#and thus eventually everybody will achieve salvation

[elbiotipo]

Calvinism is a branch of protestanism that says that God has already chosen who will be saved and who would go to hell, without anyone having any choice in the matter. (Predestination) If there is a theology I deeply, deeply and genuinely despise to my very core, is predestination. It goes against everything I genuinely believe, the possibility of change, redemption, and choice.

I cannot believe it was the official religion of many countries. The doctrine of "some people are just born to go to hell no matter what you do". If you ask me about one theological belief I genuinely hate, it's this.

[haaathi-musings]

This piece was written by me when I was a 17 year old stoner. I found it in a 30 year old journal. I MAY SOUND DRUNK, BUT BELIEVE ME, I WAS ONLY STONED. Do read it, just to amuse yourself.

Individuality is basically what I feel very strongly about. I mean, look at how everybody has got his own individual idea about certain things, which may be very different from your own. It is his trip as I say so all the time. This is basically something which cannot be changed because all of our thoughts are related to our own upbringing and the various things we have experienced and their effects on us and our minds, of which no two people can be having identical thought forms. Each person visualises things differently because of the above reasons and many many more and he does things in accordance with his thoughts and thus one should not try to make a person do things the way he wants them to be done, but let the person grow in his own fashion, but at the same time not forfeiting his own ideas and opinions. This in my opinion is a very ‘bum trip’ because I feel highly enlightened and want the whole world to visualise things the way I do, thinking that this may be the only way the world can achieve salvation or nirvana or whatever. I feel what I know is really great and that I am the coolest dude with the coolest ideas around. I may be the coolest dude with the coolest ideas, but is there any reason why the world should see things the way I do and live accordingly? I don’t know.

Richard Bach summed it up quite well in Illusions when he said that all of us in this world are not living in one world but are living in each of our own personal worlds. This does not mean the personal world as shown in movies or story books where the person in question has a fantasy dream world which he escapes into every time he has a hard time. What Richard has meant is that the way each of us sees things and feels things, is very personal and no other person can experience the same feelings or visualise things the way the individual in question does. This means that there are approximately five billion odd people living on this planet living in five billion odd worlds and they may see the same things as I see in five billion odd different ways and experience five billion odd different feelings about them.

So coming back to where I picked up Richard, I should not try to save this world of 5 billion odd people by trying to get them to see things my way because each of them may be having his own idea of looking at things and saving this world which means that there are approximately 5 billion odd ways to achieve this which means we are not falling short of roads to salvation or whatever you may call it and if each person is confident of his own road and follows it, then all of us will reach the same destination (if there is one such existing) using 5 billion odd different paths. So, eventually I reach one conclusion and that is ‘Live and Let Live’. I used to take this statement in the literal sense, meaning I should live and stay alive and let the other person do the same. The statement DOES mean this but now I see it also as an interpretation of tripping on your own and letting the other person go on tripping on his own and don’t disturb him. (Tripping is one word I use a lot but it is not in the context to drugs but basically a trip is life and a trip is basically what one enjoys doing according to me.)

NOTE: EITHER THE MAAL WAS TOO STRONG THAT DAY, OR MY DAD WANTED TO SEND ME ON AN ERRAND TO LOHAR CHAWL.

[wisdomrays]

HOW FINITE BECOMES INFINITE?: Part 1

Followers of the Abrahamic religions-Muslims, Christians, and Jews in general-believe in an eternal life after death, in one form or another, and that the righteous will be rewarded for their good deeds in the hereafter and the wicked will be punished. (The definition of righteousness and wickedness vary from religion to religion, and even from sect to sect within the same religion, but the overarching theme of eternal life after death is common to all three religions.) Given that the average human life is around sixty to seventy years, it perhaps does not make absolute sense at first how one can be rewarded or punished for an infinite amount of time as a consequence of a life lived for such a short time span (compared to eternity), no matter what the actions might be. The purpose of this article is to attempt to provide a logical explanation for this finite-to-infinite dilemma through the notion of “intention,”. The article further elaborates on sincerity of intention, describes its fundamental characteristics and importance for eternal salvation, and explains how it might practically be achieved in our daily lives. The article then briefly outlines a second line of reasoning regarding denial and recognition of the infinite attributes of God. The discussion is concluded with a word of caution that this article merely tries to scratch the surface of these critical, yet deep, issues of faith and that eventually it is a matter of personal choice for one to believe or not to believe in any specific matter related to faith.

