Non-Catholics - Story

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Auberon Quin:
I still am. If I had to put myself in a category, I’d call myself a Zen Buddhist, if only because of my strong agreement with Zen’s emphasis on detachment. I meditate and practice martial arts, although I am not particularly diligent about either.
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Curious about the Zen thing.

I always thought (i don’t know why) that ‘Zen’ was all about focusing on the ‘now’. Not focusing on the past or the future, but the present.

I’ve heard my dad call himself a zen Catholic. :))
He even does meditation with a group that includes a Catholic priest and a buddhist monk.
My dad’s Catholic … all the way, but I take this zen Catholic thing to mean that he’s concentrating on his faith RIGHT NOW. Which, i guess … just means he’s Catholic. 😃

Help me out with the zen thing … i’m really curious now.

thanks!

michel
 
Auberon Quin:
If I had to put myself in a category, I’d call myself a Zen Buddhist, if only because of my strong agreement with Zen’s emphasis on detachment. I meditate and practice martial arts, although I am not particularly diligent about either.
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Quin,

Could you describe Zen Buddism a little, I’m not really familiar with it? At least the detachment emphasis portion would be helpful to understand where you are coming from.

Thanks
 
Hey peoples!

I wasn’t raised in any church but my mom was/is a Christian and raised me as such. I started going to a Baptist church when I was 14 and around 17 I started the non-denom Charismatic thing.

Like someone else who posted earlier, I’ve always been attracted by the Catholic Church too, with little understanding of it, however. In the past two months, as a result of conversation with a Catholic internet friend, my interest has greatly greatly increased. This week, I plan on beginning to slog through the whole Catechism, trying to understand, maybe highlighting parts I don’t understand or agree with so I can ask questions.

I think of myself a weary soul. I haven’t been doing so good for about the past year or two. I don’t pray or read the Bible anymore, I just barely tolerate going to church for my husband’s sake. I worry myself with "What if I’m not a real Christian anymore? “What if I don’t care?” I wonder if I’m doomed to be weary and muddled forever. I feel so detached from God and the whole Christian thing. My interest in it is practically nil. It’s torment to tell you the truth.

I don’t know if I’m going to find any rest or peace or truth in the RCC but it sure doesn’t hurt to check it out, now does it? I’m tired guys. I don’t know what I want anymore.
Pray for me as I read the Catechism…it looks super long! :bigyikes:
 
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jmacclure:
Could you describe Zen Buddism a little, I’m not really familiar with it? At least the detachment emphasis portion would be helpful to understand where you are coming from.
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I will take a shot. However, by doing so, the traditionalists would say that I am not a proper Buddhist because it cannot be explained, only experienced.

I quote DT Suzuki, who knows more about this than I do:

“Zen is the ‘everyday mind,’ as was proclaimed by Basu; this ‘everyday mind’ is no more than ‘sleeping when tired, eating when hungry.’ As soon as we reflect, deliberate, and conceptualize, the original unconsciousness is lost and a thought interferes. We no longer eat while eating, we no longer sleep while sleeping. The arrow is off the string but does not fly straight to the target, nor does the target stand where it is. Calculation which is miscalculation sets in. The whole business of archery goes the wrong way. The archer’s confused mind betrays itself in every direction and every field of activity.”

The best way that I have found to explain it is that you give whatever you are doing your full attention. If you are playing with your kids, you are playing with your kids, not listening for the phone or planning dinner. If you are driving, you are driving, not talking or listening to the radio. And the other part of it is that you do the correct thing.

If you are hungry, the correct thing is to eat. So you eat. You don’t read the paper, talk on the phone, wax the cat, or anything else. You just eat.

Clear as mud, right? There’s more, or less, depending on how you look at it.

I will speak briefly of detachment, I guess, since you asked. The Buddha taught what we all know perfectly well, which is that life is suffering. It is not only suffering, but much of life revolves around the pain of suffering, whether it’s ours or other peoples.

We suffer because we fear death, for example. It doesn’t matter how attached we are to life; we are all going to die. The Buddha taught (and I both simplify and overcomplicate at the same time) that release from suffering comes in release from attachment. When you are no longer attached to the idea of life, you no longer suffer from the threat of its loss.

I don’t know what a “Zen Catholic” is, but I don’t see the ideas of Zen and Catholicism as necessarily being mutually exclusive. Buddhist techniques such as meditation apply across religions, and the idea of non-attachment sounds an awful lot like “Whosoever would save his life will lose it, and whosoever loses his life for my sake…”

More questions? Bring 'em on.
 
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Curious:
Pray for me as I read the Catechism…it looks super long!
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Don’t want to ruin it for you, but everyone dies in the end. It’s like Hamlet, only with less stabbing…
 
oh dang auberon…that made me laugh but it felt like I stab! Now is not the time to rain on my parade! :crying:

😃
 
Curious,

Talk to Jesus and ask him to show you what He would have you know. Stay neutral, if something seems off come and ask questions, there are explanations.

I joined the church because of the sacraments. God’s presence, His being available to me even when I am not up to snuff. His offer of himself so intimately in the Eucharist is overwelming. He continues to offer himself and says come, I am here, I am available to you now, this day, this moment. I churched shopped but couldn’t get passed this. Some churches had better preaching, some had better music but I was hungry and God said come and let me feed you, so I did. This is where I found “soul food”. I decided I could supplement the preaching and the music but there was no substitution for our Lord in the Eucharist.

