Practical advice

[Vee]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

For me, it was to have a simple life and not fall in the trap of materialism.
We all need stuff and money to pay for the stuff, but it shouldn't take over our life. Having a balanced view of what I need versus what the commercial world wants me to believe would make me happy, has helped me focus on the really important things and have everything I need without having debt and without needing to work 70 hours a week to keep up with the status quo.

 

[Debater Slayer]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

Possibly my favorite advice from secular humanist thinking: "Anyone can do whatever they want as long as it is consensual and harms nobody else. 'Good' and 'bad' are only useful as moral concepts when talking about the well-being of conscious creatures."

 

[Sunstone]

The best practical advice I've had came in the form of some rather detailed instructions on dealing with one's psychological self, or "ego". Not the sort of stuff that seems practical to many, at first.

 

[Enoch07]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

For me, it was to have a simple life and not fall in the trap of materialism.
We all need stuff and money to pay for the stuff, but it shouldn't take over our life. Having a balanced view of what I need versus what the commercial world wants me to believe would make me happy, has helped me focus on the really important things and have everything I need without having debt and without needing to work 70 hours a week to keep up with the status quo.

While it is not from my religion it was influenced by my religion. The serenity prayer is a great piece of practical advice. It may not be the best, but it is usually the first that come to mind for me.

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

 

[SalixIncendium]

From Toltec philosophy:

• Be impeccable with your word.
  • Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.
• Don't take anything personally.
  • Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
• Don't make assumptions.
  • Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
• Always do your best.
  • Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

» Four Agreements and Wisdom for Spiritual Warriors based in Common Sense

 

[Rival]

Sometimes violence is the answer.

 

[Vee]

Sometimes violence is the answer.

Please elaborate. Examples would be welcome.

 

[Rival]

Please elaborate. Examples would be welcome.

Wiping out National Socialism was a good idea. Containing the spread of Soviet Communism was a good idea.

If someone tries to attack you, attacking back is a good idea.

 

[Stevicus]

"Don't take any wooden nickels."

 

[PureX]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

For me, it was to have a simple life and not fall in the trap of materialism.
We all need stuff and money to pay for the stuff, but it shouldn't take over our life. Having a balanced view of what I need versus what the commercial world wants me to believe would make me happy, has helped me focus on the really important things and have everything I need without having debt and without needing to work 70 hours a week to keep up with the status quo.

That forgiveness is essential to life as human beings who will inevitably make mistakes and cause each other harm. And most importantly, it's not God's forgiveness that we need, but forgiveness from and for each other. Because we are all a part of, and reflections of each other, and of "God".

Unfortunately that makes me an anti-greedy capitalist and a non gun-toting, non-vengeance seeking non-religious Christian American anomaly.

 

[YmirGF]

From Toltec philosophy:

• Be impeccable with your word.
  • Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.
• Don't take anything personally.
  • Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
• Don't make assumptions.
  • Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
• Always do your best.
  • Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

» Four Agreements and Wisdom for Spiritual Warriors based in Common Sense

I've done the above for many years now and can testify that this route will promote well being and happiness. For me, however, all of the above are encapsulated in this single line, "Live each moment as if it was your last moment on Earth." The point is, when you succeed in living each moment, as if it were your last, each word becomes powerful and meaningful. Each act becomes powerful and meaningful. Regret becomes a thing of the past as you are ever mindful.

Pro tip: Living in the moment does not mean one does not still work with a goal oriented focus, rather, doing so allows for a much greater focus.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

For me, it was to have a simple life and not fall in the trap of materialism.
We all need stuff and money to pay for the stuff, but it shouldn't take over our life. Having a balanced view of what I need versus what the commercial world wants me to believe would make me happy, has helped me focus on the really important things and have everything I need without having debt and without needing to work 70 hours a week to keep up with the status quo.

Don't be fooled that everything is fixed and there is eternal afterlife (permanent blissful state of being) when nothing in life is fixed. We all change on a daily basis in this life and the next based on our attachments to this life. It keeps us here. When we have no attachments, we die. There is no more life; we are dead.​

I like this advice because it reminds me I can't take things with me when I die.

I heard from a nun, "we live in the state of dying not in the state of living."​

That's why I find it interesting people say " they live in the moment." If they mean they live as if they will die anytime, that is wrong. They are dying now; no hypothetical and no ifs. Live because you are dying not as if you will die.

It makes living in the moment about death not about life. I know that sounds odd, but, I like what I had in my signature before I changed it:

Life asked death: Why do people hate you and love me
Death replied: Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth

Are we living a beautiful lie:
I live in the moment because this moment is all I have to live

Or

Are we living the truth:
I do not have any moment to live because I am in the stage of dying

This helps me prioritize my life, purpose, vision, and mission.

 

[David T]

What was the best practical advice you're ever received from your religion/belief system?

For me, it was to have a simple life and not fall in the trap of materialism.
We all need stuff and money to pay for the stuff, but it shouldn't take over our life. Having a balanced view of what I need versus what the commercial world wants me to believe would make me happy, has helped me focus on the really important things and have everything I need without having debt and without needing to work 70 hours a week to keep up with the status quo.

Funny how that all is ignored in religion isn't it!!!

 

[Vee]

Funny how that all is ignored in religion isn't it!!!

Most of them ignore it, but not all.

 

[David T]

Most of them ignore it, but not all.

Monks aren't totally crazy!!!

 

[Sunstone]

Sometimes violence is the answer.

Very true, although unpopular to admit in some circles. The key practical questions, of course, are when, how, and how much violence to use?

I go with the philosophy of my first martial arts teacher. Use the least force or violence as will be effective in accomplishing your purpose, and your purpose should only be to counter violence.

 

[Sunstone]

One of the most practical bits of advice ever given to was handed out by a family friend, a woman in her 70s at the time who had seen a lot. "Whatever career you choose, choose doing something you like. You'll spend about a third of your life working, and if you don't like what your doing with a third of your life, it will be hard to like the whole of your life."

Naturally I didn't take it. Instead, I went into a career I eventually succeeded at, but which on the deepest level I disliked. She was right though, it was hard to like the rest of my life when I didn't like that third.

The second and last bit of practical advice I was ever given came from a favorite professor. I was close to graduation when he asked me what I was going to do with my life. When I told him he said, "I don't know if that will suit you, but it might. Just remember: Whatever you do, do something that allows you to stay as true to yourself as you can. That will be important to you."

Naturally, I didn't take it. Back then I didn't think such clichés as "be true to yourself" had much meaning, let alone practical meaning, because I was too young and inexperienced to deeply grasp what they meant.

Had I taken both of those bits of advice to heart, it might have saved me at least two decades of confusion, misguided striving, and dissatisfaction with life. But you can only take the advice you understand, and you don't always understand the best advice when you're young.

 

[Reaper]

"If you know a friend you can fully trust, go often to his house."

 

[Jumi]

Not really from my religious tradition, but tao teh ching:

It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.

 

[Estro Felino]

Moi je suis fière d'etre né dans une nation laique, dont valeurs sont le résultat d'une histoire et d'une identité éuropeennes. Notre civilisation a du combattre l'ingérence de l'église et avec succès....nous avons defendu la liberté de pensée contre le Pape

C'est mon education laique et rationaliste qui m'a tout appris
Et comme Voltaire disait:
Je ne suis pas d’accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu’à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire.