It has come to my attention that I guess I don’t know enough about my roots and culture. Is culture/tradition necessary to live a functional life? I have come to the conclusion that it is not necessary but it would make things interesting in the thinking and approaches people will take in finding a solution to a problem. Though all this is fine and culture makes things interesting. I think we’re missing the point that the human experience and it’s necessities don’t change based on your ethnicity, religion and nationality. As long as we fulfill and have our basic needs, facilities and living practices (jobs, activities, exercises and methods of exploration) then what culture you came from or what religion you practice is trivial and just a matter of different perspective and opinions that motivate/inspire you. (-unless you’re an extremist, that’s a different matter).
I’m unsure what role culture and religion has in determining what type of humans we will become. The general practices may bring you to expand your knowledge of what is out there and give you methods of how to approach things. I feel the transition from being traditional to modern is a learning experience. Change is a necessary value in progression. Though we need to find our foundation, and as important as understanding where we started, our struggles, achievements and failures and our story.. All of that is trivial if we have nothing to show for in the end.
I find my lack of inrerest for traditional preservation of culture disturbing, though I don’t know if it’s just me but I have looked but cannot see the value of preserving a method/practice of life where you can find better more liberating practices out in real life through science and knowledge of the world in modern times.
Take a look at Arab countries who practice Islam. Still living in deserts, riding camels, enslaving children/women, following a book of medieval conquest not fitting the modern world’s narrative, completely divided even though they call themselves 1.6 billion Muslims none of them agree to a true Islam head, no true established home, facilitated by leaders and scholars who consistently misinterpret their leader’s work (mostly because he’s dead), stuck in time and have no clue about what progression looks like or any ambition/direction where they want to be.
The traditions of modern Christian’s seem to be no different other than their living conditions though a bit more of a progressive religion.. They have facilities, secured by secular government services but guided by heads and scholars of the religion who have no right to lead except through inheritance of that empire. They cannot understand/comprehend the true meaning of their savior’s message through faulty human interpretations unless in direct communion with God himself. False idols, warped history propagated by organized religion to fit a biased agenda of some borrowed and heavily adjusted, hastily slapped together Christian narrative of medieval conquest now formed ideology. (You can research why Christianity is a borrowed synthesized ideology below, it’s ideas changed through history. It’s true. It is in no way perfect. Read below on how Christianity changed.)
Extra studying into the Nothingness of identity:
Mahabharata 4000 bc: The path Buddha took fundamentals to hinduism through understanding of Karma and the teachings of Samkhya which blossomed into Buddhism:
- Karma in its original meaning is a burden of actions and reactions caused by an emotional attachment and chaining a soul to a human life, making it impossible to avoid subsequent incarnations
- Karma causes for a soul to be born again in this world after the death of its physical body
- Karma in its original meaning is not a form of punishment
- Breaking free from karma leads to the final death – the lost of individuality and merging with the Highest Consciousness
- Breaking free from karma is a person’s own responsibility, the Gods do not interfere in that process
European beliefs before Hinduism.
- A man is only born in this world once
- The God is constantly watching humans behavior
- The God punishes after death, there is no penalty for sins during one’s life
- No-one but the God can judge someone’s behaviors and choices – all men can do is to repent and hope for His kindness
- Committing a sin means a crime against the God. Only a whole-hearted penance can save a sinner
- The God listens to all prayers
- Having no sins means being awarded after death with eternal happiness in Heaven
What Europeans arrived at after the influence of Hinduism and Christianity mixed up together:
- A man is born in this world multiple times
- The God is constantly watching human behaviour
- Misfortunes and bad luck in this life are the divine punishment for sins
- Having sins means having karma
- The God is sending penalty in this life
- Emotional attachment, creating karma, is a sin
- For that sin a person will be punished by the object of the attachment being taken away from him
- A person can be relieved from the sins from the previous lives through prayers and penance, so there will be no punishment in this life
- Karma can be ‘diagnosed’ and ‘relieved’ by another person
- Karma can be ‘picked-up’ from someone else
The idea of the Christian god today is distorted, we need to go back to our roots and decide for ourselves what is good, beneficial and decide what our initial reason for being is.
https://modernphilosophystandards.com/2015/12/27/more-virtue-never-hurt-anyone-more-religion-may/
(original post)
Christianity, Judaism and Islam have no authority or moral high ground. All we have is humanity, archives and our own human moral sense of justice. “For morality came from food, not god.” Our experiences with life gives us morality and we see our wrongs through actions/inaction , knowledge and comprehension of the world around us.
Solution: Find a new narrative in your life to become a more constructive and contributing member of society. Apply yourself into youth programs, integration programs, education and relief societies with your extra time. Start small, aim big. The modern world needs more heroes and less burdening influences of human deprived history lessons.
Star Tower Heaven Bound 
I think history is a treasure trove of choices made and possible consequences therefrom. It has patterns meandering through various civilizations, different life histories, through different philosophies that gave rise to different consequences. Religions, civilizations, cultures, traditions formed and broke and formed again. Some were lost in time. There are memes that survive the times of which some are constructive and some destructive. The point I am attempting to make here is that the looking eye determines what can be seen. History not only has destructive patterns but also patterns that sustains, constructs and lasts the test of time. We would not be talking about the glories of the present and of scientific innovations if we had not in some way survived the barbarisms and destructive patterns through time. There were beneficial lessons and goodness that did endure the test of time that gives rise to men and women who work now through the means of science/ technology/philosophy to bring about better conditions of living. If you think that the modern developments today are inspiring enough to lead us to better conditions, there are lessons learnt from the annals of history by which ‘better’ was discerned from all that history could have taught and still is available to teach for anyone who cares to look for beneficial lessons, lessons that endure the test of time and is likely to harmonize and benefit all that exists – living and nonliving and the spirit.
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I respect the religions of today for their hardships and their fruits through the test of time. Had things not happened the way they did civil society would have never came to be. But these old ideologies in the modern world are a burden and hindering our progress for those currently living right now. The knowledge of where they came from and the archive of what they are is really useful.. but people need to stop pretending that they comprehend everything in their religion as their prophet messenger is the only one that should be in that position to do so. Where they are dead now, they have no right to preach and assume and take fundamentalist stances – applying things so literally without thinking what effects the verses in practice may do. This is my concern. I know history enriches a person.. but we need more of the ideas that teach the world timeless lessons as you said. I need to look for more of this type of knowledge. History is always good because it’s descriptive. Christian bibles are mostly descriptive.. but sometimes the people in life take things literally and use to it to remedy problems finding solutions in prescribed doctrine which was good at the time. Which sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but Islam is a prescribing religion which is giving advice and endorsing actions based on the conquest mentality of that time to remedy conflicts. Outdated prescriptions only lead to — misinterpretations and horrible meaningless out of date problems. Mostly because they are prescribed out of medieval warlord conquest mentality. The more people realize that outdated prescription ideologies are bad for them… the better.
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