As open-minded as possible.

Yes Mary, That is what I consider as the most important duty, to be true to myself. This is the essence of everything, the constitution, the law, the humanity, ethics and all. You are very nice person to chat with. God bless you

Thank you!! You're pretty nice to chat with too! Have a great day!

Thank you for your reply! I think you're very much on a similar way of thinking as I am. I think we all have our lessons to learn throughout life, and life will keep trying to teach us the same lessons over and over again until we finally stop, look, learn and then go on to the next lesson. I try my best to be true to myself. :)

Thanks for responding! Good question - what, if anything, do animals worship or believe? I did go to a Christian (Lutheran) church as a young teen, with my family. There started my questions and issues with religions and my truth-seeking adventure. I have never found an off-the-shelf religion that truly fit me. I always have more questions than answers! So, I believe what I wish to believe from what I consider the very core of each religion (I honestly believe at the very central core of almost all religions is the same truth), and I have no issue with letting other believe what they will.

Thank you for your response! I agree with you, very much so. I try to teach my son to be the best person he can be by doing good. I try to set the best example I can for him.

Thank you for your response. I wish you all the best!

Thanks for your response! Personally, I look to Jesus, Buddha, etc. as examples of people who have lived unselfish, good, positive lives and try to live by my own inner guidance system of what's right for me. Sometimes, being a good person offends others. I've had it happen to me. I do what I feel is best for me and my family, and sometimes someone gets upset because they don't feel it's the right thing. So, at that point, I have a choice - I can change what I'm doing to please the other person, though it might not feel right in my heart, and won't sit well with me. Or, I can carry on doing what I feel is best, whether the other person agrees or not. I'm not talking about harming anyone, just when someone doesn't necessarily agree with what I'm doing. So, I personally find it more important to follow my own heart and intuition. It hasn't steered me wrong yet!

Thank you for your response. I don't think man-made religions are necessarily a completely bad thing. Like anything else, it has its good and bad sides to it. I believe man-made religion was maybe initially set up to keep the peace, to bring communities together and to keep some sort of order in large groups. However, we do not have peaceful lives because of organized religion. More wars, fights and negative feelings have been brought about since the dawn of organized religion than just about anything else. Fighting in the name of a peaceful supreme being has just never made sense to me, at all.

Thank you for the warm welcome! myLot seems to be quite an interesting site so far, and I thought I'd start my time off here with something that I hope might generate a positive discussion. Thank you for your response. I believe that at the very core of most major religions lies basically the same message. Humans then took that message, wrote about it, talked about it, and through translation, interpretation, etc. etc. etc., the message got distorted, changed, hidden, whichever word(s) you want to use, and then those very humans began fighting and arguing over whose version of the message is correct. Sad that it still continues to this day. This is why I refuse to push my (very personal) beliefs onto others, and I politely decline others' attempts to push their beliefs onto me. I practice tolerance, kindness and compassion toward all humankind.

Thank you for your response. I believe equality and being as non-judgmental as possible are two very important aspects of my life. :)

That is basically the way I live my life too. I have no idea for sure whether there's such a thing as a 'supreme being', but in my heart, I believe that I am here to do as much 'good' as possible, in whatever capacity I find myself in. I don't necessarily love my job, but I try not to complain about it, because it brings in money to pay the bills and keep my family fed. And, I try to find ways to spread positive messages while I'm at work, via Facebook and now here. At least I have full access to the 'net from my job! ;)