/lit/ - Literature

>>4103341
>better

I'd say that the Wikipedia is a nice starting point... I don't understand what you're looking for.

try the perennial philosophy by Huxley (google for a pdf), in it he compares different faiths from both traditions and looks for common ground, something he identifies as 'perennialism.' Huxley had pretty interesting views on mysticism

If you're in college try taking religious studies.

>>4103359
I guess I meant in terms of key tenets that distinguish them from each other, strong contrast. And differences in practitioners' lifestyles and outlooks.

(and yes, I know both traditions spawned multiple religions and countless sects and treating them as monolithic entities might be silly. I'm just looking for broad generalities to start out with...)

>>4103367
About to give it a look, Always meant to give him a look, I am an occasional psychonaut and enthralled by the mystical experience in any mind-state.

>>4103420
>I am an occasional psychonaut and enthralled by the mystical experience in any mind-state

>>4103341
William James 'The Varieties of Religious Experience'

I'm being a non-fedora for once.

>>4103341
The Bible is a must-read.
The Holy Vedas, Puranas, Mahabharata, and Ramayana would be a more ambitious quest to take, but I think it's worth it; the only thing that sucks is that it's hard to find good translations of them, but, and I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, a mediocre translation is better than not reading it at all.

>>4103512

James was basically a fedora, but he believed that religion had a value; particularly the individualistic and non-conformist religious movements.

Get a copy of the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita - then see which chimes with your more. You're free to explore down the limitless reading that both offer. The New Testament leads onto the rest of the Bible, Catholicism, Judaism, even Islam, whilst the Gita puts you into Vedic literature, such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the different commentaries and discourses, Taoism, Zen, Buddhism and a myriad of smaller religions.

Personally, the Gita is the most beautiful thing ever composed, but I adore different aspects of Christian, Muslim and Jewish life (to name but three).

I'm beginning to notice a trend in more religious topics on/lit/. I suppose this is a backlash to the whole fedora euphoric nonsense on boths sides of the nu-atheism front - even if you think religious investigation is the 'fashionable' thing to do right now you will be rewarded will diligent research and study.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Matt. 7:7)

>>4103512
>>4103523
>fedora fedora fedora

you sound like a fucking idiot m8

I'm far from an expert but it seems like the Vedic tradition is more philosophically and spiritually pure and has less bullshit dogma attached to it.

Then again, if I'm remembering correctly one of the key Vedic texts openly advocates the Indian caste system, so what the hell do I know?

>>4104112
>less bullshit dogma
Let's just step over the term bullshit and recognize that Hinduism is the most dogmatic of the Eastern philosophies. It and Confucianism are alone in their explicit requirement of obedience to tradition.

>>4104130
>Hinduism and Confucianism are alone in their explicit requirement of obedience to tradition
Isn't any religious tradition by nature about, uhm, religious traditions?? I know Buddhism is broad and agnostic, and that some forms of Christianity emphasize faith above all. But Judaism and Islam are legalistic in almost all of their iterations.

>>4104130
Yeah I'm completely forgetting about Shinto here but Hinduism is still very dogmatic.

>>4104146
I said in the previous sentence "of Eastern philosophies." I don't see why you would just assume that the context of my post, within the context of this thread, is immediately extended to all religions of the world.

Humans have yet to create a satisfactory religion.

We've only been thinking seriously for 2500 years. Give it another 2500 years before you come to any decision OP.

What were you raised in? That's generally where you start.
If this doesn't suffice: why? The answer to that should guide you to another house.

>>4103420
>>4103486
>occasional psychonaut
Drop the fucking pretension, kid. You like to do drugs. Just be candid and stop wasting everybody's fucking time with your veil of pseudo-intellectual trollop.

>>4104298
I don't know. I've 'done drugs', and i've 'done drugs'. In the first instance, you snort a line of something that may be MDMA in a girl's bathroom with some chick you've just met. In the second, you hole up with a few buddies, take whatever cat-neutering agent you've found on the internet intravenously, then play soothing whale sounds while your brain tries to get out of your skull by any means at its disposal.

>>4104298
Wow, I wasn't aware exploring the nature of consciousness via altered states was "pseudointellectual trollop". I thought it was just a personally satisfying hobby.

The fact that I intermittently enjoy taking psychedelics is implicit in my statement already, stop being needlessly hostile.

>>4104309
dude, you seem pretty cool and interesting. can i be friends with you?

>>4104146
I'm not sure about Judaism but Islam is definitely equipped to be progressive and adapt to some extent to whatever situation it is practiced in. Though it is still pretty dogmatic in that following at least some semblance of Islamic tradition and practices is required, but there's lots of discussion and differing approaches even in that.

>>4104334
Actually I am a shell of a human.

>>4104112
>I'm far from an expert but it seems like the Vedic tradition is more philosophically and spiritually pure and has less bullshit dogma attached to it.

Yes, you are far from an expert.

>>4104325

This is the internet. Of course that repressed soul is going to be needlessly hostile toward you.

>>4104340
>but Islam is definitely equipped to be progressive

i lel'd. if not trolling, some examples are definitely in order.

