Following Orders Ch.14

The Little Prince visits the planet where there is a lamplighter. Of all the people the Little Prince had met so far he felt that at least the lamplighter's life had some meaning.

This chapter kind of ties with the previous chapter. I mentioned how there are many new converts that are left ignorant because no one further nurtures them. All these new converts are merely told to do things and expected to do them, no questions asked. Sure now their lives have meaning, yet they really don't know what that is, they continue to do what they are told. This in unfair and leaves no room for spiritual growth. It could also lead to weariness and doubt over time when little or no results occur. It is sad to see all these lost people just doing what they are told because it sounds good, or what have you, but at least most of the time it's for the better.

Taking Inventory Ch.13

The business man, that the Little Prince encounters, is counting the stars. He says that he is counting to see how many stars he owns. The Little Prince tells the business man that he is of no use to the stars so how can he own them?


Some if not all religions can sometimes be consumed by the number of people they convert. One of my problems with this concept has been, are they really reaching out to these people or just dragging them along for the ride?

I have seen some concern for the well being for the new converts but there is much carelessness when getting the person to convert that the converter soon forgets about them and leaves them on their own to figure out the rest. This tactic leaves many among many of ignorant believers, not knowing all the ropes of the new religion they are involved in. This could also explain why many followers of religions have very little grasp of the big picture and can be easily offended without really knowing what they believe in. Much like the businessman they remain determined they own something yet they have never nurtured or done anything for these things they own.

Endless Cycle Ch. 12

"What are you doing?"
"I am drinking."
"Why are you drinking?"
"So that I may forget."
"Forget what?"
"Forget that I am ashamed."
"Ashamed of what?"
"Ashamed of drinking!"


The Little Prince finds it hard to understand the tippler's logic. The tippler continues this perpetuating cycle that really gets the tippler no where.

Sometimes people find themselves following the traditions of religion yet they don't really believe in many of the doctrines. It is usually because that was how they were raised and the one thing that lingers or pulls them back is the guilt. Which is also an unhealthy cycle and way to go about religion. Religion shouldn't make us feel ashamed of our humanity but rather make us aware of it and what we can do to make us feel better about our human nature.

Some may find themselves going to church every Sunday to feel better about the sins they've committed throughout the week. Others may go to confession to receive the proper penance.



What do these rituals really accomplish spiritually though? Do these become crutches to lean on when we feel like giving into our human nature? Creating the same perpetual cycle as the tippler's?

Get Over Yourself! Ch. 11

"Ah!Ah!I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!"

To all conceited men all other men are admirers. The conceited man will only hear words of praise.

Have you ever tried to converse with someone who was completely self involved? When I think of a conceited man I always look to one of my favorite Disney movies the Beauty and the Beast. Gaston is this narcissistic character who is completely full of himself,only hears what he wants, and expects to get what he wants because he is such a strapping young lad.



Religion can be narcissistic at times. There is this image displayed of such piety and self righteousness and these people believe that everyone should like or respect them because of this. In doing this most new believers or people on the brink of converting will see displays of such piety and become turned off to the religion. I know this has been the case for myself personally on several occasions.

Religions are supposed to be humble and gracious but instead people, most of the time the head figures within that religion, are self-righteous assholes. Pardon my french.



No one, I mean no one likes a self-righteous asshole.

You're a Ruler of What? Ch.10

The Little Prince makes his first stop on a planet where he met a king.

"...the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe."

The Little Prince inquires who the king rules over because there are no subjects in sight. The king claims to rule over the universe but really he rules nothing. He has a false sense of authority. The Little Prince found this quite odd and left.


Most times authority points their finger down at us and we can not question that authority. My favorite example of this is from Matilda.



"Listen you little wiseacre: I'm smart, you're dumb; I'm big, you're little; I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
-Mr. Wormwood

The king on the planet wasn't as bad as Mr. Wormwood but my point here is why or where does this authority come from? Who are these people actually ruling? Truth is we are our own authority. Sure people will try to tell us what to do, use intimidation, money and power, but they really will never be able to control what we personally decide to do.


Like the good old saying:



You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Saying Goodbye Ch.9

The Little Prince finishes a day of chores, leaving his planet in order before he decides to leave. He realizes how much he cares for the flower as he says goodbye and she tells him for the first time that she loves him too.


