RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
Article
Recognizing the differences between
Religion & Spirituality
What is religion and how did we come to be religious?
What is Spirituality? Is Spirituality dependent on religion?
Or is Religion and Spiritualism one and the same?
What roles do belief and faith play in this?
Why the desperate need for the alien policing authority of a supreme God imagery who alone can set the standard for morality and judge what and who is good or evil?
As a free-thinker and having researched awhile, we shall discuss a few aspects of these somewhat intriguing issues mainly to the layman.
We shall first consider the issue about Religion.
The word religion belongs to the Latin word, "religare", meaning to "to tie, to bind". In other words, to restrain in a bid to control.
How did Religion make its appearance?
To begin with, we need to ask ourselves, when did the first humans become religious or rather what hardships from unusual situations and challenges they faced, that compelled them to alter their thinking process and consequently into believing newer concepts as means of collective survival.
We need to remember that it took nearly 150,000 years for our prehistoric ancestors to evolve into what we are today become - the modern homo sapiens sapiens.
Individual Homo sapiens, out of necessity, soon joined others and learned to live in commune. In this process of a very gradual growth, over thousands of years, tribes and clans developed into organized societies and so did various do's and don't's in order to govern their personal and social lives. To safeguard their lives, properties and boundaries, rules and methods of warfare were developed, adopted and weapons invented.
Religions developed as a means to control
The Medicine-man, Witch doctor & Shamans - the more clever among our first humans took upon themselves the mantle of some authority by observing and learning from experiencing both the normal and the contrasting vagaries of their natural surroundings, the seasonal weather and the freak climate changes, recognizing the danger from plant and animal life and distinguishing from those suitable as source of food-chain.
In this way, they also observed and studied the pattern of the celestial bodies in the sky, particularly the sun and the moon both of which seen as playing dominant roles as providers and sustainers of all life, and decay on the planet earth.
Fear of uncertainties overshadowed the lives of early humans. They constantly faced the danger of the wild natural surroundings with its varied forms of evolving creatures, inclement weather and natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the need for continuous search for food in order to survive.
The human need for solace and a dominant outside source to depend upon for all their ills, facilitated the arrival of the clever medicine man to gradually make known his knowledge and his position felt. He interpreted the cause and effect of not only ill health but also the mental condition of the sufferer linking the causes as a result of man offending the nature or the celestial bodies - the sun or the moon, and even dead ancestors.
These shamans contriving to fill the need for solace sought by the common people introduced certain fulfilling conditions considered as necessary, which were to become religious and moral laws. The most important being to make appeasement to the animating force, seen as a spirit essence, emanating from the astral bodies and the nature. They became the deities to fear and worship, taking various and graven images. When seen as blessed with plentiful and good living, the gods were thought to be happy with the people, but when cursed with natural disasters, famine, accidents and death, the gods were angry by the sinful living of the people. And so there were ways devised to make all forms of appeasements to the offended gods through offerings of food and drinks, animal and human sacrifices.
Consequently, to appease such elements, beginning with the medicine man to the witch doctor and later the shaman, obeisance to sun and moon as deities of all vegetation and fertility, was introduced and blindly followed by the masses. Thus, the shamans came to take control over the common man's ignorance and naivety. This grew into a chain-like effect causing the growth of priest-craft, who first influenced the tribal-chiefs and later became designated as rulers and kings. In this way, the control over the common man was completed.
Along with this process, came as many origins, attributes and endless concepts and forms of gods and goddesses, some deities lording over others. And always promising everything a heart desired and cause man's spirit to live forever fulfilling, of course, certain conditions. Does this not appear like religion taking hold over the masses?
Over hundreds of centuries, human genes developed based on whatever beliefs and behavior we adopted or adjusted during our lifetime and we passed on such new traits to other generations which also continued to do the same. Such a biological evolution progresses unhindered in our present.
time.
Consider the amazing progress made during the last 100 years in almost all areas of human activities including space-travel and space probes, following a lull of 2000 years when one organized religion took control over man's intellect and freewill.
Despite all religions preaching love and peace, we only have to glimpse through the ancient and present world history to learn to our utter disappointment the all-too-often role of religious individuals and institutions to influence conflicts and genocides. The old testament records are living proof of a supposedly 4000 years old creation, often floundering and being subjected to the genocidal cruelties of a "long-suffering" God! Such are fables on which religiosity thrive.
Supposedly inspired persons who wrote the religious scriptures created the gods and goddesses out of their figments of imagination, often contradicting themselves and the writings of one another.
In every age, the leaders of each religious commune and organized institution propagated views (theologies of doctrine), projecting themselves as guardians of morality, for control and gain masses of believers, often with threats of damnation awaiting non-believers, and a great hope of a rewarding after-life for those who willingly suffer in this one and continue to fill their coffers.
Spiritualism is independent of Religion
When the mind is liberated from religious superstitions, the spirit regains freedom. You mind returns to the true form of spiritualism. Any form or concepts of love and respect for self and humanity can and does thrive within us.
Peace, kindness, generosity, tolerance are gifts from practicing being good human beings. Ye are gods! Forgiveness and remission is not prerogative of a supreme deity, on a high moral pedestal dwelling outside the physical dimension.
Our human spirit is a separate entity from our other five senses but needs all the others in order to function in our body form in this dimension. As we know, all forms of morality - good, bad and evil are products of our thinking mind which governs our behavior. We are what we are today, the produce of our genes so far which have evolved in the process of adaptation over millions of years.
To be continued ....
I would appreciate receiving your comments,
Paul Rodricks, Author.
Contact: paulrodericks@gmail.com
Blog: paulswritersdig7.blogspot.com