[Please note: These posting are excerpted from the book “BEYOND Religion and Spirituality,” but no book need be read if the seeker will take the considerations and sit in quiet contemplation, far away from “holy” people and “holy” books and “holy” buildings and “holy” trappings and “holy” rituals. “Holy” means “different,” “different” requires duality, and all duality is a lie. While those trappings can be a part of the third step to Realization, if they are not transcended then a sense of separation and incompletion will continue.]
F.: It has been shown that spirituality, philosophies, religion and praying reinforce duality.
Spirituality breeds a “better-than mentality,” such as, “I am better than they are” or “I am so much better than I was.” It creates the dualistic belief that “I am in relationship with that power, and that helps me,” even though “relationship” itself is a term of duality. It generates the magical thinking reported in an e-mail this week: “You should give God credit where credit is due. My friends and I have been shopping for property for months to build a series of spiritual centers. Three deals fell through because god did not want those to take place. The fourth deal went through because god blessed the deal and put it on the seller’s heart to let us have the property according to our terms. We’ve learned how The Spiritual Laws of Business actually work.” Supernatural, magical thinking distorted the reality of the fact that three out of four business deals fell through while one deal out of four went through. Then, that magical thinking distorted normal happenings into paranormal orchestrations.
THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING of some philosophies (including Advaita Vedanta) has been so bastardized with the focusing on special texts (and with the worshipping of gurus and imaginary gods) that THE UNDERSTANDING itself has been lost as philosophies have been distorted into religions among many. Now, some claim, “I am a worshipper” and “I am a this” and “I am a that.” In their delusion, the I AM has been lost and replaced with an assortment of false identities…ego-states…assumed roles.
Religious wars have been fought for thousands of years and continue to this day. Hindus have faced off against Muslims in India and Kashmir; Christians, Jews and Muslims are killing each other in the Middle East; Christians and Muslims have fought in Cyprus, East Timor, Indonesia, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Nigeria, The Philippines, Chechnya, Sudan, and Uganda; the religious are attacking the non-religious in India and the U.S.; Buddhists and Hindus have fought each other in Sri Lanka; across the globe, Christian Catholics have fought with Christian Protestants for 600 years; Suni and Shi’ite Muslims fight each other on a daily basis; and the list of religion-inspired fighting and wars could continue for pages. And all the while that the religious fighting is going on, religious persons are claiming that “millions have been helped by religion.” Tell it to the 150,000,000 killed by Euro-Christians in the three Americans when those Christian invaders came and killed in order “to establish a Christian nation under God”; tell it to the millions killed in Inquisitions; tell it to the millions killed in a Holocaust that was organized by the Lutheran nation of Germany; or tell it to the trillions of others who have been killed in religious wars.
And then there are the dualistic prayers around religious combat:
“The Prayer for God to Help Us Kill Them”
Prayers have preceded battles for millenia: “Dear God, please bless and protect our troops” or “Bless us in our fight against the infidels.” Those prayers are really saying: “Almightly God / Allah / Yahweh / Zeus, etc., please protect us as we go to war against others and try to kill them. Take our side in this murderous adventure and help us to destroy the people whom we have chosen to fight.”
Spirituality breeds a “better-than mentality,” such as, “I am better than they are” or “I am so much better than I was.” It creates the dualistic belief that “I am in relationship with that power, and that helps me,” even though “relationship” itself is a term of duality. It generates the magical thinking reported in an e-mail this week: “You should give God credit where credit is due. My friends and I have been shopping for property for months to build a series of spiritual centers. Three deals fell through because god did not want those to take place. The fourth deal went through because god blessed the deal and put it on the seller’s heart to let us have the property according to our terms. We’ve learned how The Spiritual Laws of Business actually work.” Supernatural, magical thinking distorted the reality of the fact that three out of four business deals fell through while one deal out of four went through. Then, that magical thinking distorted normal happenings into paranormal orchestrations.
THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING of some philosophies (including Advaita Vedanta) has been so bastardized with the focusing on special texts (and with the worshipping of gurus and imaginary gods) that THE UNDERSTANDING itself has been lost as philosophies have been distorted into religions among many. Now, some claim, “I am a worshipper” and “I am a this” and “I am a that.” In their delusion, the I AM has been lost and replaced with an assortment of false identities…ego-states…assumed roles.
Religious wars have been fought for thousands of years and continue to this day. Hindus have faced off against Muslims in India and Kashmir; Christians, Jews and Muslims are killing each other in the Middle East; Christians and Muslims have fought in Cyprus, East Timor, Indonesia, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Nigeria, The Philippines, Chechnya, Sudan, and Uganda; the religious are attacking the non-religious in India and the U.S.; Buddhists and Hindus have fought each other in Sri Lanka; across the globe, Christian Catholics have fought with Christian Protestants for 600 years; Suni and Shi’ite Muslims fight each other on a daily basis; and the list of religion-inspired fighting and wars could continue for pages. And all the while that the religious fighting is going on, religious persons are claiming that “millions have been helped by religion.” Tell it to the 150,000,000 killed by Euro-Christians in the three Americans when those Christian invaders came and killed in order “to establish a Christian nation under God”; tell it to the millions killed in Inquisitions; tell it to the millions killed in a Holocaust that was organized by the Lutheran nation of Germany; or tell it to the trillions of others who have been killed in religious wars.
And then there are the dualistic prayers around religious combat:
“The Prayer for God to Help Us Kill Them”
Prayers have preceded battles for millenia: “Dear God, please bless and protect our troops” or “Bless us in our fight against the infidels.” Those prayers are really saying: “Almightly God / Allah / Yahweh / Zeus, etc., please protect us as we go to war against others and try to kill them. Take our side in this murderous adventure and help us to destroy the people whom we have chosen to fight.”
The members of various spiritual programs or movements, the members of the thousands of religions, and the members of the 10,000+ sects or denominations all believe that if everyone would just follow their example, then religion or spirituality or their version of a philosophy or prayer would be the answer to all the problems in this world rather than the cause of so much separation and duality. They are programmed to ignore the facts. Faith preempts fact. Yet the indoctrinated will steadfastly argue that their way is the right way and that all should be clones of them and their way. Such are the tales told by those who are blinded by faith rather than enlightened by a process that begins with questioning it all. THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING never tried to impose any beliefs or concepts or dogma or rituals on any person. Instead, THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING provided a means by which personas could be freed of their ego-states (and all of the relative-existence misery and suffering that are generated by such ego.) All that need be known is revealed via the inner guru, the inner resource. Focusing on outer powers, outer texts, outer priests or preachers, or outer gurus will prevent tapping into the only source that can free persons of their belief in lies and allow the awareness of truth to happen. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
