Hi I Am New

[Zeppish]

Hi, I'm Zeppish

and i feel like introducing myself...and writting a lot...

i was born in Poland. I moved to Canada when i was 6 months old. My dad, my mother, and my sister all have accents, but me(well i do but i cant hear it and i know its a north american accent). Even though i was born in Poland, only my old man is polish. My mother and my sister where both born in Israel.

When i was young, my parents rasied me and my sister to be Jewish(because my mom is and my dad, even though he had a chatolic backround didnt care to much either way, i think anyway.) But this is the first year of my life when i have stopped wearing a kippah(jew hat), taken off my gold megan david(given at my bar mitzvah) and decided i dont know what i believe anymore.

I dont know if there is a god. I am shorta agonistic now... and i am defitnally not religious anymore. I told myself i would go to Shul for the high holydays, for my family, but thats about it.

i have a much easier time believing in the world around me then a higher power. I believe much more in the wind, the water, the fire, and the earth then anything. And i guess thats because i'm living in canada, which is full of nature. Truthfully, Canadian authors have probly given me these ideas. For example i've read in the last year Big Bear, Who Has Seen The Wind?, Wild Geese, The Sparrow Falls, The Desperte People, The People of the Deer. And just by looking at these titles you might get the imperssion that there about nature in one way or another, and they are.

Its just hard to believe in something i cant understand with any of my senses. Its a lot easier to believe in the stories about wolves(as a example) because i have seen them, and i have some ideas of how they work. The same way its a lot easier to know the powers of wind, because i know its effect. And the same way it is to know the beatuy of the world, because here iti s, in fornt of us to discover. But asking me to believe in god...it seems to be beyond my comphersion. And when i do question if i believe in god or not my beliefe never seems stern. So what s the point on wasting my time on it?

Anyways i'm Zeppish...

Hello...

[MidnightSun]

I believe much more in the wind, the water, the fire, and the earth then anything. Nahh ur religious, ur a pagan :P

[redraven]

I think this thread is kind of old, but I thought I'd jump in. What you're explaining could be paganism, in the sense of reverence for Nature as spiritual, or it could be positivist, in terms of, I believe in empiricism (the senses) and deduction (math and logic.) I'm not quite sure which you mean.

Let me explain my ideas about God. First of all, I believe in boddhisattvas, who are like saints, and I believe that they live on in other worlds. It follows that I believe in many worlds. I also believe that Buddha lives on in Nirvana, which is emptiness, but also exists. It follows that positivists and I probably wouldn't get along well. Pagans and I love each other... usually.

So I may be as crazy as the people that believe in God. With that said, I don't consider myself a pantheist (I had a real bad argument with some Buddhists about this) and I believe that there is no Infinite All Powerful God or however you want to put it. I believe in spirits, some good and some evil, but not God. Weird, eh? And very typical of Japanese and others in the East.

What I'm thinking is:

1. Pursue your feelings until things begin to make sense.
2. Continue to uphold the values of your family. You may find that they begin to make sense too.
3. Also, have you ever thought that Hashem might not be all-powerful and infinite and all-knowing, but might simply be the spirit of the Jewish people? That is how the ancient Jews viewed it, and I think there may be room for this belief in the Jewish faith, although Orthodox or Hassidic Jews might not like it.

Things to think about.

[______]

If you believe in compassion and overall kindness to all life, then I'd say all else doesn't really matter. They are mere entertainments for your mind.

[Brahmanyan]

Dear Friend,

I am also new to this forum. But I am an old man. I have been searching answers for many of those you have raised from my younger days. I am yet to get an answer. Perhaps there are answers some where which I have not reached yet. The search should continue.
Fortunately for me I am born "Hindu", which is really an open forum for all Philosophical thoughts and spiritual practices. "Rig Veda" one of our Books of Knowledge invites thus - " Let Noble Thoughts Come To us from Everyside".
I believe in this. To acquire wisdom there is no time limit

[redraven]

I agree there is no time limit. One reincarnates with one's wisdom and virtue at least, and one can simply keep growing until it is time to attain the bodhi, which isn't a bad thing. I'm not ready for Nirvana, so who knows when?