remembering.

kerouac's "the dharma bums" is making me think. it's reminding me why i hate religion. religion demands that you adopt someone else's ideas as your own, or at the very least, that you think about it and come to the same conclusions. if you don't come to the same conclusions, clearly that religion is not for you. and as much as i enjoy the ideas buddhism has about this world, i do not agree wholly. the fact that i don't, even though i find them (and this book) completely inspiring, reminds me that there is no point to absorbing someone's beliefs as your own, because they aren't. but to co-opt them, to adapt them, into your own ideas of the world, to pick and choose, this is the way i think; this is the way i find my meanings. i can't demand that it is for everyone, but i can see it being the way for me to deal with ideas and discovering the world. i'm glad i remembered this.