Let's Talk Religion

by Laura Ellen Shulman - Dec. '85   "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is a common question asked by Westerners. This situation is cause for much religious doubt in traditions based on a concept of an all good and just God. "If God is good why is there evil in the world which God created?" It is not justice when good people suffer. Job asks the same question and discovers that "his is not to reason why, his is but to do or die" without questioning what he cannot comprehend. The question is asked by all people in all times and places. Our solutions to the problem are diverse. When the philosophers of ancient India asked the question they came up with a much more psychologically satisfying answer. The Indian answer to the question is the basis of all later Indian religious development (including Jain and Buddhist as well as Hindu) while the Western "answer" continues to make religion very hard for many people to hold on to.   Indian Wor

I had my first truly mystical experience when I was a junior in college. I recognized it as God's revelation of himself to me, making his presence known in my life. I was deeply depressed. I roomed alone (by desire). My few friends rarely visited me. I did not party or play loud music. And there I was on a Saturday night in the dorm with a "mixer" (dance) going on downstairs and a loud party going on in a room down the hall and I was locked behind my door feeling sorry for myself and angry that others were having fun while I was feeling left out, even though that type of fun was not the something I enjoyed. "What's the point?" I asked to no one in particular. "Why do I even continue to live?" My deep depression was leading me to suicidal thoughts. In an instant, I had my answer. A thought occurred to me: "I'm OK just the way I am. I do not have to be like everyone else." A great sense of inner peace and joy came over me and washed my

  Exploring the the Relationship Between Mysticism and Religion A Story by Laura Ellen Shulman     A young man has his own very special relationship with God - an internal mystical connection with his Source and the Source of all. This is a relationship through which wisdom, knowledge and insight is gained regarding the nature of God, human nature, life in this world and how human beings are related to and ought relate to God and each other. This young man puts this understanding into practice in his own life. He loves others as he loves himself because he knows everyone is united as one in God. He has a unique and refreshing view on life. He is happy and at peace and this shows in his very being.     People are attracted to him by the love he shows for them and the insightful things he has to say. They listen and try to understand but very few of them have the benefit of the same relationship he has with God. It is this relationship that makes the difference between hearing what he ha

Consider the possibility: The first chapter in Genesis is a brief outline or synopsis of the unfolding history of  humanity through six 1000 year stages ("days"). Support: Biblical dating traces the "Beginning" back about 6000 years. Jewish reckoning of Biblical time holds that is has been 5760 years since creation (current year on the Jewish calendar). In religious circles it is sometimes noted that "1000 years is as one day for God." Even if we look to history, archaeology and sociology, we can see that civilization and recorded history of humanity does not go back much more than 5500 years or so (to 3500 BCE). First stage of human history: Humanity (i.e., civilization,  not  the species Homo Sapiens) is "born" - represented by the creation of Adam ("mankind"). This "Adamic" stage lasts about 1000 years (Adam lived 930 years: Gen 5:5). Adam would be the "prophet" of this first stage of humanity. Adam also represent

An Interpretation by Laura Shulman From the Chuang Tzu (Taoist Tradition): "The ruler of the South Sea was called Light; the ruler of the North Sea, Darkness; and the ruler of the middle kingdom, Primal Chaos. From time to time, Light and Darkness met one another in the kingdom of Primal Chaos, who made them welcome. Light and Darkness wanted to repay his kindness and said, "All men have seven openings with which they see, hear, eat and breathe, but Primal Chaos has none. Let us try to give him some." So every day they bored one hole, and on the seventh day, Primal Chaos died."     This is the creation of the universe, the elimination of chaos. Creating something in your image of perfection may very well destroy something else. Chaos is a mixing of all things into one (the Chinese word is "Won-ton" as in Won-ton soup). This unity of all is non-differentiation. As soon as the chaos is sorted out and ordered it is differentiated, it becomes many. Differentia

    Myth, metaphor, parable and analogies are tools that we use in our attempt to describe something that lies just beyond our intellectual capacity to comprehend. Our intuition understands, we  feel  the understanding, but our communication of this understanding uses the intellect to put into words what remains but a hazy comprehension, like the brass ring of a carousel, just barely within reach. Even Jesus could only use analogy and parable to describe the "Kingdom of God" and even that phrase, "Kingdom of God," is, itself, yet a higher level of metaphor.     The role of myth in all human culture is as an  aid  to our understanding of more abstract truths. The only thing that is lacking in the way most people approach myth is that they do not understand those myths as  symbolic  of something that  is  real. Most contemporary people throw out the old myths as outright lie rather than try to understand what the myths are trying to tell us.     Myths carry the "

  The human pursuit of religion serves a function in our lives. There is a purpose or goal to being religious. Be it the goal of salvation or enlightenment, comfort and guidance for living a moral life, or any of a number of other “higher” purposes in life, religions clearly encourage us to move beyond a life motivated by self-centeredness and pure animal instincts for mere survival. This observation about the ultimate goals, purpose or function of religion can be related to Abraham Maslow’s classic theory of a hierarchy of human needs: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Religion tends to fulfill the higher needs. Starting with a need for the comfort and camaraderie of community, religion also addresses our need to respect and be respected by others (the “Golden Rule”) and, ultimately, to be all that we can be as “God” created us to be or, in the case of many Eastern religions, to become “enlightened” – thus “self-actualized”. Most people seem to live a life in pursuit of th