Common ground

You walk into the timeshare demonstration sceptical - and you should be. Perfect pictures, a slick pitch and they won't let you out of the room for 90 minutes. You are sitting on wooden chairs that make it impossible to get comfortable. The literature is in front of you but it looks old. They tell you that there's is a unique and special deal - only they can provide you with the goods. Then comes the kicker - you cannot see the place before you buy. Pictures yes, but there's no demo unit. And there is an option, to stay there without prepaying a years worth of money, but it's the equivalent of spending $1000 a night.

Do you buy the timeshare for $10,000 with the idea that you can stay there two weeks year for perpetuity - and accept the unknown as a prerequisite for a potential great experience? Do you take it on faith that you will get what you are paying for?

This is how I feel about organized religion in general.

I believe there is a higher power in the universe. I'm not sure if it has consciousness or just is. But if god exists in the way organized religion proposes - that we have to take it on faith, then I'm sceptical. An all powerful being that requires you recognize and accept that theirs is the only way, prior to death - otherwise it's too late? There are certainly signs that power exists, but the idea that it emanates from traditions that are only a few thousand years old - doesn't provide a plausible base for belief.

I personally think this higher power is reachable directly. No middleman. Really. If you are able to see the miracles of life and nature directly, what claim does any organized religion have on this - life existed long before the organization did. There were no Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu dinosaurs. My actions create ripples in the world that come back and are reflected in others actions. We find power in universality, when we support each other, even when we are on different paths. We see it in paying it forward or feeding a stranger. We see it when the world bends our way.

It's much more reasonable, in my mind, to think that life happens in harmony or discord  with this higher power - that it doesn't intervene in my day to day life per se, but it influences the way the world works.

And in that case, I'm not sure about multiple planes of existance and other things, but I have to pay attention to now. And if organized religion is right and there is a concious being in control, why would they require a set of rituals? Wouldn't they make decisions about your direction as you move tot hat next plane of existence? Have data to evaluate?

If they are are all powerful then they know what each of us does and can make that judgement. We cannot judge others actions against imortality - nor can we live for others.

It's a better likelyhood that man invented religion as early law, with an understanding that we had to curb our animal instincts and as an explanation for the unexplainable. And some of these are universal truths. Being good to and not killing others. Moderation. Building lasting relationships. All good concepts to help people live. And to that extent most organized religion teaches those kinds of things. But there are people that will use religion for control. For gain.

And in those self proclaimed prophets and preachers lies the problem. Mine is the only way. Follow my rules and you will find eternal bliss - follow any other path and you are eternally damned.

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him (a statement attributed to a 1st century zen master Linji Yixuan). Anyone that claims to have the answer doesn't. Life is a journey not a destination. My father introduced me to these ideas and in them I have found my direct connection. It's not an answer, it is just recognition that freewill is what we carry as both a responsibility and a gift. Because people recognize and define entitlement in many different ways, we need a governor on freewill in order to live together, in order to share.

Laws that are truly secular are fairest - they do not benefit or prefer a faith. They govern freewill in a way that defines our boundaries at the point where we infringe upon others. Secular ideals are why their themes show up in religion and law - not killing, loving each other, not stealing, It's why they are common. It's why our laws need to be secular - to ensure that the discrimination inherent in being part of a group is not the deciding factor of what is right. Faith based law is inherently exclusive. Secular law is fundamentally inclusive.

It's not to tell you your religious beliefs are wrong or that you should drop them - but it is to challenge that your religious beliefs are the only path to the power. There are many paths. We are each on our own journey.

All this leads up to, each of us being able to follow their freewill in how they conduct their life - where they live, who and how they love, how they care for themselves. It also requires standards of care for others when they are unable to care for themselves for whatever reason.

Religion and politics inform our world view and each contributes ideas to our journey. We must be careful to recognize that what we know is dependent upon what we have learned so far in our journey and that others on a differing path or a different point in their path, still are legitimate unto themselves - and we need to support and respect them under the universal boundaries of peace and goodwill.

We can do this as ourselves, without burdening a higher power with responsibility for it. We are each responsible for it. For those that believe in ultimate judgement, you will be judged well because you followed the basic tenants of respect. And for those that don't believe in judgement, you can rest assured that you live the best life you can in relation to your fellow beings. And we can each love and worship in our own way because of it.

There is little there to be taken on faith. Our interaction with our fellow beings in real and now. It is generally easy to see if something we are doing is beneficial or detrimental to them and their worldview. It is compatible with reasonable faith (not fundamentalist or evangelical, which demand they are the only road and that people must be converted - these cross the boundaries of individual respect). It is a way forward. For all of us.