This I Believe
by Josephine Laing
We all believe different things. In the west, Christians believe in Jesus, but the Jews don't. Both of these two groups read the Bible and believe in the Adam and Eve story. But only the Christians read the New Testament. Whereas the Jews have stayed with the original text. Muslims read the Koran and receive the word of Allah, "the God, One and only," through the prophet Muhammad. And all three of these world religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism sprung from the same source, Abraham, and all three believe in angels.
In the East, the Hindus believe that all people are different and therefore need different paths to find their union with the Divine. They have several main paths and call them yogas. The one that we are most familiar with in the west is the yoga of physical movement wherein opening the body opens the being. But there is also: bhakti yoga, the devotional path; jnana yoga, the way to God through knowledge; karma yoga known as the path of work; and raja yoga, the royal road of psycho-physical exercises.
Buddhism sprang from Hinduism, just as Christianity sprang from Judaism. Buddhists believe in the way of the narrow path of impeccability, taking great precaution to avoid common pitfalls like gossip or stealing while holding oneself in careful integrity in all actions and interactions. Buddhism's Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path aid the practitioner in reaching Enlightenment.
Confucianism is more about ethical conduct than religious teachings and is a guide for helping people get along together in a densely populated society. Taoism is all about "The Way and It's Power," as was taught by "the Grand Old Master," Lao Tzu. His teachings are contained in the Tao Te Ching which is a concise testament to humanity's rightful placement on earth and in the Universe.
Then there are the Primal Religions. These are the beliefs of numerous tribal groups throughout the world and though they are all quite varied and diverse, they do tend to share some common traits. For instance, their ideas are not written, but instead are transmitted orally. And not only do primal religions tend to see spirit in the natural world all around them, but the people themselves are integral to that place. And, they tend to see time not as linear or even so much cyclically, but rather as an eternal now.
Most, but not all of these groups believe in some sort of in dwelling soul. And atheists and humanists don't believe in a soul at all. Nor do they believe in a supreme being, but instead reject the importance of belief in God, which is a perfectly valid but very different belief from most of the world's populations.
It is interesting to note that whatever it is that we believe, we tend to feel quite passionately about it. Perhaps this has something to do with where our beliefs are located in the brain which, I understand, is right next to where addictions are located. And we all know how passionately we feel about our morning cup of coffee.
The reason why I find our varying beliefs of interest is because once we know what they are, and how they can differ around the world, we can begin to see if we'd like to soften our own boundaries a little bit and include a few more perspectives into our belief systems. For instance, here in the West, largely due to the 17th century "Father of Modern Philosophy" and creator of the scientific method, René Descartes, we tend to believe that in order for something to exist, it has to be provable and repeatable. This keeps our inner skeptic very close at hand.
Because of this limitation, if we have an experience like a déjà vu or a premonition, too often we tend to doubt it and ourselves and thus discourage within ourselves the sprouting buds of our own psychic ability. And that is something that I feel quite passionate about. Because, doubting our own psychic hunches when they arise, not only discourages them, but shuts down our ability to receive our inner guidance and the synchronicities that help our lives to be more full of ease and grace.
Back in the 1950's there was a very popular radio show called "This I Believe." The show featured individual beliefs which motivated a persons life rather than the teachings of religious tenets. Each week a selected written piece would be read on the show by it's author. My grandmother, who for her entire life supported herself and her family with her writing, submitted a piece that was chosen and she read it on the air. I've come to realize how deeply her perspectives and beliefs have affected my own. I'd like to share it with you now. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
P.S. I'm teaching a class called "Learn How to Develop Your Psychic Ability" at Cuesta College on Saturday, May 26th, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Course #906PD.112 For more information please call 546-3132 or visit www.communityprograms.net Thanks and I hope to see you there. Now here is what my grandmother believed.
"This I Believe"
by Nora Laing
Many years spent in the hush of the Arizona desert, alone except for an invalid husband and two babies, brought me to a realization that there was something more to living than the merely physical. Sitting under the stars on hot summer nights, in a silence so still I could almost hear a feather flutter, alone in a world of prickly cacti with an eerie moon silvering the hard-baked earth as it descended over Squaw Peak, I experienced at first a nameless terror of the unknown. Little by little, I came to wondering what was life’s purpose? Why were we here? I read all the books I could lay my hands on about religion and philosophy. Later, when we moved to California, I attended many different churches. I questioned friends. Eventually I arrived at the conclusion that the answer to these and similar questions must be answered by each individual himself.
