Thursday, January 19, 2006

Isto E Muito Cool

At the concert I said Alanis is vegetarian, practices yoga and meditation, just like me. A guy in the audience said to his friends that he would've liked to meet me, but not anymore because of that. Maybe if I stopped doing yoga. He explained that I had lost 80 points with him right there, because he's Christian, "And those things, you know..."

A devout Catholic friend of mine, the person who invited him to the concert, allowed him to finish his comment and replied, "I know her very well, and there's no one who loves God more than that woman."

WOW!

Of course, surely there are people who do, but you get what she meant. There are infinite ways to have an open relationship with God. When it was over, she went with him to where I was and introduced us. He didn't know she's one of my best friends. He didn't know the reason my friendship with her has grown and maintained itself is precisely because our sharing has been largely based on our faith in divinity. We have different ways of living and strengthening it, but we build bridges on that. We respect and therefore enrich each other.

So, homework time! We have to continue making an effort to look beyond appearances. All of us. Yes, me too.

Obrigada pela correcao minha amiga! Nao existe algo maior que Deus em minha vida!

Soon to come: "The Retreat" post. I'm working on it.

5 comments:

lccb81 said...

Amen. :)

Chelle said...

:D

Amen.

Chelle said...

jejeje. na, cada quien con lo suyo. uno escoge lo que uno entiende que le conviene mas. eso incluye la gente con quien compartir.

yoga es una filosofia, no una religion. y yoga significa union (a dios). it's meant to support your faith.

o sea, si uno tiene la mente mas clara y calmada, las emociones mas positivas y saludables, el cuerpo limpio y sano, pero claro que se tiene mejores condiciones para amar mas a dios. :P

pero se respeta a todos por igual. el punto no es enfocarnos en las diferencias, sino en lo que nos une.

Kamil said...

Do you hear that scream? "Tolerance! Tolerance!". I hear it all the time everywhere I go. It is the our world's sream. Now we have an age of mixing everything: yoga, christianity, buddhism, zen and a lot of other thougths, things, "philosphies" or religious believes.
IMO, as a catholic, we have only one way - Jesus! He never said "make a tolerance!", He said "make love". It means to not accept everything, It means to change those things that are not stright from our God.
Also... yoga it's not only philosophy. Because it has religious roots
Yoga is like a tree. We can collect fruits of it as a buddhist or as a christian, but we must not to forget those fruits has a sap in it from it's roots.

Kamil,
PS 40,3

***
I'm sorry for grammar errors and others mistakes, my English it's not very good. I just want say: Thanks for came to my blog ;-)
Good luck and good thoughts in writing your posts.

Chelle said...

thank you for your honest comment! :D

it is the other way around. there is yoga in religion, since it is older and came before. yoga created the basis for systems based on the belief in one god, on which future religions were developed. and a few religious leaders, like buddha and jesus, spent some time in india doing their studies. much of what jesus taught is yoga.

remember the purpose of that philosophy is for people to learn how to be in better conditions that will help you be closer to god. it does not interfere with religion. au contraire, it can be an excelent complement.

at the center i go to there are atheists, protestants, charismatics, traditional catholics, mormones, priests, adventists, bautists, non-religious- you name it. and that's ok. you can love and respect everyone despite those differences, as jesus taught.

i mean, who were the people he hung out with? who were his apostles when he met them? saints?

but the importance is not in the name. we all have to continue making and effort to look beyond appearances. everyone must choose the path that works for them.