TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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THE EVOLUTION OF MAHARAJ’S MESSAGE:
From dogma to spirituality to psychology
"Science will someday advance to the point that it will confirm the validity of the non-dual teachings."
--Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The following comparisons and contrasts were shared on this site eleven years ago but remain relevant to the current topic:
1.
Religion usually claims that its
teachings can identify the individual cause of each and everything (and that cause always involves some supposedly supernatural cause such as the will of a god or a god's so-called "divine plan" or "ultimate plan" vs. any natural causes).
Science (as is the case with Nisarga yoga) teaches that the cause of all is all, that what is happening now—or what is now—is merely that which is at the ever-moving and present moment in an infinite chain of events or eternal series of happenings.
2.
Many religions, (twenty-three to be exact) have claimed that their “leader” or “savior” was born of a virgin; thus,
Christianity was not the first and only religion to claim its
"savior" or "prophet" was "born of a virgin" but
is, instead, the 23rd to make such a claim.
Science (as is the case with Nisarga yoga) explains exactly how an act of friction have led across the ages - and among an estimated six to ten million or so species - to impregnation, and that act involves the vaginal, not the virginal.
3.
Religion claims that a god or gods are involved with what is called "conception" (so religious believers actually think that any child they have is not a result of an act engaged in by two people only but is really a result of a menage-a-trois or a threesome with some god also participating and having some input).
[Have you seen how religion generates and supports magical thinking so that, for example, hurricanes and pregnancies do not have all-natural causes but have - as is the case with everything, supposedly - some unnatural or supernatural cause?]
So, science makes clear that conceptions and pregnancies result from nothing more than an act of friction and an exchange of fluids (as is also the understanding with the Nisarga yoga).
4.
Religion has persons believing that a god or gods are involved with what is called “birth.”
Science makes clear that nothing more than an act of friction and an exchange of fluid is involved.
5.
Religions teach tales of destruction
by god-caused floods, by god-sent fire and brimstone, by god-arranged wars,
by god-made cracks opening in the earth and swallowing thousands, ad infinitum.
Some Philosophies (such as Buddhism)
would have you believe that devastation by hurricanes, floods, etc. are set
into motion and guided by “negative karma” (which the Dalai Lama claimed was the cause of Hurricane Katrina striking the negative-karma-laden city of New Orleans).
Science proves that the actual cause of why hurricanes form - and why they follow the paths which they follow - involves oceanic temperatures, the earth’s rotation, global torque which accelerates a hurricane’s movement toward the pole of the hemisphere where it forms, and proves that other weather systems can also influence the course which hurricanes take.
6.
Religion would have you believe that it is a sin to masturbate.
Science shows that anything that is
nisargan (that is, natural and that anything which no one had to teach you how to do) is quite
normal (including any and all body and physical functions); moreover, that which is natural cannot be unnatural or supernatural (or "spiritual").
7.
Philosophy claims that "life" can be defined and that "the meaning of life" and "the purpose of the life" of each person can be known.
Science says that, since a word cannot be accurately used to define itself, life cannot be specifically defined. At best, the characteristics of cells can be named, but to say that “life is a state or mode of living” or that “life is the experience of being alive” do not meet the standard.
8.
Religion tells people that "the body" or "persons" who "die" and whose bodies decay or are cremated until only ash remains not only can but will re-form / continue to exist in a living form and be able to experience joy and suffering as well as happiness or physical pain such as that produced by fire.
Science explains that when the elements of a body return to the universal pool of elements, they may cycle as something, but a former body or a particular person or specific thing is not included among the possibilities.
9.
Religion would tell you that it is better to die than to have protected sex and waste “the seed,” a message that has worked for centuries to increase membership and income (with 1.2 billion members of one particular denomination having been taught that concept and who are presently walking about on planet earth).
Science suggests, in light of the many potentially-fatal diseases which can be spread via sexual liaisons, that the sane and reasonable approach would be to practice safe sex.
10.
Religion wishes to control people and tell them what they can do and cannot do with their bodies.
