Mar 6, 2018

What's Your Religion?

Given my libertarian view of life, I am often asked what my religion is. Religion is always a hotbed for heated debates and best avoided. I've always given an honest answer and I've never been confrontational. I respect people's rights to believe in their chosen faith...and I don't push mine.

Giving it more thought, I think my religion is the most simple and yet the most difficult to live by. And it's not even my original!

Most Simple
Why is my religion the most simple? Because I don't need the following:

sacred books, doctrines or scriptures - yes, I don't need the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud or the Torah to be in compliance to this religion
rites and rituals - no baptism, no initiation, no fasting, no pilgrimage, no confession
men of the cloth - yes, I don't need the services of priests, the pope, monks, imam or rabbi to decipher the holy scriptures for me in order to gain salvation
heaven - I don't need the motivation of heaven to do something good
hell - I don't need to fear hell to deter me from bad deeds
place of worship - I don't need a church, a synagogue or a mosque or a temple
money - I don't have to give money to a religious institution for my salvation
10 Commandments - I don't need 10. My religion only requires 2.
God - lastly, I don't need a God, Allah, Shiva, Buddha, etc. This religion can survive without a deity, period.

pay your debts...because you want to be paid by people who owe you money

Most Difficult
I'm not even talking about not killing or not stealing - that's a no-brainer since ALL religions detest that. My religion is the most difficult because it passes off for sin, what other religions do not consider sin.

Do you know anyone who confessed to not paying a debt? Practically the local culture is riddled by unpaid debts by people who are crafty in borrowing money, right? Let's be honest!
Have you heard anyone confess to throwing plastic on the ocean? No!
Has anyone asked forgiveness for not moving in order for another passenger to have a full seat on a crowded jeep? No!

To most religions, these are not sin. But in my religion, they are! Can you now imagine the difficulty of having such religion?

Golden Rule
My religion is so universally accepted they call it the Golden Rule. The great spiritual leaders say so. Christ mentioned it, "Do to others what you want them to do to you." Confucius said, "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." Buddha said, "Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I." Yes, it's a recurring theme in most religions. BUT...they get buried by dogma, rites, rituals, self-serving interpretations of the scriptures by clever men of the cloth.

Two Commandments
The 2 commandments of my religion...and this stands alone - without the clever men, without the sacred books, without the rites and rituals...and I'll be pointing out the almost mundane and trivial everyday life examples that no religion considers sin.

do to everyone and everything (not just people) what you want them to do for you
- pay your debts...because you want to be paid by people who borrowed money from you
- move your butt on a crowded jeep...because if your butt is hanging off a corner, you would really appreciate people moving a little bit to make you seated comfortably
- tell the guy there's bugger hanging off his nose...because you don't want to be walking around with bugger hanging off your nose with no one telling you.
don't do to anyone (not just people) what you don't want to be done to you
- don't counter-flow in tight traffic...because you hate people who counterflow thinking they are better than others, right?
- don't gossip...because you don't like people gossiping about you
- don't throw plastic in the ocean...because you are killing the planet and you don't want anyone to be killing you!
- don't have animals in captivity or even on a leash...because you don't want to be locked up in a cage or be on a leash. If you are a dog lover, think about this...and think about you being on a leash or locked-up (and try not to be one of the clever men who'll work out a way around this). That's why it's not an easy religion!

Ending Thoughts
Just think about it...those 2 commandments, when subscribed to means there won't be wars (whether religious or political), no plastic rice, birds fly freely and no plastic on the ocean. I'm sure you can add more to this list.

What's my validation to all this? Well, I sleep well at night knowing I didn't wrong anyone. I'm genuinely happy and I feel the love and support of people around me. I am not stressed-out because I don't do anything that might cause it. In short, I'm perfectly ok under my own skin as I go through my daily life. Nothing has happened to me yet to prove I'm wrong. This is enough religion for me.

--- TheLoneRider
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