Chapter One

I think that the section on Openmindedness and the true nature of faith mostly opened my eyes to the fact that most religions are in fact a dividing factor amongst Humanity. think about all the wars that were fought in the name of religion, The Crusades being one of them. the Knights templar fought just to preserve some rocks that they believed to be holy when the real church resided inside themselves.

It is a sad truth that religions in history have been a reason for mankind to war amongst themselves. It is also true that politics, classes, sexes, ethnic origins, countries, social classes, ideologies, even football clubs... have been reasons for mankind to have fought amongst themselves. A serious question to consider is it really the religion or is the problem to be found in man himself?

It is also worth a consideration that religions are mobilising a lot of aid for people in need, whose need for example has been caused by political ambitions. Through history mankind has also been able to socially organise himself with the help of religions. Again is it not left upto man whether he realises a make or break situation?

Both of you have equally good questions or even postulates. Let me see even another point of view rather than man himself or even religion or even politics, classes, or ethnicity let maybe, just maybe it is the lust or greed for power and wealth over others that led each and every one of these to their evil deeds.

Well even since the earliest man walked the earth there has always been a need for violence and fighting. Just to survive so i believe it has just become instinct to quarrel to feel that u have done something to defend yourself in one way or another. According to the text in the Chapter.

What i got from this chapter is, the human race has been on a downward spiral to Virtuous and Morality destruction. If you think me wrong then go to a Elementary school here in Southern California. I was outside last year after a family moved in with children down the street (i add that they are black simply to add detail to the story), a brother and sister were walking. Sister older brother younger, the girl was slightly ahead and not paying any attention to her surrounding. The boy was behind her yelling profanities at her, he couldn't have been past 8 years old. I spoke to another local boy just a few houses down from me, he goes to the same school as most of the kids in my area and he even said that kids these days are bad (i thought it was cute that he spoke of his peers as \"kids\"), his father raised him very well and i can't say all children are this bad but mankinds (or at least americas) past has left a tragic mark on the youth of today and of future generations. There is not much i can do about it as none of us can raise other peoples children for them but i feel it was relevant to the chapter, speaking of the present and future of this once great nation and more importantly the people there in. IMO religion is the only taught to these children and wrongly so. It is the only thing they are willing to listen to because it is somewhat important to their parents. But more often then not it is taken in the wrong context as the Bible has been, as it says in the Chapter, perhaps The Bible should be removed for a few hundred or thousand years as to be read again by unbiased eyes. And i trully love the story of God being in everyone. I do not really believe in any deity, i believe, currently, in the Tao/Chi/Force. It is far more simpler for me to believe in this energy then to believe there is a being conducting the universe.

May The Force Be With You

What we have to understand about religions wars throughout time, is the people with the power made the bad decision. Soldiers on the front lines still had their doubts as to if they were doing the right thing, but when the generals say 'die', soldiers say 'yes,sir.'

First off, I have to admit that I have not read any of the other reviews (yet). Only, because I wanted to know how my very own thoughts differ from everyone else’s. And should I read them beforehand, obviously the line would get blurred.

One sentence that struck me as odd was: “They would read it and be done with it, for if it were well and clearly written they would not have to go back to it again and again for hidden meanings or for clarification of obscure doctrines.”

However, in the whole of the first chapter he tells us how we are split in two, we are no longer seeing us as part of nature, but that we have to conquer nature, how we have lost a significant part of us, the connection between us and others, between us and nature, us and the universe, if you will. That leads me to suspect that I will read this book more than once, not for any hidden meaning, but to remind myself of ideas greater than found in everyday life.

I do like the idea that he does not want us (the readers) to search for hidden meaning though. That he sees his work as a “point of departure”. That basically he wants to start us on a journey that we have to find answers ourselves.

So, he starts out by defining two taboos, sex and religion. He also says that religion in its current form does not provide answers to our most profound questions (e.g. what is the meaning of life). His statement that “the book I am thinking about would not be religious in the usual sense” (meaning his book) might then entice more people to read his book, think about it. Since we don’t like to talk about taboos his book would not be a taboo, therefore we would not feel apprehension while reading it (otherwise, some might feel like traitors to their faith).

A main part of the chapter is devoted to the explanation of our division (between ego and body) in different ways. This part resonated with me. I always felt that there is more … more connection between people/nature/things.

He also tells us how he will be explaining his thoughts and ideas. That describing this connection in words alone would be impossible, that there will be a need for myth, to speak through images and stories. He also warns us not to take the myth for fact, that it is merely “a useful and fruitful image by which we make sense of life”. So I will try to keep that in mind while reading.

All in all, a very intriguing start to a book.

PS: I am also reading Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth”. I hope I won’t be confusing the ideas in the books.

PPS: Religion is a dividing factor between people, historically churches instigated the crusades, so they teach us to love each other but then they use the \"religious\" argument to start a war... However, it is man who decides to go to war... Although, if a supposedly trustworthy institution tells us that it is good, then what are we to believe... I am on the fence on this issue (but I don't like the pope saying that only the Catholic faith will open the gates to heaven, I mean, isn't that splitting people up, instead of realising how we are similar?)

What did I make of this book? Well first off I found that Alan Watts states clearly that people are split into two. And to find and understand everything around us we must first understand ourselves. For we are part of it all.

He tells us that the human race is self centered and we concentrate on our egos and separate ourselves into different groups. Instead he says that we should understand ourselves, and know that we are a part of everything.

In a way the God he talks about is the Force. That energy that is in us connects us to everyone else and first we must be able to know ourselves and our Force before we can understand other people.


May The Force Be With You Always

\"The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dies up, all we have left is our importance.\"

Eric Hoffer

How true all of this is, that faith can reside in ones self and that if you are not forced to the water at the well you will sooner or later thirst for that water and lead your self to it on your own terms.
\"Do not underestimate good, thinking it will not affect you. Dripping water can filla pitcher, drop by drop,one who is wise is filled with good even if one accumulates it little by little.\"
Buddha
Dhammapada9.7
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