The recent Presidential elections have shown me the true souls of people!
Until tested, you never know the true depth of a person's beliefs about certain matters. We tend to make assumptions about the people we associate with and some we call friends. We assume that we all loosely share the same values i.e. to be open-minded and fair and to treat people with respect in their daily walk. But in reality...you really don't know!
I'm glad that the Presidential elections on the Democratic side brought out the best, and what I see as the worst, in some people. A few years ago, before I truly committed to a spiritual walk, I tended to make decisions based on superficial standards of judgement. As I moved more inward, though, I realized that I had to be authentic in all that I do. That included my politics...the way I see people...the way I make decisions moment by moment every day.
For me to be authentic, I cannot lie to my spirit! I cannot espouse one day to care about seeing the ONENESS in people, yet when it comes down to matters of conscience, I do something else. That is what it means to be spiritually AUTHENTIC!
I know a lot of folks who claim to be doing a "spiritual" walk, and so they sit up in these "spiritual" churches week after week. Yet, I wonder about even their basic decency. That's where I KNOW religion comes in.
You see, religion establishes rules of conduct for people. Yes, some religions go way too far in their policies. But if the basic rules of conduct are followed in ANY religion, without getting too interpretrative, then all of us would be all right!
For people to attempt to do a spiritual walk by just acknowleging they have a spirit within guiding them, I believe gets them totally lost in their human choices. The reason is that no one is evolved enough in his or her connection to Spirit to live without some other form of guidance. Religion provides this.
I don't care whether your religion is Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Muslim, Hinduism, Bahaism or Judaism, it has some rules of decency and conduct for you to follow!
I recommend that in your walk with Spirit, you find some religion whose rules you can embrace to guide you in your daily walk on earth. Until you return back to your Spirit, then you'll need these rules to help you in your interactions with others.
I truly don't want anyone in my space...in my life...who is so blinded by superficialities that they can't see beyond a face! If that is so, my "season" and my "reason" for knowing that person is over.
I challenge all of you today to truly embrace your Spirit by learning the basic tenets of ANY religion: decency, fairness and honesty!
Namaste',
Che'
2 comments:
Hi Che',
Wow. You put into words the exact experience that I was having today! I was in Orange County earlier this morning to support my older sister who choice to go through Baptism at her Christian church. I truly respect her choice and dogma but I was really left disturbed by the message at this particular church. I didn't feel comfortable being there because the message was so as Dr. Michael will say “unconscious.” Because of the Valentine's Day weekend, the topic of the week was about marriage and love. The pastor's interpretation of what is considered a “holy marriage” was only between a man and a woman. He denounced any other than a woman and a man as a life away from God. He was feeding the congregation so much misinformation and so much judgment. He was literally lobbying against homosexual marriage and encouraging the congregants to vote against it before the appeal in the superior court.
At the same time, it was ironic that he was pardoning and excusing a divorce as being OK between a man and a woman. According to the bible, homosexuality is a sin and so is a divorce. But it was amazing how he was manipulating Truth conveniently to misguide gullible people. They are being fed so much garbage. How is it that a same sex marriage is not OK but a divorce is?
Later on the evening, I was invited to my friends son's 1 year Birthday party. This was also a very "religious" Christian event and a service took place right before the celebration.
I had left this Christian community about one year ago to open my mind to Truth and consciousness and started attending Agape. It was really amazing that some of my small group "friends" that I had intimate weekly meetings with for the last three years didn't even want to acknowledge me and blatantly ignored me. Now that I'm not part of this "Christian" community, they wanted to pretend that I wasn't there. They had a Holier than Thou attitude. So much righteousness. I was the anti-Christ. Because I no longer was a “Christian” anymore, I didn’t belong in their space and wasn’t to be treated like an equal. They couldn’t embrace that I was the same person or better yet, a better person! They are unconsciously being.
This made me realize that religion is NOT spirituality. Religion is a fabrication of man to suppress the mass and control them. Guys like this particular pastor, feed these people garbage to make them feel like they belong and give them a sense of false righteousness. It creates separation. Just like politics. Who is to say who or what is better? But I can say that something is horribly wrong if a religion enforces that their religion is the ONLY religion that guarantees salvation and everyone with a different faith is condemned to hell. Isn’t this the case with all religion?
I choose to bypass all this religious bureaucracy and go directly to The Source. Spirit as I know is Truth.
I know that I'm waking up... I’m becoming conscious.
Jeneen.
Jeneen:
Thank you for your input to the discussion. I appreciate you.
I agree that some religions do go too far in their dogma, their policies and re-interpretation and mis-interpretation of the Bible. That's where we have to use the power of our own DISCERNMENT (JUDGEMENT). This is what you did that Sunday when you attended church. By being discerning, you were able to discard the message of negativity and exclusion into your soul.
I believe strongly, though, that there IS a place for religion in our lives. We just have to be able to embrace the one that is right for us and the one that empowers us, not stifles us. Religious Science, Unity and others are based on Christianity. But their message is more focused on our spiritual power than about providing Christian dogma and doctrine. Those teachings see Jesus as our "way shower" i.e. as he, Jesus, said, "these things I have done and greater things than these can you also do. " So, the message of Religious Science, such as Beckwith's Agape church, is that if Jesus can do it, so can we! This is a message of empowerment.
As far as gay marriages, that's where it's up to the individual congregants to either embrace or deny the church's doctrine. I don't think a minister is wrong to try to provide guidance to his congregation on matters of divorce and/or gay marriages. Because you are as open-minded as you are, I know this offends you. But that's where we make a choice to go to one church vs. the other.
I tell you this, I STRONGLY believe in the POWER of Religion to guide people in being DECENT human beings. As a matter of fact, I embrace my Christianity more now that I've grown spiritually through Unity than I did before. I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate participating in the Holy Eucharist at any Episcopalian or Catholic church on a Sunday. I know that as you travel along your spiritual path through Agape, I'm CONFIDENT that you ,too, will begin to see the wisdom of your old religion.
Namaste',
Che'
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