The six great world religions come with messages of good news and bad. Here’s the lowdown:
- Islam and Christianity. Good news: God and heaven are real and you can go there! Bad news: Get with the program or God will torture you over fire forever.
- Judaism. Good news: God has given the land of Israel to the descendants of Abraham! Bad news: It’s occupied.
- Secular Humanism. Good news: Working together, we can make a heaven of Earth! Bad news: At death that’s the end of you.
- Hinduism. Good news: You are a part of God! Bad news: So is McDonald’s.
- Buddhism. Bad news: The things of this world have no essence and nothing lasts; to attach to anything is suffering. Good news: The self too has no essence and it will all be over soon.
Prometheus Unbound 
I don’t consider the “bad news” of Secular Humanism bad at all. In fact, I can’t even begin to express how comforting it is.
LOL…ditto on secular humanism. My only fear is finding out they are wrong! Still betting the farm…
Reblogged this on American Idiocracy and commented:
Mixed Nuts.
I’m not sure I really understood that bit about Hinduism, I’m afraid ><
Without oversimplifying, in Hinduism the cosmos is what Brahman is doing or dreaming–and McDonald’s and the Holocaust are part of that doing and dreaming, as are you. The Gita has Arjuna terrified at the vision of Krishna manifesting as the body of God, which is depicted as the whirling cosmos of change and death. As the Atman (your highest self) is ultimately one with Brahman, you needn’t fear the universe’s tranformations because Brahman himself doesn’t change. He is, as T. S. Eliot put it, “the still point of the turning world” and is doing it all. You are that (and not that). So chill. That’s the theory, anyway.
If you’re interested in discussions about spirituality and theology and how they relate to real life in every area, I can recommend something, Santi.
This is a very interesting seminar with clips and interviews.
http://www.thetruthproject.org/
Click on the long version trailer.
It’s a 12 part DVD series. It features interviews with people from many religions and backgrounds, as they give answers to questions like “What is truth?”, “Who is God?” and “What is the meaning of life?” It covers everything, philosophy, theology, history, science, many things.
I think you’re going to enjoy watching this. If you don’t want to buy it online, because the price is rather high, you can probably rent it from a church library or buy it at a discount price from a Christian bookstore.
Sounds intriguing. I’ll check it out. Thanks for the suggestion.
–Santi
Hahaha any Buddhist would say for sure that there are no good or bad news, Only, news