Spirituality Guide

Standing as another religion originating many centuries ago, Confucianism is also not truly a religion. It is widely regarded as a ‘code of conduct’ for life rather than any sort of religion. Confucianism relies primarily on rhetoric to explain Confucius’ ideas on moral, political, philosophical and other types of issues.

Origins: Confucianism has survived through many years of being accepted, then suppressed, and once again accepted on a much wider scale. It was started by K’ung Fu Tzu (commonly pronounced Confucius in English). He lived during the Chou dynasty, spending much of his life wandering and giving advice to rulers. He wrote many things on morality and ethics. Confucianism gradually developed from his teachings and writings.

Beliefs: Confucianist philosophy at its best leads to healthy and content people, which is one goal of Confucianism. Importance is placed on honesty and the principles listed below.

God: “His way to please God or the gods is through a “good conduct” with your family, neighbors, and society… if you are a good person, God is going to like you…â€? [Source] Confucianism has no church, no teachings on the worship of God or gods, and also no teachings on life after death.

Principles [Source] :
The “Jen”: The essence of all his teachings may be summed up under this one word ‘Jen’. The nearest equivalent to this difficult word is “social virtue”. All those virtues which help to maintain social harmony and peace like benevolence, charity, magnanimity, sincerity, respectfulness, altruism, diligence, loving kindness, goodness are included in Jen.

His “Golden Rule” is: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do unto others”. “The injuries done to you by an enemy should be returned with a combination of love and justice”.

The “universal virtues” are: Wisdom, Benevolence, and Fortitude… Asked about what is “Benevolence”, he answered: “It is to love all men”; what is “knowledgeâ€?? “It is to know all men”… The “perfect virtue”: “Gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness”.

Other sources of information:
Confucianism @ Wikipedia
Confucianism @ Religious Tolerance
All About Confucianism

Having somewhere between one and two billion followers, Christianity is probably the most well known religion in the world. It also has one of the most well known histories, full of bloodshed endured and caused.

Origins [Source]: “Christianity began as a Jewish sect. The Christian Church traces its history to Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, and saw the early bishops of the Church as the successors of the Apostles in general. Central to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican Churches is Apostolic Succession, the belief that the bishops are the spiritual successors of the original twelve apostles, through the historically unbroken chain of consecration.�

Beliefs: Most Christian churches place special emphasis on the worship of the only god and not of other gods or false idols. Obeying the ten commandments and repentance of sins are also of great importance along with attending church on Sundays. The latter has, in recent time, slowly come under examination as to whether or not it is a true necessity.

God: In the Christian religion, the is only one true god, which is often broken down into the trinity: God the father, God the son (Jesus), and the holy spirit. It is through worship and repentance to Jesus that believers are able to enter a happy afterlife.

Principles:
The Ten Commandments:
1. You shall have no other Gods but me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Respect your father and mother.
6. You must not kill.
7. You must not commit adultery.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
10. You must not be envious of your neighbour’s goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Other sources of information:
Christianity @ Wikipedia
Christianity @ Religious Tolerance
Christianity.com

Buddhism has long been a major religion, its origins stretching far into the past and now claiming to have 300 million followers. A way of life as well as a religion, the Buddhist principles are followed by many who don’t claim to be Buddhist.

Origins: Buddhism’s origins take root about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, became ‘enlightened’ when he was about 35 years old. Little of Siddhartha’s life can be regarded as established with historical fact, but it’s said Siddhartha’s father saw a wise man upon Siddhartha’s birth and the wise man said he would be a great king or a great holy man. While some consider Buddhism to be purely a way of life, it is still considered a religion.

Beliefs: There are many beliefs associated with Buddhism, but well known are the three noble truths: Life is suffering, suffering is caused by craving and aversion, and that suffering can be overcome and happiness is attainable. As Buddhism is regarded as a way of life, there are basic principles, but believers are encouraged to test these truths for themselves.

