The Art of Unreasonable Religion

It starts with an ego. Ego then quickly evolves with such strong attachment to an idea that one finds himself or herself carving out an identity based on said attachment. As such, we find ourselves often defending a certain position because we are, in essence, defending our own identities.


The sports world provides a good example. I'm a Tennessee fan. For more than a year, Big Orange faithful defended Lane Kiffin. Kiffin, dubbed as the 'mouth of the south', often made comments that were embarrassing to the fan base. His comments would often be utterly inaccurate or obnoxiously arrogant. No one really complained about this, until his hasty departure earlier this month. Why? Because he was wearing orange...because, while he was a brash, immature, smart-ass who had never really accomplished anything on the football field but idle chatter, he was "OUR" brash, immature, smart-ass. Our identities were closely attached to Tennessee football and he was Tennessee football's top dog.


We see the same type of identities being formed in regard to religion. We define ourselves through our chosen faith. We feel comfortable with those who share that identity and often feel uncomfortable around people who do not.


I was born and raised in that belief system but eventually had too many issues with the illogical platform...with the inconsistencies and errors in scripture and with the influence of the various sect movements that was evident in the Bible. For me, it all added up to a new spiritual path that was still very much embracing of the wisdom presented through genuine Jesus teachings, but not exclusive to that path or the 'believe in me' message that evolved through the Christian movement.


Recently, I've been involved in Discussion Boards and through e-mails with fundamentalist Christians. I routinely see people worshipping the Bible more so than the God that inspired it. I see people incorrectly using scripture as a way to lend divine authority to a personal opinion while missing the point of that scripture altogether. Bottom line: I see people embracing the art of unreasonable religion.


In the course of these e-mail discussions, I point to the inconsistencies or errors in scriptures. Those thoughts are ignored completely by those I'm engaging. When I bring context, culture, custom and language considerations to the texts...again, these thoughts are blatantly ignored. I presume the deaf ear is lent to maintain a status quo centered on the unreasonable.


Why? That's not a rhetorical question, because frankly, I don't really have an answer. One thought comes to mind. Personal identities are so wrapped up in a chosen religious path, that any notion that does not support that path--even if that thought is far more logical than what has been previously believed--is considered to be an attack on one's personal identity. Therefore, a move is made to defend--to expel a more reasonable path, even if you're defending a position that is clearly indefensible. Sounds like a step toward madness, hey?


More than 2,500 years ago, a man recognized the madness of man and enlightened many, continuing to do so to this day. That man was Gautama Siddhartha, also known as the Buddha, or "awakened one". He recognized the suffering that man had made out of life through such a strong connection to conventional wisdom--through obtaining things or finding fulfillment through social ideals, such as status, etc.


I think ultimately what he taught us was that the first step toward sanity is recognizing one's insanity. To me, that meant pushing away from the art of unreasonable religion and seeking a path of true and intimate connection to God. It meant recognizing the wisdom from an enlightened few guides, such as Jesus, Muhammad, Lao Tzu and Buddha. It meant railing against complete self-identification with the spirit guide and a complete embracing of the journey and every brother and sister along the way.


Maybe one day, we humans can awaken to the idea that our identities do not have to be wrapped up in a 'belief system' and we can begin embracing each other and our world. It's a path that creates far more peace... a lot more happiness, and might even put the human race on a journey toward sanity.


Best wishes to all...
True

Helping Haiti

The Compassion Revolution offers thoughts of empathy and concern over the horrible situation taking place in Haiti. Should you wish to donate money to the relief efforts, the following three links should help:

www.interaction.org/article/interaction-members-respond-earthquake-haiti

http://www.volunteerhoward.org/

www.redcross.org

Remember to always make sure that your donation is going to an organization directly involved in the relief efforts. These two organizations are either active in the relief efforts or can point you in the right direction to give help.
Thanks,
True

Missionary Position

Hello All!

I'm back from a wonderful holiday season. It was a vacation that included everything from playing great games with my nieces (from Things to Wii--and yes, I did manage a couple of wins in Just Dance on the Wii, thank you very much!) to great wine and conversation with my sister and bro-in-law; plus, time with other family and friends made it difficult to return to the grind, but alas...


It is good to be back and settled into the New Year. I wanted to address some criticism (which I love btw, so keep it coming) to start 2010 on the right note. Yes, it's true, I have often been critical of organized religion for often turning Jesus' message of love and compassion into a revamped set of rules and requirements...for evolving with legalism that has fed the conventional thinking of man, while shuffling past the radical wisdom of the religion's cornerstone...and for creating "God monopoly" within some churches, as they claim to have concrete answers to quite abstract thought.

I certainly stand by those thoughts and will until we see legalism exchanged for compassion...when we experience Jesus' radical ideology and philosophy of agape replace the "measuring up standards" wrought through conventional wisdom...and, when all faiths are given respect with the old "we're in--you're out" mentality being swept away from religious practice. HOWEVER--with that being said, if one truly experiences a special connection, relationship or intimacy with the Sacred through a church--by all means...GO...camp out in the parking lot the night before, if needed, but have that experience.

One e-mail that I received recently asked me about the need for missionary work and the vitality of spreading "God's Word" through the church. The comment was prompted by a section in my book (Revolution). It was a story that I shared from my youth. As a 10-year old, I had told my Mom that if people who had not been exposed to the "Jesus message" would not be sent to hell, but those who had received that message and dismissed it would be, why then, would missionaries...rather than telling the Jesus story, shouldn't they instead tell their subjects to run screaming if anyone mentioned the name "Jesus"?

Of course, that did not go over well with my Mother or that particular reader. She pointed out the wonderful work and help that missionaries often provide in the giving spirit of Christianity. I agree.

I have a friend who often goes to Honduras to help the inhabitants there with housing, planting and general work. It's a wonderful effort with Compassion at the heart of the journey. I love that. What I don't connect with is the idea that a group from one culture is going into another culture with much self-righteous, ego-centrism to offer help in exchange for the opportunity to tell them what they need to believe spiritually--because it's what they have always believed.

My missionary position (yes, pun intended) is that: Yes, good work can be done through missionary work. However, the focus of such efforts should be to offer needed assistance while respectfully embracing each other's cultural ideas. That type of effort would truly embrace Jesus' ideas of love and compassion. That kind of work needs to be done the world over.