Are we born into sin?, page 2

Are we here to suffer?

Christianity is not the only religion that states that we incarnate here to suffer. Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita also said the physical worlds are places of suffering. Guru Nanak, the founding prophet of the Sikh faith(whom I'm growing to admire) also stated that suffering is a part of life.

There is no one who has not suffered and there a few who have not suffered throughout their lives. We are indeed born into suffering. We incarnate into an imperfect world with an imperfect body. We are born directly into bondage of the man-made societal and govermental systems. There is no freedom at all.

How we lead our lives, how we think and the kind of opportunites we have is strongly influenced by which religion, caste, nationality, class we are born into. So our lives strongly depend on the cards we are dealt. So, it's the truth; there is a lot of suffering in life. This is why we are vulnerable to religion, because religion preys on our suffering and promises us salvation and emancipation in another life so as long as we surrender to their ways. We break free of one chain just to put another one on.

Is this life really nothing but suffering? No of course not! We know life is not so one-dimensional and single minded. In the hand we are dealt - there is always a wildcard as well. The wildcard is that card that we can exercise to not suffer and to explore other facets of life. What else is life about? Life is about celebration; about love; about feeling; about discovery; about dreaming and actualizing our dreams. There is none that has not experienced a moment of none-suffering. Henceforth, what kind of place of suffering is this, where one can choose not to suffer. Choose is the operative word. We have a choice to suffer or not to suffer. We have a choice to co- create the life that we want with our world. So how does one choose not to suffer? It is easier said than done. As we cannot control the world and the eventualities of suffering.

There are two worlds that we know: the inner world and the outer world. We can control our inner-world, but, we cannot control our outer world. No matter how strong your resolve to not suffer in your inner-world it will not change the fact that in the outer and tangible world there is suffering. Jesus suffered; Krishna suffered; Nanak suffered; Buddha suffered.

However, there is a distinction, while they all suffered, they did not own that suffering in their inner world. That is the secret of our esteemed spiritual masters. When we catch a cold we say we caught a cold. We do not say "I am a cold" This is called disassociation When we are inside a house and we say "I am in a house" We do not say "I am the house" we disassociate the "house" from ourselves.

Life is about passing moments, they can be moments of suffering or moments of celebration. Yet they do not become us. They only become us when we accept them into our inner world and they become a part of us and are reflected in our outer world. They are false-truths. There is only one truth and that is AUM, which is, I am. Everything else is an illusion that we create by adding a suffix to "I am" and then taking on the character, attitudes, beliefs, meaning and expectations of that suffix. That is what creates a personality.

So what kind of personality do we nuture in a born child when we say they are a sinner and are here to suffer until they cleanse themselves of their sins.

What sins? The original sin commited by Adam and Eve by procreating.
How to cleanse? By being baptized and leading a way of life sanctioned by the Church.
How long? All your life.

So a Non-Christian is condemned for life; a Christian that is not baptized is condemned for life; a Christian that is baptized is condemned to live in constant fear of commiting sins for life.

What is suffering? Suffering is that feeling of dissonance that we experience when we do not meet our expectations or if our expectations are to suffer themselves. Someone who believes they are a sinner will expect suffering and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In conclusion: We are not here to suffer, but choose the sufferings ourselves, when we believe that we are and when we accept suffering. A belief is very powerful; it can completely transform ones life for the better or the worse. What can be more worse than believing you were born condemned?

Pure Christians choose to believe in a vengeful, judgemental, punishing and tyrannical God. They choose fear over love. They choose enslavement over freedom. They choose pain over joy. They believe in a lesser god. They believe in a lesser self. No wonder they are not emancipated and no wonder they are suffering.

There are many who hold that all religions are equal. Nothing can be further from the truth. A true religion, or way of life, is that, that encourages our well being and unites us with creation. That is love, peace and light. I am amused at the irony at that we attribute these same values to God, yet, do not practice them ourselves. There is only one way for salvation and that is to practice the greatest values that you attribute to God.

[edit on 4-1-2005 by Indigo_Child]