealth dynamic into one of wealth displays rather than production. Wealth displays became a selling point even if the choice of a purchase was due to practical purposes. For example a family have a large vehicle due to a large family. Often those vehicles being larger than a standard model include frills anyways. So it become easily to mistake a piece of property as a simple material possession instead of having to life in the world as it is.
I would call people that buy items for the sake of having it are frivolous. For example people that buy the new version of phone X every new model.
Our society has changes and every year it seems to get more materialistic. New technology has only made this worse. Sure, it can make life easier, but it also makes it more complicated and it also makes more “things” available for people to get attached to. The question is, do people really need all these things?
Admittedly, I get a lot of flak from people who know that I have three houses, but were I to do it over again I would not even have one house. I don’t know where I would live, maybe a cabin in the woods. The problem is we have 10 cats. Were it not for that wecould live in a small apartment or an old cabin, I don’t really care that much. Three houses, two with tenants, and 10 cats is a huge stress and precludes many activities which is one reason I am on forums so much.I have reasons to keep the houses and I love the cats more than anything in this life, so I just work around it. This too shall pass. I just live one day at a time.This life is not forever.
Do not confuse profit for greed.
So, are you saying you think it is okay that I profit from my rental houses and that does not necessarily make me greedy?
Depends on who you are talking about. Some people claim to be religious but are not. Politicians for example.
That is an astute observation.
Depends on what the enjoyment is and what their theology teaches. For example there is a Christian group that believes in the Prosperity Gospel. To keep it simple one's success or failure is a sign of God's Will and blessing, or lack of. So if one believes their success is God's Will they are not going to shun what they see as blessing.
That is kind of like the Protestant work ethic and the idea that a person's duty is to achieve success through hard work and thrift, such success being a sign that one is saved, which implies that poor people are not saved. I find that rather offensive.
I can understand that. I do hold similar views myself regarding spending habits of many people and governments. Although that is more about being raised by an accountant than a religion.
Lol, every year at tax time my accountant tells me I should be spending more of my money and he does not understand why I am even still working, when I could be retired and “enjoying life.” He does not understand just how complicated my life is. So much for free will, I do not think things can be changed as easily as some people think.
Better is one of those values that is hard to judge with data let alone without any. Also consider some people may only be seen as better due to circumstances out of their control, conditioning and life experiences. For example it is far easier for one to be generous when they are rich then when one is poor. They may not be as generous as it appears when money is worth far less due to a high net worth. 10k USD to one is like 5 dollars to another.
That is true, life circumstances do vary and many of these are outside of our control. We cannot help the parents we had, where we grew up, and what our genetics are. I think those set the stage for what will happen later, but also there are accidents and diseases one might get that can change a life overnight. In many ways, I have been very fortunate, in other ways not. I try to appreciate what I have, but mostly it is all the stress from the material world that makes my life so difficult.
Honestly this seems more like a social problem. Often people find a lot of joy in family and friends regardless of religious belief. In a way I can understand. When I stopped drinking a lot of activities I found enjoyable were no longer so. It changes my own social dynamic especially for friends that were alcoholics. I had to look for new hobbies and activities as those were not flying at me as it did during my education years.
I never had a drinking problem because both my parents were alcoholics, and I stayed away from alcohol. But I did have addictions in my earlier life, even while I was a Baha’i. It took a long time to break free of all that. I was a changed person after that, but then I also had to deal with
the reason I had the addictions and that took total dedication for about 15 years of my life. Then I had to deal with my hateful feelings towards God which took another 10 years. Now I am
trying to be a Baha’i... It is a miracle I got as far as I did in life, with my education and career. I write that off to sheer stubbornness and an unwillingness to ever give up.
I do not have to look for hobbies, the cats and other animals and people on forums and houses and tenants take all my time. I rarely even have time to go out to lunch or dinner, let alone ever going on a vacation anymore.
I do watch a lot of true crime programs and it is UN-believable how selfish and evil people can be. I guess we have to leave it up to God to decide whether He will forgive them or not.