God: The Buddha was not a god nor did he claim to be. Buddhism claims to transcend a personal god. “Buddhists sometimes pay respect to images of the Buddha, not in worship, nor to ask for favours. A statue of the Buddha with hands rested gently in its lap and a compassionate smile reminds us to strive to develop peace and love within ourselves. Bowing to the statue is an expression of gratitude for the teaching.� [Source]

Principles [Source]:
The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Other sources of information:
BuddhaNet
Buddhism @ Wikipedia
Buddhism @ About.com

Fast becoming recognized as one of the world’s fastest spreading religions, Baha’i now claims to have more than five million followers.

Origins: Baha’i was founded by Bahá’u'lláh in 19th-century Persia. Bahá’u'lláh claimed to be the most recent of holy messengers in a line that includes Moses, Krishna, and Jesus. The Baha’i regard him as the bringer of a new religion like Jesus or Mohammed. He also claimed to be a descendant of Abraham through Abraham’s third wife.

Beliefs: As it says on the Baha’i site, the Baha’i teachings are essentially of unity and love. They believe that all messengers of god have gradually revealed the teachings of the one major religion over time and that all religions are truly to the one god who has sent the messengers such as Krishna and Jesus. “Together, the world’s great religions are expressions of a single unfolding Divine plan…â€? [Source]

God: Baha’i teaches that there is only one god and that god is too great for humans to understand. God is thus revealed through his manifestations. A person’s purpose on earth is to learn to know and love God through such methods as prayer and reflection.

Social Principles [Source]:
Unity of God
Unity of religion
Unity of humankind
Gender equality
Elimination of all forms of prejudice
World peace
Harmony of religion and science
Independent investigation of truth
Universal compulsory education
Universal auxiliary language
Obedience to government and non-involvement in partisan politics
Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty

Other sources of information:
Baha’i.org
Baha’i Faith @ Wikipedia
Bahá’u'lláh @ Wikipedia

Finally, as promised, I am going to start my series on major religions of the world. The thing to remember about these introductions is that they will be brief. I just plain don’t have the time to go through every little nuance and detail of each religion.

At the end of each post, I will post other sources of information so you can learn even more than what I provide in these posts, which, admittedly, won’t be much. However, my goal is to give everyone a little taste of the religions out there. If you like the taste, then it’s your choice to pursue things further.

I will only post the barest basics. Please don’t make judgments based purely on what I post. That is like judging the entire forest for what you see on one branch of one tree. You could miss something

I am posting them in alphabetical order. This is just to take care of any judgments before they can happen. I’d rather avoid any conflicts and this helps take care of a few.

I am not pushing any religion. I don’t think people need religion by any means. Plenty of people I know function and live perfectly fine lives without an ounce of any religious belief touching them. However, I do encourage open minds and that’s why I’m introducing all these religions, however briefly.

I hate to feel the need to make all these things clear, but I, like many others, have been scarred by religious fanaticism. That makes me cautious. However, I do hope you enjoy your introduction to the various religions.

Last week we talked about how to break down religion into four main groups: Theism, Deism, “Ever-Present� and Nontheism. I then broke theism down into its various categories.

Today I’m going to do the same thing with deism, ‘ever-present’ and nontheism.

Deism is the belief that yes, god(s)/being(s) does exist, but god/gods does not interfere with the world/universe. The break down of this category is similar to the breakdown of theism but without quite the ‘black and white’ definitions.

In pandeism, you have the belief that the creator came before the universe, created the universe, and is now on the same level as or is the universe.

In polydeism, many gods came together to create the universe, but after it was created, they stopped interacting with it.

“Ever-present� – a term I made up – describes the broader belief that gods/beings are present in everything. This category can be broken down into four subcategories:

Pantheism takes away the division between god and the universe, making them equally one.

Panentheism, similar to pantheism, also believes that the universe and god are joined together. However, this belief puts god as greater than the universe.

Cosmotheism is a combination of both man and creator. This belief is that the cosmos and man are essentially one. What man wants, the cosmos want, and vice versa.

Animism, put simply, is the belief that everything has a soul and is thus important at some level.

