Religions that deny reality

When I got reached out to for scientology, they seemed to do a good job of denying reality. Something like, "If you picture a tree in front of you, then for you, there is a tree in front of you". I laughed him off.

cloudyday2 said:

I have also read that there are themes common to Hindu religions such as veneration of the Vedas as inspired texts.

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Many Hindu do not have a holy book. They follow a Guru. The common theme may be certain teachings. Like Karma and Reincarnation.

Regards Tony

usexpat97 said:

When I got reached out to for scientology, they seemed to do a good job of denying reality. Something like, "If you picture a tree in front of you, then for you, there is a tree in front of you". I laughed him off.

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It could just be that further clarification was required. Was it a material tree, or a tree metephor one was to picture?

If one was to visualize life in front of them as a tree and had the crown as the life goal, It would be possible to draw a great metephor that would be in front of oneself until they reached their goal.

I personally see Scientology is made by men who want control over others and wealth, but not every thought needs to be dimissed without deeper consideration. If it was a material tree, then run, they were nuts.

Regards Tony

Tony Bristow-Stagg said:

We can see this world is a matrix to our spiritual life, in this world we are just from dust and to dust we will return. This is our chance to gain spiritual virtue, which is our true purpose.

Regards Tony

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I agree!

Tony Bristow-Stagg said:

We can see this world is a matrix to our spiritual life, in this world we are just from dust and to dust we will return.

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Agreed

This is our chance to gain spiritual virtue, which is our true purpose.

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Disagree.

Being born as Human Beings, I'd say that our true purpose is to become more Human. Spiritual virtues are but one aspect of that.

cloudyday2 said:

I watched a lecture explaining ideas about the Bhagavad Gita that were nearly identical to some ideas I have been considering over the years. This lecture was "The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita" from the Self Realization Fellowship. Here is the wikipedia page on the group ( Self-Realization Fellowship - Wikipedia ).

One key feature of their beliefs that appealed to me was the idea that this world is ultimately not real - the idea that we are dreamers who have forgotten we are only dreaming.

So what religions deny reality and what religions affirm reality?

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I heard a true story about a military General who was pondering the fact that we are made of small particles surrounded large amounts of space. He realized the wall of his office was made up of similar particles, and since it was mostly empty space, he came to the conclusion he could run thru the wall. So he ran at the wall and *Bang* all his office personnel heard a great thud and came in to find him laying on the floor. LOL Interesting in theory. Bad application in practice.

Jonathan Mathews said:

I heard a true story about a military General who was pondering the fact that we are made of small particles surrounded large amounts of space. He realized the wall of his office was made up of similar particles, and since it was mostly empty space, he came to the conclusion he could run thru the wall. So he ran at the wall and *Bang* all his office personnel heard a great thud and came in to find him laying on the floor. LOL Interesting in theory. Bad application in practice.

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Sounds like no one ever told the muggle that Platform 9 3/4 is a work of fiction.

cloudyday2 said:

Glad you brought up the guru, because that is something I didn't like when I read about the Self Realization Fellowship. I had a dream or vision several years ago that seemed to be from God or Jesus, and he told me that if I follow any religious group then I will not be following him. I will be trying to please the group instead of trying to please God and listening to some know-it-all human and unable to hear God over the noise.

Of course I don't think God had in mind for me to be like I am today - basically doing nothing and living a life of ignorance and cynicism. LOL

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The practice that is undertaken within the Self Realization Fellowship is Kriya Yoga. Kriya means action and Yoga means union or yoke, so it translates as a practice of active union. Its meditation with breath technique and the guru forms part of the teaching of that process. In times gone by the Ashram was mostly the only place to receive that teaching. Now Yogis are leaving India and taking up residence all over the world and you can get initiated into Kriya yoga normally with a two day workshop, with a meditation network of monthly practitioners to catch up with for new students.
They don't teach Hinduism, they teach a meditation technique, but for sure the base religion is Hinduism.

Jonathan Mathews said:

I heard a true story about a military General who was pondering the fact that we are made of small particles surrounded large amounts of space. He realized the wall of his office was made up of similar particles, and since it was mostly empty space, he came to the conclusion he could run thru the wall. So he ran at the wall and *Bang* all his office personnel heard a great thud and came in to find him laying on the floor. LOL Interesting in theory. Bad application in practice.

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That was depicted in the movie, The men who stare at Goats.

cloudyday2 said:

I watched a lecture explaining ideas about the Bhagavad Gita that were nearly identical to some ideas I have been considering over the years. This lecture was "The Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita" from the Self Realization Fellowship. Here is the wikipedia page on the group ( Self-Realization Fellowship - Wikipedia ).

One key feature of their beliefs that appealed to me was the idea that this world is ultimately not real - the idea that we are dreamers who have forgotten we are only dreaming.

So what religions deny reality and what religions affirm reality?

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Buddhism was conceived in a culture that took some key elements it shares with Hinduism for granted. In a way, it expanded upon the notion of an illusory reality by declaring our sense of "self" to be an illusion in and of itself, assigning permanence and essence to something that was clearly malleable, mortal, and performative.

Gnostic religions usually hold that our reality was conceived by a wannabe-deity who's either evil or deluded (or both), falsely assuming the rank of Supreme Entity and therefore creating a flawed world that cannot help but be terrible because it's erected on such a fundamental error. Mankind is then usually cast as a potential agent of the TRUE divinity, infused with a spark of Light and carrying the potential to either escape this bleak reality or help redeem it.

Shamanic traditions tend to assign just as much "realness" to altered states of consciousness as to our consensual reality, with dreams and trance states holding just as much significance and truth.

I'm sure there's more, and some of the ones I've mentioned here were most likely named before, but that's my two cents.

Jane_the_Bane said:

Buddhism was conceived in a culture that took some key elements it shares with Hinduism for granted.

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Buddhism was formed as a breakaway religion from Hinduism and its oppressive caste system.

AV1611VET said:

Buddhism was formed as a breakaway religion from Hinduism and its oppressive caste system.

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Yes. That does not contradict what I said.
For example, Buddhism pretty much takes for granted that such things as reincarnation, the hindu gods, several hell dimensions and many other things exist. Some of these do not play much of a part in their belief system (gods), others have been re-interpreted from a Buddhist perspective (reincarnation), but these were just "the facts" as people perceived them.