Tag: Religion

Which holidays?

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How do you celebrate holidays?

There are holidays and holy days? Some countries have more of one sort than the other. It depends on where you live.

It also depends on what your religion is, if you have one.

Some holidays are based on Saints days, like St Patrick’s day in Ireland, St Nicholas around the world, many different saints in Christian countries, prophets in others.

Other holidays are based on different deities. From Hindu to Buddhist, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, they all have holidays, some are celebrated by multiple religions, others are unique to one clique of one subdivision of a religion.

I celebrate Christmas and Easter, but as I’m not a strong believer I do not go into it deeply, I just appreciate the history of the celebration and possibly attend a service at our local church. But I am not intensely involved.

Holidays, as in travelling, or visiting other towns and cities IS something I truly celebrate. With the Covid infection, cost of living crisis and other problems I rarely get time to take a real holiday. As a pet owner, the time we can spend away is limited, I cannot afford to put my pets into accommodation, so we only stay away for short breaks.

So that’s my holiday celebrations, a bit sparse, but I enjoy what I can.

I’m a follower

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Do you see yourself as a leader?

You’ll find me at the back of a crowd. My legs are little and I can’t keep up with big people’s strides. I’ve never been a leader, I think my imposter syndrome stops me thinking I could be! I’ve never been massively confident and I always question my abilities, plus to be a leader you have to have charisma and I not sure I do.

A leader seems to have overwhelming faith in themselves and I don’t know if I could do that, it almost feels like leaders fool themselves into it. Or are bought up to be important and think they are the best.

I guess my view is quite negative, but considering how politicians act and deceive to get power then it must be understandable. Clearly there are other types of leader, religious, royal, a head of a company for instance, I’m sure there is good amongst them, but there also appears to be a ruthless streak. Maybe it’s from childhood sibling rivalry, or being an only child.

Finally would I like to be a leader? Maybe I could do it, I’ve chaired meetings in the past, but honestly? I’m old enough not to relish it.

Spiritually speaking

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I think about spirituality sometimes and I question whether it is part of religion or not?

I don’t really know what I believe in. I was brought up as a Christian but I also think there are other aspects of spirit and life that come into your thoughts. I cannot be dogmatic or “born again”, I think you have to question things. Just because the bible says the world was made in seven days does not mean it was. That explanation seems like a simple way of understanding the Earth and the Universe. As we grow and learn we have to take on board science and all the knowledge that has come about over the centuries.

I could be an atheist, and not believe in a God or Gods, but in fact I’m more of an agnostic. I don’t know what I believe in, but if the universe is infinite and “God” is infinite how can I possibly know anyway?

I love John Lennons song “Imagine”, imagine there’s no heaven above us, and no hell below (I don’t think I’ve got the words right). I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I don’t know if there is anything after life, and if there is, what comes after that?

I enjoy Yoga, and we do breathing and meditation exercises. I think that helps me cope with my life. I think there are aspects of spirituality that I could question more, but I don’t know whether I should.

Not exactly

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Do you practice religion?

I was bought up as a Christian, and I still believe in some of the ideas behind it, kindness, helping others, charity.

But I’m not exactly religious, I think that we should love one another, turn the other cheek, try and show compassion and consideration. What missing in my world view is the need for a reward either on earth or in whatever heaven people believe in. I feel like needing that means that you are being bribed, in a way, to be good? I think people should care about everyone else. Maybe accepting a bit less if it means others can be looked after or ‘saved’. Life is hard enough without selfishness….

So my answer is that I don’t practice religion, but I try to live by some of its rules. I am as hypocritical as the next person though as I don’t follow all the ideals of Christianity. For instance there are commandments like not eating shellfish. Perhaps in the past that was more important because they might be tainted and dangerous to eat in hot weather? There are lots of other rules I don’t follow, like not eating meat on Friday. But in the end surely we must not be tied up in strange rules but consider others and show we care?

I would say I am an agnostic, not sure what I believe in, not an atheist and totally irreligious. The universe is such a vast place that something might exist. But whatever it is would be so large that I would be like a gnat to be swatted by it. But if ‘it’ is infinite, perhaps it has infinite knowledge and understanding too?

St David’s Day

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“Saint David’s Day is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David’s death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebrated since the canonisation of David in the 12th century, by Pope Callixtus II, though it is not a national holiday in the UK.” Wikipedia

Sorry to use a quote from Wikipedia but it was easier than writing it all out!

St Davids is also the smallest city in Britain. It is in South West Wales. Its somewhere I’ve always meant to visit, but never got there.

Doves

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I wonder why doves are the symbol of peace? They are beautiful, they are white which might signify purity. The dove was released by Noah on his Ark and came back with vegetation in the Bible story. But that’s is not about Peace. I know Picasso painted the dove of peace many times and it appears on Christian art. But where does it come from. Does it appear in other religions?

For instance why is the symbol of peace not a pigeon?

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Well you never know?

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