Spirituality/Religion

What are we without spirituality; that essence that transcends time and place which propels us to higher effort and awareness of who we are and our place in the scheme of things? Do we exist for a reason; is there further import to this moment and our actions within it? Can this be all there is? Humans have been perplexed for ages and have sought answers which are not forthcoming. Despite the advances of science, the answers still elude us and yet we feel the need to know what it’s all about and have created deities and religions to substantiate what we feel must be the answers. Is it because we need something to believe in because we can’t, or won’t, believe in ourselves? Why is it easier to believe in and follow one person whether it be Mohammed, Jesus, Siddhartha Gautama, or another than to believe in ourselves individually and as an entirety of humanity? We scoff at the ancients and their belief that there was a hierarchy of deities who created and manipulated each life as surely as we today compare the modern religions as opposed to our own chosen one. What makes any one of them better than the other with the exception of what they make us feel about ourselves and the lives we choose to lead?

We are by default born into religion, or a lack of, determined by those who sire us and to the society into which we belong. We are then formed in childhood by the beliefs of those who came before us and by what we are exposed to. Who we become as adults is based on this, in spite of this, or some combination which we ourselves are comfortable with. Being American and having different cultures within my ancestry, I could easily adopt several religions to follow though I was born into a Baptist family and raised along its doctrines. Because I was given the ability to think and reason, however, I made the conscious choice as to what to adopt as something worthwhile for myself and what to discard. I’ve often been made to feel guilty for my lack of conviction and acceptance of all that the religion entails for some would have me follow blindly and not question its superiority over others. I’m criticized for lack of involvement within the church and fellowship among my “religious peers” and yet I persist in thinking for myself and evaluating religion as a part of life and not as the intention of my life.

I’ve found many similarities within the differing religions which preclude my acceptance of one over another; rather, I choose to find that which is best in them all and assimilate them so that I can become who I want to be as a person and a member of this human common. The philosophy upon which each is based is nothing more than what we as humans can deem for ourselves were we of the desire to do so or should we had the luxury of time to devote to that and nothing more. For myself, that is the true advantage of organized religion....the compilation of ages of wisdom, human knowledge and understanding, and the observations of what has worked within humanity and what has not. It is the knowledge of what we as humans can achieve for ourselves; that which is the best of us and for us all as one, with each religion being refined through the ages by those successive to the originator due to the changing of the times but yet remaining true to what exactly is the human spirit. They are a guide to follow to reach that highest level of understanding, acceptance, and plane of existence we all desire. While organized religion serves its purpose, when it comes down to it, any relationship we have with whom we deem as our creator, master, omnipotent one, is a one on one relationship.

Religion was not created for nor should be used as a catalyst for intolerance, destruction, power over and manipulation of the masses, or as excuses for war or fanaticism. As Jonathan Swift wrote, “There is just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” Behind each great religion is an ideology of what we as humans can be if we allow ourselves and what we can create here on Earth as our own version of Heaven, Utopia, Zion, Shangri-La; Nirvana or Paradise with no lines of demarcation separating us. The fact that these lines now exist is testament to man’s greed and desire to be an elitist. We define ourselves by nation, color, religion, gender and many other descriptive delineations and yet we fail to validate that which unites us all and which irrevocably defines us each and every one......human.

To me, spirituality and religion are two separate things; religion merely supports spirituality. Religion is man-made; spirituality is inseparable from us. Spirituality is that quality which resides in us all which enables us to sense something greater than ourselves and which give us purpose. It is what makes us one with the universe in which we inhabit and which gives us a responsibility to those we share this space with. Deny religion for it is not a necessary component of life. Deny spirituality and you limit yourself to less than full appreciation and understanding for yourself and all of humanity.