In Reply to: Re: My Beef and Stake with Christianity as a Relgion posted by mark on November 10, 2006 at 08:08:08:
Whenever I let my stuff hang out there, I always worry that someone will respond with negative criticism, which I can handle, but I don't like setting myself up for that kind of feedback when I'm talking about something as subjective & personal as my spiritual journey.
So your response made me glad I took the risk, even if someone else comes along to explain why I've got it all wrong and quotes me a long list of scriptures to prove the point.
I thought your remark about the definition of "jihad" was interesting, btw. I'd guess that a lot of Muslims have a problem with striving for perfection, which might explain some of their extreme religious behavior. I know jihad is usually thought of as an internal struggle, but it seems to me that when a person zealously pushes him/herself in pursuit of a spiritual ideal, not much good can come of that.
As far as eastern philosophies go, I am familiar with Buddhist thinking about finding the balance of "the middle way" or the reigning in of extreme passions.