Community

10/21/2013

Community is how we come together. Whether it's religion, politics, geography, or simply an interest. Communities are united by a common perspective.

Who should I follow? Follow the truth. It will lead you to the right people and places.

Communities are a place to learn who you are, and who you are not. You should find comfort and acceptance within your community. It should be a place where you are understood. Where you can let your guard down. Where you are accepted for who you are.

Your family was your first community.

I remember when you first joined the Scouts. You made some friends and learned new skills. Perhaps most important, you tried new things. Things beyond my experience. There were times I was unsure. Times I worried about your safety. But there was no denying the joy you experienced and knowledge you gained. I am grateful for what they gave you, and did not take.

I want you to remember to embrace people outside your community. You still have much to discover. Take pride in the perspective that you share, but do not believe it makes you superior. You are not. No group possesses the truth. They just share a perspective. Your community will divide as people strive to find the truth. Some will believe they have. Others will carry on. Deciding which to do is one of the most difficult decisions we all eventually face.

17 Comments

Author

My name is David. I created FathersWeek.com as a place I could leave a written record for my children - not to provide answers, but to encourage the pursuit of the right questions.

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Anonymous

05/11/2014 12:33pm

I don't have anything that's super-insightful to add, but I just want to thank you for another wonderful post. Thank you! Please keep them coming (if you can/ are interested)

David

05/11/2014 12:57pm

You are very kind. I will definitely keep them coming. I am interested, but often embarrassed at what I write. I make a lot of mistakes and cringe every time I catch them. I really appreciate your insights. I think of you often.

05/11/2014 3:45pm

I'm glad to hear that you are planning to keep doing this! Thank you! I distinctly recall you mentioning the fact that you were considering writing a post about Religion. Is that still something that you are intending to do?

05/11/2014 5:21pm

You're right, I did. I've tried, but I'm just not ready. I will try again. I'm not sure what will come next. I appreciate your encouragement and would enjoy hearing your thoughts. All I know at this point is I want to separate the discussion of faith and religion. Feel free to share your thoughts. Since religion is a community of faith this forum is as good as any.

05/16/2014 7:51am

Anonymous,

Here are some of my initial thoughts on Religion. I hope you’ll see why this topic is such a struggle for me.

My perspective:

Regardless of what you believe, respect the religion of others.

Religion provided us with the origin of our laws. We owe a lot to religion. A small community built around 10 laws has grown into diverse thriving societies we have today under the rule of law.

Religion is responsible for both beautiful and horrible things.

Religion can provide the values, rules and rituals that unite a community. Agreement on these things are what binds us, yet there is a never ending desire to challenge those beliefs in the interest of pursuing the truth.

There is often great love and understanding expressed between individuals within a religious community. When that love is kept within the community, those on the outside resent what they see. Love denied, is often perceived as selfishness and superiority to those on the outside. This, of course, extends beyond religious communities. This is the underlying problem of any group claiming the truth as its own. Yet, every religion does this.

Even religions built around Acceptance claim to possess the truth, despite that this goes against their own underlying tenets.

Why? Why do all religions do this? Are they created by the divinity of inspiration, and destroyed by the corruption of man? Why must a religion possess the truth? I don’t claim to know. Perhaps they feel that without it, there is nothing.

Religion is a community of faith. They bring people together in a common understanding of the truth. Religions address the most fundamental underlying questions of our existence. How did we get here? Where do we go when our time is done? What is the source of our inspiration? Does my existence matter?

Religious communities continue to divide at an ever increasing pace, as there is a never ending desire to pursue the truth.

Science arose out of dissatisfaction of accepting teachings solely based on faith. Science also pursues the truth, but demands evidence and respectful dialogue. Science has many theories and very few laws. There are still many things in science that we cannot explain through experimentation. There are still things that require faith. Our understanding of Time is one of them. Our origin is another. Where inspiration comes from is yet another. We still have a need for faith, because there is still much we cannot prove.

Some are satisfied with the explanations provided by science. Others recognize that we still need faith. Perhaps what they are really satisfied with is that we now have an alternative. We no longer have to accept all things solely based on faith. There is now a community of Science they can turn to for answers.

From my perspective, many scientific theories leave a lot to be desired. Especially when it comes to the big questions.

As you can see. I have no idea what to advise my children when it comes to religion. I do not pretend to know.

I do want them to pursue the truth. I also want them to arrive at their own determination regarding faith.

Religious knowledge and understanding is valuable. It is best received when you are ready for it. Whether it translates into faith is another matter entirely.

