Comparative Religions

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Gandalf was sure that he had forgotten something.
But the table was set with enough food to please a hobbithole full for two hours, and his Staff was neatly set aside in a well protected place.

Glamdring was by his desk, just incase he needed it.

He smiled and sat by his desk, inconspicious


"Now, let us see who time and circumstance brings us."

Comments

[sheldonjsands.livejournal.com]

*is led in by jayne_serenity*

I smell... *sniffs again*

Do I smell pibil?

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Yes, Sheldon, it is indeed, I had it brought in just for you.
Thank You Jayne, for bringing him. I will make sure he gets back to you safely.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Well, this seems like we have all we have. So who can tell me of what importance religion is?

[sheldonjsands.livejournal.com]

*with mouthful of pibil* Opiate of the masses.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

not in anothers words please, but in your own.

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

Michael walks in.

Hello, Sir. I'm sorry I'm late. My other class ran over slightly.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Do not worry. There is still food and time for all.. Have a seat, Micheal, and we will speak of why religion is so important.

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sir. I'm quite interested to hear what you have to say. It seems to me that you must have traveled many difficult roads and learned a great deal.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

At the present, I am more interested in what you have to say...

Why is religion important?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

[OOC: bouncing over from the other thread]

*looks at healthy Nubian food, snags pizza instead*

Why is religion important?

It binds beings together, gives them a common focus, language, and way to understand each other. It proves comfort and reassurance in an uncertain galaxy.

*shrugs*

Something like that, anyway.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Very good Anakin.

Now...tell me.. what is worship?

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

I'm torn, sir.

In some ways I would say that there is no such thing as "God" or any all-powerful type being - my life certainly has not suggested such. But there are so many who have a faith that is so... *real* and who do not appear in any way to be fools or deluded, that it is hard to know what is real. In a way I feel as though I am left out in the cold looking into a house filled with light and warmth and knowing I can never go in.

But is religion based on something real? Or is it a delusion created by humans to explain things they don't understand, to find reasons for the things that happen, or to give themselves a feeling that there *is* a meaning to life - that it's not all just hopelessness and futility? I don't know.

Perhaps I thought that I might come to some sort of deeper understanding while I'm here.

I'm not sure if that's what you were asking, but...

*Michael's voice trails off and he becomes quiet, looking a bit embarrassed at having spoken this way and perhaps exposed too much of himself and his doubts.*

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Worship is...um...taking the time to remember that there is something out there bigger than yourself.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Well spoken.
Well thought.

I cannot promise answers. But I will promise more questions.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

Now, please tell me, if you will.. what is worship?

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think my life is all questions and no answers. Perhaps part of the reason I am here is to see if there is a place where I can find some answers. Is religion real and is there a path to salvation even for those like me?

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

Worship... Worship, well, I don't know in a religious sense, but worship is when you have this feeling - this acknowledgement - that something is so much larger and deeper and more amazing than anything you have ever experienced before. The acknowledgement of that, I think.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

and what do you worship, Micheal?

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

There is salvation for all people

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

is it, truely?

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

*Looks forbiddingly at his classmates and tries hard not to answer, but something about the professor's eyes and voice...*

Nikita. Not *her* really, but her freedom and her belief that there should be *more*, that there should be a fairness in life - her ferocity in believing that there *can* be more, that there must be a way out of the hell we are living in.

I...

*He looks at the others with a blank stillness which is frightening in it's intensity.*

This conversation will *not* leave this classroom. Are we clear on that?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Where I come from there are trillions of beings, thousands of religions. They all come together in the praise and meditation on something that exists beyond themselves.

When I see something, someone, beautiful, I'm reminded that she they are all part of the Force that binds us together. That knowledge, that moment where I stop to think about something that isn't me and my own problems, that, to me, at least, is worship.

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

You don't know what I am or what I have done. You probbaly should not be so quick to assure me of that.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

I have seen people from many worlds, with many backgrounds, with many pasts.

All have been able to find peace... one way or another.

[gandalfglamdrin.livejournal.com]

for next class then, I would like 100 words, written on what, and how you worship.