What Am I?

[Silverbackman]

My religious beliefs are unique but they do not fall in the realms of other people's faiths. My religious beliefs are sort of a mix of Baha'i, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

I believe in there is one ultimate God, who has many names. My view of God is both pantheistic and maybe panentheistic, but that is all we can know about him right now. The only way to know him a little more is through meditation and through knowledge of science.

I believe all other religious figures such as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, Shiva, ect. are either prophets or incarnations of God.

I believe in Karma. Bad Karma can be generated through sins such as stealing, killing, ect. I don't believe that anger, lust, ect. are sins but I do view them as deadly emotions that can make us sin and generate bad karma. I believe by doing good things such as helping other generates good karma.

I believe men and women are equal spiritually and worth the same under God, but are assigned different roles in life.

I believe in an afterlife similar to that of Hindus, which is that you go to a heaven or hell for a finite amount of time when you die but are later reincarnated back on to the Earth.

Those are just the main aspects of my belief, and it is still developing. So what the heck am I? Am I Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, or something else?

[brucegdc]

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

Those are just the main aspects of my belief, and it is still developing. So what the heck am I? Am I Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, or something else?

You are Silverbackman. Worrying about labels beyond that is ultimately a waste of energy :-)

Of course, I am an eclectic - co-opt what works, make up the rest, so I have little use for labels and pigeon holes anyways.

... Bruce

[Shelle]

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

I believe by doing good things...

You are not alone Silverbackman.
There are so many labels in our world that to be true to yourself one single label may not do you justice.

There is nothing wrong with embracing all the goodness and being true to your true purpose, to exist in harmony.

I believe a new religion is forming.

[arthra]

Hello Silver!

I tried to respond earlier to another of your threads so I hope my comment here won't be considered out-of-place...

You wrote:

I believe men and women are equal spiritually and worth the same under God, but are assigned different roles in life.

I believe in an afterlife similar to that of Hindus, which is that you go to a heaven or hell for a finite amount of time when you die but are later reincarnated back on to the Earth.

Those are just the main aspects of my belief, and it is still developing. So what the heck am I? Am I Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, or something else?

My comment:

I think at your stage spiritually you should keep seeking and finding out what you are...that there's some anxiety about it tells be this is a good tension and energy to seek further.

All of us at some stage must ask ourselves these questions.

In friendship!

- Art

[Silverbackman]

Thanks brucegdc, Shelle, and arthra for your insights.

The problem is that though I really don't need to be labled, I can't really go to a religious temple to worship. Well I might be able to go to a Hindu, Baha'i, or Sikh temple rather than a Judeo-Christian or Muslim center, but still it may not be the same.

My beliefs are very true to other religions (closer to Eastern Thought, but sees Jesus as important) but not to the same extent as Baha'is, because I do think many beliefs from the past are still valid (ie reincarnation, gender roles, ect.). I also have quite a new perspective on the nature of God, which is sort of mix between Monism, Dualism, and the Trinity system, as I will explain below in one of my journals;

"Before time and the universe began, there were only two forces, positive and negative. These forces are actually one force, because the two forces could not exist without each other. Divided they would be imbalanced and not stable. The only way they could ever split is creating a force that combines both their positive and negative forces; this is known as the neutral force. The neutral force separated the positive and negative force, this region is known as the natural universe. Together: the positive, negative, and neutral forces are known as the holy trinity called God. It is believed the neutral natural universe force has always existed, but because it is so hard to maintain it crunches and collapses every long eon of time. Then the positive and negative forces rest, and expand the universe once more. The universe can live forever however it is up to the balance of karma the intelligent beings of the universe create.

The positive force of the universe is called good.

The negative force of the universe is called evil.

The neutral force is nature, the universe, and all things in it.

All beings are born with more negative forces than positive forces. This is because the reincarnation realm is run by negative forces, and therefore the negative forces are all the souls of beings come in contact with before being reincarnated back onto the neutral universal realm. It is up to the beings to do good deeds in order to balance the positive and negative forces. No matter how much good a being does he will never rid himself of the evil, so the more good you do the better.

The neutral force called nature is as complex as positive force good and negative called evil. In order to keep beings of the universe on the good side, the positive forces have sent various incarnations of itself as well as messages to prophets in order to keep mankind doing good things rather than evil things, only to the species whose minds have evolved to understand the nature of good and evil. However over time these teachings become corrupted and polluted until the positive force sends other incarnations and prophets to keep mankind the path to good, as well as what we should do to benefit the universe.

Though there are two dualist forces of positive and negative forces (represented as good and evil) as well as the third neutral force (represented as the universe), we must remember this holy trinity is still apart of one unifying force called God.

This is all that can be known about God, however God encourages us to seek out the knowledge of good and evil as well as the nature of the universe called science. As long as we do positive good acts we may do as we wish as well."


To top it all off I do view science as an important part of belief, and expect that evolution maybe an aspect of creation (because it is in any case apart of the neutral universe force and its laws called nature).

So yea my beliefs are more or less trying to find away to include all major religions that have stood the test of time. But yea, I can't really find a good temple to meditate (which is helpful for the right mood).

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

The problem is that though I really don't need to be labled, I can't really go to a religious temple to worship. Well I might be able to go to a Hindu, Baha'i, or Sikh temple rather than a Judeo-Christian or Muslim center, but still it may not be the same.
<...>
So yea my beliefs are more or less trying to find away to include all major religions that have stood the test of time. But yea, I can't really find a good temple to meditate (which is helpful for the right mood).

JMHO, you don't need to find a good temple to meditate, because you are the temple for God's spirit.

[Plaidback]

Originally Posted by Silverbackman

Those are just the main aspects of my belief, and it is still developing. So what the heck am I? Am I Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, or something else?

You are Spirit, coming out of flesh, that belongs to your Parents. You can claim
that "Body of yours" as Yours, only if you feel this Truth.
If not, you are going to Die, just like everyone else did.

much love and truth !

[smkolins]

Part of the problem is that you call various things you believe by the names used in different religions. Each such word connotates specifics which wont generally apply in other religions. For example Baha'is speak of Manifestations and may even mean almost the same thing as Avatars, but if you use Avatar terminology it wont ever fit Baha'i uses exactly or Hindus either. Some of this problem has been faced by each of the Founders of the religions - each established some new truth, using new words, yet the prior religion would refuse to use or fit the new word into the old reference structure (see the wine skin problem.)

But another part of the problem is you list a series of beliefs and seek a religion to fit them. That makes you the authority of what is true, no? As religions have their own rules, there are no religions which allow believers to believe whatever they want.

If you are seeking, how is that you have already found?