It seems that many people in the west stopped believing in Christianity, so they threw it out the window, and dropped all sense of a moral foundation along with it. As much as I think the cultural revolution of the 60's was a good thing, it also created a lot of confusion, a lot of lost souls. I think it's good to question things, like religious dogma, cultural norms, and societal expectations, but it's not helpful when, through questioning, there is only abandonment. The true purpose of the hippie movement was not to be free from such things, but to free the mind, to cultivate respect for all forms of life, and to live peacefully and in harmony with nature and all of the world. If you thought it was just about chasing after your desires, at the expense of others, you've got it all wrong.
I want to say that it doesn't matter what you believe. The only things that matter are what you do, how you do it, and possibly most importantly, why you do it. You can believe in God, you can believe in an afterlife, or not have any "religious" beliefs, and it really won't make a difference. What will make a difference, is what you do with your time here on earth, in this very life. If you waste it, you'll never get it back. If you use your time, energy, and resources to bring about positive changes, you will be rewarded both internally and externally. What you do has a direct influence on what happens to you. This is the law of Kamma (karma in sanskrit).
Kamma means action, so it is nothing more than cause and effect. Although in Buddhism and Hinduism, Kamma is believed to continue on, in some form or another, after this life, none of that should have any effect on what you do today. What matters is that you will, no matter what, have to face your Kamma in this life. In other words, you will pay the consequences for your actions. You will reap what you sow. Be it for better or worse, what's coming, is coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
If you think this sounds grim, maybe you are worried about what kind of seeds you've been planting. If you've done good things for others, and generally led a moral life (not me), you can rest assured that you have nothing to worry about. Yes, something tragic still may happen, Kamma doesn't necessarily protect you from getting in a car accident if you fall asleep while driving, it's not a magical force that many people believe it to be. So you can't count on it for protection, you still need to use your own good sense to keep you healthy, safe, and alive. But what you can count on is that good things you have done will come back to you, and your life will be better off for it. In this way, even if you find yourself in a less-than-desirable situation in life, doing good deeds will help. That doesn't mean it will make all your dreams come true, but it will at least bring you closer to living in peace and harmony with yourself, and with others. If nothing else, you will be closer to the "hippie dream."
For example, while traveling around Asia, I've come across many communities and families living in extreme poverty. I can't say for sure, from only catching little glimpses here and there, but some of them genuinely seem to be happy. In fact, they seem to be much happier than most people I know from the United States, people who are blessed to have more than enough to survive or maybe even leading a life of luxury. Although some of us are still caught up in the idea of the "American dream," many of us can see right through it. If I can say one good thing about the media, it has shown us, over and over again, the true suffering in the lives of the rich and the famous. All the scandals, the drama, the abuse, and the problems of these people are plastered all over the news. Whether you care about celebrity gossip or not doesn't matter, because you will probably hear about at least some of it, and that is almost a good thing, because it might just help you to stop believing that money can buy you happiness, because it can't.
So what buys happiness? In Buddhism, it's generosity. The more generous you are with your time, energy, and material goods, the happier you feel. There is a direct cause and effect relationship there (Kamma). By being generous, you generate a good feeling in your heart, even if that person doesn't do anything in return for you. So if you think Kamma means that if you give someone 5 bucks, and somehow you will be guaranteed to get that back, you have misunderstood the concept. If you give someone 5 bucks so they can use it to buy heroin, you haven't necessarily done a good deed. So generosity isn't just about what you are doing, but how you are doing it, and why. If you think what you are doing is for the best, and your intentions are pure, then you will have a good feeling in your heart when you do it. That is your reward. There might be more, but there won't be less.
Here's an example that is common in India. Everywhere you walk, especially in a place like Rishikesh, there are beggars hitting you up for money. Sometimes, they are lining the street, one right after another, so if you walk around all day, you might get hit up a hundred times for spare change. While your heart goes out to these people, some of whom may or may not be living a life of renunciation as part of their religion, you know that you can't possibly give to all of them. Besides that, some of them get in your face, and try to make it difficult to get around them. Giving money to someone just to get them out of your way probably won't give you that good feeling. I know that it's tough, because sometimes, those people might need it the most, but I usually don't give anything to them.