The grace that I have experienced through the sacrament of confession has been beyond description. There are times when I have to push myself to go, pride etc. and God has been there and used it. He has taught me through my priest’s words and afterwards, speaking to my heart.

These are just two of the sacraments that are available and unique to this church. Maybe I am just selfish but I wanted all that God had made available. I didn’t learn it all at once. I am still learning. But I am so grateful that Jesus would offer himself to me daily. I am so grateful that I can spend different time with him at Eucharistic adoration. I figure the rest will come. I have been given food for the journey.
Peace,
Ms. Cilantro
 
Hi Curious, Thanks for responding.
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Curious:
This week, I plan on beginning to slog through the whole Catechism, trying to understand, maybe highlighting parts I don’t understand or agree with so I can ask questions.

Pray for me as I read the Catechism…it looks super long! :bigyikes:
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t reccomend reading the Catechism cover to cover, you might go insane :whacky:. I would just focus on one topic at a time and go through it that way. Good luck and make sure to bring on those questions.

God Bless,
 
someone else recommended the same, going through it by topic. I’ll do that…but I want to read the thing…doesn’t necessarily have to be cover to cover I suppose.
 
Quin,

Thanks for the info. It’s a lot more than I knew before. I appreciate it. 👍
 
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jmacclure:
Quin,

Thanks for the info. It’s a lot more than I knew before. I appreciate it. 👍
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You’re welcome.

There is a Zen saying: “Those who know, do not say. Those who say, do not know.”

Apply as you see fit.
 
Well,
I was raised as an atheist, and told religion was a bad thing, and had a wild and chaotic life, and sought truth everywhere, and felt drawn to Jesus, and read verses in the Bible, and talked with Christians, and had a distinct sense Jesus was talking to me, asking me to get to know him, and struggled with my own will, and with my fear of commitment, and my pride, and finally became a Christian. Because Protestants do a lot more evangelism than Catholics do, I learned Protestant theology and even got a hefty load of anti-Catholic theories with it. Since research is one of the things I do, I did some digging and found out that the Bible can indeed be trusted, the Nicene Creed does indeed reflect the Bible, and the anti-Catholic conspiracy theories ar ea popular sandwich meat. Now I feel drawn to the Catholic CHurch but don’t know for sure what to think. I am trying to figure out what the Bible really supports. I KNOW it doesn’t support prosperity theology, but I have had trouble finding a church that doesn’t teach that stuff. I just want all the facts and examples I can find before I choose. :hmmm: 🤷 🤷
 
Hi
I am an Ahmadi – a peaceful faith in Islam bridging gaps between faiths/denominations/religions/agnostics
The West, as I understand, due to certain disinformation has seen only MullahIslam or MullahShariah; the true face of Muhammad’sIslam and PromisedMessiahImamMahdi’sIslam is yet hidden from their eyes, which is truly speaking only peaceful.
GodAllahYHWH is All-Knowing; one should invariably give Claim and Reason on all important issues from one’s Revealed Book; one shouldn’t try putting one’s own words into God’s mouth.
 
Hello,
I was born and raised(baptized) in an episcopal church. Both parents were episcopal as well. My Grandfather was an episcopal minister.

During my teens and early tewnties I lost touch with God and really didnt care.😦 During this time I married my catholic husband(who also didnt care about religion) When my daughter was born, I felt I needed to find a church. I wasnt interested in the episcopal church anymore. I went church hopping and found a baptist church that felt right. I was saved at this church.😃 I am a born again christian.

I left there after 8 years and am now in a non-denom church. Myself and my children are thriving. Sadly my husband is still not interested in church whatsoever.😦 He will come with me on Christmas and Easter --he is a Cheaster church goer.😛

I believe in:
The Trinity and all that goes with that
Believers baptism
OSAS
saved by grace through faith
firm believer in walking the walk and living out the fruit of the spirit as called to do.

I came here because a catholic friend of mine thought I would like it. She knows I love to talk to people and I love to talk about the bible. I have learned much about catholocism and have made some friends here.😃 I stay here because reading some of these threads is like a bible study for me:thumbsup: It has helped me solidfy my own faith and I have learned how catholics believe as well.

Thanks for asking:D
 
I am a member of the Society of Friends. I was raised in an evangelical church, Christian&Missionary Alliance, Church of the Nazarene and Free Methodist…which ever was closest to home and which ever sent a bus to pick us up for Sunday School.

When I was 19, (I’m now 52), I was “convinced” of the Truth. I seek to follow the Light of Christ, Light Within. Friends typically are “non-creedal”, religious understanding is best communicated through experience with God instead of things “said about God.”

Friends speak of knowing God “experimentally”…an immediate experiential relationship with the Eternal through Christ.

Many Friends use a “pastoral system” or “programmed meeting” which is very similar to many Protestant churches.

My group utilizes the historical “unprogrammed Meeting” of worship. We each wait upon the Light to speak out of our experience with Him to minister to those in Meeting. We believe that Christ is truly Present among His People and will teach His People Himself.

We offer prayer, Bible readings or spoken ministry if one is led by the Spirit to break “the Living Silence” of communion.

We believe that Christ calls His people to Peace in Him. We embrace the “Peace Testimony” which states…

“We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatsoever; and this is our testimony to the whole world. The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world.”
 
Mellisa

I will pray that you read the Catechism and it’s connected Bible verses. The Holy Spirit will lead you where you should go and I will pray for you and your husband. RCIA is not necessarilly mandatory for entry to the Church. G-d bless!
 
Mellisa

Just a PS I go to Mass by myself always…there are no other Catholics in my family.
 
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