I know that I am one with God. I know that God in me is perfect. I know that my real nature is spiritual. I know that I exist in a boundless good, in a heavenly state, and in perfect being. I know that my mind is being acted upon by pure Spirit. Divine Intelligence guides me into peace, happiness and success, into joy, love and perfect life. – Ernest Holmes
Spirituality is inherent in the human psyche. It is a drive within us which is more awake
and more activated in some and seemingly completely dormant in others. It is the impulse for self-transcendence, for
deeper connection and meaning and for the development of higher possibilities
within the mind-brain. True spirituality
is not tied to a religious tradition or dogma and in fact can only truly be
developed by deeply questioning one’s religious tradition. It arises when the carefully constructed
culturally defined ego cracks under crises, through intense spiritual practice
or through an epiphany that comes as grace.
Religion is a double edged sword. On one hand religion serves to pass down
tradition spiritual values. On the other
most religions seem to degenerate quickly into divisive fanaticism. Most religions of the world help pull us
developmentally from an ego-centric to an ethno-centric perspective. Spirituality propels into a world-centric and
even a universe-centric perspective.
Spirituality is not strictly separate from religion but transcends the
ethno-centric perspective of earlier traditions. The essence of spirituality is experiential,
mystical and unitive. The essence of
religion is dogma which often regards actual spiritual experience with
suspicion if not outrage. It is
empowered by the politics of us vs. them.
Right now we live in a world that is in crisis, hopefully
a crisis of development which might lead to a transformation of consciousness
on a global scale. The negative aspects
of religion are forces of devolution and destruction within a global
society. This morning we awoke to the
news of a riot in Libya in which four members of US embassy were killed. The whole thing seems to be orchestrated by
the making of a cheesy film which insults the Prophet Mohammed: an obviously
provocative piece of propaganda aimed at inflaming islamist fanatics. This is the power inherent in the
manipulation of ethno-centric religious followers. It can be found here in the US in the
believers who attack Islam by staging Koran burnings or murdering peaceful
Sikhs in their temple.
We can justifiably feel outrage at the attack on the
US embassy and there is no question that the killers should be brought to
justice. It might be beneficial, though,
to look deeper into the pattern of events and to seek out the illness which
lies behind the outbreak of symptoms.
The roots of this violence can be found in the divisive, inflammatory
and self-righteous belief systems (BS) parading as spiritual values. They are not and there is nothing sacred or
holy about them.
