agama itu seperti

Agama itu seperti sepasang sepatu. Temukanlah yang cocok denganmu, tapi jangan memaksaku memakai sepatumu.

Agama itu seperti penis. Punya, silakan. Kalau bangga ya syukurlah.
Tapi tolong jangan tunjukkan di depan umum dan melambai-lambaikan ke sekitar,
dan TOLONG jangan coba-coba memasukkannya ke dalam kerongkongan anak-anakku.

Agama itu seperti es krim. Rasa yang paling enak bagi seseorang belum tentu enak bagi orang lain. Tidak baik jika orang lain mengatakan rasa es krim yang kamu miliki tidak enak, dan mengatakan kamu hanya perlu memakan satu rasa es krim saja.

Agama itu seperti anggur, minum secukupnya dapat membuat orang bahagia, damai, penuh sukacita. Tapi minum terlalu banyak dapat membuat orang menjadi bodoh, jahat, bebal, membahayakan diri sendiri dan orang lain.

No End

In an evolutionary context, development has no end. That means we can always develop more, further, higher, and deeper. In Traditional Enlightenment, it's possible to become "fully enlightened." In Buddhism, they call it "cessation" or "the end of becoming." In Evolutionary Enlightenment there is no final resting point—it is about infinite becoming for eternity.
~ Andrew Cohen

no fear in love

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ~ 1 John 4:18 NKJV

Marks of High Civilization

To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to possess power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement — these are the marks of high civilization.
~ The Urantia Book

No Longer Afraid of Change

Many people are scared of change, of that which is new. They are deeply attached to the status quo in which everything appears to be predictable, comfortable, and therefore, safe. But for what I call the evolutionary impulse—the energy and intelligence that gave rise to the universe and is animating our bodies, minds, and personalities in this very moment—that is a description of spiritual stagnation. When you awaken to the dynamism of that creative impulse in yourself, the only place you will feel truly comfortable is at the very edge of the leading edge—where, in every moment, everything is possible and new potentials continually emerge. Evolutionary Enlightenment is a spiritual path and practice that allows you to live on that edge—it creates the conditions within yourself for something new to emerge that has never existed before.

~ Andrew Cohen

Remember Kartini

The followings are passages and writings from Letters of A Javanese Princess by R.A. Kartini. Through these words she expressed her sincere longing for freedom, equality, and fraternity. Her thoughts and ideals were ahead of its time, but truth always stands and echoes throughout eternity. She was such an enlightened soul whom we should remember, more than just by putting traditional clothes on our children and parading them on each Kartini Day.

On Education

The education of woman has always been an important factor in civilization.

Education means the forming of the mind and of the soul.

Our idea is to develop the fine qualities that are peculiar to their race; to help them to gain by contact with another civilization, not to the detraction of their own, but to its enoblement.

Is an intellectual education everything? To be truly civilized, intellectual and moral education must go hand in hand.

In "Our School" we want to give more of a moral than an academic education.

We want the whole idea of our school to be the education of children, not as though they were in a school, but in a home, as a mother would bring up her own children.
It must be like a great home community. Where the inmates all love one another and learn from one another, and where the mother is not a mother in name but in spirit, the educator of the child's soul and body.

We always have beauty within us. This is the reason that I wish that in education, emphasis were laid upon character forming, and first of all upon the cultivation of strength of will; it should be instilled into the child.

And who can do most for the elevation of the moral standard of mankind? The woman, the mother; it is at the breast of woman, that man receives his earliest nourishment. The child learns there first, to feel, to think, and to speak. And the earliest education of all foreshadows the whole after life.

And what we are most anxious to have taught in our future schools is hygiene, and a knowledge of sanitation and nursing. Hygiene and nursing should be part of one's education. So many misfortunes could have been averted or at least reduced to a minimum, if every one, men, as well as women, had been taught something of this useful study.

On Freedom

I long to be free, to be able to stand alone, to study, not to be subject to any one, and, above all, never, never to be obliged to marry.

The freedom of women is inevitable; it is coming, but we cannot hasten it.

On Equality

I should teach my children, boys and girls, to regard one another as equal human beings and give them always the same education; of course following the natural disposition of each.

When will the time come when boys and girls, men and women shall look upon one another as equal human beings, as comrades? As it is now — Bah! how we women are degraded at every turn, again and again.

On Wall Between the Sexes

And then I should let down the bars which have been so foolishly erected between the two sexes. I am convinced that when this is done much good will come of it, especially to the men. I shall never believe that educated and cultivated men designedly avoid the society of women who are their equals in education and enlightenment, to throw themselves deliberately into the arms of disreputable women. While many men seek the society where cultivated ladies are to be found, there is a vast army who cannot take the slightest interest in a girl without thinking of sex. Now all this will disappear when men and women can mingle freely together from childhood.

