#belief
Who says dogs can’t pray too?
FOR EXAMPLE: KAITLIN SMRCINA
Lately I have been grappling with what it means to have a religious identity. Growing up, Catholicism and Christianity were often used as weapons and I have been working with Christmas and other religious holidays as spiritual events versus nondenominational celebrations. With many religions scattered throughout my family I am trying to understand what faith means to me while my beliefs are nonexistent.
#art #blog #artists #artwork #picoftheday #love #magazine #forexamplemagazine #forexample #artforexample #painting #religion #identity #catholic #christmas #spirital #spirituality #faith #family #belief #holidays @kaitlinsmrcina #KaitlinSmrcina
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FOR EXAMPLE: KAITLIN SMRCINA
Lately I have been grappling with what it means to have a religious identity. Growing up, Catholicism and Christianity were often used as weapons and I have been working with Christmas and other religious holidays as spiritual events versus nondenominational celebrations. With many religions scattered throughout my family I am trying to understand what faith means to me while my beliefs are nonexistent.
#art #blog #artists #artwork #picoftheday #love #magazine #forexamplemagazine #forexample #artforexample #painting #religion #identity #catholic #christmas #spirital #spirituality #faith #family #belief #holidays @kaitlinsmrcina #KaitlinSmrcina
see more: www.for-example.org/profile.php?fullname=kaitlinsmrcina
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Life is meaningful in regard to the relationships we build and the value we give them. We ourselves create meaning.
God is just another word for the universe. Religion is the extraction of the patterns in nature that is further expanded by the human consciousness, creating rules to live by. Such rules are used by the few to effectively control the masses, thus bringing forth social control.
Ex. 1: Repetition of stories in different religions throughout the world.
12 astrological signs = 12 zodiac signs = 12 disciples revolving around the son (sun) of God (universe)
Ex. 2: Universe gives birth to planets, stars, nature itself. It is infinite with infinite possibilities.
Ex. 3: When we lose someone close to us we grieve; grief being separate from sadness. Why would we grieve so much if we truly knew that they were going to a better place? Would we not instead just miss them but then rejoice for their great future? Could those who do not grieve, due to a deeply held belief of the afterlife, possibly just have a greater (stronger) built defense mechanism. *By defense mechanism I mean belief in a religion. Religion creates several layers of defense. The stronger your belief, the more layers you construct. Though you might think, or make yourself think, that you truly believe in the teachings of your religion (concepts of heaven & hell; some kind of afterlife), your grief is your subconscious telling you that you truly know, in your heart of hearts as they say, that you have lost that loved one forever.
Conclusion: Religion is a way to explain the rules of nature and interpretation of that religion is used to enforce social control. Everything in life is subjective, a product of our own doing in response to the pressures of nature.
“A man who wills commands something within himself that renders obedience, or that he believes renders obedience.”
—F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §19 (excerpt).
“Synthetic judgements a priori should not be possible at all, as we have no right to them, and in our mouths they are nothing but false judgements. Only the belief in their truth is necessary, as a foreground belief and visual evidence belonging to the perspective optics of life.”
—F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §11 (edited excerpt).
“As soon as any philosophy begins to believe in itself, it always creates the world in its own image. Thus, philosophy is the tyrannical drive itself, the most spiritual will to power.”
—F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §9 (edited excerpt).
