I have to start with religion because, as a society, our religious beliefs

are the foundations for our mores, our folkways, our moral codes,

our penal codes, our sociology, our politics, our families,

our intimate relationships -- everything!

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My parents were -- like most Indians -- Hindu.
I never really embraced this or any other particular religion:

and when I met D. he was not only a "born-again Christian" but a

fairly-celebrated theologian and ordained minister.

Many years later, I do not consider myself agnostic; but I also do not

consider myself any particular faith.

After years of study and living, it seems clear to me that once even a

little intelligence and faith is applied,

its rhetorical religion is destructive.

If you belong to a faith where there is a tremendous amount of

social sickness and hatred like Christianity and Islam,

whatever else you say to defend the specific edicts of the faiths

themselves, at the heart of the problem are not those doctrines,

but the concept of religion itself and how it is used.

Most importantly is that Faith itself demands that reason and evidence

must be replaced by acceptance and a lack of evidence for what you believe.

As soon as you subscribe to that process, you're surrendering to trouble

for yourself and others around you.

If you subscribe to a faith and haven't found it causing you any trouble,

it's probably because you're not really invested in it like those who have.
 

I am NOT an atheist.

I believe there is a "god". If they have a name we have no idea. 
Names are something we need as humans. They're important to us

-- and, for obvious, sane reasons.

But then, we're human. Anthropomorphizing "god" is the

beginning of the problem.

There is likely a "god", and they likely did, in fact, create the

universe, space, time, matter...

probably not too far off from the means science believes at this time

in our intellectual evolution.

But I don't believe that creator has any specific interest in us,

let alone as individuals;

and they certainly could not care any less who throws what

mud at whom or who fucks what or any

other millions of elements of our species' rules/laws/morals.

What we did as a people was important -- we created order.

We cannot live without order. But most of the reasons driving specific

rules/laws/morals have

changed although the strictures themselves have not.

There was a purpose to laws about homosexuality,

marriage etc...but those foundations have not existed for thousands of years.

Clearly, we can only really have peace when we all agree

what is right and wrong...from putting the cap on the toothpaste

to killing or not killing thousands of people because they have big noses.

 

That's simply never, ever going to happen.

 

And yes, the pursuit of peace as an ideal is, in itself, not necessarily

right or wrong.  Like everything, these are ideas we accept as absolute

because of millennia of religious forces forming us as a species,

generation after generation.
Peace itself might be overrated and wrong.
That's a difficult concept for us to even consider but

-- once you are at that crossroads --

you begin to question everything and can slowly begin to find a

new way of going about life and, more importantly, living with others.
There is no hell. There is no heaven.

There is no one watching, judging, disappointed or proud of us.
If there is a "god" they are not being identified or reflected in any religion.
Religion is simply...evil.
Yes lofty ideas exist therein, but the machine itself is not good simply

because it possesses lofty piety.

It is possible that the pursuit of perfection and the ideal is the

beginning of the problem.
We cannot abandon this pursuit because there's not much else we've

come up with to propel as a species into ongoing millennia and survival;

but it might be that we've become too aggressive

about it and it has fueled all the laws/failures/judgements/condemnation

everyone experiences and exacts upon one another.

And we all do. None of us are innocent of this.

This being my core belief system at the moment, I've embraced the idea

that since we cannot make

"god" or one another happy through being "good" or "doing good",

the next best thing is to not WASTE life.

I do not want to waste my life and the time I have.
I feel most people are wasting their time/lives

trying to make everyone around them like them, love them,

happy, satisfied, proud.

 

They will never accomplish this. Ever!

 

I have a small few people in my life I am trying to make happy

and safe and comforted and, yes, proud of me.

But I've chosen these people selectively BECAUSE, in their instance,

they agree with these ideas

and actually daily affirm to me their pride in me for what I do well

and congratulate me when I succeed.

Everyone else -- you're only ever going to disappoint them

and they will increasingly resent you.
 

THAT is a waste of time.

If you have people in your life who aren't making a point of

thanking you and saying they

are proud of you and your efforts -- lose them.

They are just vandals. They are (and have been) destroying you.

They are not doing anything to help you.
This is what I've done. It is why I have no contact with

old family and friends -- they are dying.

I'm not dying with them, let alone allowing them to systematically

kill me hour by hour.
 

What I do now...I get the opportunity to be

the best possible version of myself without any of you

ever having to see me when I'm weak or petty or stupid or just plain cruel.
You get the best of me! The intent is for it to help you find

a new faith in human beings and

heal you from the crap everyone else lays on you. In most instances,

you are usually giving me

the better aspects of yourself and I grow

and prosper and profit from this.

Which leads me to my ideas on...