Any Buddhist MNers

[MargoLivebetter]

I was baptised a Catholic and raised as one. I was always fairly horrified by it, even as a little girl, despite the best efforts of my family and schools to ensure I believed. I would just add here that I don't have any issue with people who are Catholics or any other religion. We are all on our own paths and I'm fine with whatever other people want to believe, as long as it doesn't infringe on me or anyone else trying to follow their own path.

I lapsed in my early-20s and became a fully fledged atheist at some point. Whilst I don't believe in gods or any of the monolithic type faiths or ghosts, spirits, angels or those kind of things, I do believe our consciousness makes us more than just reproducing animals. It gives us an awareness of the universe, our sense of existence and our ability to have a purpose other than just perpetuating the species biologically.

I've explored around the edges of Buddhism for years and I become increasingly drawn to it. It doesn't seem much discussed here on MN though and I wondered if there were any Buddhists about?

I am a Buddhist, but I came to Buddhism via secular Buddhism.

There is a lot of things I would consider to be 'wrong view' within this thread, though of course I may have the 'wrong view' on that too.

For western seekers of enlightenment, or even just those seeking peace, I would wheheartedly recommend starting your investigation into Buddhism from a secular point.

I.e listen to the Secular Buddhism podcast.

It will help explain the core tenets of Buddhism, I. E. The Noble Eightfold Path, the nature of suffering, karma, non-attachment, and much more in an easy to understand way, without any of the woo woo cultural aspects.

Once you have a grounding in the fundamental concepts, the spiritual side becomes evident.