No one can have absolute faith in what others say. One of us gains inspiration from the teachings of Christ, another from Buddha, still another from Moses or Confucius. We select our religion or philosophy according to our own spiritual needs, and fundamentally all are based on love, compassion, understanding—those essential qualities for good living. For my own part, on looking back over a life of many vicissitudes, I can truthfully say that every tragic occurrence, every hardship, had a definite bearing on my spiritual growth. Each served a purpose. That is why I believe that our whole reason for living is to develop our inner life, to realize that every living creature is one, that by hurting one we hurt all.
Individually or globally, we are in a state of growth. What we are today and what we will be tomorrow rests with ourselves. Certain causes produce certain effects. There are people who say: “There can be no God, or how could He possibly allow such carnage as we have experienced in recent wars?” What has God to do with it? Isn’t it man himself who has made them? The life of a nation, as well as an individual, surely is the result of what has been sown in the past. I believe if we wish to have a better world, it is no use blaming others. We must set to work to enrich our own lives and those of our children. If we do not, how can we hope to avoid suffering or future wars?
I have learned that by studying my own life and looking into my true self, analyzing my thoughts and actions, that most of the things that have happened to me have been caused by what I have thought and done. Slowly I have realized that this life is neither for the accumulation of wealth nor for the satisfaction of bodily pleasures, but for the manifestation of the soul, as well as to help us attain freedom. I have learned that we cannot expect to get something we have not earned, and I have become aware that the fetters which hold me down are not outside but within.
Without neglecting our bodies, we must acquire the equipment which will help us to adjust ourselves to life on a mental and spiritual plain. For, after all, who can cause us to suffer if we have developed an inward serenity? I hold there is death only to the body, and that is why it is so important to cultivate our mental and spiritual attributes, because only those can we carry over with us. There is no real death for the soul. The soul within, which is a part of God, cannot die.
© 2012 Josephine Laing
We all believe different things. In the west, Christians believe in Jesus, but the Jews don't. Both of these two groups read the Bible and believe in the Adam and Eve story. But only the Christians read the New Testament. Whereas the Jews have stayed with the original text. Muslims read the Koran and receive the word of Allah, "the God, One and only," through the prophet Muhammad. And all three of these world religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism sprung from the same source, Abraham, and all three believe in angels.
In the East, the Hindus believe that all people are different and therefore need different paths to find their union with the Divine. They have several main paths and call them yogas. The one that we are most familiar with in the west is the yoga of physical movement wherein opening the body opens the being. But there is also: bhakti yoga, the devotional path; jnana yoga, the way to God through knowledge; karma yoga known as the path of work; and raja yoga, the royal road of psycho-physical exercises.
Buddhism sprang from Hinduism, just as Christianity sprang from Judaism. Buddhists believe in the way of the narrow path of impeccability, taking great precaution to avoid common pitfalls like gossip or stealing while holding oneself in careful integrity in all actions and interactions. Buddhism's Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path aid the practitioner in reaching Enlightenment.
Confucianism is more about ethical conduct than religious teachings and is a guide for helping people get along together in a densely populated society. Taoism is all about "The Way and It's Power," as was taught by "the Grand Old Master," Lao Tzu. His teachings are contained in the Tao Te Ching which is a concise testament to humanity's rightful placement on earth and in the Universe.
Then there are the Primal Religions. These are the beliefs of numerous tribal groups throughout the world and though they are all quite varied and diverse, they do tend to share some common traits. For instance, their ideas are not written, but instead are transmitted orally. And not only do primal religions tend to see spirit in the natural world all around them, but the people themselves are integral to that place. And, they tend to see time not as linear or even so much cyclically, but rather as an eternal now.
Most, but not all of these groups believe in some sort of in dwelling soul. And atheists and humanists don't believe in a soul at all. Nor do they believe in a supreme being, but instead reject the importance of belief in God, which is a perfectly valid but very different belief from most of the world's populations.
