Last Commented Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,493)

The other day, one of my friends posted the following on their wall: "Your beliefs don't make you a better person - your behavior does."

For me, that made a lot of sense. It isn't what we believe that defines us, it's how we behave. I understand why the anti-religious become so incensed at some of the religious. There have been so many things done in the name of God that are so wrong and un-Godly that one wonders how people can possibly justify it to themselves, nevermind anyone else.

But, being human, we can and do justify anything and everything we do, no matter how wrong it may be to others, as long as it satisfies our own wants.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether someone believes in God or not. It does matter to me when someone espouses their beliefs but their behaviour is contradictory. It does matter to me when beliefs are used to restrict any freedom. It does matter to me when beliefs are used to justify war, greed, hate and separatism.

I've known people that are overtly religious that use God as an excuse and a crutch. Their lives aren't all they want them to be, because God wants it that way. It's God's will. Nothing is their fault or their responsibility - that's what God wants.

I do take issue with that. If God gave us free will, then God doesn't make us do anything - we make the choice to say and do what we do. It's not God's will - it's our own. We are responsible for how we feel, what we do and what we say. We are responsible for what we think. We aren't responsible for what others feel, think, say or do - only for ourselves. But don't you enjoy being around people that are happy, up-lifting and motivating? Don't you enjoy spending time with those that find the positives in you and don't you find that if you're around positive people, that it's easy to see the positives in others and in life?

Personally, if someone is de-motivating, negative and insulting, I don't care what they believe - they aren't fit to be in my life. I'm only here once, and if I can help make this world a better place by giving whatever I can to others and helping others to feel good about themselves and to be the best they can be, and by being the best I can be, then I will have lived.

As humans, we have the capacity to lift each other up and encourage each other to be the absolute best we can be. We can choose to see the strengths we each have, to encourage those strengths, and to overcome our weaknesses. We also have the ability to rip each other to shreds, to stomp on anything positive, and destroy each other, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.

And it doesn't necessarily take a belief in anything to do that. For me, what people believe is simply an opinion. It's neither right nor wrong, it just is. What they believe is right for them. Just like what I believe, is right for me - as long as no one else is being harmed. Spirituality is not a competition. No one likes to have beliefs shoved down their throats, regardless of what those beliefs are.

It becomes 'wrong' when they attempt to force their beliefs on the rest of society. It becomes wrong when people hold themselves as 'better' than others because of their beliefs, but behave in a manner completely diametrically opposed to what love, kindness and compassion is. It becomes wrong when some people are excluded, and that exclusion is justified in the name of their beliefs.

Those that believe in religion find what they need in it and it works for them. I respect their commitment to it. Another common meme is 'Religion is for those who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who've already been there.' This implies that religious people are not spiritual, which is completely untrue. As with any belief system, there are those that can quote beliefs, but don't actually practice them, and those that let their behaviour be their spiritual indicator.

Bottom line? Talk is cheap - behaviour tells all.

......

Arrived to the paddling rendezvous a few minutes to early and wanted to use the opportunity - the sunny weather, the stillness, the solatude - for a short meditation. But as soon as I closed my eyes and took a deep concsious breath, I've been attacked by a large fly.

To see a fly at our latitude on 30 Dec was a wonder on its own. And this one was so fat and zaftig... I regretted that I don't eat flies :/

Those numerous limitations of mine...

I was about to reply to some of the messages in my previous blog, then realized I needed to write a whole new blog instead.

Many Polynesian languages similarities. Honestly its a variation of all our languages put together. So it comes to no surprise for me.

An example NZ Maori would say Aroha with its basic meaning, love. But it's extended meaning is Breathe Desire, which is the breath of light, shared from one person to your loved one an intimate transfer of sharing breaths.

So the Hawaiian people say Aloha which for them means Hello, I believe. Our vowels are definitely the same in pronunciation.

And imma take a wild guess that Wahini means woman because we say Wahine.

The All Blacks (rugby players), do what is called a Haka, and in no way is it a dance. In the old days Haka was performed as a pre-emptive to war between two tribes. Its why the Haka is feared in a certain country, because in the WWII our people marked their faces and performed a Haka before the coming battle.

Now getting back to the tribes performing the haka, it was designed to see who was the most fierce or the violence they were going to inflict on their enemies, and if one tribe found the other overwhelming I believe the weaker tribe would make a more peaceful resolution. Our race to put it simply were quite a violent race.

However if they were even in ferocity during the Haka, the battle was still going foward, especially after being insulted from the opposing tribe. Because that's what haka was designed to do. To insult and determine the strongest before a battle.
The poking of the tongue is to let them know what they would look like after been struck.
The eyes being enlarged represents the fear of the opposition before they die as they see the last strike of their life.
Every act is to instigate a war, or subdue the opponent. The Poi as you will see in performances were originally weapons that were made of flax and rocks, a weapon for women. And believe me when I say they were quite deadly with them.

