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Alternative religion and Philosophy: it's all a load of hippy/temporal lobe epilepsy/18th century
prozac crap isn't it? Very most probably, but it is intreguging nonetheless and if it really is a natural
form of prozac then why the hell not?
I initially started researching this area because I felt there was something missing
in my life. Many people turn to organised religion for this answer, but being a sceptic
and a scientist i just wasn't satisfied with what the religion that i grew up with (Christianity)
offered in way of proof, or even incentive (other than the likely chance of food poisoning at a BBQ).
For the same reason that I don't believe everything incredible I read in the paper without some damn good evidence,
I can't help but find the Bible, the Koran and other scripture/doctrine orientated religions all a
bit of a tall story. If one thing is for sure, all state religions are corrupt and have a political
reason for existence, the Church of England being the biggest cult of the lot (any GCSE history student
whose studyied Henry VIII can tell you that). And I'm certainly not
interested in a religion which tells me how I should blindly follow, worship and lead my life
without question based upon what some dude with funny clothes on supposidly did and said yesterday,
let alone several thousand years ago.
So I found myself looking through the shelves of the nearest bookstore for some alternatives that
weren't taught in school.
The first promising find was paganism, but for the same reason that I can't get into Christianity
there's just too much doctrine and, well, bollocks. Of all the religions with gods, Paganism (Wicca)
is the one which I would love to be able to practice. I think it's really nice and has its heart in
the right place. But back to reality, it doesn't offer proof of what it claims and I'm still left
with more unanswered questions than I started with.
So I started looking at far eastern religions, Hinduism, Seekism, Taoism and Buddhism. Of all of them
Buddhism was certainly a find too intriguing to pass.
I won't go into too much detail about Buddhism, it does have its own page and this is meant to be
just an overview after all, but instead of a religion which you agree to and follow, Buddhism fits
perfectly around my existing beliefs. There is no god, the Buddha was a person just like you or I. He
wasn't superhuman, he didn't feed 5000 or walk on water. There's no remarkable claims about heaven
and hell, and instead of teaching things which you are to blindly accept, you are invited to test it.
Finally, something which makes sense. The other thing I like about Buddhism is that there isn't, at
least around here anyway, an active recruitment drive (unlike christianity's free food and unconditional
friendship to all white hetrosexuals provided that they let themselves be brainwashed) but rather
a well established network of friendly people willing to help new comers at their own pace.
Also in this section is a few bits and pieces which don't fit anywhere else better, such as Lucid
Dreaming, the art of becoming conscious in and controlling dreams.
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