How do you KNOW that you are "right"?

[Draka]

This is something that I have always wondered. Everyone experiences the beyond in different ways because we are all different...that is just a fact. And as for any religious doctrine...well, everything that has been written about any religion has been written my humankind...not any deity. One can claim that something was deity INSPIRED however it was still a human that put the pen to paper.

I have my own little saying and thought...the only ones who know what is "right" is the dead...and even then, who's to say that they just don't see what they expected to see because they clung to it so dearly in life that perhaps they cut themselves off from even more?

What do you all think on this?

 

[Engyo]

I think Buddhism is "right" because I have put it into practice in my life and seen the results. Buddhism is not focused on what happens after you die; it is focused on what you do now, when you are alive. It is also an experiential thing; one grows and develops, and as one does so, new layers or levels of the practice continue to open up. Buddhism is definitely NOT deity-inspired -- Buddha was a human being, and he left instructions which can enable any other human who so chooses to achieve the same. Deities do not (in my knowledge) encourage or allow their followers to achieve equality with them, whereas in Buddhism all are equal. Some may be more practiced than others, but they are fundamentally the same.

As for what does happen after death, who knows for sure? I do know that I can have a positive impact on my world, my society and my family NOW, though. That is where Buddhism focuses.

 

[fromthe heart]

This is something that I have always wondered. Everyone experiences the beyond in different ways because we are all different...that is just a fact. And as for any religious doctrine...well, everything that has been written about any religion has been written my humankind...not any deity. One can claim that something was deity INSPIRED however it was still a human that put the pen to paper.

I have my own little saying and thought...the only ones who know what is "right" is the dead...and even then, who's to say that they just don't see what they expected to see because they clung to it so dearly in life that perhaps they cut themselves off from even more?

What do you all think on this?

Draka..I agree that no one can say their doctrine is exactly right on all points or there would be no debate on anything. The scriptures may have been put down for generations by humans but they were instructed by God on what to do so if we were to believe they had it right then we should all think perhaps it's something worth looking at. I feel personally all want to go to that higher place were life would reign supreme in all ways...if we get it right we'll be fortunate...if we get it wrong well...you know that evil one will claim the spoils.

 

[Halcyon]

Half the time i don't know what to think, I know that every religious text is no more divinely powerful than a dictionary, you won't get 'saved' or learn what God is from reading any book. I believe you can't be told or taught how to experience God, its something you have to do on your own, and if you one day manage it, there is no way to teach how to do it to others. So, you can only know you're right if inside you there is a deep unfathomable certainty that you can't explain to others no matter how hard you try. I haven't got there yet, all i have is this 'hum' like a vibration in the very core of the universe that's just out of the reach of my comprehension, behind a curtain - i know something's there but what it is i haven't the faintest idea.

Even so, i believe there my be infinite forms of 'right'.

 

[michel]

I think Engyo hit the nail on the head. Buddhism is more about 'a way of life', of purification; you just follow the principles, and go about your daily life following a way of life that will help you mature into wisdom, and that will help stop you from causing distress to others.

From what you are saying, it sounds as though you want to find out the best way of 'getting your ticket' to heaven, or wherever, when you die. Life isn't about that, and that quest of yours will have you running around in circles getting absolutely nowhere. Lighten up, live a decent moral life.

 

[SoliDeoGloria]

Well a good place to start is to find a reliable philosophical methodology. In other words, a good standard for establishing what is truth/right and what is false/wrong. A lot of people confuse these with philosophies which is wrong. A philosophical methodology is a method by which people reach a philosophy. For example, some people reach the philosophy of Atheism through the philosophical methodologies of agnosticism or rationalism. If we were to try and write off all religions/philosophies as right, we might as well also say that they are all wrong. And pragmatism/instrumentalism ( the methodology that states that an idea is to be true if it works. A course of action is right if it brings desired results. [William James 1842-1952] ) is a terrible method of proving anything right. Lying may "work" to avoid a negative result or achieve a desired objective at the expense of another person, but that doesn't make the lies right ir true. I guess all I am trying to say is that while I agree that we will all probably know for sure after we die what is right when it comes to these issues, much can be done now. The info is out there and you don't even have to go to college to get it. You just have to look until you find it.

Sincerely,
SoliDeoGloria

 

[Draka]

My point is simply this. I do not care to "know" that I am right or wrong. I just find it interesting that some people can be so adament that their belief is the only belief that is "true". When it is quite possible that everyone's is and no one's is at the same time.