I was recently invited by Lenscratch to create and jury an exhibition. I was extremely honored and excited. I came up with a call for entry and exhibition titled Seeing Is Believing. Here’s the call I wrote:
“Photography is perhaps the most pervasive part of our daily lives. It’s influence on our decisions, beliefs, and perception of the world is unavoidable. This has only been amplified by the constant increase in our interdependence in technology. We even regularly use photographs as a stand-in for our memories. Perhaps seeing is no longer believing, but rather photographing is believing.For this call, show us your most unbelievable and impossible images. Show us your photographic reflections on perception and/or belief. What work do you have that we really need to see to believe?“
I was really excited to see how people would interpret the call. Once all the entries came in, I had a blast going through them and choosing the final selection of photographs. Above I am sharing some of my favorite images from the show, and here is the response I wrote after jurying the exhibition:
“Image-making often has less to do with what we include in the frame, and more to do with what we don’t. Studio photography, for example, relies on an aggregate of scenery and lighting apparatuses we know are there, but cannot see. This often shapes the way we read photographs. If we aren’t lost in the scene presented, photographs invite us to infer what is beyond the immediately visible. The more questions an image leaves unanswered, the more I find myself enjoying it.I especially chose these two images for this very reason. In very different ways, they seem to do the same thing for me. I feel they leave me with more questions than answers. There seems to be just enough space surrounding this baptismal font to make it strangely opulent and yet uncomfortable. Who felt compelled to bring Reba out here, and why?I spent more time interrogating these images’ integrity than I did revelling in them. In my scrutiny, I was hoping to find some detail that would help me trust (or not) the images. Maybe photographing is believing, but only if you’re the one pressing the button. That would explain why we haven’t stopped photographing sunsets.“
A huge thanks to Aline Smithson at Lenscratch for the opportunity! I had such a great time with this. I really hope to do more curation and jurying in the future. Perhaps it’s time to get back to work on Localhost…
Check out the whole exhibition here: SEEING IS BELIEVING
Photographers’ Websites: Boglárka Éva Zellei, Mike Whiteley,Lorena Endara,Thilo Rohländer, Alexandr Polyantsev, Wayne Swanson, Kevin Hoth
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“Let’s call out heresy without apology: The evangelical fundamentalist view of salvation - from Reformed Calvinism to Dispensationalism and everything in between - is not that the atoning death of the Cross has saved us, but rather that our intellectual belief in the Cross has saved us. Ergo, they ultimately trust not in a salvation by divine grace, but in a salvation by human works - albeit a cognitive human works. And yet they dare to accuse the Orthodox of the very ‘works of salvation’ of which they are in fact guilty.”
~Gebre Menfes Kidus
(Photo © dramoor 2015 Florence, Italy)
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“What if wefueled our ambitions rather than starved for our goals? What could we achieve if wefed our dreams?
What if we worked togrow stronginstead of focusing on losing weight? What habits would we procure if we focused on gaining something rather than losing?
Could we be an example of confidence and strength? Could we reinvigorate lost aspirations? Could we inspire young girls to be unapologetically themselves?I’m not the exception, I’m the rule.Let’s break misconceptions and inspire the next generation. Because, together we’re a force♀️”
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The mind has a definite way of clothing one’s thoughts in appropriate physical equivalents. Think in terms of poverty and you will live in poverty. Think in terms of opulence and you will attract opulence. Through the eternal law of harmonious attraction, one’s thoughts always clothe themselves in material things appropriate unto their nature. - Napoleon Hill
Man’s status in the natural world is determined by the quality of his thinking. - Manly P. Hall
A change of feeling is a change of destiny. - Neville Goddard
Thought is the property of those only who can entertain it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christ says, “If anyone asks you for your coat, give him your overcoat also.” A worldly man will say, “It is not practical; if someone asked this of me every day, I would be continually buying new coats!” Yet, at the same time, it is more than practical from the point of view of the Master, for according to his view we cannot give anything, in whatever form, without getting it back in some way or other. Pure thought, goodwill, our service, our time— whatever we give—is never lost. It comes back to us according to our willingness to give; it comes back to us a thousandfold. That is why one is never the loser by being generous; one only gains. The mystic sees the law in all things, and this gives him an insight into life. He begins to see why this misery has come upon him, why that pleasure has come; why one person is prospering and another not, why one is progressing and not the other. All these things become clear to him, because he sees the law working in all things. The law of the mystic is not the law of the people. It is the law of nature; it is the real law. - Hazrat Inayat Khan
We are magnets…We have keys to all doors. We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities… - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Here is the true secret of the Law of Attraction (by Bashar):
“You have a core vibrational frequency. It is purely uniquely you. It’s a beacon. It’s like a lighthouse. It shines. It radiates purely that signature frequency of your unique being. It never stops radiating that light, that frequency, that energy - never stops.
Everything that is in alignment with that frequency is doing its utmost to come to you.
Everything that is not aligned with that frequency is doing its utmost to get as far away from you as it possibly can.
