“No” to Religion; “Yes” to Spirituality!

Approaching religious holidays always perplexes me. As if I am some sort of an imposter, I half-heartedly participate in their secular (not religious) traditions that occupy the space of those special days. Simply put, I cannot understand it all.

 

I cannot imagine all the religions adept with its peoples truly fathom the scope of what their traditions mean or entail. I have a hard time believing all the followers believe and follow what their holy books teach without some trepidation. I long for a community of people like me but I am afraid they are too afraid and timid to openly question or make a move which would ostracize them or their families.

 

It is with Easter around the corner that I ponder my place in faith, religion, spirituality and secularism. It is with a complete and total belief that my understanding of the big picture here is more accurate than the religions can profess and substantiate. It is here that I choose to blather on and on.

 

I have friends of the Greek Orthodox religion that are so proud that it has not changed one bit in all the years of its existence. I hear tell of what certain holy day services are like which are told with great pride and enthusiasm. I wonder what is wrong with me to think their rituals are bizarre. They cannot understand the other religions and they think theirs is extremely misunderstood.

 

More than anything else, I have friends who actually believe that Jesus was the biological son of God, born to a virgin, who died for our sins, and came back to life. These are tenets that, if followed, prove some degree of Christianity; a title I can not, nor have ever been able to wear.

 

I cannot delve into the many religions with blurbs of each because I, quite candidly, see religion as wrong in all accounts. I refuse to learn about them all because I think it terribly and dangerously misguides people all over the world.

 

The tradition I enjoy reading about and can relate to is Buddhism. I call it tradition instead of religion because there is no deity to look to. No need to follow any holy books, either. It is all about going within for answers.

 

Jesus was one fabulous and well-prepared man for this earth. He was needed, desire, requested even, and he showed up. There isn’t a single bit of that I would argue. And that he died for our sins, I can understand as well. He was an enlightened man, I am sure. He meant to teach others to be like him in following God, but those who recorded his (and God’s) messages are the ones who really screwed things up. Out of fear, they created something that would perpetuate and snowball.

 

In order for me to go any further without losing you completely, let me just say that I do believe in God. He is not a “He” and does not reside in heaven or anywhere else that can be pointed to. God’s existence is in the form of energy. Any place you see or sense energy is God’s presence. I believe that God’s name has been overused and misused and I cannot with good conscience call what I believe is the same thing you may refer to as God—God. I call it the universe.

 

The term universe imparts the vast and extending existence of immeasurable space doesn’t it? Of heavenly bodies, of intergalactic possibilities, of black holes that we cannot truly understand, of solar systems and of having a center but no measure of the end of it. And probably most importantly, the fact that it unfolds to be greater and greater with each new discovery. That is exactly how I see your God, my universe. We can never fully articulate the scope and presence but we know it’s there. We are a part of it and it of us. What an incredible thought.

 

The idea that we will live a short time here and our eternity as rewards/consequences of our times is just not something that I can believe in. Just like the part about the birth and the re-life.

 

I can only speak for me.

 

I will never be able to understand fully how people can live the way they do based on the guidance and direction of those at the pulpits and in the holy books but what I can understand is a natural questioning that should take place, a dignified discussion of the possibilities and what if’s.

 

Belittling religions is not anything I am interested in doing either. I refuse to condemn the beliefs of an individual if they have truly researched them and they are convicted of their truths. I would never attempt to show them there is another way. The online communities which share blasphemous anecdotes do not get my reading time. There is no reason to put someone down or disrespect them in order to feel better about another belief system or lack thereof.

 

My rant is coming near a close.

 

Spirituality, for me, means the direct relationship with what it is a person perceives as divine and infinite in the world. It is the behind-the-scenes energy taking place within and because of our relationships and interactions on this earth and in this existence. It has nothing to do with religion.

 

Religion is a man made myth which was constructed to explain something that we could not have understood at the time of their inceptions. Religion happened in hopes of explaining spirituality and in order to control people in societies that were barbaric and unethical. It served the purpose of the times but we quickly outgrew it. It’s time to update religion.

 

We are at a wonderful crossroads now. We absolutely must understand the interrelated constructs that we call life. We must understand the connection we have with each other, our neighbors, and the world at large. We must begin to try and live as our enlightened predecessors taught: Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, Walt Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau and many others.

 

I know that I am not the only one who feels this way. I know that there are many others with a distaste for organized religion, for the publicized misuse of churches and funds, for the carelessly tossed about references to God with little backing. I know there are church-goers, Christians even, who want to expand the doctrine so they are allowed to love and support their gay friends and family members. I believe many others feel there is so much more to life and yet they are afraid to explore it outside the confines of the religious box.

 

My understanding of what you call God continues to lead me daily. The energy and guidance I receive is powerful and I have full faith that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do at this particular time. I listen to dreams, intuitions, the messages I get while meditating. I know my daily interactions are part of my path. I am in this world to continue what was started so very long ago: evolution. I am here to learn, to heal, and to grow and I am going to do just that!

 

Peace to you in whatever ways you can find it.

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