I rarely send Christmas cards and theer are a number of reasons, Firstly I'm an atheist Buddhist/Humanist so however much I enjoy time with my children and seeing their faces when they open presents the whole religion stuff doesn't float my boat and secondly it's a good deal of expense which uses up my valuable resources (money and time) and really means little to most people. I tend to get cards from people who don't know me well enough to know that I don't send them (there are exceptions!). Christmas cards make the card manufacturers and postmen wealthier and while I have no problem with Barry the postie getting some overtime I honestly think that Hallmark et al already have enough brass. I usually get a couple of cards each year which invite me to call in if I'm ever in the area but I have no idea where these people live - no doubt that's much as they planned it!
So here is my Christmas greeting to everyone who wastes a little of their life reading this drivel :-)
So here is my Christmas greeting to everyone who wastes a little of their life reading this drivel :-)
20 careful considerations:
Speaking as a drivel-reading exception, thank you :-)
Thanks - you need to sort out that atheist / Buddhist thing though. Can't see how you can be both. You wouldn't say I'm a City / Red Scum fan would you?
No problem with atheism and Buddhism Rob as Buddhism isn't theist :-)
Bluefluff and Chiquita - you are both more than welcome (as is everyone else!), perhaps I should work on a multi-lingual version?
Thanks from me to - the 9 days to go was a bit scarey. So much to do so little time to do ...... umm what was that about wasting life!! :-)
Have a good one yourself. xx
9 days! Oh no! That means less than 7 for other things. Hope you all have a nice Christmas but I won't be giving it a lot of thought myself until the 24th.
Bloody hell Kat - seven days spent doing "other things" sounds fun! ;-)
Ooh! Thanks for the "card" Nog.
I think I need some instant Karma tthen - isn't Buddhism about reincarnation and isn't the Buddha revered in a God-like way??
Yes a tenet of Buddhism is reincarnation until Nirvana is attained but Buddhas (there are more than one) are not revered as deities but simply as guides. Buddhism is about self and becoming wiser and better by understanding ourselves - it has no central, all powerful creator.
But worry not - the song says that Instant Karma is gonna get us all :-)
I can't believe it's not Buddha!
Rob - A103 Block 4, p. 25 :-)
Now that's not fair BF - the rest of us don't have that material so we don't know what you are commenting on!
I mean, what's the use of us staying up half the night arguing whether there may or may not be a God if bluefluff only goes and gives you his bloody room number on Nog's 'blog...
GW - Good call! Blows those of us who don't believe in Him right out of the water! But I've always know that BF has friends in high (and low) places.
Oops LOL!
Block 4 is the Religious Studies & History of Science section (neat pairing, huh?) of the course Rob & I tutor. It goes on at considerable length about defining religion, & throws up Buddhism as an anomalous case, in that most people would categorise it as a world religion, yet it doesn't meet the conventional criteria. Page 25 comments that Buddhism appeals to many in the West precisely beause of its atheistic qualities.
So there you go :-)
" Rob - A103 Block 4, p. 25 "
Bugger! exposed for the charlatan I am. My classes on that block got hijacked by a student who had converted from RC to Islam. Nver did get round to the Buddha(s).
If it's any consolation Rob I know for a fact that Bluefluff has read far more of one of the courses that I tutor than I have :-)
Rather like Christianity there are different sects within Buddhism including those who can't reconcile easting meat with the precept to avoid causing harm to any living thing and those who eat meat. I am not a devout anything but I read and enjoy Buddhist writings and try to keep to at least a few of the precepts. The main one is that doing good is better than harming people/things and that's not too difficult to agree with is it?
OK Nigel - maybe it's a comment on our world that "do-gooder" is an insult...
Merry Winter Solstice to you and yours.
I agree Rob - the term liberal (rather than the political party) used to mean better things than it appears to now too.
Merry whatever you celebrate :-)
Aaaaw!
You are lovely Nog.
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