• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Obsessed studying small religious sects?

K

kneeproblemguy

Well-Known Member
I am not sure if I really was "obsessed" what to name it apart from Obsessed? I spent some 24/7 for three years studying every sect we had. Okay I skipped a few of them but tried to visit as many as possible during some4 years.

Gurus from all over the world. Old and new sects and east and west. This was way back around 1980.
The one I found most interesting was a very small one named Liberal Quakers. I tried to read up on how them came about around 1652 and their history up to 1980 and I went to their Silent Meeting every Sunday and get to know the active members by visiting them in their homes and talking to the distant living over the phone. Them where split in numerous individual interpretations. ChristoCentric and NewAge and Buddhist and Universalistic Cognitive Relativist and so on.

Lot of strife within but unity to the outside person looking in. One became aware of the strife only if one looked carefully and got to know each individual member. Them was very keen on accepting new members. One guy struggled to become member for one whole year and got refused in the end for not being altruistic enough in helping out in the kitchen and with admin things like collecting the Post and sending out post.

Another religious sect that got me interested was a new religious movement from Japan. From 1860 or something.
I am starting to misremember the details. Coming from east and me from west one find them a bit exotic and such can be charming. Them saw the Universe as a kind of Heavenly Parents.

One now dead religion was from the Roman wars due to fights about Gold mines. The Romans wanted teh Gold but the people owning the mines obviously wanted to keep it them living there and having worked hard to get it.

Romans killed so many of them that the religion simply died out their God now totally forgotten. I even fail to remember how to find it again. I read about it on a site having some 3000 gods named. I mean one can be totally obsessed only learning the names of all the gods that almost all of them now forgotten.

Was I obsessed around 1980 maybe. or still am. Just now I look into a guy named Amida. Yes Japan again.
 
Thanks, Yes I should have given that spelling too. I guess Amida is Japanese spelling and Amitābha is Sanskrit or Pali?
I lack motivation to get such nuances. To me the important part was the functional aspect. Amida is a kind of universal principal the way them see the Life as it is works. It is a branch or sect within the Pure Land school. Some 20 varieties or so. Them have many many such "Master" Buddhas. Amida is the one the Jodo Shinshu care about. They relate to him and seldom mention all the others apart from the most known Buddha that every sect do refers to?

I am no Buddhist so I could ahve got that wrong. Anyway what is cool with this Amida thing that a guy named Shinran came up with is that it is an alternative interpretation of what works.

Suppose we say there is something named Western Buddhism. The Buddhism mostly practiced in West. What you would expect to get teached living in west and if you go to a Buddhist Center. Then very likely them would not support Amida at all. Them even would be critical to the Jodo Shinshu supporter.

Some Western Buddhists has even told me them don't see it as "real" Buddhism.

What is the big difference then that makes them that reluctant to accept Amida Shin Buddhist thoughts. I am a total nobody in such so I can only guess but it seems to come down to this.

Western Buddhism is very keen on that each person practice skills in meditation. Jodo Shinshu are skeptical to such assertions. Them would point out that it can lead to pride or being too much into self and not caring enough about everybody else also needing to be saved from delusions. Amida is seen as a principal or power that one can entrust in. To be too obsessed with relying in self effort can lead to sufering. One should rely on other power from Amida which is accessable from within.

The word entrust is a western word for their original word in Japanese from Shinran. So them prefer to talk about tariki as the other power.

I am not good at explaining the difference. But very grossly the Western Buddhists tend to rely on Self effort while Jodo Shinshu Buddhism totally entrust themselves to the other power of Amida.
 
I was obsessed with the Jehoviah's Witnesses, because they suggest a bigger kingdom bigger than government - that's what I also liked too. But well... I just lost interest later, I guess?
 
i study, religions all the time, i think it is fun:) and buddhsim is one of my faveorites but id have to say my most faveorite its Paganism of any kind!
 
Sorry, I really hate all religions. I mostly study philosophy for answers. I did Yoga but it has been awhile and I really enjoyed it. Especially at the end relaxing in meditation.
I am not much for rule books (Bible) or sects that just want your money. But nothing wrong with adopting say Buddhism as a way to approach life. I do similar with philosophy. Let me explain with an example.

I would be considered a devotee of Ayn Rand. I love her and her philosophy. Some would say she is not a philosopher - whatever. To her the highest goal is REASON. She hates mysticism (Religion). Everything is very matter of fact and explained. Just read Atlas Shrugged and you will see. A nice Novel with her Objectivist Philosophy or Google it. If you want to put me into a box I guess you could say I was an Objectivist.

With all the career problems I ***** about, she provides all the answers. It is all in her books. Anything I have experienced at work comes to light and makes sense when I read her books.

B
 
I am fascinated by the history of the Mormon religion. I'd like to visit the sites associated with it. I am also fascinated by the Baha'i' Faith.

Among the smaller sects that interest me are the Shakers, Oneida, Amish, Koreshan Unity (a Florida group). The United States has given rise to a lot of interesting groups. Most don't last long beyond the lifetime of their founders.
 
Spinning Compass said:
I am fascinated by the history of the Mormon religion. I'd like to visit the sites associated with it. I am also fascinated by the Baha'i' Faith.