The Little Prince decides he needs to leave to find some answers.

Sometimes we all need to step outside of our daily routines to find answers.

Siddhartha leaves his kingdom in search of enlightenment.

Jesus wanders in the desert for 40 days.

It's not always the answer to run away from our current lives but sometimes it helps to get away from what you know to learn the things you haven't yet discovered.

The Importance of a Rose Ch.7&8

The aviator is working on his plane while the Little Prince continues to ask his never ending questions. Frustrated with the work at hand the aviator snaps at the Little Prince. The Little Prince upset and hurt with the aviators response points out that just because one person doesn't find the matter important doesn't mean it is not important at all.


This is probably one of the biggest problems in different religious views. Everyone finds their religion important thus nullifying the importance of any other religion outside of their own.

The Little Prince told the aviator of this beautiful flower unlike any of the other flowers on his planet. The flower became demanding of the Little Prince and he attended her every need but soon became frustrated with her demands.



"Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was far too young to know how to love her..."

Much like any relationship it requires nurturing and much attention in order for it to continue to grow. Sometimes relationships seem quite demanding and can become frustrating when nothing is reciprocated.

40 Sunsets to Happiness

In chapter six the Little Prince talks about he was able to watch 40 sunsets in one day on his planet just by moving his chair a few steps.


"You know--one loves the sunset, when one is so sad..."


When we are sad we always want something to look forward to. Sometimes our sadness causes is to fall into bad habits or addictions. Much like my previous post on good seeds vs. bad seeds, during sadness is one of the harder times to distinguish good from bad choices. We want instant gratification or comfort and will do most anything to feel better.

I think religion plays a big role into the decisions we make when sadness takes over. I have to say it's one of the better influences on one's decisions during a time of grief. People find comfort in their beliefs and have faith that during their time of difficulty everything will work out for the best because there is a bigger picture or divine purpose as to why things have happened.

Good Seeds Bad Seeds: LP Ch.5

"Children watch out for the baobabs!"

In chapter five the Little Prince describes treacherous plants called baobabs. He explains how good seeds and bad seeds are on his planet. The good seeds turn into good plants and the bad seeds turn into bad plants. If the bad plants continue to grow they can ruin and even destroy the planet.

There are always good and bad seeds being planted throughout our lives. It is our responsibility to weed out the bad seeds before they become treacherous to ourselves and others.



We all struggle with the good and the bad. Distinguishing between good and bad is always hard at first. The Little Prince describes how when the seeds first sprout up it is still hard to differentiate the good plants from the bad plants. So the first step to weeding out the bad plants is learning how to recognize them. Usually we have someone teaching us right from wrong, good from bad.

Of all the aspects of religion I truly respect the ethic/moral values it can instill in someone. Although these sometimes get lost or overrun by rules it is better to have some sort of moral values than none at all. These ethics or morals would be the good seeds and sin would be the bad seeds. Religions, not all but most, tend to focus on what the sins are instead of focusing on what good decisions to make. Although they do talk about what good deeds need to be done people end up worrying about what they shouldn't be doing.



"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness... There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir."

This passage from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of my favorites to describe a universal moral code. Amir's father describes to him that regardless of what their cultural religion teaches theft is the only sin that we commit. I find this statement very true and useful in regards to my daily decisions. I constantly think about what I might be stealing from others. Sometimes depending on the decision you can even end up stealing from yourself.

Neglecting your health you steal time from yourself. Staying in an abusive relationship you steal your mental,physical, and emotional health from yourself.



Pulling weeds is one of my favorite things to do. Weed pulling is stress relieving and is great time to myself, not to mention a great workout. When it comes to pulling weeds within my life it's not very stress relieving at first and not very enjoyable. Making decisions as to what would be best for my mind, body, heart and soul is very difficult. I have to say I have made some super tough decisions. The hardest decisions I've made are deciding on whether certain people should be a part of my life. I have to say as hard as those decisions were they definitely have improved my life. So in the end making difficult decisions can be stress relieving.


So Watch Out For The Baobabs! Learn how to recognize the weeds in your life. Learn when and how to remove those weeds before they become too destructive.

