Transsexuality and religion

[liesjeversteven]

I don't want to step on sensitive toes here, but EVERY religion is dangerous! Be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, right wing republicanism, or whatever, they all have one thing in common: they are all convinced they have a monopoly on the truth, and that is one of the most dangerous things in the world.

[jdawg]

Every religion has blood on its hands. I'm not sure why Islam is singled out since Israel uses Judaism to justify it's power, and Rome was dominated by the Church, and the US killed people for believing in Communism while the presidents were claiming to be good christians etc etc.



All religions have the potential to be violent and all religions have reached this potential to the fullest. To single out one is to be dishonest about your own religion.

[Tread]

Does anyone know anything bad or dangerous about Buddhism?

[liesjeversteven]

Originally Posted by Tread

Does anyone know anything bad or dangerous about Buddhism?

Well, here's a nice article about it:

http://www.sangam.org/articles/view/?id=118

[TheSkronkDonkey]

Superstition is gussied up fear and religion is gussied up superstition. Much art and beauty has emerged from religious thought and religious belief, but that still doesn't change the fact that religion is nothing more than the enshrinement and elevation of ignorance to the detriment and abandonment of logic, rationality, empiricism and true ethics. The need is human, the transgression is human, the perceived patterns of divinity are human-made -- on this basis, and only this basis, religion commands respect. However ...

If something divine exists, it must surely exist beyond all patterns. Time and again, human beings have made gross errors of judgment, founded on fear, fostered by ignorance, from believing that epilepsy was a sign of divine madness, to the Earth being at the centre of the universe, to comets being flaming swords, beards, jars, chariots, even the sum of all human sins, to deformity and disease a sign of a god's wrath or proof of evil spirits, to the idea that the universe emerged in a puff of smoke or that everything was created in six thousand years, that planets were birthed before stars, that plants functioned without sunlight and so on.

In the past 500 years, especially the last 150, science has made religion look like the colossally flawed interpretation of reality that it is. And it has done this not by attacking religion, but ignoring its tenets and sticking to its own, discovering things that no-one in their wildest imaginings could have believed. Science shames human imagination and makes us look like the feeble, dull-minded, dull-sensing species we are. Apart from by maintaining a bizarre, dissonant and downright solipsistic state of mind, I fail to see how anyone who is truly familiar with the progress of knowledge -- HOW it's been acquired and WHAT has been acquired -- just in the past few centuries could possibly maintain sincere faith in any system that requires belief in anything but evidence.

With science, we can determine what is sensible and what is not, we can improve and grow, we can build better technology, better societies, better ways of living, and a road to the stars; with religion, we lock ourselves away from the world, from its beauty and its horror, from the true scope of human suffering, from the true nature of what being human is, has been, will be and could be.

[Jenae LaTorque]

Originally Posted by TheSkronkDonkey

Superstition is gussied ........

///

............, has been, will be and could be.

Did you write this yourself? If so, I am impressed. This is a very well put, coherant, statement of your position; something that is very rare on this forum.

This would make a nice preface to my 1st question to the Postal guy on his ask me thread.

[TheSkronkDonkey]

Originally Posted by Jenae LaTorque

Did you write this yourself? If so, I am impressed. This is a very well put, coherant, statement of your position; something that is very rare on this forum.

Wow! Thank you very much, Jenae! Yes, I write everything from scratch, unless otherwise indicated.

Originally Posted by Jenae LaTorque

This would make a nice preface to my 1st question to the Postal guy on his ask me thread.

LOL! I don't know about that, but I'm sorry we have locked horns in your other thread. Although the impression I have given might be the opposite, I have actually been enjoying your thread, apart from the thing I chose to quibble. Our disagreement aside, you're eloquent, witty and very smart -- which, I have learned these past few years, is a mix of qualities that's a lot rarer than it should be.

[randolph]

Originally Posted by TheSkronkDonkey

Superstition is gussied up fear and religion is gussied up superstition. Much art and beauty has emerged from religious thought and religious belief, but that still doesn't change the fact that religion is nothing more than the enshrinement and elevation of ignorance to the detriment and abandonment of logic, rationality, empiricism and true ethics. The need is human, the transgression is human, the perceived patterns of divinity are human-made -- on this basis, and only this basis, religion commands respect. However ...

If something divine exists, it must surely exist beyond all patterns. Time and again, human beings have made gross errors of judgment, founded on fear, fostered by ignorance, from believing that epilepsy was a sign of divine madness, to the Earth being at the centre of the universe, to comets being flaming swords, beards, jars, chariots, even the sum of all human sins, to deformity and disease a sign of a god's wrath or proof of evil spirits, to the idea that the universe emerged in a puff of smoke or that everything was created in six thousand years, that planets were birthed before stars, that plants functioned without sunlight and so on.

