BELIEFS - Not Your Own

Both my parents are practicing Catholics and my religion is not by choice but inheritance. As I go on to learn the ropes of life, I found that religion is just a front of all things that requires “faith”. Let me give you some of my thoughts. I was in a Catholic school during my high school years and from there, I started to develop understanding about Catholicism. The traditions, the practices and yes, the Catholic faith. I’ve asked more questions about life in general but most of those times, it’s religious beliefs. I’ve known what are practicals and impractical, shallow recognition than important respects. Little did you know that you’re practicing a religion that is basically forced on you then reasonably your own choice. Remember those early times when religion was a matter of putting into strict obedience than choosing your own? That was then and little did you know that is still practiced now but you didn’t even notice. As I grow older, my thoughts about religion came across with great indulgence. I’ve experienced several denominations of beliefs but the values are the same. Why? When you see different beliefs or faiths, they are practically the same. However, their interpretations are an off-shoot of what was Catholicism in the first place.  They read the same book that had been revised for thousands of years but never actually modified rather adjusted to serve their purpose. As I compared all of them, they are really predictable and unrealistic. Why did I say that? Take a look what is religion conveyed to people. For thousands of years, religion is a broad instrument to control people. If you saw the movie, The Book of Eli, Gary Oldman was desperately looking for the bible because he knew that using it, people will follow without questions. It was an advantage that religion is a perfect tool for inadequate people. My closing contemplations, I would stay with my own philosophies – I am happy this way and all things are easy to comprehend. Yes, I do believe there is something unnatural but I don’t believe what are written in the book because those are created with people’s imagination. 

EXPECTATIONS

The priest was telling a story about “expectations”. “Why fast food chains have very appealing photos of their food and when you order them, they are not as what you see in the picture. He explains, “we are expecting that it would come out the same but we get disappointed because our expectations are not met”. The story continued and described that this is the same with our religion. We expect that we become enlightened because our faith brings us to a point where only “God” can provide that expectation fulfilled. It was a good story and I am not arguing with him. However, what happens if your expectations are not the same as what you think? What happens if you expect about “God” is not that really the “good entity” as you think he/she is? Remember, man/woman are incredibly capable of inventing everything to suit your needs and wants. Things in this world are not what you think it is because our lives are full of expectations and most of them we are disenchanted or disappointed. We expect too much that we carelessly believe that there is something somewhere to make us committed to one “thing”. Here is a very suggestive review from a book that says, “when you believe to some degree, don’t be afraid to ask questions”. Because faith is not based on blind expectations it is based on empathetic recognition and significant. If you favor that there is an entity to actually saves us from all these things happening around us, ask yourself genuinely. Where and how will I be going because?  Nobody in this world can tell where you are heading and when you pass on to the next “chapter” of your life. Not even priests can predict that – including the bible.