If the things that are aligned with that beacon aren’t reaching you, it’s not because "you’re not vibrating at the resonance that you need to attract it”. It’s because your definitions and beliefs are holding it away.
If the things that are trying to get away from you can’t get away from you, it’s not because they’re not trying - it’s because you’re holding onto them.
So the true Secret of the Law of Attraction is not “how to learn to attract what you prefer”, it’s how to learn to let go of what you don’t, so that you can let in what is trying to get to you automatically - by definition.
That’s the true Secret and that’s why it’s effortless. It’s just about letting go and letting in. It’s not about having to learn to do something you’re not already doing.”
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Wisdom from Emmet Fox:
Each day is a new life. Each moment is really a new life. What we call memories are really present thoughts. What we call anticipations are really present thoughts. No one has ever lived in any moment except the present.
What you think upon grows. Whatever you allow to occupy your mind you magnify in your life. Whether the subject of your thought be good or bad, the law works and the condition grows. Any subject that you keep out of your mind tends to diminish in your life, because what you do not use atrophies. The more you think of grievances, the more such trials you will continue to receive; the more you think of the good fortune you have had, the more good fortune will come to you.
There is no difficulty that enough LOVE will not conquer, no disease that enough LOVE will not heal, no door that enough LOVE will not open, no gulf that enough LOVE will not bridge, no wall that enough LOVE will not throw down, no sin that enough LOVE will not redeem.
God is bigger than any problem. God in you is greater than any difficulty you have to meet. God cares for you more than it is possible for any human being to realize. God can help you in proportion to the degree in which you worship him. You worship God by really putting your trust in him instead of in outer conditions, or in fear, or in depression, or in seeming dangers, and so forth. You worship God by recognizing his presence everywhere, in all people and conditions that you meet; and by praying regularly. You pray well when you pray with joy.
Whenever you are afraid of something you are worshipping it. Whatever you fear, you bow down to and give it power.
Attention is the key to life. Whatever you really give your attention to, you become. Whatever you really concentrate upon will come into your life. We grow into the thing that fills our thoughts as inevitably as the stream merges into the ocean at last.
The great difference between the two feelings is that love is always creative, and fear is always destructive.
The story of your life is really the story of the relations between yourself and God.
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Wisdom from Dr. Joseph Murphy:
If you really want peace of mind and inner calm, you will get it. Regardless of how unjustly you have been treated, or how unfair the boss has been, or what a mean scoundrel someone has proved to be, all this makes no difference to you when you awaken to your mental and spiritual powers.
As a person thinks, feels, and believes, so is the condition of his or her mind, body, and circumstances.
It is my right to be rich, happy, and successful. Money flows to me freely, copiously, and endlessly. I am forever conscious of my true worth. I give of my talents freely, and I am wonderfully blessed financially. It is wonderful!
Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine guidance, right action, and all the blessings of life.
Fear is a negative thought in your mind. Supplant it with a constructive thought. Fear has killed millions. Confidence is greater than fear. Nothing is more powerful than faith in God and the good.
Success means successful living. When you are peaceful, happy, joyous and doing what you love to do, you are successful.
Happiness is the harvest of a quiet mind. Anchor your thoughts on peace, poise, security and divine guidance and your mind will be productive of happiness.
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Feed your mind with thoughts that cause it to be peaceful. To have a mind full of peace merely fill it full of peace. It’s as simple as that!
Reject hopelessness and substitute faith. By using intelligent and persevering effort, you can lift yourself out of hopelessness.
We are different at every age, and beautiful too! How boring it is to stay exactly the same for our whole lives.
SUMMER LOVIN’
“Summer loving had me a blast, summer loving happened so fast…”
Oh yeah…you Grease fans will be singing that all day now. So last night at 11:30 EST the summer solstice took place (unless you’re reading this in the southern hemisphere) kicking off Summer!
Porch rocking. Flip flops, shorts and t-shirt. Vacation…lakes & beaches. Ice cream. Laying in the sun or shade. Thunder storms. Flowers. Fireworks. Taking ‘strolls’. Amusement parks. Drive-in movies. Outside church. Picnics. The noise of kids playing. New friends. Sleeping outside. That special “summer song” that comes out of nowhere, plays in your head constantly and defines the fun you’re having. Who doesn’t like summer?