Intention and sincerity

Excluding childhood and the time spent in sleep, an average person has about thirty years in total for everything else during his or her lifetime. Out of these thirty years, we spend most of our time on eating, school, work, family commitments, and other essential, but non-religious activities. As a matter of fact, in today’s world where everybody is busy, even a person who deems himself or herself “religious” might be considered lucky if he or she can spend an hour a day on traditional religious activities such as reading religious books, praying, and so on. Assuming an hour a day for thirty years, we would spend about fifteen months in total on traditional religious activities, and this is perhaps the upper limit for most people. So, the finite-to-infinite dilemma becomes even more interesting: keeping in mind that even one trillion years is nothing compared to eternity, how can one earn eternal paradise in all its beauty that is far beyond human imagination by spending not more than fifteen months to earn it? The answer is one of the four culminations of his life: intention.

The intention of an action can simply be defined as the true motive behind that action. A “sincere and pure” intention, in a religious context, can perhaps be defined as the true motive of drawing closer to God, and drawing closer to God only. Nursi states that “Intention changes ordinary acts and customs into acts of worship. It is a penetrating and pervading spirit through which inanimate states and deeds acquire life and become ‘living’ acts of worship. It is also through a special quality of intention that evil changes into virtue or good deeds. Intention is a ‘spirit’ that causes ordinary deeds and customs to become ‘living’ acts of worship.” Our intentions are indeed the soul of our actions and, provided that we believe in God, what makes our actions worthy of earning eternal paradise solely lies in the sincerity of our intentions. In a sense, our actions are a sequence of zeros and a sincere intention is a positive 1 in front of those zeros, whereas an insincere intention is a negative 1. That being said, we must pay particular attention not to act against well-established principles of the religion and claim that our actions still carry a good intention. For instance, under no circumstances is one allowed to harm an innocent civilian, even during war, and therefore there can be no good intention behind this crime.

By striving to achieve purity and sincerity in our intentions (known as ikhlas), we can expect the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful God to treat our activities as if we spend our entire life worshipping Him while still leading a regular, balanced life-provided that we respect the basic principles of the religion and avoid committing major sins. “In this world, and particularly in the services done for the afterlife, a most important foundation, and a greatest power, and a most acceptable intercessor, and a firmest point of reliance, and a shortest way to the truth, and a most answerable prayer, and a most blessed and marvelous means of achieving one’s goal, and a most sublime virtue, and a purest form of worship is sincerity, or doing something good or any religious deed purely for God’s sake.” The relationship between actions, intentions, sincerity, and salvation as follows: “Intention’s ‘soul’ is sincerity or acting solely for God’s sake. Salvation is found only in sincere actions done in His way. Sincerity multiplies an action’s worth, and through it one can reach Paradise with a little action and in a short life.” Obviously, we can do only a finite number of good deeds during a finite lifetime. Thus, at least from a technical point of view, we cannot earn eternal paradise unless infinite reward is given to our finite actions. God is so merciful that He promises Heaven to believers with the good deeds of a short lifetime, and in order for this to happen, He demands purity and sincerity in the intentions of those good deeds. In other words, the secret component in this finite to infinite transformation is nothing but sincerity of intention.

So it turns out that ikhlas, that is, sincerity of intention, is not optional: it is mandatory, and it is of the utmost importance. So, how do we achieve ikhlas? The first rule for gaining and preserving ikhlas as follows: “You should pursue God’s good pleasure in your actions. If He is pleased with you, even if the whole world is displeased, it is of no consequence. If He approves, it has no effect even if all others reject your ideas and actions. When He is pleased and approves, even if you do not seek the approval of others, should He will it to be so and His Wisdom requires it, He will make others accept it and be pleased with you.” In our daily lives, we might be performing daily prayers, reading religious books, and performing other traditional worship activities. During these activities, it is critical that we make sure that our intention is to draw closer to God and nothing else. A prayer performed to make others think one is pious, a fast observed for health benefits, a Pilgrimage made to enjoy the journey, or wealth distributed to obtain good reputation will not only dishonor the owner of these deeds in the hereafter, but also be rejected as the intentions behind these actions are impure, insincere, and have no ikhlas in them.

There are numerous other activities in our daily lives that are essential to our well-being and social lives, but nonreligious in nature. We go to school or work every day, we eat, we sleep, we love our parents, spouses, and children, we spend time with our families and friends, we brush our teeth, and so forth. God the Most Merciful tells us that he will treat these activities as worship, but only if they are done with good, sincere intention (again, conditioned upon respecting the basic principles of the religion and avoiding major sins).

[german-killua]

Thought i just put this out there, because i thought about Batman v Superman a bit. Hope you enjoy.

