Your religion or atheist belief.

[mawk]

Religion is good for debate, but things like praying at a certain time are, in my opinion, a waste of time that could be spent on something productive.

Because five minutes out of a day or an hour out of every week is really going to stand in the way of your super-important projects.

No beef with anything else you said, but I can't stand crappy one-liner arguments.

I've realized that, thank you, (as in I've spent counless hours in chapters (a bookstore) reading the books there.

You do realize that Buddhism isn't just how-to books, right? It's a philosophy of life as much as anything else, and philosophy isn't something you get just by saying to yourself "hey I bet it'd be cool if I were Buddhist" and knocking up the nearest bookstore for copies of Buddhism for Dummies.

If you are not seeking your Buddha Nature, you are not following Buddhism.

 

[sharksweetheart]

.

 

[bluehazed]

Yeah, I do. The book I was reading (sorry if that sounded plural, it was just one long one :D) Just explaind budda, and how blah blah not going to bother, anyways, I do understand that its something to take seriously.

PS: theres a buddism for dummies? Lol kidding.

 

[Stardust]

I like meditation, too.  Meditation or anything that you want to do is good for helping calm the mind, but praying or going to church because you think you will go to Hell otherwise is just...horrible.

And Chimmy:
5 minutes of meditation
x 5 times a day
x 165 days a year
x 72 approximate years of life
____________________
297,000 minutes

It may not seem like much, but it does take away a lot of time eventually.  Wasting 4,125 minutes a year doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

 

[mawk]

Guardian, do you have any idea how many fucking minutes are in a year? Five minutes a day is five minutes a day, regardless of how many days you add up.

Considering people here regularly waste upwards of five minutes typing up long posts, I wouldn't be worried about praying if I'm going to compulsively budget my time.

 

[bluehazed]

ouch. Hes got a point. you can add up as many numbers as you want but 297000/37843200 is only equal to .007 or .7% of your life. Not much.

 

[Stardust]

Yeah, I'm not really sure what I was thinking with that.  I guess I just wanted to figure it out myself, but you're right.  Regardless, I still don't plan on wasting (or using) my time with praying when I don't deem it necessary.

 

[Venetia]

... When would it be necessary ...? Deathrow? When you're out of clean underwear because the barrel of a semi-automatic is glaring between your eyes? End stage liver failure?

 

[Stardust]

Necessary as in when I want to, not when/if I feel I have to.  Sorry, I mis-worded that a little. ^-^;

 

[mawk]

So you can't spare five minutes in one day?

To each their own, I guess.

 

[Stardust]

I'm just not going to pray if I don't feel like praying.  But, your second line should conclude this semi-on-topic discussion.

 

[Venetia]

I used to try to meditate when I was a teenager and was trying to experiment with Buddhism (I haven't always been the apathetic shell of a person you know and love). I'd always fall asleep--right there, sitting down, I'd just doze off. It's too f'kin' boring.

 

[Stardust]

I used to try to meditate when I was a teenager and was trying to experiment with Buddhism (I haven't always been the apathetic shell of a person you know and love). I'd always fall asleep--right there, sitting down, I'd just doze off. It's too f'kin' boring.

Well...I guess you're getting the intended effect - relaxation.  I usually only meditate before going to bed to clear my mind because I can't sleep when my mind is racing.

And coen, you should have PMed Chimmy instead of going off-topic in this thread.

 

[mawk]

I quite agree. The thread has been fixed, let's stay on the subject from now on, 'kay?

 

[shiroun]

I like meditation, too.  Meditation or anything that you want to do is good for helping calm the mind, but praying or going to church because you think you will go to Hell otherwise is just...horrible.

And Chimmy:
5 minutes of meditation
x 5 times a day
x 165 days a year
x 72 approximate years of life
____________________
297,000 minutes

It may not seem like much, but it does take away a lot of time eventually.  Wasting 4,125 minutes a year doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Its 365 days in a year...

 

[Stardust]

Whoops... ^-^;  Let me try that again, this time just five minutes a day for the right amount of days.

5 minutes
x365 days
_________
1,825 minutes/year

But, let's end this, please.  This is supposed to be a discussion of who believes in what religion, not a discussion of my math skills and thinking capabilities late at night.  So, shiroun, what do you believe?

 

[mawk]

For the record, the people who pray because they think they'll be going to hell if they don't are doing it for the wrong reason. There are two reasons not to be religious; they were described to me once as the path of the thief and the path of the coward. The thief believes that by believing in God he can gain something for himself -- this is similar to a lot of people I know who believe that since they believe in God, It is obligated to forgive them or grant them wishes or whatever. The problem here is that these dudes believe they have control over God, and thinking you're more powerful than God is a big no-no.

The coward believes because he thinks that he'll go to Hell if he doesn't. Simply put, he's still in the religion for his own interests. I think I have more of a problem with this than I do the thief, because for one thing I disagree with the notion that anyone who doesn't believe in a thing of infinite grace and mercy will be sent to hell by that thing because it doesn't like being ignored, and for another it's a horrible way to convert people. Unfortunately, it's also a very popular way of converting people at the moment. Then again, I disagree with the notion of converting people in general, so...

Anyway, prayer isn't for God so much as it's for you. The way I see it, It doesn't have any special need for a pat on the back, but It does tell us to play nice. It's a way of keeping you on the straight and narrow by reminding you that Big Juju gunna smack you if you do wrong. You best watch yo'self. Muslims pray five times a day, the assumption being that if you've just prayed, you're not going to go out and murder anyone or anything like that. Of course, that doesn't work if you assume the dude you're praying to wants you to kill people... :x

 

[shiroun]

Whoops... ^-^;  Let me try that again, this time just five minutes a day for the right amount of days.

5 minutes
x365 days
_________
1,825 minutes/year

But, let's end this, please.  This is supposed to be a discussion of who believes in what religion, not a discussion of my math skills and thinking capabilities late at night.  So, shiroun, what do you believe?

I'm agnostic, so really I'm neutral. I just like hearing what others have to say.

 

[Dissonance]

I believe in only two things...

Evidence

and

Testimony

 

[Olivia]

I like meditation, too.  Meditation or anything that you want to do is good for helping calm the mind, but praying or going to church because you think you will go to Hell otherwise is just...horrible.

And Chimmy:
5 minutes of meditation
x 5 times a day
x 165 days a year
x 72 approximate years of life
____________________
297,000 minutes

It may not seem like much, but it does take away a lot of time eventually.  Wasting 4,125 minutes a year doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Some people spend more time masturbating than that. So why would doing a spiritual activity be silly? People choose to take that many minutes out of their day because they want to.