...a friend asked me, "Then who do you pray to?"

Stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought of all the times I, raised as an atheist and self-proclaiming as such at the age of 18, had asked in my head, "Dear God, please just bring him home safely..." (once when my brother was missing after school, for example) and I wondered whether that made me a believer...in something...and I've never brought up the subject to anyone since. Now I need to be ready for the inevitable questions from my young son, and it does give one food for thought. I would like to tell him that as humans, we need something to believe in when we are scared, so a lot of people pray to someone called God and that makes them less scared. If he does not find that to be enough, then hopefully I can educate him in a way that gives him solace without having to subscribe to a certain religion.

That said, I think that the Bible does have various worthy messages of compassion and consideration, but one needs only to hand down those lessons, not feed everyone the whole book, word by word.

 

Do you believe in Heaven and Hell?

What parts do you believe in?

I agree with you. The idea of "GOD" can be used as a great tool for comfort.

To bad man came up with the notion that "GOD" should be feared.

rcrozman, my question to you is this.....   "why don't you raise your child to think for himself??"    Explain clearly, without judgement, what religion is,  explain (as much as he is interested) about all the world's religions and answer any questions he may have from as nonjudgemental a position as you can muster.  Then allow him to make up his own mind about whether or not to persue or be interested in any religion at all.   He is going to come in contact with religious beliefs of other children and other people and will have questions about it.   Trying to keep him from "being religious"  and not allowing him to formulate his own choices is demeaning to his ability to be his own self.

Further.....even if you don't subscibe to "god" as an entity or "old man in white robes who sits on a throne in heaven"...
the concept of universal intelligence, something greater than our limited selves is still viable.  Spirit, higher intelligence, the I Am, whatever you choose to call it is the larger part of everything.  

Semantics has a way of twisting conversation and meanings and it's hard to describe the larger whole.
The concept of "god" is limited man's attempt to describe what sits beyond his grasp.   Not an easy thing to explain to
a child, I know.

Plus.......higher intelligence/god/ whatever you name it, does not mean you have to have a "religious" belief
to feel your connection.   My own experience has been that I am learning to connect on a conscious level with
the higher part of who I am.   To live from a place of consciousness rather than reaction to the world around me.
I don't call it 'god' because of the religious connotations, but there is a 'spirit' part of me that I go to, intentionally.
You can call it prayer or meditation, I'm striving to have that connection all the time.

My own experience has been that I am learning to connect on a conscious level with
the higher part of who I am.   To live from a place of consciousness rather than reaction to the world around me.

Wonderfully said! SMILEY.

I love the mushroom and mycelium analogy.
Is the mushroom "head" consciously aware that it is connected to the mycelium.

Our connection to the collective consciousness is more obscure than that, but I still think the analogy holds.

I don't call it 'god' because of the religious connotations, but there is a 'spirit' part of me that I go to, intentionally.

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No matter how you slice it you're still dealing with the supernatural. A "spirit" can mean almost anything and has not been shown to exist  in the natural world.

Ay!

Ay!

__________________

Scots in the house?

actually, no....I'm not talking about supernatural.  I'm talking about the Whole Self.  The I Am.   The part of us that is
larger, wider, taller, stronger, smarter, more connected than just the physical body.    I'm not talking about gods and goddesses here, or superstition.    Just  I.

What "I"?  You are claiming that the "I" is something different than your body?  Just because you have an inner monologue that occurs?
 
That is a self-delusion, that "you" (the person) are something different than "you" (the body).  Cognitive science is showing over and over again that the "I" (inner monologue) is just the neurons firing in your brain.  You are just the sum of your parts; hands, feet, heart, brain, etc. 
 
To claim anything else is to rely on the fact that just because you can talk to yourself (and I can talk to myself as well) deludes US into beleiveing that there is something separate from the mouth and lips forming words.
 

The brain is the computer of the body, it monitors and runs most of the systems.  The part of us that
thinks within the brain is the ego.   There is a higher part beyond the ego that is, for lack of a better word,
the observer.    You can reach it when you consciously acknowledge that you are "thinking" and step
back and become the observer.m   This is the higher part that I'm speaking of. 

I do not call myself an athiest.  I don't believe in "god" in the usual religious teachings.  But I do think
that there is something larger than the physical self and that we can tap into it.

Imstillmags, which journal of cognitive science did that come from? What experiments have shown there to be levels of consciousness as you describe?
 
I am not doubting you, just asking for some falsifiable and repeatable experimentation to show that that is the case. 

Actually there have been lots of studies done.   This may be what you are looking for.

http://cttdev.gps.caltech.edu/participants/dchalmers/index.html

Thanks for the link.  I will have to read it tomorrow morning. Thanks Gog.
Have to go grocery shopping and prepare for some visiting family now.
Have a great weekend!

I think religion has completly screwed up faith and spirituality.  I think you should tell your child, again, objectivly, what you feel, what is out there, and let him make his choice.  Even believers know (or should know) that we cannot bring our children to salvation.  We can give them the tools of our faith, but it is up to them to make that choice.  I applaud you for your honest look at yourself and the world around you.