[The Hierophant]

Some great replies so far. All of you seem to be giving genuine thought to spiritual matters and I havn't seen a single flame or 'holier-than-thou' post. Excellent [img]smile.gif[/img]

KT Ong and Cerek: You both seem to be genuine spiritual pilgrims, walking a path of inquisition and not allowing dogmatic indoctrination get in the way of the direction you feel you need to take. It's very heartening to see [img]smile.gif[/img]

Blade: Religion certainly has always had (and definately still has) a place within society (well, at least within the Judeo-Christian society)in giving hope and a sense of stability to the disheartened. Personally though I'm very wary of churches that try to impose a strict set of rules upon how a person should and shouldn't live, particularly those that claim 'live this way or you'll suffer later!'. To me it just smacks of human dictatorial tendencies and doesn't reflect a genuine interest in the exploration of the human spirit. But, that is just the way I see things now, perhaps with time I will grow to understand how the church (Particularly the Presbytarian church, which is very strong where I live) operates with greater clarity.

Azred: I know what you mean, the notion that all there is is this experience and nothing else is a little disheartening. Personally I wouldn't even need a belief in the afterlife to allay my qualms (eternal sleep sounds just fine to me [img]smile.gif[/img] ), just some sort of indication that there is some sort of greater force that holds this existence together. That it is not all just a circumstantial fluke. And yes, I agree with you that honesty toward one's self and in the search for one's place in the world is vital to understanding just what that place is and how it fits into a phenomonally greater system.

Humility, honesty, compassion and patience seem to be what the doctor orders on this one [img]smile.gif[/img]