Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - What are your religious/spiritual/political/cultural/social affiliations?

Baraka_Guru · 06-06-2010, 02:42 PM

This is a basic question of how you define your politics, your morals, your social ties, etc.

Feel free to list/explain however many or few you wish to share.

How do you define yourself?

Not everyone likes labels, and I understand that: labels can be problematic. They can be misleading and limiting. But I suppose this isn't the point here. This is a thread of how we identify ourselves.

* * * * *

I am a social democrat (just left of liberal) and an agnostic atheist.

The politics I subscribe to, generally, are akin to that of the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada.

My moral beliefs were derived from a variety of sources. I was raised non-religiously. The morals instilled in me as a child came mostly from my mother and through the public school system. My mother taught right from wrong within the dynamic of the five siblings I grew up with. Any other moral teachings I obtained from school through teachers and the established behavioural expectations and disciplinary systems they had.

As an adult, I cemented my beliefs based on a number of readings of Buddhist texts (core non-religious Buddhism), social justice, humanism, and the writings of authors such as Tenzin Gyatso (the 14 Dalai Lama), Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh, and American Buddhist monk Pema Chodron.

Culturally and socially, I am strongly affiliated with the culture industry. I believe that art and culture is an essential aspect of society and that it warrants government support. Anything that has market potential and can be judged to have cultural significance should be supported and made available to the public. Free market capitalism is a threat to this process and that's why I believe art and culture requires unusual attention.

That's it in a nutshell....

So, what about you?

06-06-2010, 02:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	What are your religious/spiritual/political/cultural/social affiliations? This is a basic question of how you define your politics, your morals, your social ties, etc. Feel free to list/explain however many or few you wish to share. How do you define yourself? Not everyone likes labels, and I understand that: labels can be problematic. They can be misleading and limiting. But I suppose this isn't the point here. This is a thread of how we identify ourselves. * * * * * I am a social democrat (just left of liberal) and an agnostic atheist. The politics I subscribe to, generally, are akin to that of the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada. My moral beliefs were derived from a variety of sources. I was raised non-religiously. The morals instilled in me as a child came mostly from my mother and through the public school system. My mother taught right from wrong within the dynamic of the five siblings I grew up with. Any other moral teachings I obtained from school through teachers and the established behavioural expectations and disciplinary systems they had. As an adult, I cemented my beliefs based on a number of readings of Buddhist texts (core non-religious Buddhism), social justice, humanism, and the writings of authors such as Tenzin Gyatso (the 14 Dalai Lama), Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh, and American Buddhist monk Pema Chodron. Culturally and socially, I am strongly affiliated with the culture industry. I believe that art and culture is an essential aspect of society and that it warrants government support. Anything that has market potential and can be judged to have cultural significance should be supported and made available to the public. Free market capitalism is a threat to this process and that's why I believe art and culture requires unusual attention. That's it in a nutshell.... So, what about you? __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 06-06-2010 at 02:48 PM..