Polyamory
I believe that I should try to be the best person I can be. Not because someone/thing else tells me that I should. But, because I truly believe in it. I think that the base idea of religion and the base of idea of the church, in so much, as a place to share these beliefs and to discuss these beliefs is good. But, unfortunately, it is very difficult in this situation to not want someone else to lead the way. And this is where the true beliefs become corrupted by "the church." A hierarchy is established and one person knows better than everyone else how to believe and how to practice these beliefs. And this is the downfall.
I believe that Christianity was intended to be a living breathing religion that could change with the times to encompass common sense items. Such as, at the time of Christ -- Romans were very anti-woman. They would keep a wife for show and go around screwing their fellow senators. The "gay" lifestyle (I use this term very very loosely) that was depicted here is one of cruelty to women and therefore it most certainly was bad thing. At the time of Christ, people did not know how to properly prepare many foods such as pork and this killed people. Both of these things have changed today and are no longer appropriate.
I think that a true Christian would want to know more about there own background and the history of their religion so that they could learn from this and try to ensure that these mistakes are not made again. And yet, you have Jerry Falwell calling Buddism a religion of hate while running around preaching hatred against gays. (Gee, this makes loads of sense).
I do not believe in a God. I believe that someone who would call themselves God and demand worship, would be someone that I would deem unworthy of this. Humility is definitely a requirement of a deity for me. In addition, I just simply believe that this is wrong. No one and nothing is infallible. Nor would everyone have the same definition of what infallible perfection would be. I can only hope that as we move farther along in to the 21st century people begin to try to get back to the basics of morality. In general, parents are no longer taking responsibility for the moral upbringing of their children. They seem to expect their churches and schools to do this for them. But the schools should not do this. A strong parent is required here. No matter what your moral set is, you must pass this on to your children. They learn by your example. I can only hope that my daughters will learn the strength of conviction against discrimination that I have and also learn the strength to be who they are.
We teach our children hatred. We teach our children fear. We teach our children to have a lack of self-esteem. These are not morals for a strong person, let alone a strong country. We must instill in our children the ability to be individuals. The ability to stand by their beliefs and the ability to stand against hatred, discrimination, fear and persecution.
Our country was founded on the idea of freedom. Freedom to be and do what you want. We have lost this. The loss of this basic piece of morality, I believe is eroding our country from the inside out.
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Now on to what I believe in. I have had personal experiences in life that lead me to believe the way that I do.
Reincarnation -- I believe in this quite firmly. I was one of those kids who talked about "when I was bigger." I had very distinct memories of two different past lives.
Energy/Magic -- These two words are nearly interchangable for me. I believe in a "higher order" or so to speak. I believe that there is an afterlife, that energy does not dissipate per se, but is reincarnated into other forms (this is energy, in addition to "souls"). I believe that we can be pre-cognitive to a level, that we can use ESP at times, and that enlightenment will teach us how to be more sensitive to the forces that are consistently playing around us. I believe that you can greatly affect the world around you with the energy that you put into the world and the energy that you take from the world.
Karma -- What you put into the world is generally what you will get out of it. What to say other than that I believe in it.
I believe in the connection between people. Between, nearly everything, really. I guess you could also say that I believe in love.
To be continued later...