Is religion insufficient? [quote them] [thoughts]

A friend shared one of The Dalai Lama's status updates on Facebook just this past week:

"All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether."

I wanted to ask my friend who shared this if she will be "singing an REM"¹ anytime soon?

[thoughts] Dear God...

1.

God received a letter that went: "Dear God. Please help me quit smoking. Love, Anonymous."

He then replied, "Dear Anonymous. Just quit smoking already. Love, God."

God received another letter: "Dear God. Please help me lose weight. Love, Anonymous."

He then replied, "Dear Anonymous. I already gave you help. I call it choice. Love, God."

Dear Alfonso: Many Filipinos have two given names. [did you know?]

Dear Alfonso,

We thought of naming you "Juan Antonio" and maybe a future sister "Maria Monica," and call you by your nicknames, "Wanton" and "Mamon," but we think Alfonso is just perfect.

We chose a Spanish version of your name, although it could have been of many other forms: Alphonsus, Alphonso, Alphonse, Alfonse, Alonzo, Alonso, and so on. Your mom and I think that Alfonso just sounds better with our Spanish/Italian-sounding family name. If you wish to take on a different form of your name, feel free to do so, but we think you'll love Alfonso just fine. Most of your future friends (i.e. children of our friends, who are your contemporary) also have Spanish-sounding names, like Anton, Sofia, Franco, Javier, Teresa, Julia, and so on. Some have English-based names, but you know at this time and age, the language origin doesn't matter anymore. It's the meaning behind the name that is most important. Yours means "noble and ready."

[quote them] Kurt Cobain

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

— Kurt Cobain

I can't believe it has been more than 18 years already. 

[quote me] (or quote them?) The pro and con of school.

Image from Wikipedia

I was going over my Palm (device) Memopad (app) notes backup from yesteryears, and I saw this quotation I jotted down there:

[did you know?] Sprite is a...

Remember those days?
Image seen on sulit.com.ph

You all probably know of Sprite, that lemon-lime soda drink from the makers of Coke, and that we usually don't drink if there's Coke anyways. But did you know that "Sprite" is a few other things, too?

Don't hate, don't suffer [quote them] [quote me]

The Tarsier, the smallest primate,
found only in the Philippines,
image from Caters News Agency Ltd,
as seen on The Daily Mail Online.

This is a quote from a fictional character, but I personally believe it is so true. You all know this already, right?

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

So yeah. Do you hate or are you angry at certain kinds of people? Oh what suffering you might be experiencing right now. But at the back of it all is some form of fear.

I would also like to think ignorance lack of proper knowledge/experience/understanding likewise leads to fear, anger, and/or hate. That's something that is probably difficult to deal with, but not impossible to. To me, I just simply look at it this way: I don't want to be suffering, so I don't hate.