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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Not interested in your religion

Having filled countless of application forms always asking me about my religion, I find this emailed dialogue between a Brazilian Christian Theologist Leonardo Boff and the Dalai Lama especially thought-provoking.

In Dalai Lama's opinion,
the best religion is the one that gets you closer to God. It is the one that makes you a better person.

And a better person means
Whatever makes you
more compassionate,
more sensible,
more detached,
more loving,
more humanitarian,
more responsible,
more ethical.

And he proceed to say that he is
not interested, my friend, about your religion or if you are religious or not. What really is important to me is your behaviour in front of your peers, family, work, community, and in front of the world. Remember, the universe is the echo of our actions and thoughts.

How wise the words sounded. Indeed, I am not interested in which God you are praying to. I just want to know how sincere your prayers are... I just want to know what is your attitude towards this matter... I just want to know if you can help lighten the burden and alleviate the suffering.

Dalai Lama said that Karma is the law of action and reaction.
"If I act with goodness, I will receive goodness. If I act with evil, I will get evil. What our grandparents told us is the pure truth. You will always have what you desire for others. Being happy is not a matter of destiny. It is a matter of opinion."

I know I have been disrespectful. I know I have been selfish. But for the best of the situation, I have to made such a prayer.


I remember another email about US pennies...

God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him..

For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me , God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

Actually in religion, what matters most is how strong your faith is, and this person's faith is strong. Much cannot be said for another person. He had expressed the lack of confidence in his prayer. I don't begrudge him though I firmly believed he chose his life, but most importantly he chose his actions and values. If possible, I wish both of them could let go, it seems that so many years have passed but they have not matured up. But out of pure respect, I bit my tongue and focus instead of my own prayer. I trust my faith, I trust my GA, I trust my God.

I don't wish to prolong the suffering. It is not in my hands to do so too. But I sincerely hope and am willing to be subjected to any punishment for being unfilial, as long as it can be the best case scenario. This morning, mum has already voiced the exact thought I had last night. I can only hope that it will not increase the burden.

"Take care of your Thoughts because they become Words.
Take care of your Words because they become Actions.
Take care of your Actions because they become Habits.
Take care of your Habits because they will form your Character.
Take care of your Character because it will form your Destiny,
and your Destiny will be your Life."

Take care that I do not become too highly strung up and think of negative thoughts as the situation forbids that.

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