spiritual with out being religious?
What is being religious? Does being spiritual contadicts with being religious?
In a poll in Newsweek magazine, majority of the teenagers said that they believe in God and are spiritual. Majority of them also said that they have friends from more than one religion. One said" It is OK whatever you think(about God and religion). But don’t tell me to think that way also, I want to figure that out myself"
I think kids growing up in USA these days encouter kids more more diverse backgrounds than any humans have ever encouterd…and it confuses them a bit but also motivates them to udnerstand diversity, respect each other’s faith while find ones own. They are not growing up like us, in a environment dominated by one religion, one culture…one way of life.
I think most of us frogs of the well(khooh de daddo, kooyeiN ke maindak)…some of us have jumped out of the well…into a big pond…now we are daddos of the pond…
"...and it confuses them a bit but also motivates them to udnerstand diversity, respect each other's faith while find ones own."
Very true. I feel diversity is important to understand viewpoints of different communities / cultures.
"They are not growing up like us, in a environment dominated by one religion, one culture.....one way of life."
I disagree. I feel people who have grown up in India are exposed to much more diversity than even the US. I feel that the culture in the US is completely dominated by one religion -- Christianity (not that there is anything wrong in that)...which is perfectly fine. The thing is you don't even notice important festivals like Diwali or Eid. There might be a brief mention in the TV but thats it.
Sometimes I feel there can be a thin line between being extremely religious and being a fanatic.
Really matters what part of India you are talking about. In metropolitin cities like Bombay, Delhi that might be true but in rest of the country particularly rural area mostly one community dominates the way of life...it could be Rajputs in one place, Sikhs in other or Yadavs some where else.
I agree American media does not give enough coverage to minority festivals and events. It is also very lakeer ka faqeer, if it covers one issue all oyu hear read is that issue...once they find something new they totally forget about the previous issue.
Extremely religious person turns fanatic only if political or racial issues take dominance. If one is really extremly religious, he must love God and its creation without any discrimnation.hence he cann't be fanatic.
It seems like a fanatic person can be anything but spiritual.
I strongly believe that our young generation should be encouraged to explore different theological thoughts and should be allowed to form their own understanding and adoption of the religion as they feel suite themselves.
There are other, stronger socio-economic forces in today's world which dictate a rulling, universal sense of morality than the orthodox holy scriptures, even though it can be debated that those scriptures were the source of our morality to begin with (the debate of which does not matter much given the overall perspective).
However, if one is inclined towards religious teachings of scriptures and feels bonded and spiritual then I don't see any harm in that either.
The most dangerous and ignorant practice and custom that we face in our traditional upbringing is the proponet-ness of one particular religion, and sticking to it with a blind, superstitious faith (which fits the description of a 'khoh' pretty well).
Religion can also be taken as any other sort of argumentative material that we experience in our lives. Hey, there have been times when I was convinced of the opposing argument in a debate over something and admitted its validity but I still stuck to my original belief as I felt more comfortable with it, and was more used to it. What's wrong with that?
The point is, religions cannot be taken as mutually exclusively. You don't try to 'prove' your religion and expect others to start following it. To each his own. But one thing that never changes is the face of humanity, and that's the most important thing. Religion is just a mean to get closer to it, along with other means.
I liked your post and agree with what you’re saying. There are certain Muslims and Christians who think that they are the only ones who have the answer, and there answer is very specific!
We need to be more open-minded and think about the world around us, instead of blindly following our traditions. Sure, the West has problems, but so do we! Right now religion is often a negative force in society, a restrictive, divisive force, when it should be a loving force.
See Zara, when you know as little English as I do and don’t know many words then sometimes you take the word (proponent in this case) and add a qualitative suffix (ness in this case) to convey what you are trying to say… which, of course, doesn’t work at all since others get even more confused, specially when you mistype and write “proponet” instead of “proponent”