Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #4: Buddhist Meditation: "Spend 20 mintues in a silent meditation; a place you won't be disturbed, your own 'fig tree' as was Buddha's inspiration. In those 20 mintue..."

Today i tried to meditate for twenty minutes. I sat myself down on my bed, closed the door and turned off all my music. For the first 5-10 minutes I was really focused and my mind was able to think but after that many other things that I had to do crept into my head like homework and funny things that i talked about with my friends at school today. The last 10 minutes of the meditation i could not focus and eventually my mind just wandered and i started day dreaming. For the short first 10 minutes I was able to retain concentration I realized that I should start treating people equally and try to be nice to everybody. Meditating has been an interesting experience for me but I think it is truly difficult to be in a completely meditative state.

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection #3- Gandhi: Hindu and Activist:

Ghandi was an Indian man who truly followed all the teachings of Hinduism. He was a man who fought for the independence of India and he tried to gain this in a completely nonviolent way and he sacrificed so much of his own health by fasting and he also sacrificed all of his belongings and clothing to show that he could just rely on Indian clothing and still survive. Ghandi shows that non-violence is important in Hinduism when he is fasting during the riots and he would not stop until all the fighting had stopped. Surprisingly the riots had stopped.In the movie when Ghandi is at his ashram and there are protesters shouting 'death to Jinnah' he tells them that he is not only Hindu but Christian, Jewish and Muslim as well. This was a practice of Hinduism that said to accept all other religions.

A quote that Ghandi made that i noticed showed very well how Ghandi lived out his faith is 'A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks; he becomes". I believe that this quote tells us perfectly why Ghandi did what he did. Ghandi believed and thought that by his fasting, by his non-violence and by his speeches that he could become the person to free India from the rule of the British and to unite both Hindus and Muslims. This was displayed throughout the whole movie because Ghandi never lost faith in himself or anybody else but just kept on believing and eventually he became the 'product of his thoughts'

Assignment #3 - Sacred Poetry

Tall rocks in a field of green
Not possible by human means
Made of dolerite and sarsen
Oh how you look splendid with sheen

I come every day to pray with you

Rituals take place for the dead

A circle around us you form

We hope you never get old and lorn

You have many uses for me

Even serving as place to view the stars

I know you can guarantee

I can see the planets within your boundary

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1

Modern Religious Experience: Reflection Question #1:
How has religion contributed to your own personal history?

Religion has not been a large impact in my personal history. Both my parents are Christian but when I was growing up I did not go to Church and nobody really explained anything about religion to me. I did start to wonder what everybody was talking about when they mentioned Church or even the Bible. In my house we had pictures of Jesus on the Cross and this was a symbol for Christianity.

After my first couple of visits to Church I understood a little about what happened here and it helped me to think about some of the mysteries and question about life. Since then religion has been important in my life and it has changed the way i act. I have learned to make great decisions and to live morally correct knowing that it shows the type of person who I am. I think that having the opportunity to choose which religion I want to be a part of  is a great way to decide rather than being forced into Christianity or any other religion.