It is a new month and a new Friday Five!
1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
Not really, I was actually raised to have my own beliefs about god, the heavens, and many other things. I was taught about Jesus and some of the things he did, but I was never forced to worship him or god. My parents explained it to me this way. They both grew up in homes in which they were forced to go to church many times a week. They both hated it. When they married they made the decision never to do that to their own children. So I was left free to discover my own faith, beliefs, and ideology.
2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
Well since I was never really taught one, I guess you could say that I do in a sense. I have read many different things about other faiths than Christianity and found connections between most of them. They all seem to have the Golden Rule as their underlining theme. If you are not familiar with this rule it can be surmised in the phrase, "Do onto others as you would have done onto you". I just tend to follow that. I often say that I am a Buddhist because I tend to follow a lot of their belief system. But is always better to have ideas rather than beliefs.
3. What do you think happens after death?
On this one I tend to go with Einstein's theory of life after death so to speak. If you believe that energy can neither be created or destroyed then you can see where I am going with this. An individual's life force (or energy) can not extinguished unless it goes someplace else. So where does one's energy go if there Earthly body has stopped functioning? I tend to subscribe to the thought of reincarnation/rebirth. If someone in your family dies, their life force is then transferred to another person or thing in this world that at the same time has just been born. Then people would ask how is the Earth still being populated by people at a faster rate than people are dying. To that I would remind you that we are also killing thousands and thousands of flora and fauna around the world in order to make room for this population explosion.
4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
I would have to go with a wedding on this one. I am sure everyone else will agree with me on this one too. Of course a wedding does not have to be religious but it is often thought of as being so. I think it is just watching the unification of two people together is a wonderful event to witness. I had many friends over the summer tie the knot. It is just a real fun time that makes for good people watching to boot. You can find many different wedding types out there. For instance, there are people who go to weddings to get hammered on the free liquor, there are those who always cry at weddings, there is always one guy who does the "white mans overbite" while getting jiggy wit it on the dancefloor. It is just goodtimes.
5. Do you believe people are basically good?
One of the basic beliefs of Buddhism is that all people are inheritly good natured. People then develop evil intentions through their life. Often it arises after many years of abuse or many other events. Picture a baby in your mind. Your first picture of a baby is probably one that is smiling or perhaps laughing. The baby is helpless and naive and harmless. Everyone starts out this way, and it is only through out life experiences that we begin to change.