But nowadays its more for perfomance, a friendly rivalry between tribes, they have Junior and Secondary competitions, as well as adult performances where they do an entire brackett. Then they have District competitions.

So in future keep in mind a Haka is not a dance, only if they sing, its then a dance. But when they start shouting at the top of their lungs. its a haka. We also have a national haka that the entire country knows or knows of called Ka mate, Ka mate.



One of my favourite performances about 15 years ago


I chose this ropu(group) because they had a great intro song, it also shows you their bracket, or order of the general performances for ropu. Important to note they are using a real weapon in their performances known as a taiaha, highly dangerous in a group performance, will be used only by professionally trained maori. For most though its quite normal and natural with hours of practice.


This was an awesome challenge/ counter challenge. They are different schools even though they had the same colour gear. The boys on the right also perform the national haka. Unrehearsed too.




Thanks again for reading my blog

to everyone. May this be a happy Holiday season for you.

An American missionary trying to meet and convert one of the most isolated hunter-and-gatherer tribes in the world offered them fish and other small gifts before the tribesmen killed him and buried his body on the beach, journals and emails show.

John Allen Chau, 26, of Vancouver Washington, an Instagram adventurer who also led missionary trips abroad, traveled to the Andaman Islands - an Indian territory in the Bay of Bengal - this month to make contact with members of the tiny Sentinelese tribe, police said. The tribe, who have remained alone for centuries, reject contact with the wider world and react with hostility and violence to attempts by outsiders to interact with them. The island is off-limits to visitors under Indian law.

Chau's riveting journal of his last days, shared with The Post by his mother, shows a treacherous journey by dark in a small fishing boat to the area where the small tribe lived in huts. The men - about 5 feet-5 inches tall with yellow paste on their faces, Chau wrote - acted angrily to his presence as he tried to attempt to speak their language and sing "worship songs" to them, he wrote.

"I hollered, 'My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you,' " he wrote in his journal. One of the juveniles shot at him with an arrow, which pierced his waterproof Bible, he wrote.

"You guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people," he wrote in a last note to his family on Nov. 16, shortly before he left the safety of the fishing boat to meet the tribesmen on the island. "God, I don't want to die," he wrote.

Fishermen saw the tribe burying his body on the beach the following day, a fellow missionary wrote in an email to his mother, Lynda Adams-Chau of Vancouver, Washington.



What are your views on the above-stated situation?

Open discussion welcome!

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

This is a common saying in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and I am sharing it with the world of what it means and the purpose behind it

Ha = Breath, breathe, taste

Wai = Instructions given, memory. Recollection of words.

Ki = Full, say, tell, mention, think

Nui = Big, Large

Pa = Touch, blow as the wind.

Ma = Clean, white, clear

Mao = Distant

Roa = Long, tall. Long (of time), delayed. Length. Length of time, delay


The following is translated in english but in the order as written, because in general our language is written in the exact same format as Japanese, as in the sentence structure. The sentence can be written in two forms. Which is then reiterated as close to its meaning as possible.

Hawaiki = Breath/e instructions given full
1. Full breath, instructions given
2. Breathe full, instructions given

Hawaiki Nui = Large Full breath of instructions given.

Hawaiki Roa = Long/Delayed Full breath of instructions given.

Hawaiki Pamamao = Blow as the wind, clean, distant, full breath of instructions given
Touch, clean, distant, full breath of instructions given.


Pamamao has many meanings, too many to number, so I have used the meanings that relate with the first two.



My theory as to this most famous saying, is the method of learning from heaven, because there was only ONE type of instruction that truly mattered Father’s instructions. So breathe in deeply, slowly and you literally breathe in the instructions. Then exhale them, and this is a repeated process.

I believe it’s related to our tukutuku panels and the poutokomanawa (cetral coloumn) of the wharenui. It’s related because the instructions are from heaven taken in from the mouth and the longer the breath the more insructions are consumed. The reason the tukutuku panels are around the whare inside, The poutokomanawa represents My Ancestors and the tukutuku panels represents My Ancestors Visions and how he/she saw the world all around them.

The ‘X’ used to create stairs in the tukutuku panels represents the FIRST word of God in the Maori Culture. Which is HOW you follow the steps of heaven, which then refers back to the oldest most common sayings in Aotearoa.

Hawaiki Nui
Hawaiki Roa
Hawaiki Pamamao

Incidently, when you begin to breathe in instructions of heaven your breath becomes, over time, naturally clear, or clean.

Here are links to what I am talking about inside a whare:

tukutuku panels

poutokomanawa


Thanks for reading

To kill 25 mins and a few brain cells