Hollie Reid Outside Reading #1

For my RSTD 211 class, we were required to read excerpts from Experiencing the Worlds Religions. One quote that stood out to me in this was “Nevertheless, changes- inevitable in religion, as in everything else- are occurring.” This quote pretty much explains that sometimes you just have to accept things as they are, and even when you do, they are bound to change. You essentially have to go with the flow. We talked in class how places are also in a constant state of alteration, much like religion. What is the outcome of these changes? For one, beliefs are always being reforming, whether it is as a whole, or just an aspect of that particular belief. For example, I wrote my term paper on the ancient land of Lemuria. For a long time, Lemuria was considered to have sunk beneath the ocean as a punishment for the corrupt actions taking place. Later, Lemuria was dismissed because there isn’t any concrete evidence that such a continent existed. This then altered many people's beliefs and many began to consider the myth of the Lemurians as simply a fable meant to teach the importance of right and wrong. Another result from these changes is that nothing can be experienced in the same way twice. There is always something that differentiates one occurrence from another occurrence although it may appear to be similar. There is a refreshing quality to the realization that every sunrise is unique. You will never experience the same saturation of colors, the pattern may be different, there may be birds flying across a particular sunrise. All of these instances combine to create a one-time phenomenon that reinvents itself each morning.