Hello ,
Tonight I am exploring that some of the great spiritual thinkers were not trying to make a religion, they were simply pondering the very important question of how to live a worthwhile life...
We do not need extrinsic motivation of a heaven and hell, or a soul's journey ( karma). We can simply reflect on what it is that gives us greatest peace, joy and purpose, and act on that.
What do you think fellow Agnostics?
I think this may be true. I would like it if it were. The problem is establishing the historical reality of their lives and teachings. I think the sunahs (sp?) and hadiths (sp?) may be accurate, but I've seen even the existence of Jesus debated. Other than Buddha being a Hindu reformer I'm not sure how accurate any of the rest of it is.
I feel some thinkers were seeking truth, some were seeking answers, some sought spiritual betterment, but the majority sought, power, prestige and lots of cash from the frightened gullible uneducated masses.
I don't think Jesus or Buddha intended to be cult fetish icons. Spinoza actually requested his diaries be destroyed after his death.
@SueZ More or less, he used the word god(or at least it's translation, he wrote in Latin) but refuted the claim that it was any sort of conscious individual. Tao or Om is probably the closest in common modern parlance. I myself use the word god as a frame of reference for the universe as a whole. I think he would have liked the concept of Schrödinger's god, for god to exist and be infinite it would also have to not exist.