It is interesting to note that whatever it is that we believe, we tend to feel quite passionately about it. Perhaps this has something to do with where our beliefs are located in the brain which, I understand, is right next to where addictions are located. And we all know how passionately we feel about our morning cup of coffee.
The reason why I find our varying beliefs of interest is because once we know what they are, and how they can differ around the world, we can begin to see if we'd like to soften our own boundaries a little bit and include a few more perspectives into our belief systems. For instance, here in the West, largely due to the 17th century "Father of Modern Philosophy" and creator of the scientific method, René Descartes, we tend to believe that in order for something to exist, it has to be provable and repeatable. This keeps our inner skeptic very close at hand.
Because of this limitation, if we have an experience like a déjà vu or a premonition, too often we tend to doubt it and ourselves and thus discourage within ourselves the sprouting buds of our own psychic ability. And that is something that I feel quite passionate about. Because, doubting our own psychic hunches when they arise, not only discourages them, but shuts down our ability to receive our inner guidance and the synchronicities that help our lives to be more full of ease and grace.
Back in the 1950's there was a very popular radio show called "This I Believe." The show featured individual beliefs which motivated a persons life rather than the teachings of religious tenets. Each week a selected written piece would be read on the show by it's author. My grandmother, who for her entire life supported herself and her family with her writing, submitted a piece that was chosen and she read it on the air. I've come to realize how deeply her perspectives and beliefs have affected my own. I'd like to share it with you now. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
P.S. I'm teaching a class called "Learn How to Develop Your Psychic Ability" at Cuesta College on Saturday, May 26th, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Course #906PD.112 For more information please call 546-3132 or visit www.communityprograms.net Thanks and I hope to see you there. Now here is what my grandmother believed.
"This I Believe"
by Nora Laing
Many years spent in the hush of the Arizona desert, alone except for an invalid husband and two babies, brought me to a realization that there was something more to living than the merely physical. Sitting under the stars on hot summer nights, in a silence so still I could almost hear a feather flutter, alone in a world of prickly cacti with an eerie moon silvering the hard-baked earth as it descended over Squaw Peak, I experienced at first a nameless terror of the unknown. Little by little, I came to wondering what was life’s purpose? Why were we here? I read all the books I could lay my hands on about religion and philosophy. Later, when we moved to California, I attended many different churches. I questioned friends. Eventually I arrived at the conclusion that the answer to these and similar questions must be answered by each individual himself.
No one can have absolute faith in what others say. One of us gains inspiration from the teachings of Christ, another from Buddha, still another from Moses or Confucius. We select our religion or philosophy according to our own spiritual needs, and fundamentally all are based on love, compassion, understanding—those essential qualities for good living. For my own part, on looking back over a life of many vicissitudes, I can truthfully say that every tragic occurrence, every hardship, had a definite bearing on my spiritual growth. Each served a purpose. That is why I believe that our whole reason for living is to develop our inner life, to realize that every living creature is one, that by hurting one we hurt all.
Individually or globally, we are in a state of growth. What we are today and what we will be tomorrow rests with ourselves. Certain causes produce certain effects. There are people who say: “There can be no God, or how could He possibly allow such carnage as we have experienced in recent wars?” What has God to do with it? Isn’t it man himself who has made them? The life of a nation, as well as an individual, surely is the result of what has been sown in the past. I believe if we wish to have a better world, it is no use blaming others. We must set to work to enrich our own lives and those of our children. If we do not, how can we hope to avoid suffering or future wars?
I have learned that by studying my own life and looking into my true self, analyzing my thoughts and actions, that most of the things that have happened to me have been caused by what I have thought and done. Slowly I have realized that this life is neither for the accumulation of wealth nor for the satisfaction of bodily pleasures, but for the manifestation of the soul, as well as to help us attain freedom. I have learned that we cannot expect to get something we have not earned, and I have become aware that the fetters which hold me down are not outside but within.
Without neglecting our bodies, we must acquire the equipment which will help us to adjust ourselves to life on a mental and spiritual plain. For, after all, who can cause us to suffer if we have developed an inward serenity? I hold there is death only to the body, and that is why it is so important to cultivate our mental and spiritual attributes, because only those can we carry over with us. There is no real death for the soul. The soul within, which is a part of God, cannot die.
© 2012 Josephine Laing