Appearances are Everything: LP Ch. 3&4

The aviator/narrator in the Little Prince becomes more curious as to where the Little Prince came from. As he discovers that the Little Prince is definitely from another planet the aviator decides that the Little Prince is from asteroid B612.

Asteroid B612, as described by the aviator, was discovered by a Turkish astronomer.

With this discovery the Turkish astronomer made a great demonstration in his Turkish costume so no one took him seriously about his discovery.

In order for his discovery to be held substantial the Turkish astronomer decides to dress in European costume and gave his demonstration again. This time because of his change in appearance they took his discovery more seriously.


You have to admit that the importance of appearance very much applies to us today. The most common of these circumstances is when going to an interview. Looking professional for some reason betters your chances at acing the interview.


Now let us look to religion. Does religion use it's appearance to reel us in? What is it about the appearance of someone will intrigue us to follow their religion?

I've never really thought about this before...


Within this class I've learned how Eastern religions can seem appealing to Westerners, mostly who live in hustle and bustling cities, because of the more zen/simple lifestyles.

Christianity may be more appealing to those seeking structure,order, yet filled with beauty and passion. If you enter more traditional Roman Catholic churches everyone is in their best clothes, looking almost uniform to one another, and the church is adorned with beautiful art and passionate scenes.


Take for example La Pieta by Michelangelo

This grandiose scene,in St. Peter's Basilica, is one of the more extraordinary works of art found affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. This work of art alone is said to make an impression on ones faith by having viewed it.

Icons have also played a big role and the size of these icons doesn't hurt a bit either. Like the Tian Tan Buddha



Which leads to the next point the aviator addresses.

The aviator continues to tell the story and explain how grown ups won't believe anything you say based on your appearance and if you don't explain it to them in figures. The value of something depends on the number it is related to. For example he states that if you were to describe the beautiful house you just purchased in detail, like what materials it was made of, it wouldn't matter until you told them how much it cost. He continues how he wants to describe the Little Prince's story as best as possible so both grown-ups and children can see the truth in it. Then he goes on to explain that's why he posed that asteroid B612 was most likely the home planet of the Little Prince, to give figures we could understand and hold valid.

We do this to our faith/religion all the time. We try to present figures and facts to explain our faith to others. I said in the previous post that we can rationalize our faith but when I said that I did not mean through facts and figures. It truly would be impossible. You can only rationalize your faith for yourself and no one else. I think that is the whole gist of what faith is.

Inner Outer Vision: Little Prince Ch.1&2

What are the following images of?


In the Little Prince the narrator explains how when he was younger he wanted to become a painter/artist but when he would show his drawings to grown ups they never understood or would see what he felt he had drew.

vision
–noun
1.
the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.
2.
the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be: prophetic vision; the vision of an entrepreneur.
3.
an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency: a heavenly messenger appearing in a vision. Compare hallucination ( def. 1 ) .
4.
something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience: The vision revealed its message.
5.
a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation: visions of wealth and glory.
6.
something seen; an object of sight.
7.
a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty: The sky was a vision of red and pink.

There are many definitions alone for what vision is and in each of those definitions are different perspectives. We all have different visions. We see things in different ways through different eyes. Sure there are basic forms that we can recognize and agree on but other times we lack imagination to see that the images above are of a boa constrictor who swallowed an elephant.

In many instances we let our actual sense of sight get in the way of what is actually there.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

These phrases all have to do with your vision.

My sight has always been one of my favorite senses. I love seeing colors, shapes and motion. I especially love my sight when it comes to art. There are many different forms and styles of art. Some of my favorite style of art is abstract expressionism. Any abstract art really. In abstract art you basically see what you want to see but sometimes the artists' intent is for you just to see what is simply there. For example Mark Rothko's work.


Rothko just paints block of colors.

As viewers of art when the composition is simple we tend to want to complicate it and uncover an underlying message. We tend to do this when someone tells us the truth. For some reason we need frivolous details and a climatic build-up to believe something really happened.

This brings me to my parallel in religion.