On Religion

Religion is intended as a blessing to mankind — a bond between all the creatures of God. They should be as brothers and sisters, not because they have the same human parents, but because they are all children of one Father, of Him who is enthroned in the heavens above. Brothers and sisters must love one another, help, strengthen and support one another. O God! sometimes I wish that there had never been a religion, because that which should unite mankind into one common brotherhood has been through all the ages a cause of strife, of discord, and of bloodshed. Members of the same family have persecuted one another because of the different manner in which they worshipped one and the same God. Those who ought to have been bound together by the tenderest love have turned with hatred from one another. Differences of Church, albeit in each the same word, God, is spoken, have built a dividing wall between two throbbing hearts. I often ask myself uneasily: is religion indeed a blessing to mankind? Religion, which is meant to save us from our sins, how many sins are committed in thy name?

On Spiritual

Fasting is the overcoming of the material by the spirit; solitude is the school of meditation.

Now we have found Him for whom unconsciously our souls had yearned during the long years. We had sought so far and so long, we did not know that it was near, that it was always with us, that it was in us.

On Respect

Honour every living creature, respect their rights, their feelings; and even when it seems necessary, shrink from causing the least suffering to another.

On Life

Life is not a dream. It is cold, sober reality, but even reality does not have to be ugly, unless we make it so. It is not ugly—it is beautiful.

On Happiness

Where is true happiness? It is not far away, but it is so difficult to find the road thither, we cannot go by tram, by horse or by boat, and no gold can pay the cost of the journey. It is hard to find the way, and we must pay the fare in tears and heart's blood and meditation. Where is the road? It is in ourselves. In the world, we find much that delights us, that transports us, so that we think we have found the long sought happiness. But even as the thought comes, we find by bitter experience that what we hold to our hearts, is empty dross.

True, lasting happiness dwells within, and is called soul's peace.

Reference
- Letters of a Javanese Princess, R.A. Kartini, 1921, London: Duckworth & Co.

Manusia Baru

Kamu harus menanggalkan manusia lama, supaya kamu diperbaharui di dalam roh dan pikiranmu, dan mengenakan manusia baru, yang diciptakan menurut kehendak Tuhan di dalam kebenaran dan kekudusan yang sesungguhnya.

Jangan lagi hidup sama seperti orang yang tidak mengenal Tuhan dengan pikirannya yang sia-sia dan gelap, jauh dari persekutuan denganNya, karena kebodohan dan kedegilan hati mereka. Perasaan mereka telah tumpul, sehingga menyerahkan diri kepada hawa nafsu dan mengerjakan dengan serakah segala macam kecemaran.

Buanglah dusta dan berkatalah benar seorang kepada yang lain.

Apabila kamu menjadi marah, hendaklah padam kemarahanmu sebelum matahari terbenam.

Yang pernah mencuri, janganlah ia mencuri lagi, tetapi hendaknya bekerja keras dan lakukanlah pekerjaan yang baik dengan tangannya sendiri, supaya ia dapat berbagi sesuatu kepada orang yang berkekurangan.

Janganlah lagi ada perkataan yang kotor, yang kosong atau yang sembrono keluar dari mulutmu, tetapi ucapkanlah syukur. Gunakanlah perkataan yang baik untuk membangun, di mana perlu, supaya mereka yang mendengarnya, memperoleh kasih karunia.

Segala kepahitan, kegeraman, kemarahan, pertikaian, fitnah dan kejahatan, hendaklah dibuang dari antara kamu.

Hendaklah kamu ramah seorang terhadap yang lain, penuh cinta kasih dan saling mengampuni, sebagaimana Tuhan telah mengampuni kamu.

Suami istri, hendaklah kalian saling mengasihi seperti mengasihi diri sendiri. Sebab tidak pernah orang membenci dirinya sendiri, tetapi mengasuhnya dan merawatnya.

Anak-anak, hormatilah ayah dan ibumu, supaya kamu berbahagia dan panjang umurmu di bumi.

Orang tua, didiklah anak-anakmu di dalam ajaran dan nasihat Tuhan.

Pekerja, taatilah pimpinanmu dengan tulus hati, seperti kamu taat kepada Tuhan, jangan hanya di hadapan mereka saja untuk menyenangkan hati orang, tetapi dengan segenap hati melakukan kehendak Tuhan, dengan rela menjalankan pekerjaannya seperti melakukannya untuk Tuhan dan bukan manusia.

Jadilah serupa dengan Tuhan, seperti anak-anakNya, dan hiduplah di dalam kasih.

Memang kamu dulu adalah gelap, namun sekarang kamu adalah terang di dalam Tuhan. Sebab itu hiduplah sebagai anak-anak terang, karena terang hanya berbuah kebaikan, keadilan dan kebenaran.

~ Parafrase dari Kitab Efesus

to be God

"..The time has come not to search for God, but to be God. The time is not to worship God, but to trust and dwell in the working God." ~ Yogi Bhajan

religion and god

if buddha taught a great religion without god,
jesus taught a great god without religion.