Dear,Dear,Phyllis,

When I entered the world of Buddhism ,until I understood what attman meant ,icould not beleive I had no I and self.It is about the only spiritual movement with such a belief.I have a thread about explaining that part of buddhism.I wish you could read it and see my side of the subject.

With great respect.

_/\_
Loong

Attman is the universal self !!

To all,

This is a subject that should bring people to the barricades.
2 persons emitted their opinion,I am overwelmed by the response
Hope to read you all .

Waiting for the traffic ,or at least one beleiver in spirituality.

_/\_
a simple Buddhist named
loong

Peace, Loong.

I can and do see your side of the subject. I have understanding of many religions and belief systems. I was raised Christian and as I became older began to study all religions because not all I believed is in the Christian doctrine and scripture. I found that Buddhism, Pagan, and Native American have much of what I believe in. I like Buddhism for its philosophy of life. I like Paganism for its love of Nature and magic of mysticism. I like the Lakhota belief system for it comes closest to my own beliefs. I am not sure then what anyone would say what my religion, or belief system is -- I just call it spiritual.

I accept people regardless of what their religion or belief system is and I do not try to make them believe my way. I honor and respect each person's right to worship/believe their own way.

I understand where you are coming from and I respect your way, for you. It seems to me that you want me to study your way and learn all I can about Buddhism. I have absolutely nothing against Buddhism, my son practices the Buddhism belief and teaches it. I learn all I want to learn about Buddhism from him and we have some great conversations about it.

Do you understand and respect my way, for me? I do not ask you to study Christianity, Paganism and Native American beliefs, for I believe you must be comfortable where you are and accept your belief system because it is right for you.

Let us each accept the fact that we have different belief systems, yet each are spiritual in our own ways, and each are comfortable where we are.

Peace

Phyllis makes a wonderful point here. We all have different belief systems and that is a good thing. The forum should be free of proselytizing - no one way is inherently more right than another way. No definition is naturally better than another one. People are allowed to define their own vocabulary in a way which makes the most sense to them.

To Lisa low Carb,

Plese cite a phrase where I proselytize,Please.

With respect
_/\_
a simple buddhist named
loong.
p.s. As I can see nobody understood my original statement.

I agree with Phyllis and Lisa. Each one of us has to be true to our own inner beings with our own versions of spirituality and beliefs for our happiness and peace, and also for our relationships with everything and everyone around us. We form our belief systems based on what resonates to be right and true within ourselves.

As long as what we believe results in being kind to others and embraces love, I feel that every person's belief system has value and should be respected. It is not necessary to try to change another person's belief system. Spirituality for each one of us is a personal and private thing, and we can rejoice in the differences. It's what makes us unique while sharing many similarities as human beings.

What Cassie said!

Thank you, Lisa. I have always believed in respecting the ways of others. Burt says it so simply and true: be and let be.

Cassie, you say it so beautifully. This forum has always been open to people of all religions, faiths, belief systems. I have always been very comfortable here discussing many things with friends. It is a place where all can come together in respect and friendship, share, learn, and grow ever more spiritually.

Jilly, I so agree with you. You are spot on!

To all,
Yesterday ,I wrote an e-mail to a member explaining that buddhism
does not search for new members.When Deanna left she wrote me an e-mail saying she was leaving Bella on Line but letting her account open.So I took it on myself to try to come up with real spiritual questions.All I got was misunderstanding ,accused of recruiting members for buddhism.
So like I told the person, I will not put a thread in the spirituality section anymore.

So I leave the threading to all of you,spiritually guided members.

Buddha once said ,Practice ,practice.look where it got me.

A simple buddhist named
llong