Superman has been used to destroy earth many times. Batman's fear are absolutely valid. Fuck it was one of the main plot points of the Earth-2 Stories a few years ago. Everybody thought superman was dead but in reality he came back and worked for darkseid after the guy broke him. Darkseid (Who we all know will be the JLA Villain) pulled this shit like what..40000000 times now? 

Saying Superman is not a threat is like looking at  a chimney in your house. Its not have one, it provides light and Heat...And its fine and save as long as it is in check. But if its broken, fucked and goes out of control, it quickly engulfs your house in fire and turns it to burning rubble. Only an idiot would think that Superman is not a threat. 

Hell Superman has spoken out about this REPEATEDLY, downright handing Batman kryptonite. And on top of that saying he is the only one he trusts to make the call. And he did that again by asking Wonder Women to cut his bloody head off with her magic sword in case superman goes apeshit. He downright claims it at the end of injustice saying: "Well i always have you to keep me in check" to batman. 

 Superman knows he can destroy the planet. He is so freaking aware of it that a big part of his Character is: "What should i do..How much should i really intervene?" which makes him a bit of the opposite to other Heroes. Many times a Hero struggles because he does not do enough. Superman wonders if doing too much is bad. Can he end wars? Yes. Should he?

 Probably not. Because then he becomes not only a symbol but an aggressor. Not just inspires hopes as he strives to do, but rather fear through his actions. Its a concept that is so jarring when you watch Superman Man of Steel and BVS. That superman does not give a fuck about his reception. He does not care when he flatout fucking murders people. 

 This Superman wants to be seen as a force of good..But he damns and disregards his own actions by justifying them as necessary and allowed because he is the one who can make that decision. The very characterization and thought process that could lead an individual to the conclusion that "Right through Might" is the only logical conclusion to their existence. 

That they have the right to dictate what is acceptable solely based on the fact that they have the might to execute the actions they are trying to justify. The act of acting becomes its own justification. Which Batman fears. Because he is justifying himself through the death of his parents and his desire to die. Which is also the justification to fight Superman. To be brutal. Batman wants to die. He has outlived himself and reached a point where he has become a Symbol of Fear like he always wanted. However part of that Symbol aspect is that he can never truly be killed, thus prolonging his suffering. 

 And that gets physically manifestation by looking at wayne manor and his recurring dreams. The fact that he visits his Mothers grave in his sleep is symbolic for his wish to be reunited with her and his father. To lay down and rest. To fall into the eternal slumber. Confronted with a creature that already exhibits the beginnings of a "Right through Might" ideology, paired with the fact that Batman can only die if he is killed by another Symbol, another creature that is bigger than human and probably better than him, Batman prepares to end it all. He is ready to take down the ultimate threat by sacrificing his life. He wants to give his Life purpose in the very moment he dies. Because then the batman can live on as a symbol, be seen as strength and something fear, without Bruce having to fulfil the role. 

 And that's why for all the ridicule, the Martha Scene works: In the very moment that Bruce defeats his Whale, his final and probably greatest challenge..He reaches absolution. There is nothing left but the man now. The Batman has fulfilled his purpose and he is not yet dead..So al that is left is a Man. Broken even though victorious, commited to end it now. In that moment "Martha" reminds him of Superman's still existing humanity, of his own still ongoing struggle and justification for his actions. He realizes that through these actions the only thing he does is going deeper into the darkness which consumes his soul. Because by justification of his actions through the violent death of his parents, he may have created a symbol of fear for criminals, but he also never gave the people something to move on from the very point he stopped walking. 

Bruce wayne is still a boy trying to make others pay for their sins, without looking forward into the future. In that very moment he realizes that by going down the path he will eventually die, but it will not bring him salvation since salvation can only be achieved by forgiveness and beginning anew. 

 By pure Accident, BVS has managed to make a horrible Superman..who works amazingly and beautifully for their Version of Batman. It is hands down one of the strongest Batmans i have seen in a long time and serves as a reminder that even silly things, like People in Costumes fighting Evildoers, can have an immense weight to carry. 

Superman for all his flaws has managed to remind Batman that it is not about only hurting but protecting. "Protect Martha" stands for: "Protect the people, for their is somebody waiting for them. Protect the people for they can be good. Protect the people..Because you can.  "Use Might..to make Right" 

 Now i have written myself a bit into a frenzy here and i apologize. 

I still do not particularly like Batman V Superman. And i Still do not like their Superman.

But i have to respect this Batman.

And may it just be because he can pull of those Tights..