In the past 500 years, especially the last 150, science has made religion look like the colossally flawed interpretation of reality that it is. And it has done this not by attacking religion, but ignoring its tenets and sticking to its own, discovering things that no-one in their wildest imaginings could have believed. Science shames human imagination and makes us look like the feeble, dull-minded, dull-sensing species we are. Apart from by maintaining a bizarre, dissonant and downright solipsistic state of mind, I fail to see how anyone who is truly familiar with the progress of knowledge -- HOW it's been acquired and WHAT has been acquired -- just in the past few centuries could possibly maintain sincere faith in any system that requires belief in anything but evidence.

With science, we can determine what is sensible and what is not, we can improve and grow, we can build better technology, better societies, better ways of living, and a road to the stars; with religion, we lock ourselves away from the world, from its beauty and its horror, from the true scope of human suffering, from the true nature of what being human is, has been, will be and could be.

An excellent post, very articulate. Science could be the salvation of humanity except for the fact that humans are not rational. They are driven by instincts, desires and of course the ego. Even scientists often behave irrationally. Unfortunately their research is sometimes influenced by politics and personal desires. I know, I was in University research for many years. Controlling the ego would be the first step in developing a rational society. In a following post, I would like to open for discussion an ancient Indian philosophy that deals with the ego and also transsexuality.
Its called Tantra.

[randolph]

Tantra
I also would like to put in my two cents worth. Indian mysticism and especially the philosophy Tantric yoga has significance for transsexuals. In Tantric yoga there is a God "Siva" and a Goddess "Parvati". Tantric adepts "worshipers" believe that Siva is inert until Parvati merges with him in sexual union. Parvati possesses the energy that enables Siva to create the universe. Some Tantric sects worship the transsexual aspect of this union and create statues representing this union as half male and half female, in other words transsexual.
Tantric philosophy reveals that the female energy of the Goddess is suppressed in males. In the male human, the ego actively suppresses the female spirit within, in order to maintain male ego dominance. This female energy can be activated and transcend the male ego by meditation and worshiping the Goddess (called kundalini in India). This energy rises from the base of the spine and can produces very powerful self awareness "enlightenment" if you will, with a feeling of bonding with the universe.
I suspect that male hostility directed toward transsexuals has something to do with the basic insecurity the male ego has toward females and especially toward males transcending into females. They know subconsciously that males are psychically inferior to females and their ego dominance is threatened. This is an extremely brief presentation of Tantric yoga and may not make much sense but I know from personal experience that it works. I am a straight male and Tantric yoga has made my relationship with women much easier. Sometime, I would like to know how well I could get along with a tgirl.

[Jenae LaTorque]

Originally Posted by Tread

Does anyone know anything bad or dangerous about Buddhism?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Didn't buddha himself state something like. "there is no God, there are no miracles, water does not run uphill"

I always thought it was quite ironic for him to say that and then after he is dead, they make him God and start worshipping him.

[Tread]

I don't know much about Buddhism, that's why I asked the question, and liesjeversteven gave a good answer.
But I think there was several Buddha's, and none of them is a god for anyone. They worship him for sagacity and breaking thru the circle of life (normal would be reincarnation and life goes on and on).

Buddhism is the only big religion that is not totally based on once spoken words. I think Buddha said something like that: always think by yourself and to question teachings.

And it's totally against hating and very tolerant. As long as you are not a cause of affliction everything is fine. It's the own religion that allows to belief in other religions while being Buddhist.

[Jenae LaTorque]

At first thought, I said to myself, "There is no connection between the two."

Then I thought about the similarities. Both are a belief system for which there is no hard evidence. Both have divisions among their believers where some believe one thing, while others believe something else. Sometimes the differances are minor, sometimes not. Both are clouded by ignorance and uncertainty. Both have the possibility of great love on one hand, and great hatred, even killing, on the other hand. Both can be a great shaper of lives, both for the better, or, sometimes for the worst.

What it finally boils down to in the final analysis is that both are perhaps simply creations of the human mind. And since the mind differs from one individual to another, so our belief systems must differ. Of course man is a societal animals so a need to belong also shapes our beliefs. And then there has to be an accomadation between differant facets of an individuals beliefs (truths?) so it is interesting to see the ways this plays out among people of differant cultures, places, history, etc.

I have seen theories about both of these behavior patterns being based on something physical in our makeup but nothing that has convinced me yet. My personal feeling about both of these is simple; no harm - no foul

As long as you follow your own beliefs and do not present a danger to myself then I say "live and let live". However, If you cross the line and my well being is threatened, then my survival belief system will kick in.

Also, for the record. I do not believe in the existance of any type of God as manifested by the religions of this world.