Siddhartha

I've read Siddhartha before and still the idea that i found most interesting was his ideas about his teachers. I like the idea that he didn't expect to be able to learn how to find true peace from another human. I think the best learning we do is on our own. The knowledge we discover ourselves seems to be the most important knowledge we learn. Siddhartha had many teachers and learned a lot from those teachers but he knew that there would always be something lost in translation from their thoughts and feelings to the words they use to express it. This is why the best lessons we learn cannot be expressed in words but have to be learned individually by experience. What we learn from others is very important in life and gives us the basis and tools to go out on our own and learn on a higher level, but we can't expect to have this level of learning from a teacher, especially from just one teacher.
I also like how he had to experience things that he knew to be wrong in order to discover the truth about the world. Without opening yourself up to new ideas and concepts that others know and experience, it is impossible to truly know the whole world. In order for anything to exist it must have an opposite and I think this shows up in Siddhartha, to truly complete himself he needed to experience what he had not been. This is the part of pilgrimage right before the metaphorical death when the person is reborn and appreciates and knows their old life in a new light.

Questioning Religion

I have found myself constantly questioning my own religion. I was brought up Methodist and went to church every Sunday and to youth group since I can remember. But classes such as Sociology and history of world religion have made me question my religion more than ever. I don't know if I'll ever answer all the questions about my religion and my beliefs. I think this is better than following the religion blind and without actual understanding but does it make me any less of a religious person? I still feel very religious and connected to Methodism. Obviously I'm never going to know all the answers but there are very serious contradictions between many of my thought about society and how it shapes people in contrast to what many Christians believe and hold true with the Bible supporting their thoughts. This also brings into question interpretation though. How can we possibly expect the Bible to cover modern issues, and if so, how can some Christians interpret it so literally?

Moral Philosophy

I believe that there is an ultimate truth, but my views so far are mixed between divine command, natural law, and in a way i believe in cultural relativism. I believe in God and that God and nature are combined. The thought that God is using nature to help us find truth about the world and about ourselves is very interesting. Because then the ideology would be that God is in everyone of us and all nature helping us find truth and ourselves. Instead of God as a lecturer God would be viewed as a catalyst to finding truth. This view sounds somewhat Buddhist. Instead of looking to be told what truth is and where to get morals from we are then expected to think and reflect not only on what we observe but include what we are told and the lessons we encounter in church and life in general. As far as cultural relativism goes, it is easy to see this idea in real life. This idea is the reason there are many conflicts between religions, races, and nations all over the world. Because we grow up in different places we have different experiences growing up and we are socialized differently causes conflicting views accross borders. It could be that the ultimate truth is to understand one another and listen, learn, and compromise seeing that we are all different according to societies rules.