Tag - Religion

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Sunday, October 2 2011

Taizé

During my holidays in august, I spent three days in a small village called Taizé, not far from my parents' farm. This is not only a village, but also a place to rest and pray. Not a sacred place, but somewhere you can go to take a break with habits, leave stressed life behind, all problems... Leave it for a while, and focus on your relationship to God.

I always felt good in this place. I already came several times, but it was for only one day, each time. This year I spent three whole days there, and it made a real difference; I could appreciate even more the break with my everyday life... With exam to prepare, stress at work... The calm of the church gave me what I needed to balance.

Pray. Sing. Repeat. Sing again. Silence. Feel God so close in this silence. Ask the good questions. Let the answers come. Slowly. Finally understand[1]. And sing again. Going out of the church, have a look at the watch and realize that I stayed there during more than two hours... as it seemed like a few minutes.

And last but not least... Got a new cross-bird ! ;)

croix_taize_20111001.JPG

Notes

[1] maybe...

Wednesday, September 7 2011

Voice from God

My Truth is in the whisper of the wind, the babble of the brook, the crack of the thunder, the tap of the rain.
It is the feel of the earth, the fragrance of the lily, the warmth of the sun, the pull of the moon.

I finished Conversations with God, from Neale D Walsch. This book is awesome... Full of surprises, humor, truth, joy, hope... Most references are from christianism, but some are from East countries : hinduism and buddhism.

It's not something like a new religion, or going against religions. On the contrary, I think it's something good to read when you follow a religion. For me, it was another point of view to continue my way to God...

Thursday, August 25 2011

To be or not to be ?

In indian society, I probably wouldn't exist... I keep thinking this, each time I hear that people should marry somebody "from same caste, same region, same religion". Here in France, this rule was also right until a few decades. Even if not so clearly expressed, it was how the society was built.

Same caste ? Even if there is no caste in France, you can find some differences from the social environment, which can be very strong... My father was from countryside, from a farmers' family ; my mother grew up in a rich family from a quite big town...

Same region ? In India, it seems that "region" goes with "language"... This is a very rich culture, with more than twenty spoken languages. We don't have this in France. Of course, you can find some people from Brittany or Alsace, who can speak their own regional idiom. But there is only one official language, and all people speak french, at least.

Nevertheless, my parents came from different regions : my father from Burgundy, where there are again some farms cattling cows ; and my mother from a rich suburb of Paris...

Same religion ? In Hinduism as in Christianism, there are different ways to follow religion. Here in France, most of christians are catholics. But few of them are protestants (around 2%). And so were my parents : one catholic, one protestant...

Thus, as you can see, nothing would give them to get together. It was a bit difficult, and in the family we always have some pressure on some subjects... Culture is even different from one family to the other...

But we are there. Me, my sister and brothers are now some kind of a mix... No problem about "caste" or region, as we all moved for our studies and work. But for religion, as we received education from both our parents, we are living our complex faith, just between two communities... Sometimes it's very rich, because we share two different cultures, two ways of thinking ; sometimes it's more difficult, because we are considered nor in one community nor in the other...

Tuesday, August 2 2011

Processing...

Since several weeks I try to prepare a text on families... Wedding, children, family and joined family... All these concepts are different in France and in India. Not the same way to see all events that matter in life...

When I ask for something, the answer is getting me to many other questions... The way we are thinking about families here or there, how we live, if we follow religion or not... And also the new subject of complex families we have in Europe, with people having divorce, and getting married a second time, with another person who maybe has also children... Then make these children brothers and sisters as they don't have anything common...

This subject can be huge, I think... And quite representative about the society where we live... Tell me about your family, and I'll tell you who you are !