So many of us have lived our lives placing unmerited value on the opinions of others while discrediting our personal truth and reality. Breaking the shackles of people-pleasing requires honest self-appraisal, a healthy dose of self-esteem, and an enormous commitment to self-realization.
Okay, I get it. Religion has inspired great acts of compassion, it has led man to create
spectacular works of art and architecture, it has provided us with beautiful literature. So, before you light the fires around my stake, consider this. Perverted interpretation of religious belief has also caused immense human suffering, it has destroyed cultures, it has promoted the degradation of our earth and natural resources in the name of an unproven, man-created god.
Tribalism was essential to ancient cultures to preserving their beliefs and insuring their survival. The caveman with the biggest clubs usually won the battle. Armies with the most manpower prevailed over weaker enemies. Scorching the neighborhood was an acceptable price for winning. My God-belief is better than yours. He (yes, most violence in the name of God worships a male entity) needs my defense.
WE ARE NO LONGER CAVEMEN. With the historical destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 the USA entered mankind into a new paradigm of warfare – a pattern embracing the ability of one culture to bring annihilation to the entire planet. Unfortunately, we continued to maintain the caveman attitude of tribalism. We continued to thump our scriptures and proclaim limited access to an omnipotent deity through a religious philosophy of exclusion – only this God is real, only this belief is true, only this scripture is valid. It is rampant tribalism with a continuing caveman mentality.
I AM LARRY – worthy, unique, loved
lpb quest - the twilight dance 
Are you sure that the problem is tribalism? Perhaps the real problem is that too few of us understand that the tribe is composed of more than 7.76 trillion of us. To the extent that any one of us suffers, so do we all.
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Very true, Terry
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It never ceases to amaze me that although Christianity accounts for only about one-third of the worlds 7+ billion people, Christians are (or claim to be) convinced that theirs is the only one, true, belief. ‘Tis the same for other religions as well. Yes, in part it is tribalism, but in part it is that humans seem to need to believe that there is some grand master plan that ensures their lives have great meaning in the grand scheme of things, that promises them something more than … just this. And, as Karl Marx so famously said, it is the opiate of the masses … it provides a mechanism to control by fear of some future retribution.
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In my eyes, true faith does not need a carrot on the stick – heaven, eternity, resurrection, etc. True faith is an acceptance of the Oneness of the universe with no proof or guarantees. It is solidarity with all of creation. It is knowing that “just this” is pretty damn good and then being grateful for all of it. If the writings are true, Jesus and Buddha and their followers practiced this as man’s reason for being here. It was the later Roman church fathers who bastardized Jesus’ radical concept and called it Christianity. Thanks, Jill, for the comment and visit. 🙏 Your opinions show an astute understanding of life’s purpose.
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Thanks Larry … as do yours. I ditched religion many, many years ago, for a number of reasons, but I remain open to the idea that there is some reason we are here, and that we have a responsibility to all living things …
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