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Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#331
I try to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I like to seek out and fold in examples and teachings of other religious leaders as well as long as I can resolve differences in some creative way. I am particular keen of various Asian ideas of late.

I read scriptures and other inspiring works when impressed to (I think that Dr Seuss, The Life of Pi, and maybe Laura Ingalls Wilder should be canonized—chuckle).

I serve weekly in the temple as a Latter Day Saint. There is a regularity and and a sense of the cosmic to it that lifts me and grounds me at the same time. Over the years I’ve volunteered/served in a number of different capacities, often with youth/scouts/seminary. I have found that this practice of contributing my efforts to help others has been uplifting for me. I have learned that if my own creativity/agency is removed from that service, then it turns from uplifting to toxic.

I am probably considered somewhat progressive by many of my LDS peers; I am very comfortable abstracting over much of what we “believe.” tue theological details are just not that important to me; I am more interested in what we do from moment to moment, than whether I’m tapping my ruby slippers together fervently enough. Or put another way, as a bi-weekly Sunday school teacher, I’m more interested in encouraging the class how we apply the ideas in our lives than trying to weave some sort of canonical soundness.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#332

I am an Orthodox Christian. My day begins with prayer, as soon as possible after I wake up. Prayer consists of reading (or reciting) prayers from a prayer book, followed by 100-200 Jesus Prayers ("Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!"), followed by 12-25 prostrations. I then read the daily scripture readings indicated by the liturgical calendar. At noon, I usually read a Psalm in front of my icons (I work from home)…

Great to see other Orthodox Christians at HN! Already posted quite similar reply to this thread.

Especially the "healed my family" -part is something I can really relate to. We've been part of the church for 11 years now but were again quite "deep in the world" before I did a pilgrimage to mt. Athos at 2019. That trip really changed everything for us. It was there that I realized that what Church teaches is the Truth and reality, not just some beautiful and consolating stories, but something to live and die for. After that we've been tied tight to the Church and have been blessed with a good spiritual father who has helped us set our path straight again.

God bless you and your family!

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#333
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as it represents a way for people to justify reprehensible acts And in that view, it also represents a way for people to "justify" incredible acts of grace, mercy, and kindness to fellow man. At least in the US, the broad majority of charities and social work organizations that care for others' many needs (both internal and external to this country) have some sort of religious background. Even further, religious free…

I worked with a pastor in the Philippines doing charity work a number of years ago, he outright said that his good deeds were all to spread and grow the religion, not because doing good deeds is a good thing to do. I did not like that one bit but it’s hard to argue against given these Filipinos really did need food parcels. The Japanese mafia also give out charity to get people onside. Putin used to drive around rura…

Growing a religion (or a movement) through bribery is an ancient practice.

Of course, and there's always an element of corruption in modern churches that needs to be guarded against. That said, wrt Christianity the early disciples were often broke/homeless, all of them ended up without a dime in their pockets and most were gruesomely executed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/m7tiq6/what_happen...

If money was the core element of growth, you'd figure the jig would be up just before the flaying & beheading, right?

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#334

100% atheism. Was raised some kind of protestant I forget which one, and derived tremendous spiritual and psychological relief when I realized all of that was absolute nonsense at the age of 9. I knew I was gay at the time and wouldn't come out until I was 18 or so, but my life just got a lot easier when I removed religion completely. I also recall discovering increased moral agency -- as a Christian I had been taugh…

+100% ... well, straight here ... but I was 7 when I realised that religion was not only bullshit but actually dangerous as it represents a way for people to justify reprehensible acts by putting the importance of pandering to the alleged whims of a "supreme" being above any rational standard of decency and morality.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#335
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+100% ... well, straight here ... but I was 7 when I realised that religion was not only bullshit but actually dangerous as it represents a way for people to justify reprehensible acts by putting the importance of pandering to the alleged whims of a "supreme" being above any rational standard of decency and morality.

as it represents a way for people to justify reprehensible acts And in that view, it also represents a way for people to "justify" incredible acts of grace, mercy, and kindness to fellow man. At least in the US, the broad majority of charities and social work organizations that care for others' many needs (both internal and external to this country) have some sort of religious background. Even further, religious free…

The charities just reflect the demographics of the US, which are also majority religious.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#336

I am an Orthodox Christian. My day begins with prayer, as soon as possible after I wake up. Prayer consists of reading (or reciting) prayers from a prayer book, followed by 100-200 Jesus Prayers ("Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!"), followed by 12-25 prostrations. I then read the daily scripture readings indicated by the liturgical calendar. At noon, I usually read a Psalm in front of my icons (I work from home)…

Jesus Christ, this is the kind of thing you read in the newspaper where some crazy religious guy kidnaps his family on a remote ranch and rapes them all.

You’re torturing your family, wrapping them in a small bubble of a fantasy world.

This extreme level of religious living is outright child abuse.

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#337
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

>Atheism is not spiritual and to conflate the two is foolish. Not necessarily, obviously, but there are spiritual atheists, and if OP asks "what are your spiritual practices" then "I have none" is a valid answer. >It is clear that atheism and consumerism in modern society do not make people happy. The least happy people I know are religious, and almost all the Atheists I know are pretty happy with their lives. I don'…

It is a contradiction.

“Spirit”ual. You cannot be Spiritual without belief in Spirit. It is in the word itself.

You can be a good Atheist however that is mostly in line with good spiritual practices.

Atheists seem to want it both ways. To believe in nothing but also define themselves as “Spiritual”

Re: Ask HN: What is your spiritual practice?

#339
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pop goes Ganesh I don't know but now I need to know

I just checked, it is 'Low Magick' by Lon Milo DuQuette. The entirety of Chapter 11 is on 'Pop Goes Ganesha'. It might sound a little irreverent, but here is a snippet from the book -- > I first created it to be a whimsical meditation that I could quickly perform mentally to begin and end my morning routine, but it soon became for me something more. In fact, within the context of its goofy simplicity, I have found no…

Awesome, thanks! I've got it on Kindle.
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