Philosophy often tries to present arguments that can lead people to “live a better life.”
Science offers facts and then steps back and allows humans to make their own decisions (i.e., “Unsafe sex has been shown to kill “x” number of people annually” as opposed to “Don’t have unsafe sex”).
11.
Religion claims that humans can live in a supernatural fashion.
Science claims that a human’s existence can happen either naturally or unnaturally (the latter including efforts to live supernaturally).
12.
Religions come and go, and the teachings and dogma vary from one time to the next although a core set of myth-based and superstition-based tales are usually retained and provide a common link to most religions in many cases.
Science deals with facts that are unchanging and eternal and unequivocal.
13.
Religion opposes both innovation and discovery.
Science seeks and supports both.
14.
Religion teaches that doubt is a sin.
Science sees doubt as an asset which can lead to the discovery of truth and to a deeper understanding of the actual functioning of the totality.
15.
Religion is based in fear, is marked by activities intended to avoid or be free of what is feared, but at the same time continues to feed the fears of its members.
Science is based in fact.
16.
Religion is closed to possibilities outside its defined beliefs and rejects facts and proofs even when they provide concrete evidence that certain beliefs or theories are false.
Science assumes no belief and instead encourages investigating in order to find fact.
17.
Religion disseminates false tales and superstitions as truth.
Science disproves or disputes false tales and superstitions.
18.
Religion thrives on emotional and spiritual intoxication.
Science thrives on reason and logic.
19.
Religion requires life-long participation in rituals and ceremonies and services.
Philosophy does not discourage endless discussion and dialogue.
Science focuses on questioning and investigation until facts emerge and that ends the focus on that subject matter.
RITUAL-FREE LIVING, DOINGNESS-FREE LIVING,
SPIRITUAL-EXERCISE-FREE LIVING,
vs.
NATURAL LIVING
Certain supposed "non-dualists" also attach to a guru or an ashram and involve themselves in life-long devotion or study or rituals, burning this or ringing that, etc.; some involve themselves in extended occupation with study and the teachings; a few take the nisarga approach which suggests that you “go back the way you came, find truth, and then be free and enjoy the remainder of the manifestation.”
The “going back” is a multi-step journey which in almost every case now requires a teacher to explain the steps, after which all study and “spiritual work” can end and natural living can begin.
Of the three options discussed here
that persons turn to in a search for a vehicle that might facilitate the
traversing of this relative existence with Peace and Love and Light and sanity
and logic and reason . . .
. . . one fosters emotional intoxication as its primary “hook”;
. . . one offers an opportunity to talk about dozens or scores or even hundreds of possible ideas and concepts regarding the questions some humans raise about “life” and “meaning” and “purpose” from dozens or scores or even hundreds of theorists;
. . . and one offers an opportunity to cast aside emotional intoxication; to find certainty in an excess of ambiguity and improbability; to be free of a surplus of theories and theorists; and to tap into the only one of the three which consistently points toward truth.
And by using that scientific,
questioning, objective, logical, investigative and open methodology, one set of
teachings circumvents the inventions and fantasies of myths and superstitions
and fables and tales;
furthermore, in the process of becoming freed from the ignorance of believing in falsehoods, only one set of teachings uses that objective questioning methodology to point toward truth.
Moreover, among all the sets of teachings which circumvent invention and fantasy and myth, only one subset endorses ritual-free living, doingness-free living, spiritual-exercise-free living, and natural living.
For those awakening to even a slight degree, the sane and logical and reasonable approach should be apparent; for the remaining masses, religions and philosophies will remain the vehicle of choice.
So it has been for 5000+ years, and so it is now. While the hold of dogma and ideology is fading, their efforts to form and control minds is likely to continue for a considerable period.
So it is; however, recent surveys show that more and more persons are seeking religious and / or spiritual sobriety and truth by searching outside the “traditional boxes” of dogma and doctrine and creeds and philosophy and faith and all other variations and forms and types of Weltanschauung and ideologies.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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THE EXPLANATION
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
