I really don’t have a set religion even though, my parents raised me as a Christain. But they didn’t put any pressure on me to really stay Christain. They said that I can be who I believe what I wanna believe when I got older. Now that I’m older I’m just stuck. Ever since I joined Religions class it’s really been making me think about what I should believe in. I think I believe in God because someone had to create something because obviously humans or earth or anything can’t just appear out of nowhere.  I definitely believe there are other gods but I just think God is just jealous and feels like since he created everything, we all should worship him. (which I totally agree with him on that). But it’s hard to worship someone you haven’t ever met or not 100% sure is real. But the thing is I don’t not wanna believe in God because I don’t wanna go to hell. I wanna have eternal life but I don’t wanna just waste my time on this earth praising a God that isn’t real if he isn’t real. But if he is real I don’t want to be rejected at the gates. It’s not like I won’t do good or anything.

As a kid, I didn’t really care about God. My parents didn’t take me to church or put any pressure on me to believe in what they believed in. My parents just taught me how to be a good human being. They would say “treat others the way they wanted to be treated” or “you’re a leader, not a follower”. On Sundays, my Mom would play gossip music so, I knew who God was. I just didn’t know why I had to believe in someone I have never met. Why do I worship someone that doesn’t do anything for me? Why do my parents talk so much about this irrelevant man? These were the questions I would think of every time I thought of God. 

As I got a little older I started to get into manifesting and believing in the universe. I started buying crystals and started watching youtube videos on meditation. The manifestation was really important to me. I would get everything I wanted out of life with just manifesting. I started with small things like safe flights or money. Then I started to get into the big stuff like manifesting love and happiness. It really started to work and I even started to tell my Mom about it. My mom asked me “Who are you manifesting to” and I replied, “The Universe” she then asked me “Do you know who made the universe”. I respond “No”. She said, “God created everything in this world, so when you’re manifesting to the Universe your really just speaking to God”. That really stuck with me. 

I really started to get into God and who he was and why he was so important to me. I would read the bible and every time I would manifest I would use the Lord’s name. I started identifying myself as a Christain. I would watch online church every Sunday. One day I got a text from my Dad saying that my Aunt Dean died. I started questioning “Why do we die?” and “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. I started to get very angry and wonder why I was devoting my time to someone who takes people away from everyone. This really taunted me for a few months. I started to fear God and just try not to do anything bad or I would die and be sent to hell.

I then just started researching and realized everyone is going to die one day and there is nothing gonna change that. It’s really how you live your life and be just a nice person. So to answer the question “What do I believe?” the answer is I don’t believe in any Gods anymore. I believe that you should live life with no fear and to take all the opportunities that you are given. Because you only get one life and you should live it right.

If the Corona Virus had never happened a lot of people in our world would be alive. Over 5,220,000 would have been alive today. The government wouldn’t have to worry about people having superstitions about them putting the virus out for population control. A lot of people’s lives would be different.

During quarantine, a lot of people lost their jobs due to not being able to leave. Let’s not even talk about how bad it was to get food and basic household ideas like ( toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. Face masks became a requirement it it somtimes makes it hard to breathe. A lot of people had developed depression or anxiety due to either being locked up in the house, losing a family member, or just not being able to socialize as much due to the fear of getting this deadly virus. A lot of important events were lost due to this virus-like for example weddings, graduations, birthdays, concerts, etc. And for the worst part, online learning. Online learning was so hard on people (including myself) it was so hard to lose focus since you were at home and just so many distractions with people being at home.

Just imagine how your life would have been without covid. I would have finished out my 7th-grade year. I would have a better 8th-grade year and get better grades because for me personally, I do better with in-person learning so I lost close to two years of education. I would haven’t gone through depression and this overall feeling of repeating the same day over and over again. I would have stayed in Virginia and not been able to have this great opportunity to go to Friends Central. All these basketball opportunity would have worked out better. I might have already got a D1 offer.

In genarld alot of peoples lives would be different if the corona virus never existed.

Intro:

Who practices Ren and Li and why is it important to them? Confucius believe that you need to practice ‘Li and Ren’ to live this “ideal life”. They believe that you should practice this in all of the five relationships. The feel like you should do the right thing for the right reasons without being told to; just out of love and being a good human being. You need Ren to have Li and vice versa.

Li (external )

Li is translated in all sorts of ways in english. There is not one single definition of the word Li. Some definitions are  “propriety,” “customs,” “ritual actions”, “morals,” and “rules of proper behavior.” Li is like “rules and conducts” the reflects on a person’s good will. If you follow these “rules and conducts” you are set to have a “civilized life”. Some rituals people do to perform Li are bowing to an elder/ being silent and respectful to elders, good manners, before entering your home; take off your shoes, or writing thank you letters to the people. The five relationships are important to Li. What are the five relationships you might ask? Well believe order,harmony, and good government could be reinstated if society revolved around the five relationships. The five relationships include

One: Ruler-Subject (Benevolence/ Loyalty)

Two: Father-Son (Love/ Filial piety)

Three: Husband-Wife (Righteous/ Simisitiveness )

Four: Older sibling-Younger sibling (Kindness/ Deference )

Five: Friend-Friend (Fidelity/ Fidelity)

In Conclusion, Li is the general way to practice being a good person on the outside without being told to.

Ren (internal and external) 

What is Ren and why is it important? Well ren can be explained in different ways but, ren is one of the basic virtues promoted by Confucius. Ren is what makes humans so special and unique. Ren is not given a strict definition.In chinese ren means “humanity,” “humaneness,” “goodness,” “benevolence,” or “love”. Ren has to do with the capability to love humans and creatures. Ren is how the “ideal” way of being a human being and by doing this it encourages others to be this way.  All these interpretations share two concepts, every human being has the capacity to possess ren, and ren manifests itself when a different person treats others with humaneness. Ren is needed in the government. The government officials need to take considerment in Ren while making laws. In Conclusion, Confucius needs Ren to live the ideal and perfect life.

I am really excited to learn about religions other than mine. I am also curious to see if I might want to have new beliefs and change my perspective on my religions. I also think this is a really good experience for me to learn other people’s point of view on religions. I already learned so many things like all the different religions and the popularity of them. I feel safe in this class. I don’t feel like our teacher is putting us in a position where we feel threatened or unsafe. I like that the class is free minded and you can belief what you want and other people can agree or disagree with you. I like hearing other people’s perspective on religions. I love how this class is kinda personal in a way and i can get personal without feeling judged. I’m overall exited about this class and what is in store for me to learn.