Comment on religion

Interestingly enough I was going to write something about patience. You know, how one might want something really bad, but due to annoying little things he has to keep putting it off? So, I guess that would have to wait a bit.

I was just browsing "What's hot" on Google+ and I came across this post which I found reflecting my personal view on religion and/or system of belief and the qualities it should represent. The view was that of the Dalai Lama. In the past, in one of my many questions regarding religions, I read up on Buddhism and it's philosophy was certainly intriguing to me. Here is the post that I came across. I also added it below for those to lazy to click on the link.

Leonardo Boff asks Dalai Lama ...
"In a round table discussion about religion and freedom in which Dalai Lama and myself were participating at recess I maliciously, and also with interest, asked him: "Your holiness, what is the best religion?" 

I thought he would say: "The Tibetan Buddhism" or "The oriental religions, much older than Christianity."

The Dalai Lama paused, smiled and looked me in the eyes …. which surprised me because I knew of the malice contained in my question.

He answered: "The best religion is the one that gets you closest to God. It is the one that makes you a better person."

To get out of my embarrassment with such a wise answer, I asked: "What is it that makes me better?"

He responded:
"Whatever makes you
more compassionate,
more sensible,
more detached,
more loving,
more humanitarian,
more responsible,
more ethical."

"The religion that will do that for you is the best religion"

I was silent for a moment, marveling and even today thinking of his wise and irrefutable response:

"I am not interested, my friend, about your religion or if you are religious or not.

"What really is important to me is your behavior in front of your peers, family, work, community, and in front of the world. 

"Remember, the universe is the echo of our actions and our thoughts." 

"The law of action and reaction is not exclusively for physics. It is also of human relations. If I act with goodness, I will receive goodness. If I act with evil, I will get evil."

"What our grandparents told us is the pure truth. You will always have what you desire for others. Being happy is not a matter of destiny. It is a matter of options."

Finally he said:
"Take care of your Thoughts because they become Words.
Take care of your Words because they will become Actions.
Take care of your Actions because they will become Habits.
Take care of your Habits because they will form your Character.
Take care of your Character because it will form your Destiny,
and your Destiny will be your Life

… and …

"There is no religion higher than the Truth."

Few hours later a good friend of mine, added a response that, in truth I found quite valid. He took it down, so with his permission I am posting it on the blog.

To follow that advice, you have to define those qualities, and that's where problems start; every [religion/religious person] is going to [have/push] [its/his/her] own ideas. If there are no universal definitions and set of metrics, it becomes a case of each view vouching for itself. I'm pretty sure Tibetan Buddhism has a different view of ethics and sensibility than, say, the Westborough Baptist Church, and both groups have ill-guided views in terms of human rights.

His answer means nothing

Can any of those qualities have a single definition?

Now, I do identify myself with a certain religion, but I am by no means what someone might call a devoted practician of all of its ceremonies etc. It's just that it's core values and message, agrees with me as an individual. I guess after making that statement, I should go on commenting on both posts.

I'd like to take the second point of my friends post. The idea that [religion/religious person] is going to [have/push] their own ideas. Yes, religions, reflect ideas/beliefs, of individuals and they are free to express them. However having an idea and expressing it is quite different than pushing it. Furthermore don't forget that it is the individual that chooses a religion and not the other way around. 

I do agree with the Dalai Lama, in the sense that any system of belief/religion that focuses on improving the individual in a social context, sends the right message, and if the individual feels that the pursuit of such practices will want him to become a "better person", then by all means the individual could identify with that system of belief/religion.

I am sure that qualities such as "compassionate, sensible, detached, loving, humanitarian, responsible, ethical" do have universally accepted definitions across all cultures. However, my friend, you are correct; there are no metrics defined. But can you, as a human, trully measure any of the above qualities?

What I think Dalai Lama was saying is that the best religion, for you, is the one that you choose and that you feel that will improve you as an individual in all the above qualities. Not just some of the above, but all of the above. If you chose to not identify with any religious group that is also a choice you made... and that is still cool.

Finally, when it is all said and done, I think that this reflects my views best.

"I am not interested, my friend, about your religion or if you are religious or not."

"What really is important to me is your behavior in front of your peers, family, work, community, and in front of the world."

"The law of action and reaction is not exclusively for physics. It is also of human relations. If I act with goodness, I will receive goodness. If I act with evil, I will get evil."

Regardless of any religion, I think that, the above qualities are essential in improving our world.

P.S. I doubt that the 71 members of the church above, are reflective of all other religions' wants or beliefs. They are just a token, not even sanctioned by the same church whose beliefs they say they represent.