I wish to record my understanding of experiences dated 1st September 2008. Religion always poses itself as an interesting X-roads, one is born into a religion and then constructs his/her own viewpoint through various experiences, thus subscribing to a multi-religious faith...one that is one's own, because everyone takes away a different experience from a similar episode in life...As Children, we all were great observers of our parents' behaviors, paying close attention to their actions and were more likely to follow that lead rather than follow the words our parents use...
Life is a collection of experiences, and you keep learning new (and sometimes varied) practices, which are indeed strong exhibits of culture... culture again being strongly influenced by religion...we tend to pick up ideas, thoughts from various places and nurture them to be our own... thus moving into a space of inter-faith existence.
It is interesting that we do not normally realize the influence, which is normally overshadowed by the faith we subscribe to...but thinking over it a little will help us understand how we move through our lives thinking that we definitely know what kind of an idealogy we subscribe to, but in practice what we follow is a fusion of what we gather from our everyday experiences...
For me, faith is less a religion than a philosophy, an ethical and psychological way of awakening. It is a way of life, a path of enlightened living...it is not merely about beliefs but about practice of spirituality (definition of which is always one's own).
Thinking over this...I am reminded of a dialogue in a hindi movie 'Border' which I trust is apt for this context "Hum hi hum hai, tho kya hum hai ....tum hi tum ho, tho kya tum ho"
