i think the western world is on a huge downswing and slowly but surly loses its power. so is converting to islam +ev?

i am tired of finding ways to define myself in the society of western people. i am hungry for inspiration. buddhism sounds to monotone to be a decent option.

so should i try islam?

to make things clear: i believe your mind will transform the way you treat it.

so although i dont believe in god right now, i believe that will change if i practice a religion seriously, like poker changes the way you think about things as well, takeing religion seriously will too.

you may ask how can i take a religion seriously if i dont believe (yet). believe comes with pracitce. so if you go to the mosque regularly, meet alot of muslims and adapt their lifestyle it will happen sooner or later.

Why not watch Lord of the Rings every day and start believing in Ents, Elves, wizards and Hobbits? I think that would be more fun for you.

When you can't be bothered with capital letters, I have my doubts regarding submission to a deity you don't yet believe in.

Other than that, obviously Hinduism or Chinese state communism are superior choices given your logic. The power of Islamic states is not really increasing, only the media coverage.

"The western world is on a huge downswing". I question your definition of 'downswing'. Actually....wait, no - I question your definition of every single word in that sentence.

well chinese stat communism i would have to move to china, wont take it that far lol.

dont know where i can meat a hinduism community in europe, they dont do missionary things, so hinduism is mainly an india thing.

you maybe right with your last sentence though, that the islam are the new bad guys and need to be pushed in that territory by the media.

i believe the USA is losing its influence as well as the EU...

the iraq thing didnt really went like it was planned, etc.

well the lord of the rings is some cryptocatholic thing, and so we are back in the myths that are decaying :-)

it might be i somehow have a romantic way to see islam.

what really impresses me is that islam is able to politicize millions, where we in the EU dont really care much about politcs anymore. We dont even get angry when our politicans lie to us, we just gave up in frustration.

i was a radical leftist when i was in the early twenties, but there is just no power left to make anything happen.

atm i believe capitalism is nessesary, but its just not enough to make my life seem intresting.

i wont wait until i am old and grey though. need to do something.

I don't think you see "caring" or "not caring", you simply see examples of societies that function (and dysfunction) very differently.

Also, I doubt you can say that people in the Europe do not get angry. Very few people in the world get as angry as people in Europe. In fact, people in Europe regularly get so angry that we have to rewrite large portions of world maps.

well in the east of europe perhaps.

the middle of europe people are just slaves and cowards.

you know, islam even in its radical forms is capable of adapting to capitalism without makeing any big compromises. deception is official part of islam.

the peace we are living in right now is just a sellout.

i dont want to spend my life in this pseudo tolerant BS of our so called democracy. not sure what i am exactly looking for though. but need a change definitly.

Sellouts, slaves and cowards smacks more of characterization and dehumanization than anything else.

I have no experience from large scale politics, but in small scale politics my experience is that the people in it tend to care, tend to want good solutions and usually put their heart into things. Usually the only thing you get in return for your efforts, however, is criticism. Probably to some extent because people see want they want to see and to some extent because critical people are the most vocal. I'm not saying all politics should be excused, but it can be wise to open up the mind a little sometimes and see people as "mostly honest, often flawed, never perfect" instead of painting everything with hyperbole.

I'm sure Islam could be (and probably is) used to build good societies. Right now, when it comes to states, I would say that there is a long way to go.

maybe the 'state' in the form we know it is an european idea and there are other ways to find a way to live together.

dehumanization is one thing, but makeing political actions with people you cant trust cause they are slaves and cowards another. i ran into a wall because people like that, but thats another story.

How does someone qualify as a slave or a coward.

good question. i am simply using this vocablar because i am disapointed in certain people.

for me a slave and a coward is someone who is spending his life like a pet. that means he is not willing to risk his little comfort to archieve any self determination.

people like this might be ok to hang around with, but they will betray you if they are put under pressure.

I'd still like you to be clearer, what does spending a life like a pet actually mean, what is self determination and what risk does it entail?

of course you can ask at every vocabular i use what that means.

someone who is living in an unsatisfieng marriage but doesnt dare to break it up because of the changes that would occure fits in that category for instance. generally people who dont react on injustice done to them because they fear that the aggression that would come back if they open their mouth would be too much to handle for them.

im not talking about being a hero, but u should be able to take actions that lead to your freedom, even if faceing resistance from other people.