>>4104340
islam was pretty progressive in 700AD too bad it stayed the same since...

>>4104415
ever heard of ijtihad?

>>4104422
so yeah, just completely the golden age of islam, when Europe was in the dark ages, that's pretty cool

first find the god in yourself, for he is universal

>>4104439
completely ignore*

>>4104433

10th century. Something more recent, plz. Islam is progressive is the usual line of obviously-in-denial apologists.

>>4104439
uh that's what i was talking about polesmoker, at that time maybe 700-1200 or something islam had the most liberal values which is why motherfuckers where converting to the bitch left and right, the problem is once the italians started getting their shit together around 1300s it was all downhill and once that protestant shit popped off up north, forget it, game over

dude read some Emerson and go full universalist. All the religions are saying the same thing. You know it to be true.

>>4104477
uhh what? ijtihad is a central tennant.

i never said islam today is all rainbows and butterflies, but that's not because of the religion itself, it's colonisation that fucked up muslims and made them all crazy and forget most of their religion

>>4104509
sorry bro islam isn't just "christianity with turbans", the shit is regressive, deal with it

>>4104484
>protestantism
>progressive
Disgusting.

>>4104541
butt hurt catholic or just an edgy atheist? you decide!

>>4104548
Sensible agnostic who appreciates Catholicism more than shit-tier Protestantism. Protestantism was just a giant scheme to allow princes to steal church wealth, it addressed no other problem.

>>4104551
germans didn't surrender to the Roman legions they sure as hell ain't going to surrender to the pope either, get tha fuck outta here

>>4104554
Bavaria and Austria brah

Also it worked for them for a thousand years. They were Catholic longer than they have been Protestant.

>>4104551
that may have been a way that the movement was hijacked and given political credence in many areas, but it has nothing to do with the actual impetus of the movement

>>4104560
obviously, bro, the catholic church has been around longer than protestantism, duhhh

>>4104573
Luther was totally fine with it. He ditched the peasants like they were worth nothing.

If you want a reform movement worth anything, look to the Hussites.

>>4104579
>He ditched the peasants
it was a reform movement not a maoist revolution

>>4104581
He sided with the princes over what people actually wanted.

Face it, protestantism fucking sucks. Its origins, reason for success, and essence is fellating German kings and dukes. If you want Christianity without the pope, the Orthodox church is a better bet.

>>4104581
to the extent that one of the key tenets of the New Testament is compassion for and solidarity with the poor and marginalized, a truer Christian reform movement should have looked at least a little bit more like a Maaoist revolutiion

>>4104509

> it's colonisation that fucked up muslims and made them all crazy and forget most of their religion
> Trolling or ignorant buffoon.

You're quick to blame imperialism, but not the other features of Islam itself. As if one positive aspect automatically makes it progressive.

>>4104596
>marxism
>caring about the poor and marginalized
Tell that to the Ukraine.

>>4104603
Fabulously wealthy tyrants who fear pan-Arabic nationalism feed islamism as a counterweight sound like a likelier cause than "lol this vague concept which people have interpreted in thousands of ways just naturally leads to this".

>>4104614
wait...but...if the wealthy tyrants are maintaining power through it then...doesn't it...lead to that?

>>4104623
What?

>>4104627
you're saying islam isn't regressive an anti-democratic it just seems like that because tyrants use it to stay in power...well, wouldn't that fucking confirm it's function as some regressive and anti-democratic shit? duh.

you know man, if you have to twist your logic into a pretzel to make islam sound good maybe it's time to give up the farce and just admit the shit sucks

>>4104634
>well, wouldn't that fucking confirm it's function as some regressive and anti-democratic shit?

No. It wouldn't. hth

>>4104634
No it wouldn't. It confirms it can be used that way. It doesn't confirm that's what Islam leads to by some kind of inner structural flaw. Wahhabism is far younger than Islam, anyway.

You're kind of dumb.

>>4104638
you're kind of dumb for trying to act like islam is a democratic system when it isn't

>>4104641
Sorry, I was wrong.

You're not kind of dumb. You're very dumb.

>>4104638
>It doesn't confirm that's what Islam leads to by some kind of inner structural flaw.

who says it's an "inner structural flaw"? to muslims islam works great, maybe you should stop projecting western values onto asia.

again, it seems the dumb one is you.

>>4104646
This guy:
>>4104603
Which is the one this whole chain leads back to.

one thing i will always respect about the chinese is they don't cry about imperialism "fucking them up", yeah they got screwed by the brits too, (and the japs and the americans) but instead of getting professors in the west to cry about it in literature departments *cough* said *cough* they kicked out the imperialists, whipped the ass of the compradore bourgeoisie who sold them out, fought the americans back off their borders twice (korea and vietnam were both attempts to get american bases on the chinese border) and after modernizing their infrastructure and getting the birthrate and literacy issues dealt they set to beating the west at their own little capitalist game...meanwhile everybody else just cries and whines about how unfair imperialism is or whatever...no doubt, imperialism is not fair, but so the fuck what? get your shit together man.