Among the smaller sects that interest me are the Shakers, Oneida, Amish, Koreshan Unity (a Florida group). The United States has given rise to a lot of interesting groups. Most don't last long beyond the lifetime of their founders.
Click to expand...


My families history is linked with the Mormon Church or, as I like to say, the Church has screwed two separate generations of my family. The first Being John Doyle Lee, the former right hand man to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. The second being my father who grew up in a Mormon operated children's home in the 50's. (the stories of what the "guardians" would do to the children would shock and appall you).

What's worse is that they have completely scrubbed John Doyle Lee's name from their history and non of the churches members are willing to even listen to the stories about my great great granddad and my father.
 
im studying the roots of all the religions right now.....religiously! and practicing the teachings.
 
Small religious sects are interesting. Or maybe smaller religions.

My uncle's case would be interesting. He moved to a rural town in Western Australia to preach and to proselyte converts to I-Kuan Tao, a small syncretic Chinese-based religious group. It mixes elements of Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Islam, and all members do engage in classical study of religious texts of these five religions. He later moved up to Perth to spread greater awareness of IKT, and whenever he comes back to Singapore, I'd gladly listen to him and his views on religion. He sparkled my search for spirituality - in all forms. But more on that later.

My parents are interested in Theravada Buddhism, the sort of Buddhism Thailand and Burma practices, though they are nominally members of a Mahayana Buddhist temple (the usual Buddhist branch Chinese people belong to). I am also quite interested in Theravada Buddhism in the past, because my parents offered me a wonderful place like a Thai temple to spend vacation time. I learnt how to read Pali (in addiiton to both English and Chinese-Mandarin) in that temple, and I enjoyed my time there. However, because of my autism, I consciously know I have to 'cure' that autism - my parents asked the senior monks and told them not to worry, just focus on what I can do and do it well, but clearly for some time before I joined AC I didn't heed the monks' advice. Now, I feel better, though.

In HS, I was very rebellious. I dabbled in atheism, Jehoviah's Witness, Seventh Day Adventist (that's why I became vegetarian briefly) and even mind me saying, Satanism. In Uni, I tried a few newer non-denominational Charismatic churches (one of which I like and found entertaining than spiritually enlightening, and another particularly accepting of people with intellectual disability, which I do care about casually) and newer religious sects.

I am still open to new options, new experiences, and reading up on new beliefs. But I know roughly I want a somewhat traditional but somewhat open-minded place, where I can get new friends who accept me as what I am.

I am not a bad guy.

But I just need more time to explore.
 
I'm an atheist, but I do enjoy reading up on cults, which really, all religions are. But I'm referring to the ones that brainwash people, hold mass suicides, etc. I just find it fascinating to learn how all these people we persuaded to perform such heinous acts all in the name of religion.
 
I'm like you, Sally, on this issue. Learning all about different religions, sects & cults fascinates me too. Some are so absurd that I am baffled as to how the cult leaders can even present their philosophies & belief systems with a straight face. We've got a famous one right here in QC---> Raelian Movement - It is headed by this guy: His Holiness Rael (I $#!T you not, guys) imagesrael.jpg . Since this is QC, after all, it isn't just another boring old 'repent the end is nigh so lets all go eat poisoned applesauce' gig. It combines 2 cool things: ALIENS and SEX!

Just go to Google Images, search Raelians & click!
 
When I hear about a new group I usually look them up and read all about them. I'm a little obsessed with knowing things. It's a fascinating, if not sometimes frightening, study in human psychology and, um, sometimes gullability? Anyway, you are certainly not alone!
 
I study religious sects for a different reason unrelated to spirituality:

I find religious sects an interesting study of organisational structures. We learn the different forms of structure, through surveying different religious sects.
 
I study religion only so if I come across a religious person I can argue against religion well :) It always amuses me how much you have to take on faith in religions especially when presented with fact that contradicts said belief.
 
To soup.....that be a sociopath then. Of course you're fascinated. They are our antithesis.
Spirituality is scientifically proven. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's measurable in science. Interactions , Connections create. Some call this bit left over, god. its why good always prevails over evil in the end cos evil consumes. Its a negative spiral.
 
I consider myself well-informed on cults. In the very early eighties, The Moonies were very big and using the so-called love bombing camps to recruit new members. Many experts believed it was brain washing as the recruitment camps used prolonged lectures, activites and group pressure to turn converts away from families. I had personal experience with the Moonies in Russia around 1994 (I wasn't converted).
Children Of God another cult, later The Family. Actually turned out to be ever more sinister.
Heaven's Gate - an apocalytic new age cult whose members all killed themselves in an attempt to ascend to the stars.
You might even go so far as to say there were a few UFO abduction cults - people who believed they had been abducted by greys as part of some experiment to produce hybrid human/alien offspring. This may even extend to some tiny fringe elements of aspie culture, possibly started by the Indigo, star child movement that suggested aspies were sort of chosen ones.
Roots of it all may lie with Howard Menger in the fifties - the first ever "contactee" who claimed to have had dealings with Venusian space ships and beautiful venusian women who took him on jaunts in their saucer to the moon.
Many different types of cults I guess.


SallySlips said:
I'm an atheist, but I do enjoy reading up on cults, which really, all religions are. But I'm referring to the ones that brainwash people, hold mass suicides, etc. I just find it fascinating to learn how all these people we persuaded to perform such heinous acts all in the name of religion.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom