--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "metoostill" <metoost...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <LEnglish5@> wrote: > > > > Is some aspect of ayurvedic medicine religious because tradition says it > > was > > presented to some vaidya by a god? > > > Umm, uh, well...huh?? Not sure where you are going with that one :) > > (smiley face added to reduce f-word road rage, as we are probably friends) > > > And, as I pointed out, what the f- are you doing telling me what is > > religiously > > significant about any practice I choose to indulge in? > > > There are many things we don't self assign. One of them is whether or not > what we are doing has religious significance. Because words have meanings > (no pun intended, I swear). We don't get to self determine whether what we > are doing is religious or not religious. I suppose you could make a strained > case that chanting the names of Hindu gods was not religious. I could maybe > somehow get my head around that, just a rest technique, I didn't know the > meaning, etc. But a major determinate between philosophy and religion is the > presence of soteriological content. Notions relating to salvation. Our > community is undeniably shot through with that one. >
We don't get to determine whehter what we are doing is religious or not religious? Goodness. Seldom have I encountered someone whose world-view is so far removed from my won. Even most fundamentalists can accept that *for me* TM practice isn't religious. and which community do you think I belong to? As a proud, card carrying member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, I take pride in my ability to truely understand and live "The Unitarian Universalist Way" (TM). ;-) > Not sure what is so shameful about being religious. Well actually it does > have a troubled association, both cultural and political, so maybe I can see > the politics involved. > Like as not, you've missed the point about the Unitarian Universalist Church, which is that while it lays claim to being a legally established church with all the constitutional protections that provides, it doesn't require that its members embrace or eschew any particular religious or philosophical dogma. IOW, legally it is a church, but few religious scholars would insist that it is a religion, organized or otherwise. L
