The Upanishads

The first excerpt that caught my attention was",Whatever lives is full of the Lord. Claim nothing; enjoy, do not covet His property." Basically this is saying that everything is of the Lord and everything therefore belongs to him. Nothing on this earth is really ours. We may enjoy it but we may not claim ownership. Even we are his. This fact spans across many religions including Christianity. It still amazes me how similar the ideas of each religion are and yet how different they are at the same time.
Profound statements and facts really just rock my world (excuse the expression haha) and many of the statements in this passage do that. "The Self is everywhere, without a body, without a shape, whole pure, wise, all knowing, far shining, self-depending, all transcending..." this is such an amazing desription. The Self, meaning God, has the traits that no human can posses in the full capacity (purity, wisdom, all knowing, far shining...etc). He is the exact opposite of human nature and therefore is perfect. I cant even begin to wrap my head around that idea....I believe it with all my heart, but the fact is that none of us truly know what it means to be perfect. Not one human on this earth is completely pure or all knowing.
The other quote that got my attention was "When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every moment of mind or body, you attain true freedom. When you realize the truth, and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life." So what i get from this is that once you become saved and become a believer you attain true freedom. And then following that when you reach the end of your worldly life, you enter eternal life(heaven).

Ramana Maharshi

This guy had some really profound things to say. I especially liked his description of the Master. "Affection toward the good, compassion toward the helpless, happiness in doing good deeds, forgiveness toward the wicked..." I feel like this high regard for the Master is something that carries over to most religions. So then why all the arguing people?????

The statement that "all religions have come into existence because people want something elaborate and attractive and puzzling" really hit me hard. From what i know, this rings pretty true. People are constantly looking for greater meanings of life and religions seem to answer those questions. I know i often find myself thinking about the complex greater picture which then turns me to my faith for the answers.

I also loved the comment he made that "every being in the world longs to be joyful." This is so true. Think about how many times you have heard someone say "I just wanna be happy" or "she doesnt look happy." You also hear about people who turn to temporary and empty things to fulfill their happiness but in reality it doesnt work. Whens the last time you met a coke addict or alcoholic who was completely happy. Chances are you have not. We even talked about this in class on Monday...how sex, drugs, and alcohol wont bring you happiness or fill voids in your life. If naything they will make the voids larger. This statement reminded me of a verse from the Bible, 1 Thesselonians 5:16 which says "Be joyful always." This cread seems to show up in many religous texts.

My favorite excerpt from this passage is "God's grace is the beginning, the middle, and the end. When you pray for God's grace you are like someone standing neck-deep in water and yet crying for water." My interpretation of this is that God is everywhere ready and willing to give salvation. Everyone is surrounded by his mercy and grace. People are searching for a greater meaning to life and searhing for that salvation that staring them in the face. The mental picture of swimming in a giant pool of God's grace just leaves me at a loss for words.

Chief Seattle

hmm well i really didnt like this passage as much as the previous one.

I feel like this chief dude was really close minded...i pictured like an old man who is all set in his ways unwilling to even consider changing his mind. And some of the things he said made it sound like he was all for the division and seperation of races. For example, he stated "No, we are seperate races, and we must stay seperate."

I imagine that Sa-go-ye-wat-ha would be outraged by this guy. It is pretty much the exact opposite of everything he stated in his speech.

Part of me understands why this chief would be so grouchy because his people were sort of made to feel inferior to the "white men." The whole taking over thing that our ancestors did to the indians was wrong. However, even Sa-go-ye-wat-ha was able to look past those circumstances and have grace and compassion for the white men.

I also did not like how the chief criticized the religion of the white men. I do not see what gives him the right to be so judgemental. Critical people like this are the reason that there is so much conflict between people of different religions.

I found his comments of our deceased relatives very offensive. Its nice that they have their rituals and beliefs when it comes to their forefathers, but it is so disrespectful for someone to criticize the ways in which people go about remembering those who have passed on. Everyone deals with things differently and no one has the right to belittle an individual's mourning practices. I found it rather humorous when he said "Your dead forget you and the country of their birth as soon as they go beyond the grave and walk among the stars." Im sorry am i missing something here....was he once a dead white guy, because that would be his only possible evidence to back up this accusation...haha

Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha

Hmm where to start...

First of all, i really enjoyed this speech. The ideas that Sa-go-ye-wat-ha presented were extremely thought provoking on my end. I mean I have my own beliefs and everything, but I respect the beliefs of others. The way the missionary stated his case really bothered me because it is narrowminded people (as described in the text) like that that give christians a bad rap. The way he isolated the Senecas in their worship practices was an outrage to me. What gives him the idea that he is the almighty decider of how to worship? In my opinion, a persons worship is their business. If they want to go preach on a mountain top then let them. If they want to privately worship when they are alone, thats ok too. To each their own. Everyone is different. We were all created that way. As the cheif stated, "The Great Spirit has made us all. But he has made a great difference between his white and his red children. He has given us different skin color and different customs." This statement was interesting to me because i havent ever stopped to think about why we are all different. Only the Great Spirit knows why.

So if we were made different in so many ways, then why cant we be different in the ways we worship? The answer to that question is that we can be different because "what pleases him is the offering of a sincere heart."

With the profound things the senecas presented in response to the missionary, i would imagine he would probably rebutt with the typical "Do as I say, not as i do." statement. haha. In so many words, the cheif accused the white people of being hypocritical because they cant even all follow the "one religion, one way to serve" that they are trying to push off on this tribe. In my opinion, the best leadership skill is leading by example. In order for the missionary to state a valid case he might want to take a second and look at his own race. If he wants the world to worship and serve the same way, maybe he should show the whole world how to do so, instead of pointing fingers at those who are not right in his eyes.