“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” ~Dalai Lama
Years ago I think I was more of an atheist and had no belief in a “God” as I understood the concept. I thought the concept sounded primitive, archaic 
and was for people with very weak minds that were afraid of death. I thought religion was an excellent concept that would keep the population in check and keep them afraid. The phrase, “God Fearing” told me it was all a bunch crap as I believed any God would not want you to fear it. I say “it” because to me, a God doesn’t have a sex, unless Zeus is your God, then by all means, say “him.”
Presently, I Believe…
I say “presently” because my understanding of things is always changing and the more I learn, the more I change and I am never the same person for very long. I would say I am not religious because I don’t follow any specific religions. There are so many! I found it easier to adopt a spiritual quality I never had until recent years.
Throughout my personal journey in this life I have come to find I do believe in something but it has nothing to do with a superior being. I do believe in eternal life but I believe it is as natural as the four seasons, it’s just part of the circle of life. I do believe there is something in us that survives physical death that none of us can fully comprehend in the physical form.
We are all sparks of energy which came from a common source (you may call this source God if you want) and that is our true nature, that is our genuine form and it’s not what you see in the mirror everyday. What you see in the mirror is how that spark is expressing itself on the physical plane. Personally, I don’t think any of us truly understand the true nature of our existence.
When we leave this physical body and move on, what you see is of your own creation. What you expect to experience happens until you realize the reality of it all. If you think you’re going to hell, then you’re going to experience hell until you realize it doesn’t have to be.
Religious Tolerance
There are probably many of you that disagree one million percent, but all I ask is that you have tolerance. My beliefs may make no sense to you at all, and your religious beliefs may make no sense to me, but that’s not a problem. I believe there are many roads to the same destination and you should take the one that you feel is best for you. I don’t feel others should push their beliefs onto others or throw quotes from their religious texts in hate. They should remember, not all people have the same beliefs, not all religions are the same and everyone should try to be respectful of that.
Granted, I am far from perfect and I still have to bite my tongue sometimes, but I work at trying to be better and try to remind myself of the very things I have just typed. I’ll give you an example – I have a world over-population pet peeve and I tend to get angry when people keep popping out children as if the Earth has unlimited resources. I know there are people with religious beliefs about birth control and they will say, “Why did God let it happen?” I say back to them, “Why did God allow me to be born gay?” I’ll be tolerant of your 15 kids and you refrain from telling me I’m going to burn in eternal hellfire. Did you ever think God put gay people on earth to test your ability to not pass judgement? Maybe …and maybe not. There are some people who think dinosaur bones are here as a test from God, but that is a story for another day …or not.
It was one of the primary reason why the United States was founded in the first place. To be American means we should be tolerant of other beliefs. Tolerance takes practice sometimes, but it’s silly to be hateful toward someone who doesn’t share your view. What I’ve written here isn’t perfect and won’t please everyone, but I think we agree we all do want to get along.
Tags: Dalai Lama quote, human, love, peace, religion, religious tolerance, spirituality, tolerance
great minds think alike..u said it just how I would. Wow never thought I would come across similar mind to my own
Thank you Mary! I also tried to make it as brief as I could. Attention spans on the internet are pretty short
No,thank you Darrin
your work here is amazing.I would like to tell you my story one day as it has been a very comlex one and I am also managing to find my true self thru honesty and reasoning and questioning myself.My road has been a tough one,most likely not as tough as yours but the ‘recovery method’ does not differ that much.I am thankful to have found this site and it helps me a great deal as I have never had anyone to talk to.I too,have lots of time on my hands but always running out coz there is not enough time to learn,re-learn and do all the things I truly longed for but had too much fear.Thank you again and when Im ready I will be more specific..p.s this is first time i publicly speak of this as I have trust issues caused by many traumas in my life since childhood,but Im slowly overcoming it all,and there is no better way but finding somebody who has been thru it all and managed to succed 
Mary, It’s so good to know you are comfortable here and thank you for the compliments. It’s much appreciated. If you ever decide you would like to share something and have it be a bit more private, feel free to use the “Contact Me” link at the top of the page. It can be very therapeutic to get things out of your system. Holding things in is never good – even keeping a journal of your thoughts can help a lot.
Well said.
Very good post! What a different world we would live in if all of us could practice tolerance and acceptance…and love.
Thank you Nirish! Now we need to get this message to the conservatives, liberals and all of us in betweeen – especially during an election year! Ha!
I came across this on StumbleUpon and enjoyed it immensely. I recently had my own spiritual. awakening. I used to be one of those people that believed christianity was the only way to “god”. hiwever now I feel much differently. I see this happening a lot and Im beginning to wonder if this is the ascension that some people are talking about. I hope so
Hi Rick, I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Ya, I’ve heard things about an ascension… or an expanding consciousness… either would be fantastic! I think there is an imbalance between our technological evolution and our spiritual evolution. The technological evolution is moving too fast while spiritually, we seem to be moving slower and that means we have “children” playing with A-Bombs!