Religous views

[Whispers]

Hmm...??Your burning bush theory is interesting.??Perhaps Moses was tending his flock in a storm when a bolt of lightening set the bush aflame.??Possibly the rain could constrain the bush from consumption by the fire...??Hmm, I'll have to think on that one.
I've had an idea for a really neat pseudo-anime loosely based on my religious beliefs - in that the we live in a world which countless gods, demigods, and spirits are vying over for control and worship.??It's been stewing in my head for the past few years.

I also wouldn't say that all religions are true.??Certainly Heaven's Gate and Scientology have things all wrong.??

The alms rounds are beneficial to everyone involved.??The monk is made more humble each time he must beg as opposed to working hard for things himself and the person offering increases their merit and positive karma by giving.??In providing this person the opportunity to give the monk also receives merit and good karma.??Alms are also provided to increase virtue in the giver and ensure the longevity of the monastic community which Indo-Asian cultures see as extremely important pieces in society.
Here are a couple of videos from a man I subscribe to on YouTube regarding the alms rounds:

• Alms round in Thailand
  
  Alms round in North Hollywood
  This one just follows him about.??Not very informative.

In regards to your "headphones" comment, I'm not sure what you're alluding to, but if it's in regards to the use of technology; we're not Amish.??xD??If the above YouTube videos aren't enough of an attestation to that I also have days of Buddhist podcasts on my iPod.??Whereas one on the path to enlightenment should avoid all things material (a monk is actually to claim ownership to nothing but his begging bowl and robes in most traditions) but that doesn't mean to not make use of the wonderful things offered to us.??Cell phones, Internet, airplanes, automobiles, these are all very beneficial things invented and provided to the populace for making communication, the gathering of knowledge, and transportation easier.??We would be denying the inventors and proprietors their merit and good karma to avoid using these things!??
Many people actually believe these things to be an emanation of the "miracle powers" one obtains through strong effort in meditation and clear sight.??Would you like to travel three thousand miles in less than an hour???How about buying a rare item from an elusive designer in a foreign country???No problem!??LoL

As far as the Nikaya-helping-yourself-before-others comment that is greatly in tune with another thing the Buddha said:

• ?A man should first direct himself in the way he should go. Only then should he instruct others.?

I, too, believe that humans are limited.??It is, as well, a Buddhist belief (although I, of course, felt this way before being Buddhist).??We merely use logic and understanding to it's perceived greatest extent to make sense of the world.??Should something cease to make sense then we change our understanding so it does.??We don't hold onto reasonings when they begin to lose their validity.??This is as close as we can get to "knowing" although little can actually be known about what happens after we die until we actually get there.??

Support from the community is not the only necessity for the sangha.??Having a community in which you can see someone living the life and what it does for them invokes a wish to either obtain or avoid what they have.??With no one to look up to or away from it's hard to really want this or that.??So, I'm happy living this life without suffering.??I hope to obtain a more fortunate, monastic life in the next but I won't mind if that does not happen.

You see, another reasoning for the three scopes is the scope of ones own mind.??I love life, this world, and the people in it.??I love traveling, learning, and conversing.??I enjoy frittering away the hours with a book about "vegetarian" vampires, hobbits on a quest to destroy a ring, or a little boy and girl traveling between parallel universes to help the girls father end the tyranny of the creator's replacement (odd how that actually falls into Buddhist belief, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials... What with God being old, frail, and slightly senile so close to death... huh - I never realized that ).??I love picking up my guitar and playing something pretty just before melting faces with dark, heavy metal.??\m/

I don't want to leave this world behind just yet.??I do notice its transitory nature and its wont for suffering, but I accept these.??I'm just having too much fun to leave just yet.??^_^