Interbane:

Can't we feed our souls with food that doesn't contain delusional ingredients?

Yes, we can if we are spiritually hungry enough. We don't just accept other mens' creeds.....Can't stop searching for meaning because it's what matters to us. If we try to stop caring and searching...we feel as though we might as well lie down and die.

It is not a virtue, it is just the way some of us are. Do you know The Eagles song 'Desperado'? Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home.... .....That's what it's like....

Oh, but I must add here, that I understand that everyone isn't like this. Some people have a different kind of hunger......and that's OK.

In the world today many people think that one can do without religion, and that they themselves have outgrown religion by reason of their evolution. Many have no religious belief, and therefore the world has never been in a more chaotic condition. No doubt one finds in tradition and in history that in the name of religion the selfishness and ignorance of mankind have been given free reign. This is the reason why man, revolting against this state of things, has forsaken religion and forgotten that spirit which, in the name of religion, has also played its part in the world.

Inayat Khan - the founder of The Sufi Order in the West

But as Shakespeare says,
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

Penelope wrote:We don't just accept other mens' creeds.....Can't stop searching for meaning because it's what matters to us. If we try to stop caring and searching...we feel as though we might as well lie down and die.

That doesn't parse with what happens when children become indoctrinated. They accept other men's creeds. Even if it's one of the tens of thousands of Christian denominations, or another religion entirely. That is the acceptance of another man's creed, even if you take the creed and sprinkle your own seasoning on it.

Depending on how you define creed, it appears everyone is guilty of this. A scientist accepts the creeds of the professors from whom he learns his discipline. But the way I see a creed is that it is based on authority and not process. It's the difference between memorizing that 4x(6+4)=40, and learning the process that calculates the result.

In the world today many people think that one can do without religion, and that they themselves have outgrown religion by reason of their evolution. Many have no religious belief, and therefore the world has never been in a more chaotic condition. No doubt one finds in tradition and in history that in the name of religion the selfishness and ignorance of mankind have been given free reign. This is the reason why man, revolting against this state of things, has forsaken religion and forgotten that spirit which, in the name of religion, has also played its part in the world.

Inayat Khan - the founder of The Sufi Order in the West

I was brought up in the Church of England and went to a CofE School. We would be confirmed into the faith at the age of 12 years or so.....and we then were requred to know the creed and the catechism off by heart:

The catechism went:-

Question. What is your Name?

Answer. N. or M.

Question. Who gave you this Name?

Answer. My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.

Question. What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you?

Answer. They did promise and vow three things in my name. First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. Secondly, that I should believe all the articles of the Christian faith. And thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.

This is just the beginning. It is quite long.....but this is the bit that I remember....because it made me begin to question rather than indoctrinate me. I was quite bemused by the devil and all his works, and the pomps and vanity of this wicked world......and....as for all the sinful lusts of the flesh......I couldn't imagine what my Godparents had renounced on my behalf.

and of course when I was a little older I thought the lusts of the flesh were the best thing....and I wouldn't have dreamt of renouncing them...LOL

I honestly think it is just that I found it all very interesting.....and I am still quite fascinated by various religions and their tenets. Most people are not the least bit interested......they might be loyal to their faith.....and quite pious, but not really interested in the actual history and meaning or lack of........

As I have said....it isn't a virtue.....It is just what I find interesting and important. I know that others don't find it in the least interesting by the glazed look that covers their countenances....and I have lost quite a few friends that way. So, now I don't tell em....unless they ask. Which they do from time to time.