The vast majority of the religions on this planet are very much the same, only the names and places differ really. The stories and morals are essentially the same. Is it not entirely possible, that since the Divine, by whatever name you call it, is so powerful that it could all be the same Divine in EVERY religion? Prophets and holy people pass down and teach what was divulged to them by divine inspiration. Since every culture and every person sees things differently, is it not possible that the SAME DIVINE PRESENCE merely presented itself to these people in different forms for them to understand the teachings and communication differently?

A question to think on really.

 

[scitsofreaky]

How do you KNOW that you are "right"?

I don't. Frankly, I don't even know what I would think I am right about when it comes to religion (or philosophy in my case). I think what I think, but I really don't even believe that I am right, I'm just searching.

 

[michel]

My point is simply this. I do not care to "know" that I am right or wrong. I just find it interesting that some people can be so adament that their belief is the only belief that is "true". When it is quite possible that everyone's is and no one's is at the same time.

The vast majority of the religions on this planet are very much the same, only the names and places differ really. The stories and morals are essentially the same. Is it not entirely possible, that since the Divine, by whatever name you call it, is so powerful that it could all be the same Divine in EVERY religion? Prophets and holy people pass down and teach what was divulged to them by divine inspiration. Since every culture and every person sees things differently, is it not possible that the SAME DIVINE PRESENCE merely presented itself to these people in different forms for them to understand the teachings and communication differently?

A question to think on really.

My belief system is the only true one - for me, and only as far as I now know. I might change my mind (That perogative is not solely for women).:jiggy:

 

[Draka]

good reply Michel...I like that.

 

[ayani]

well, i do not and can not know if i am right. i feel that i am right, however, in that the path i'm on is the right one for me, and that this in turn positively effects those around me, as i chose to live out my faith through love and service.

 

[Doc]

Fascinating, several of your posts sound like they come from a Buddhist. By the way, do you write poetry? You seem like you would be good at it.

 

[SoliDeoGloria]

My point is simply this. I do not care to "know" that I am right or wrong. I just find it interesting that some people can be so adament that their belief is the only belief that is "true". When it is quite possible that everyone's is and no one's is at the same time.

Do you have anything to validate that point? What is "quite" possible to you? I sense a whole lot of compassion in your statements. Where does that compassion come from? Your own personal beliefs based on what? For one who claims to not care to "know" if you are right or wrong, you obviously cared enough about other people being adament about their beliefs being right that you started a thread on the subject. Where does this interest of yours comes from. Are you trying to let us know that you are exclusivating yourself from those who exclusivate themselves from others based on their being adament about their beliefs being right?

The vast majority of the religions on this planet are very much the same, only the names and places differ really. The stories and morals are essentially the same.

Once again, do you have anything to validate these point? Or can I just state that those statements are wrong without anything to validate it and be right too?

Is it not entirely possible, that since the Divine, by whatever name you call it, is so powerful that it could all be the same Divine in EVERY religion? Prophets and holy people pass down and teach what was divulged to them by divine inspiration.

For us to truly answer that question, we would have to validate the previous statements.

Since every culture and every person sees things differently, is it not possible that the SAME DIVINE PRESENCE merely presented itself to these people in different forms for them to understand the teachings and communication differently?

How interesting that you would use questions that strike very close to agnosticism but could also be experientialism to try to make a point that you did not validate. You just may be using methodologies to make your point against methodologies without even knowing it. Just some questions to think about.

Sincerely,
SoliDeoGloria

 

[Katzpur]

My belief system is the only true one - for me, and only as far as I now know. I might change my mind (That perogative is not solely for women).:jiggy:

Your comment reminds me of one I read once in an article by a Latter-day Saint scholar (Richard Bushman, a history professor at Columbia University). He said, "The only truth we can know is the truth that works."

My belief system is "right" -- for me because it works for me. It may not work for everybody else.

 

[Draka]

Do you have anything to validate that point? What is "quite" possible to you? I sense a whole lot of compassion in your statements. Where does that compassion come from? Your own personal beliefs based on what? For one who claims to not care to "know" if you are right or wrong, you obviously cared enough about other people being adament about their beliefs being right that you started a thread on the subject. Where does this interest of yours comes from. Are you trying to let us know that you are exclusivating yourself from those who exclusivate themselves from others based on their being adament about their beliefs being right?