Sure, it’s warm and the days go on forever it seems….but it’s really much more than that. We look forward to summer because it’s a time to slow down and spend time with our friends and family. It’s a time to create new traditions but also conjures up memories of the past and our childhood.
So, get excited and be creative! No more masks and restrictions. It’s okay to constantly be in a good mood. Get crazy with your planning…. adventure, fun, and child-like wonder await!
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[Letter to a devout, practicing Jew mother on how to raise her son who “believes in science”]
Of course in a free country, within limits, you can raise your children how you please, on whatever belief system you choose. For this reason, most people in the world who are religious, practice the religion of their parents. For example, the chances of Christians raising a child who later becomes Muslim, or a Muslim family raising a child who later becomes Jewish are extremely rare. The children will be more likely to grow up believing in no Gods than in the Gods of other religions.
So the urge to raise your son as a devout, practicing Jew, being one yourself, is entirely normal and natural. But of course you have, at most, only 18 years of direct influence on him. Your son will spend more than eighty percent of his life under a different roof than you.
From what I have seen and encountered, Judaism manifests across a huge range of practices - from emboldened Jews who enthusiastically eat bacon to the various sects of Orthodox Jews who, among other practices, maintain separate kitchen utensils for dairy and for meat. As a scientist, I have much more experience with atheist Jews. They do not view the Torah as the word of God. They see it as a book of stories - not to be judged for their truth or falsehood, but as a repository of insights from which wisdom for living one’s life can be derived.
Think about it - when we read fairy tales, we are not judging them for whether they are true or not. Instead, we fold lessons derived from them into our world views. Not only this, atheist Jews will commonly celebrate the high holidays with no less ritual than practicing Jews, right on down to leaving an open seat the Seder table for Elijah, and making sure the front door is unlocked, so he can just walk right in if he happens to show up.
Why would an atheist Jew do this? The answer is not hard. Rituals and traditions account for some of the strongest binding forces among peoples of the world. Attending Mass on Sundays for Catholics. Prayer five times per day for Muslims. Ancestor worship for the Animist religions. One can participate without judging whether the events that established the ritual have any literal truth at all. The participation creates a sense of community. which has almost always contributed value to civilization. It disrupts civilization only when people require that others share their particular rituals, with threat of force to achieve it.
Being on the spectrum and liking science as he does, your best bet might be to not enforce the literalism of anything religious, but to keep him plugged into the beautiful traditions of the religion, and emphasize the value of ritual as a seed and taproot of community. Often that alone represents the greatest challenge when raising autistic children - getting them to embrace the value of love and compassion for people and for relationships.
Rest assured that you can raise a wholesome, intelligent, law-abiding child without requiring he believe that Moses turned a staff into a snake, or that manna fell from heaven.
Good luck. In my experience, it takes some of that too.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson in ‘Letters from an Astrophysicist’
Argument from Ignorance - Big Bang Theory
A [classic] argument from ignorance comes from the Big Bang. When I am asked what was around before the Big Bang, I say, “We do not yet know.” Often the reply is, “It must be something - it was surely God.” To go from “We don’t know” to “It must be God” is another example of an argument from ignorance. This kind of disconnect has no place in rational investigations, yet it perennially permeates the thoughts and statements of people who already know what they want to believe.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson in ‘Letters from an Astrophysicist’
Something to think about encourage your children to follow their dreams ❤️ #success #mentalhealth #depression #lifecoach #lifecoaching #coach #growth #selfhelp #quotes #quote #quotestoliveby #successquotes #motivationalquotes #Motivation #Motivational #positivity #positive #kindness #uk #dreams #followyourdreams #goals #money #faith #believeinyourself #belief #love #family #tryhard
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Something to think about encourage your children to follow their dreams ❤️ #success #mentalhealth #depression #lifecoach #lifecoaching #coach #growth #selfhelp #quotes #quote #quotestoliveby #successquotes #motivationalquotes #Motivation #Motivational #positivity #positive #kindness #uk #dreams #followyourdreams #goals #money #faith #believeinyourself #belief #love #family #tryhard
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2O57usHqOl/?igshid=1ohdwugmpzzk0
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