05/25/2014 11:33am

(Part 2)

I also believe that religion is of crucial importance in its ability to give meaning to one’s life. I am a very happy person, and I readily acknowledge the fact that my religious belief and practice is largely the conduit for that happiness. As you have alluded to, religion is of supreme importance in its ability to answer life’s big questions. This is, I think, a different way of saying: It imbues life with meaning and purpose. This is why I, as a strong-headed rationalist, am a believer, and love what I believe, as well as the life that I live based on those. This is, in truth, the classic theistic argument; if religion gives us meaning and happiness, why would we not embrace it?

I am a strong advocate of freedom of one's conscience, so I do not think religion, or any other set of beliefs, should be forced on anyone. I do think, though, that parents should try to persuade their children to believe what they, themselves, believe. The reason for this is simple- if the parents believe that they have a good perception of truth, of course they should teach it to their children! If the goal is to find truth, why would the parents NOT try to bring their children towards it?? My point, though, is that parents cannot force their beliefs on their children. In my opinion, if parents are so certain that they are correct in their beliefs, they should not have any difficulty convincing their children to espouse the same.

This is my belief about all religious conflicts; if you are so sure that you are correct, why are you so scared to debate about it? You should have no trouble proving you are correct! But, historically, this has been avoided in favor of oppression, massive wars, terrorism, and the like. I can’t see why this is.

To narrow down my point: If parents have certain beliefs, presumably beliefs which they have sought out and found as truth, they should definitely try to TEACH their children these beliefs, but never try to FORCE the acceptance of them.

05/25/2014 11:30am

I'm sorry for not getting to this sooner- I've been very busy recently with finals coming up (I'm a junior in high school).

I agree with everything you said, and I think that your uncertainty is not out of the ordinary, particularly in today's world.

To start in my response to what you have written I will have you note the fact that I am a very religious person. Also know that I have a great background in psychology- child psychology in particular- and have spent a massive amount of time studying it. (This is on top of having nearly-uncanny natural perceptiveness of how people, and children particularly, work.) This will be relevant later on.

I absolutely agree with your point about toleration, and I carry a perspective that I perceive a greater degree of truth and gain a greater meaning for my life from my beliefs than people of other beliefs do, but I respect everyone else for what they believe on the condition that they respect me and what I believe.

Religion has unquestionably dictated the course of history in a more powerful sense than anything else. Judeo-Christian values are the basis for democratic law, and our societies as a whole are largely modeled by those cultures.

I will not go into my particular beliefs, but I will say that I am far from a blind follower. I hate blind faith with a passion, as I believe that it is the birthplace of hatred and radicalism. I have spent much of the last few years of my life learning as much as I can about religious history, religious texts, and religious and secular philosophy, in my never ending search for truth. I have come to a place where I am satisfied with what I believe, but I am constantly challenging those in an effort to find holes, with my intention being to fill any gaps that remain with more truth.

Given my background in both philosophy and religion, I have a firm conviction that absolute morality can come only from a divine source, and I believe that religion is what contains that. Granted, as a very religious person who has researched many other belief systems, I believe that only my religion is truly divine, but behind almost every religion is the same underlying moral system. This is the system is the basis of Judeo-Christian tradition based on the Bible. Again, though, I respect any religion or other belief system as long as it respects the beliefs of others and does not attempt to encroach on others' lives and practices.

I also believe that religion is of crucial importance in its ability to give meaning to one’s life. I am a very happy person, and I readily acknowledge the fact that my religious belief and practice is largely the conduit for that happiness. As you have alluded to, religion is of supreme importance in its ability to answer life’s big questions. This is, I think, a different way of saying: It imbues life with meaning and purpose. This is why I, as a strong-headed rationalist, am a believer, and love what I believe, as well as the life that I live based on those. This is, in truth, the classic theistic argument; if religion gives us meaning and happiness, why would we not embrace it?

I am a strong advocate of freedom of one's conscience, so I do not think religion, or any other set of beliefs, should be forced on anyone. I do think, though, that parents should try to persuade their children to believe what they, themselves, believe. The reason for this is simple- if the parents believe that they have a good perception of truth, of course they should teach it to their children! If the goal is to find truth, why would the parents NOT try to bring their children towards it?? My point, though, is that parents cannot force their beliefs on their children. In my opinion, if parents are so certain that they are correct in their beliefs, they should not have any difficulty convincing their children to espouse the same.