The parallel:

When things are visibly simple we tend to cast it aside. It's not worth paying attention to. We need things to be complicated to stay entertained. So as a result religions have created these unbelievable stories to entice us to believe, ironically. If we were told that Buddha was born just like we were his teachings for some reason would seem less relevant. If we found out that Jesus had a family of his own his sacrifice would seem less relevant. I can go on and on.


Why would religion seem less relevant if the stories were less exciting and extraordinary?


We have this perfect image of what religion/God is and we get lost in this vision that really doesn't exist. The moment someone tries to bring us back down to earth it either bursts our bubble or we go crazy defending our perfect vision.

Personally I don't think it should have to resort to either one of those things. I know that it has been said religion can't be rationalized, sure that is undeniable, but can't faith be rationalized?

We see what we see and just because others can't see what we see, doesn't change what we see or make it less relevant.

Look at your Reflection

In worldreligions@yahoogroups.com, xtremebanter wrote:

I found another interesting book that may interest some of you. World Religions Through a Christian Worldview By Pat Zukeran Also, this booksis free on Google! Praise God for Google!

In worldreligions@yahoogroups.com, "asianxallen" wrote:

I think christians are pretty narcissistic because fanatics are always claiming that all other religions are wrong, and Jesus is the one and only. Just throwing it out there that they seem pretty ignorant, anyone agree?

In worldreligions@yahoogroups.com, "hot2chow" wrote:

isn't that the same for every fanatic of most religions? i mean, i don't see a Buddhist monk like that, but it seems to me that most other religions, dead or alive, the fanatics are always claiming that their god/gods/goddesses are the only one; which is why they would be the extremists and fanatics, yes?


I wrote:


I think fanatics is the wrong word ...zealots maybe? I think it's just frustrating, especially with Christianity in this country, how these people constantly make you aware of what they believe. This example is a bit extreme but Christians and even distinct churches remind me much of gangs or krews. They band together claiming they're the best, wearing t-shirts, distinct logos, and even have stickers/symbols on their cars. Some churches even use gang terminology in regards to reaching out to people. Yes Christians can be proud and they have every right to be but I think it turns more into an ego issue.

'Well how many members does you church have?'

'We've collected over 1 million dollars in tithes!'

'We've converted 1,000 people in one day!'

'You're going to hell if you don't believe in my homie G-O-D!'

I know this is a bit exaggerated in some cases not exaggerated enough but I've seen it. Christians most times come off as condescending and it becomes irritating. Yes we as humans are not perfect it is understandable but to act like you are perfect and without flaw(self- righteous) well come on. Christians fail to see the overall lesson that Christianity itself presents. We are not perfect, not one of us, we are not expected to live up to the ancient law (10 commandments) although it's a good starting point...Christ "teaches"(as far as we know) about accepting others:

"Let he without sin cast the first stone"

Isn't Christianity about grace, forgiveness, and second chances?

Where does ego come into all of this? Where does pride come in? Why do you need to wear your faith on your sleeve? Sure don't be ashamed of what you believe but do you really need to tattoo it on your neck that Jesus Loves You? Shouldn't your way of life reflect what you believe and not the license plate guard on your car?

I don't think Christians are ignorant I just think they forget to look in the mirror sometimes. Not to mention they forget what WWJD? stands for even though it's on the bracelet they're wearing.

Dedication

To Leon Werth

I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. he needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown up grew. All grown-ups were once children -- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:

To Leon Werth
When he was a little boy.



Okay so I'm starting The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and this was his dedication in the beginning. It is a well beloved story by both children and adults alike. It can be compared to Peter Pan and the whole idea of not wanting to grow up but in a more level-headed fashion. Peter Pan endorses mischief and fun while The Little Prince has a wise way of maintaining the magic of your youth even as you take on responsibilities of an adult. This book explores the very basic philosophies of what is important to us, why is it important, and is it beneficial to hold this in such high regard?

The Little Prince

I have become highly interested in the world famous children story The Little Prince recently. I find that it has many parallels to reasons why we have different religions. I'm planning on exploring these parallels more and revealing why religion exists, the flaws of religion, and how it can even strengthen religion. All these points may change as I am doing my research and actually read the book for the first time ever. I have a feeling, with the little I have read and seen in regards to the message within The Little Prince, that I will discover some basic answers that we all look for at one point in time.