Once again, do you have anything to validate these point? Or can I just state that those statements are wrong without anything to validate it and be right too?


For us to truly answer that question, we would have to validate the previous statements.


How interesting that you would use questions that strike very close to agnosticism but could also be experientialism to try to make a point that you did not validate. You just may be using methodologies to make your point against methodologies without even knowing it. Just some questions to think about.

Sincerely,
SoliDeoGloria

I do not claim that what I believe is "right" and "true" for everyone. Everyone is entitled to their own belief. I just think it is wrong to impose that belief on someone else.

As for the religions being mainly the same...that is easily shown. If you were to study the different mythologies of the world you would see the remarkable similarities between them. There are so many stories that have remarkable closeness, so many in fact that it is very difficult to see them all as coincidence. Different gods and goddesses and angels and prophets and saints in different religions have corresponding actions and purposes throughout them. I am an avid studier of mythology. I find it very intriguing. For an easy enough example of what I am talking about, and I have used this before because these two are very well known, Christianity and Greek mythology. Shoot, I can even throw Wicca in this as well. Each has tales of birth and rebirth, rising from the dead, sons of deities and so on. In greek mythology you have a mortal born son of Zeus and a right hand man of Zeus, Hades, who disagreed with Zeus about how to rule the mortals and was hence sent to rule the Underworld. In Christianity there is a mortal born son of god and a right hand man of god, Lucifer, who disagreed with god as to how to rule the humans and was sent to rule over Hell. There are similar stories in Native American tales, Wiccan tales (many pantheons), Egyptian tales and so on and so forth. With all these similarites why is it impossible to think that the same divine presence is at work everywhere and just percieved differently by different cultures because it was easier for some to understand when put a certain way? Hence everyone's beliefs are valid whether they are taken from different religions or not. I may put a certain name to an entity and worship them a certain way that may be the same entity that you call by a different name and worship in a different way. Why is that not possible?

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

The skins cells have a very lazy existance. They lay around for a few years waiting for their turn to be on top of the stack. Then when they reach the top, they have one day to experience the world. Just ONE DAY then they die and fall off the body.​

​

The heart cells, on the other hand, start working before you were even born. And they continue to work, day and night ( no vacations or sick leave) until the day you die. ​

​

Both have very important roles to play. The heart cells are proud to keep the body alive, and the skin cells are proud to protect the body. ​

​

Now what if the skin cells tried to convince the heart cells that their God was wrong for making them work and suffer their whole lives. The skin cells believe that their way is the right way. ​

The WHOLE body would die if the Heart Cells chose to follow the path of the skin cells. But they have a common thread. They were once all the same (as stem cells), but they evolved into something else. But their DNA is the same, as with every cell in the body.​

To the Jews- you are right -----To the Christians- you are right​

To the Islam- you are right -----To the Buddhist- you are right​

To the Taoist- you are right -----To the Wicca- you are right​

AND YOU ARE ALL MISTAKEN.​

But there is no right or wrong- IT JUST IS ! ! ! ​

 

[Doc]

My shoe is my shoe. It fits only for me. Not for any others as much as I try to force their foot into it, it just doesn't work. I try on other shoes but they are too small or two big. People can tell me all about how their shoe is the right shoe to wear, but I know it just won't fit. My shoe fits perfectly fine. All I can do is wear the shoe and be proud.

PS. If you did not know, the shoe is religion. :sarcastic

 

[Draka]

Doc that was a wonderful analogy. Simply put and very well understood. We all have our own ways of believing that are right for us. Not right for anyone else, but we are not to tell anyone that it would be. My shoe fits me just fine as yours does you, but I think we wear different sizes and that's cool. Mine are cuter though :jiggy: .

 

[Melody]

My point is simply this. I do not care to "know" that I am right or wrong. I just find it interesting that some people can be so adament that their belief is the only belief that is "true". When it is quite possible that everyone's is and no one's is at the same time.

This question was harder than I thought and I actually had to go to Websters to look up the definition of "know" and I'm no further ahead.

I believe I'm right or I wouldn't be following this path. The path I'm on doesn't seem to leave room for other beliefs. Do I "know" I'm right? Well, I have an inner conviction that tells me I am but I certainly couldn't prove it to you.

If knowing requires tangible proof, guess we'll all have to wait until the day we die.

 

[Pah]

Having had a request to move this thread to a debate forum, I moving it so the debate is in a more appropiate place for a debate