OK, so I'm feeling like something in regards to religion must be addressed as a first real post for this blog. Religion has played a major role in my life. I was raised in the LDS church. Yes, I was a Mormon (well, technically still am as I haven't had my records removed from the church). Let me firstly preface with this.... Mormons are GOOD PEOPLE. They believe in all the basic principles that any good religious people believe in. I feel they are a very misinterpreted and misunderstood people. With that being said, I do not believe the LDS church is the one and only true church on the face of the earth. In fact, I do not believe that any RELIGION is the one and only true religion on the face of the earth. I believe everybody and nobody is right all at the same time. This is not an attack on religion. This is simply me, sharing my thoughts and opinions. If you're curious, read on.
Reality is what you make it or what you believe it to be, whichever comes first.
One of the things I've been really focused on since I moved to St. George is gaining a greater understanding of what I feel and believe on a spiritual basis. Meisha and I have had a lot of very long talks and done a lot of soul searching on these subjects. We've shared and developed our ideas of spirituality and religion together through these talks and reading and a few movies, actually (See What the Bleep Do We Know!?, Zeitgeist: Addendum, Alex Grey: Chapel of Sacred Mirrors).
Religion vs. Spirituality
The biggest thing I want people to understand is that religion and spirituality are SEPARATE. Religion, in my opinion, is an organized machine designed to keep order within a particular belief system - much like the government. Religion has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirit, by definition is the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul. Spiritual simply means pertaining to the spirit. This means a person can be completely devoted to their spirit and things of a spiritual nature without giving any credence to a religious system.
My Problems with Religion
The problem I see with with religion is that it forces people to think the same way everyone else in their religion does. If you start to question certain principles within the religion, you are typically shunned and seen as a non-believer. I've raised several questions about certain aspects of the religion I was raised in that seemed to be "unanswerable" questions both by my teachers and my parents. I asked these people: "How can you believe in something when you don't answers to some of the crazy things this church does?". The answer I typically got was "Sometimes you have to let FAITH be the answer. If you feel in your heart that many other things are true about the church, then this particular thing must be right and true as well, regardless of whether it can be answered or not." In my opinion, faith is the quickest way not to think for yourself or question authority.
Call me overly analytical, that's fine. It's my nature and I've come to accept it. The bottom line is that if I have to rely simply on FAITH as my basis for the morally questionable things I've seen a church do, I can't believe in that particular church. To put it in the words of another extended family member when speaking to her son about some of his own personal "unanswerable" questions about the church "Son, sometimes you just have to follow blindly." -baaaahhhh
I also feel that as soon as man gets in the way of true and correct principles, they can be corrupted. For example; there are currently over 38,000 versions of Christianity known today. That means the things ONE person said were interpreted THIRTY-EIGHT THOUSAND different ways. If you are someone who feels that you have found the ONE TRUE interpretation out of 38,000 possibilities, I'm happy for you and I truly hope it works out for you. Now you take those 38,000 separate interpretations, filter in the interpretations of different prophets over the years, teachers and individuals who all share their opinions and interpretations with each other and the variations from the original teaching are INFINITE. It's a telephone game. I prefer to think for myself and come up with my own answers and interpretations to spiritual teachings. I am always willing to hear someones opinions and beliefs and truly hope that I can learn a little from everyone I talk to. I just can't accept these telephone game teachings as "truth".
Religious Leaders
I believe that Jesus Christ was one of the most influential spiritual teachers in the history of the world, but not the actual son of God. I also believe Siddhartha Gautama (founder of Buddhism and supreme Buddha) and Muhammad fit in the same category - great teachers and leaders. These people were very enlightened and each brought with them their own belief system, each system being influential enough to spawn millions (if not billions) of followers over history. I believe that many great lessons and principles can be learned from the teachings of these influential people and all of them have some very good things to say. I still can't feel that only one of their belief systems is "the ONLY true" belief system.
"GOD"
God may end up being an entirely too lengthy idea to fit in just one post, but here goes my cliff notes version: I don't believe in God. I believe you ARE God. I believe I AM God. And I believe WE ARE God. What does that mean? As I mentioned earlier in this post, reality is what you make it (See The Secret, What the Bleep Do We Know!?, Think and Grow Rich, The Jackrabbit Factor, As a Man Thinketh(Click for free download), etc.).
Here is why I believe the concept of "God" works for people:
They have likened him in their own image in order to identify with him. Can you imagine a parent trying to explain to their children when asked about God, "Well, son, 'God' is the all-seeing, all-knowing spiritual and energetic force in the universe from which all things come and all things will eventually return." It's much easier for children and adults to identify with a particular individual who "looks like me, talks like me, walks like me and looks like my great grandpa - just with super powers". Now isn't that concept easier to identify with?
Now, when I say that you are God or I am God, does that mean that we can truly create anything we want with thought? -Yes, it does. Does it mean we can magically create things from thin air? -No. Any great invention or creation in the history of the world started with a single thought. That thought converted to an idea, the idea to action and the action to eventual conception. How many things do you see on a daily basis that you could have never imagined 5 years ago? We truly are Gods (and Goddesses) and have the ability to create ANYTHING we put our minds AND ACTIONS to. So, if we're all Gods and Goddesses, why can't we just have or create anything we want? We can, the problem is that many of us lack the focus it takes to create. If we could all focus perfectly, we could all create perfectly.
Death and Afterlife
A man once came to my porch and asked me a question "Where do we go when we die?". He then said "That certainly is an important question, isn't it (classic salesman tagline when you want someone to agree with you)?" I told him "No." He didn't seem too curious as to why I felt such a way.
Here's why:
Let's say, for example, reincarnation is the one true afterlife. If I believe that instead, I will go to "heaven" when I die, I will still be reincarnated. If I believe that I will end up in one of three kingdoms, possibly to never be with my family again, I will STILL be reincarnated. You see, most of us don't really know what happens when we die. We make educated guesses based on teachings, stories and beliefs. For some, this is a REALLY important question. They can not deal with an "unknown" afterlife. It's not an important question for me. When I die, whatever will happen is bound to happen. I am not going to live my entire life for the next. I am going to live for the life I'm in. I feel if I'm a GOOD person now, whatever happens next will be GOOD. Even if it's nothing at all. I'm comfortable with that.
A Final Word
I don't have any problems with someone who wants to be religious and believe in a religion. As stated above, I'm very open to hearing and discussing their beliefs as I feel we should both be able to grow from the experience. The only thing I ask from them is to hear me out on my beliefs as well. I certainly don't want to offend anyone with my beliefs and I would hope they wouldn't want to offend me either, however, I will not change my beliefs or who I am for someone. If my opinions offend them and they can't deal with it, it's best we not discuss anything. If you've taken the time to read all of this, THANK YOU. I appreciate your interest in my opinion. You are welcome to share yours with me as well. I don't intend to debate, only to learn and grow from and with those who want to learn and grow from and with me.
Highly Recommended Viewing:
What The Bleep Do We Know!?
Zeitgeist: Addendum
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