Surely freedom includes making the decisions they want rather than the ones you do.

well of course you are never ultimate free.

but i dont think the freedom in this western democracy is superior. i am isolated, yes i know some people, but are they real friends? with one exception i give a clear no.

i am doing what i need to do for not getting a social case. but does that fullfill me? No.

the life i am living since i left the political thing since about 2 years is a very boring one. once or twice a month i go to parties, events and diffrent communites. but thats just wasting time.

ok lets be fair, i have one community i really like.

but im hungry. i want to live a life i can say this is my life.

i didnt find it yet, so why not try something completly diffrent?

Maybe you need something a little more adventurous. Greenpeace or similar environmental movement would be the way to go or fight the Ebola epidemic or you could go after a reward by taking down a drug kingpin like some 2+2'ers did with "el chapo" Guzman. OTOH taking a long walk, coming home, and posting in 2+2 is not so bad.

I'm still unclear as to what converting to Islam is supposed to accomplish for you, OP?

I've converted to George Carlin-ism and have been more serene since. Yes, the world is going to ****, but in the USA you have front row seats to the circus! No, we're not harming the planet; we're screwed, but the planet will be just fine, it'll be around long after humans are and it won't miss us one bit! Sure its atmosphere etc. will be altered but it will still be here until the sun explodes. Maybe some other species will be lucky enough to survive after us. Well, we've had our time at the top of the food chain and we obviously suck at it, so it's about time to let some other species take the wheel. I nominate venus fly traps (my idea, not Carlin's).

Basically instead of getting worked up about mankind's self-destruction like I was before, I just accept it now. It's not such a big deal, my life isn't important and neither is that of the human species. The universe won't notice when we're gone. In the grand scheme of things, nothing matters. Just enjoy life for what it is - a game. Decide how you want to play it but don't take it (or yourself) too seriously.

Working 60 hours per week so you can pay for your house, wife, kids, cars, vacations, clothes, etc... isn't free. It gives the illusion of freedom but is it's own form of slavery and is actually worse bc you think you are free but really you are enslaved by other peoples ideals that you adopted bc of cultural pressures.

Look around at how many people have some combination of those things that deep down they don't really want/aren't happy with. They fell into some life of doing what everyone else expected of them rather than what they actually wanted to do their entire life and ended up with all those things and are left like a hamster on a wheel and not very happy.

You see having all the material things that people identify with as being a successful person don't actually make you successful, wealthy, or happy. These are just ideas in a materialistic society...they aren't even our ideas as when we are born none of us want a Mercedes or a house on the beach or a wife with 3 kids. We work all our lives to attain these things and then at some point many people look back on their lives and realize they've wasted it trying to attain things that were never things they actually truly wanted for themselves.

That is slavery at its worst.

This thread reminds me of - "Those who trade freedom for security, deserve neither freedom nor security."

I spent a reasonable amount of the last few years working 60-ish hours, because I had one full time job and was working on a startup on the side, until I quit to do the startup full time. Whether or not it was or is "worth it" is debatable, but it was a choice I made. I'm sure there are some people who are working long hours by necessity and not choice and I can agree that would probably suck, but I have no idea what the balance is.

I think in any case it's overly hyperbolic to say it is "slavery at its worst" though. And it doesn't seem realistic to think that there is a real choice between "working" and "doing what you actually want to do". For better or worse the material necessities of life require working for unless you are extremely fortunate (and I have opinions about what attitude those who are so fortunate ought to have about it, but I'll not digress). There's obviously some room for some people to trade off free time for income or to choose a lifestyle that balances working for other people and doing your own thing, but no matter how much the culture moves away from consumerism or materialism (so defined), the vast majority of people are going to have to work, and probably at something that isn't what they would prefer to be doing all the time.

yeah i read about that too lol. can remember he didnt came that far didnt he?

but this position is a sore one.

i had similar thoughts last year but found out that i am on some sort of slight tilt that things are like they are and i cant make my peace with it.

and islam seems so ... alive.

i want to find out more about it, maybe they light a fire in me, like they do with a lot of people.

You should try Judaism, its a cool thing to do if you don't already have a religion.