So I set out this morning to find something uplifting to post, figuring the new week would bring plenty to be distressed about. And located this quote attributed to the Dalai Lama: "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."
But a quote like this, available in countless formats in cyberspace, brings unease, too: It's exactly what one would expect the Dalai Lama to say. Did he really say it?
The source of the quote appears to be a 1988 volume entitled "Tibet: A Guide to the Land of Fascination" by Trilok Chandra Majupuria and Indra Majupuria. There seems to be no reason to doubt the accuracy of their report. So I'm going to run with it.
It's useful to remember, too, that anyone who worships a god always worships a god that he or she has created in his or her own image. So the attributes one assigns to a god say much more about the person who has done the assigning than they do about about what Paul Tillich preferred to call the "ground of Being-itself."
It also can be argued that those who practice religion should be required to take an oath similar to that attributed to Hippocrates: "Primum non nocere" or "First do no harm."
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It's useful to remember, too, that anyone who worships a god always worships a god that he or she has created in his or her own image. So the attributes one assigns to a god say much more about the person who has done the assigning than they do about about what Paul Tillich preferred to call the "ground of Being-itself."
Whew, that gives me some food for thought. Now that I consider that perspective and think on my past interactions, the people I know who are religious definitely align with the loving god/vengeful god that fits their personalities best.
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