This is my belief about all religious conflicts; if you are so sure that you are correct, why are you so scared to debate about it? You should have no trouble proving you are correct! But, historically, this has been avoided in favor of oppression, massive wars, terrorism, and the like. I can’t see why this is.

To narrow down my point: If parents have certain beliefs, presumably beliefs which they have sought out and found as truth, they should definitely try to TEACH their children these beliefs, but never try to FORCE the acceptance of them.

A basic understanding of child psychology would inform us that children (all people, really, but children are an even more certain example) run from things that are forced on them. Think about times when you tried to put pajamas on your kids or put them into the bathtub or their beds. What do they do? They run away from you! They HATE when they are forced to do things!

But now think about times when you have explained something to them in a loving way, as you tried to show them logically why you were correct and that they should listen to you. Maybe

05/25/2014 12:43pm

I received your responses. Thank you.

I believe I understand your perspective.

- You are happy with your beliefs.

- You believe you should share them with the ones you love.

- You believe the only way to the truth is to pursue it (investigate/learn) and engage in debate.

I agree with your perspective. I share these beliefs.

I believe that the reason children often rebel is because they naturally
pursue the truth. I believe all living things do.

No matter what you believe, or how strongly you believe it, it will be
questioned by the ones you love. Some of the answers you provide will be accepted, others will not. That is natural. That is okay.

I am glad you continue to pursue the truth.

If you replaced the word religion with the word faith in your response, would it have the same meaning to you?

05/25/2014 4:47pm

Did you actually get my entire response? Not all of it is here and the site gave me an error when I tried to send it...

I intentionally tried to avoid differentiating between "religion" and "beliefs"- I put the two together. Even aside from the fact that often the two significantly overlap, I think it they really are one in the same.

Also, while I agree that people naturally pursue the truth, so they will be inclined to disagree, I think that if parents take the approach that I suggest their children will ultimately embrace the beliefs of the parents, something that the child's love for his parents will push him strongly towards. This is what I discussed towards the end of what I wrote earlier (second to last paragraph, if you got that part).

If you did not get that part I can try some other method of getting it to you. I would love for you to see it and give me any more feedback you have.

Thank you!

06/09/2014 9:17am

I agree that children will follow the teachings of their parents and community - if they trust and respect their perspective. If they don't trust their teachings, they will seek out others to follow and learn from. This may be a good thing, or a bad - depending on who they choose to follow.

05/25/2014 5:00pm

I understand. I believe I received it all. I am interested in your perspective on a number of issues surrounding religion. Not to challenge your beliefs, but to increase my understanding.

06/02/2014 8:59pm

David,

I don't want to go too much into my personal religious beliefs, but I will give you a small background. I am a very religious Jew, and most of my beliefs stem from Judaism. I have pursued my religious beliefs intellectually and I am satisfied that I have a great degree of truth. As I've made clear before, though, I don't think that we can know what absolute truth really is, so I don't reject anyone else's views on the grounds that mine are the only correct ones.

If you have particular topics you would like to discuss I would be fine with that, but I do not want to give more than I have thus far, as it will be virtually meaningless to anyone who lacks a significant background in Judaism.

Please let me know if there is something particular that you would like for me to address.

06/03/2014 12:01am

I understand and respect your desire for anonymity. There is nothing in particular I would like you to address. I appreciate your perspective in general. Whatever/whenever you are comfortable with sharing.

I also want to clarify why I haven't published all of your responses. It is not a desire for editorial control. Early on I decided I would publish any respectful comments that furthered the dialogue. This includes comments that I don't agree with. The only comments I have chosen not to publish from you have been purely complementary, or in the recent case, comments that repeated earlier postings because you were having difficulty with the site.

I would be happy to publish all of your comments and give you the opportunity to request deletion of any you want. (just send me the topic/time stamp of the ones you want to delete). Please let me know if you would like me to do this.

If you would like to contact me in private at any time you may also reach me at fathersweek@shaw.ca.

I greatly appreciate your perspective, encouragement, and complements that you have provided along the way.

05/27/2014 11:34am

Anonymous,

You might enjoy this. http://www.gnosis.org/audio/Christ-Misunderstood-Redeemer.mp3

05/29/2014 10:05am

I should probably clarify that I direct you to this lecture, not because I believe it bears the truth, but rather because I think it raises some interesting questions. Particularly about the canonization of scriptures. All of them.

06/07/2014 3:32am

It is easy to misinterpret one's perspective and to read things into the meaning of words. Meaning that is not intended. So let me speak plainly. I continue to hold you in the highest regard.

06/10/2014 5:12pm

Thank you very much!

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