Which of the two religious ideologies is your cup of tea?

No 897 of Living Life Series 1

Life is no bed of roses. Roses may be beautiful but if handled, they pricked. Life is like that. Life is beautiful but it does hurt. 

What happens when it hurts? Most men tend not to admit it but believe that the real life is not the life they have and the real family is not as important as the life and family they have in a house of God. This is one form of religious ideology. 

This to non-believers is the denial approach but to believers, it is not denial but going for the big picture. It is going for hope and realization of hope. There is life in fellowship of worshipers.

(Such approach was capitalized by mundane non-religious systems as village communes, cell groups and grass root organisations. It does serve its purpose. It seems to go well with religion as in the mundane world.)

The other is to admit that life is indeed painful in the long run. Whatever it offers us is in the long run no longer there but just memories. They admit that there is pain and want to know why life is like that. 

They want to know the cause. They no longer want to join the mess but leave the mess to know more.

The cause is due to approach to life. Men tend to deny that where there is the beginning, there is the end, and where there is the end, there will be a new beginning. This the East refers to as rebirths. Rebirths are because we do not learn enough not to go for the pleasures of the senses which do not last. Even the pleasures of the mind do not last. The mind takes on mind objects and is they say the sixth sense. 

Where there is no clinging to what pleasures of senses, there is peace, and beginning and end then make no difference. Soon there will be life beyond beginning and beyond the end. 

This need not be the Buddha. This can be you

Adherents of such ideology accept problems as they come, do what they can but give themselves the reality check. They keep their peace. 

But followers of the previous ideology prefer to think that they should go for their sage as the father and their house of God as their family. If this too is not enough, they hold on to the promise by their sage of the afterlife. This ideology then appears to be more attractive. 

Which of the two is your cup of tea?  Can we not have both? In fact one religion, offers both albeit for different groups of people. The writer would prefer to have both. This may border on absurdity.

But didn't the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨advise all to believe in the sages of all religions and that all religions are one though different? This is the basis of his mission to make aware this inner truth of oneness of religions. 

We must believe in oneness in diversity. So it is only right to go for all when posed with this question. Which of the two religious ideologies is your cup of tea? 

Well, it is best to go for both? Why? Well, one is fragrant sweet and the other is bitter sweet. One is simply too good to be true and the other is too real and harsh. Having both is better than having either one. 

Often we start off with fragrant sweet and then upgrade to bitter sweet and later go for both. But a few connoisseurs of tea will swear by the bitter type minus the sweetness. 

It is just like that and there will be those who think that Divinity will provide for better days and that there is learning from any ill wind. Divinity has it's purpose in misfortune of men. This is not that God and saints are mean and harsh. Divinity is always kind and misfortune makes us even better. 

The other school of thought is that misfortune or the harshness of life is the very nature of life. Even the so-called blessings and pleasures of worldly life considered God-given do not last and they leave a void - a pain and emptiness that make us want more of the same or even better. 

The cycle goes on and is in the long run tiring and bothersome. This school of thought resolves that we can end this cyclical trap and be free and liberated. This school of thought is for the hard headed but how strong can we be. 

But alas, we must admit it. Most do need help and solace from time to time. That is why it is better to subscribe to the two schools of thoughts or ideologies. No man is an island and men need families and social belonging and support. Even celibate monks or priests do. 

Like said earlier, we would rather drink different types of tea than stick to one kind. We need to be kind to ourselves and sometimes, we need to daydream but not for long. We need to face reality as well. Then we go back to some more of day dreaming. 

God and saints as well as our fellow men go along with us in our dreams. Dreams are stress relieving. Religions must dabble with dreams but how real can dreams be? That is why we need to handle the hard truth of life from time to time in between day dreaming. 

But all said, it is best to go for the best of both worlds. Have it not just one way but both ways. Ha ha, are you dead serious about this?

Go for all religions and not just one if you have the stomach for all. Then you have the best of all religions and saints. But some say that a rolling stone gathers no moss but we are not saying you must roll from one religion to the next but to believe in all saints and all religions. Cheers.