Nontheism is broken down into Atheism and Agnosticism, which I have talked about before here

As you can see, there is a lot to religion even at a broader level than individual religions. That’s why I wanted to explore the broader categories before getting into the individual religions. In future posts, I will begin exploring individual religions.

In the last post, we broke down religion (or rather, religious belief systems) into four main categories: Theism, Deism, “Ever-Present�, and Nontheism. Today I am going to break down theism further into subcategories of identification
You’ll recall that theism is the belief that gods/beings exist and they also interact with the world/universe.

Theism can further be broken down into monotheism and polytheism. If you look at the prefixes ‘mono’ and ‘poly’, it’s easy to keep their definitions straight.

Monotheism is the belief that there is one and only one god. This is a fairly well known line of belief and is the current state of what you could call the evolution of religions being primarily polytheistic and moving to monotheism over time.

An interesting belief falling under the monotheism category is ‘misotheism’ which encompasses the belief that there is one god but that one god is evil instead of the benevolent good god of many other religions.

Where mono means one, poly means many. Those who have polytheistic beliefs believe that there is more than one god/being wandering around in the great ‘out there’.

The subcategories of polytheism are mostly to do with leaning towards one god in one area or another.

Henotheism, while believing in more than one god, believes that one god is supreme above all others.

Monolatry doesn’t believe so much that one god is supreme as it believes only one god should be worshiped.

Lastly, the one with the fun name – kathenotheism – is more of an equal opportunity worshiper. It believes in more than one god and worshiping one of the many, but the difference is that each god will get their turn in supremacy.

In future posts, I’ll break down the remaining three categories of religion.

When it comes to religion and spirituality, the subjects within the main subject are often more widespread and complicated than people realize.

Coming up on this site, I will be exploring individual religions and the basics in their beliefs. Before I do that, however, I would like to explore religion just a bit more.

To make it easier, I think it’s best to start in the broadest senses and then narrow down to specifics. When it comes to religion, the broadest category would be if you believe something or not, but I am going a bit narrower than that with some definitions in the realm of belief.

The first way to break down religion is into four categories: Theism, Deism, what I call “ever-present�, and Nontheism.

Theism is that yes, gods or like beings do exist and they interact with the world/universe.

Deism is like theism in that the belief is that gods/beings exist. However, in deism, the belief is that they do not interact/intervene with the universe.

“Ever-Present� – a term that has no official status and is something I’m probably using incorrectly – is the category of belief that encompasses a diety in everything. There are sub-classes of exactly what has a soul or is a diety, but I will explore that later.

Lastly, we have Nontheism where we have Atheism and Agnosticism. This gets a little tricky when you break it down because some Agnostics have a personal faith, but we’ll talk about that later.

And there you have your Intro to Religions 101. In future posts I’ll be breaking these categories down before exploring individual religions groups.

In the days of Sumerian culture, a god named Enlil disliked the humans. He persuaded the council of gods to send a great flood to destroy humankind and not tell the humans about their imminent demise.

The great god Enki warned a human and that man built a boat in which to survive the flood. In order to find out if the flood waters have receded, this man sends out a swallow, a raven, and a dove. Eventually the waters receded and the man offers a sacrifice to the gods.

Sound familiar?

The truth is that ‘the great flood’ myth – a flood sent by one or more deities to destroy mankind – is a myth common to many cultures, histories, and religions. The one above, from Sumerian culture, is one of the oldest flood stories we know of.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and many people and groups take that to heart, picking and choosing the best of this and that to make something new and different.
And yet somewhat familiar.

Religion is no exception when it comes to this pick and choose philosophy, many of the stories and people from more recent religions sounding strikingly familiar to stories and people of older religions. The flood myth is only one example.

When it comes to the flood myth, you can conclude that a great flood – perhaps a world-circling tsunami or a meteor shower with enough ocean strikes to cause tidal waves in numerous areas – did indeed happen and the story worked its way into myth. Even despite the inconsistencies among some of the fine details of the story.

However, it’s not quite that easy to conclude such things when you come across other similarities.

This week I’m going to touch on similarities between some of the major religions at their basic points – forgiveness, love, happiness…