There is this one guy, on the other hand, that I always hook up, either with a banana, or some cash. Why? Because he has a really awesome energy about him, and even if I don't give him anything, he still smiles and greets me as I walk by. "Hare Om!" he shouts at everyone as they pass, with full enthusiasm. Maybe he's so happy because he's probably treated better than 95% of the guys working the streets, but then again, that might just be his Kamma. I know it makes me happy just to see him, and when I give him something, it makes me even happier. Now, I give to others as well, but usually to those who are at least respectful of my space. Giving money to beggars is actually a pretty cheap way to get a high, because even if you give them 1 rupee, they are usually happy, and that's only worth 2 cents. If you give them 10 rupees, which comes in a nice bill and is enough to buy something hot to eat, like 2-3 samosas, and you're only down 20 cents.
But we need to be careful here. If we are only doing good things to reap the benefits, we've forgotten that how and why we do something are also important. For example, if I just start chucking 1 rupee coins at people, which are about the size of quarters, hitting beggars in the head and making them chase rolling rupees down the street, I'm not really doing a good deed. How do I know? Because the feeling within will tell me. Sometimes, when I don't have anything to give, either literally or I'm just not in the mood, I will turn and smile at the person, as a way of acknowleding the fact that they are a living and breathing human being. If they spoke English, I'd explain, "do you have any idea how many times I've been hit up today?"
Whether or not we follow some religion is secondary to what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why. Of course, there are different beliefs about the afterlife, many that are quite imperative to the religion, but if your actions don't reflect your beliefs, maybe it's time to shift your focus. There is far too much focus on religious beliefs in the world and not enough on how we are treating each other. Our beliefs tend to separate us from one another, making us think that we are right and they are wrong, and that we are different, when in fact, it's only causes and conditions that led us to have these differences in belief in the first place. Take those causes and conditions away, or Kamma, and what we are left with is the same living, breathing, human beings. It's just like walking around either fending off beggars or filling up their cups, it's so easy to see yourself as being above them, as them being sub-human, but if you take the time to actually look into their eyes, you will have no doubt as to their innate oneness with you. That could be you, actually, if you would have been born into a different family, in a different part of the world.
So whether you believe that it is your good Kamma from past lives that gave you the opportunity to be born into a priveledged family, like many Buddhists believe, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that you act according to what you can see and know from your own experiences in this very life. Have your beliefs, or don't, it really doesn't matter. The only that matters is what you are doing, how, and why. If your beliefs support you to do good things, we can see the value in them. If you think having beliefs is enough and you don't need to do anything else, you might as well just get rid of them and start from the ground up. There's too many people doing terrible things in the name of their beliefs to think that beliefs, on their own, are a good thing.
Too often, we confuse our religious beliefs with a sense of identity, and forget that the purpose of religion is to lead our actions in wholesome directions. "I'm a Christian," "I'm a Buddhist," or "I'm a Muslim," are the common responses you will find. There's nothing wrong with saying this, but deep down, you should understand that what's important is to say, "I practice being a virtuous Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim." If you can't say that, you shouldn't say anything. Calling yourself this or that and then doing things to hurt others is hypocrisy. If you don't subscribe to a particular belief, like many in the west, that's perfectly fine too, but check to see that you didn't also throw out your moral backbone, or that your parents didn't, when they gave up the religion of their ancestors. If you are strong enough to lead yourself in wholesome directions without a religion, maybe you don't need one, I can't say. What I do know is that having one has helped me, and not in the sense that I think it's going to save me in the afterlife, but that it gives me something to practice, here and now, and I can see how my life is improving because of that.
I'll also say that trying to lead a virtuous life is somewhat of a new venture for me, hence my being compelled to write this. It was never something I cared about until recently, and I'm finding that I was living so far from it, that now, it is proving to be a difficult thing to do, and that is because of my past Kamma. I used to do things I'm not proud of, and I admit I've hurt many people, so trying to change overnight is impossible. If I could have maintained some practice of morality after I stopped believing in Christian dogma, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, not to mention the people I ended up hurting. The problem was, I got the two mixed up. I figured, without a religion, everything is fair game, there are no rules. I think this is the common understanding of the youth in America today. But regardless of belief, that feeling within will be there to guide us, and I got all-too-good at ignoring it. Now, there are things I can never take back, but as for today, I will do my best to pay attention that inner guidance and allow it to lead me to a life of virtue.
May all beings connect with that place within that affirms wholesome deeds.
May all beings see that what they do, how they do it, and why they do it, is more important than any sort of religious, spiritual, or atheistic beliefs.
May all beings see that regardless of differences in religion, race, and beliefs, we are all in this together, and act accordingly.
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