Hi I’m Joel

I’ve been following Tiny Buddha on social media for a few months and found some of the things posted helpful and thought I’d see what the forum is like. I hope it’s okay I joined since I wouldn’t say I’m a Buddist, in fact, I don’t know what I am. I was brought up Christian and have been a Christian for about but in the last few years, I started to question Christianity. For me, there seemed to be a lot of inconsistency in the Bible. While I think there is some good in Christianity there are also bad things as well. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Bible, while in part inspired by the divine, is mainly the beliefs of the writers of the scripture and may not be absolute truth. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s good in all religions. Some people are good and some are bad and all religions seem to attract both.

For me, I think many of the teachings of the Buddha are very helpful and if embraced by the world we would be in a better state than we are now. Right now I use the Headspace app and have occasionally meditated without any guidance. I admit I don’t meditate every day but I’m trying to get into the habit of doing so. When I do meditate I feel at peace. I love the feeling of being aware of my surroundings during meditation. Maybe someone could say I mix I also subscribe to the Secular Buddism podcast and I’ve gained some insights from it.

Anyway, I guess I’ll find out if this forum is for me by the reactions I get.