This is a trip. I stumbled across this site:

http://iamofyou.com

It claims to be "The One-Sentence Religion." There are a few more sentences on the page, but it is completely about a single sentence... a kind of mantra if you will.

Strange thing though, it actually seems to work for me. I don't know. Don't discount it offhand for its simplicity.

No organization, no texts, no teachers... no dogma. Just this one phrase. Check it out. I'd love to hear what you all over here at Faith Based think.

One question (or maybe it's two): who is the "I" and who is the "You"?

It has a link for donations.

I've been thinking about that as well.

On the surface the I is whoever is doing the talking or saying the "mantra." The You would then be whomever they are addressing. (A person, a place, a feeling, God)

After a while it occurred to me that the I and the You are interchangeable. If you let the idea sink in, it erases those boundaries and leaves you in a state of oneness with yourself... the so-called "other." You is anything that you haven't assimilated into I yet.

At least that is how it feels to me.

=)

What the Heck does that even mean?

Here, I can do better than that: 'I am a purple Iguana'. Boom a religion is born.

'I am in for you and you are out for me'. Boom, A new faith.

'We all fall down together', Boom I have seen the light.

Still ain't no one done better than; "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That one is not only pretty simple but it is actually pretty deep and incredibly useful.

Reminds me a bit of "I Am The Walrus" -

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together

Maybe that would work as a mantra, too? :)

A new faith is founded.

I don't mean to be overly critical, but that was totally pointless.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.

Or something like that. Makes more sense after a few tokes, I think.

Dammit, Primate beat me to that!

;-)

A new faith is founded

Beatlemania, especially the Lennonist sect, is an old established faith. In the words of enlightened master George Harrison, "life goes on within you and without you", just as it is now going on without him. Or, as Sri Paul once phrased it in a notable koan, "why don't we do it in the road?".

Dammit, Primate beat me to that!

There's only the quick and the dead, TP, as my old drill sergeant used to say regarding hand-to-hand combat. :)

My excuse it that it is still early morning here on the west coast -- I have not yet gotten out of bed, let alone had any coffee!

Sure. Why not?

Or Pink Floyd's classic... " And I am you and what I see is me..."
from Echoes.

I don't see why people would get all huffy about this. It is just a mantra. If it makes sense to you (it does to me) than use it. If not, no stress.

Nobody is ever gonna start a war or go killing anyone over a philosophy like this.

Nobody is ever gonna start a war or go killing anyone over a philosophy like this.

Oh, absolutely - it's just kind of fun to play around with. No huff intended.

As I understand it, a mantra can be just about any phrase at all, including pure nonsense - the primary idea being to quiet the mind and achieve a meditative state of transcendence. Heck, "Rama lama lama rama lama ding dong" (credit the Edsels!) would probably do the trick. It's just easier for some folks to focus on a phrase than to concentrate on -say - their breathing.