Faith and Civilization

This blog may just inspire some ire, but it shouldn’t if you are among the truly faithful.

This morning I awoke to read about an old high school friend’s love and joy for her daughter. It was truly one the sweetest Facebook posts I have ever read. I could just feel the love in every word and that is hard to come by these days. The next post I read was from anther high school friend that had to do with religion (Christianity). Although I feel very blessed to have very faithful friends even though my path lead me away from Christianity…and then I stopped myself and I gave greater thought to religion/Christianity.

Being an emotional person who has an incessant need to KNOW and understand everything and even though raised Christian, I pursued Eastern philosophy (Hinduism) which eventually led me to the science of religion – Quantum physics. It is not that I don’t believe in religion, quite the contrary, I want to learn more about it. Religion fascinates me.

One thing I have realized is religion is like sex. It is a very wonderful thing, but it can very much be missed used, twisted, distorted and manipulated to suit personal and national agendas. Throughout the centuries, kings and queens, men and women have used both sex and religion to gain power and influence. The one thing to be certain, religion and sex are not to be toyed with.

But my intention was not merely to compare religion to sex, but to express openness both requires. When we have true confidence and faith we free ourselves from conflict and manipulation.

As history unfolds some have documented (and others disputed) in ancient Hindu literature, Jesus Christ (Issa) visited India and studied Hinduism/Buddhism. It is where he learned many of his own teachings (ethical, social). And being a student of Hinduism, I can truly see the influence.

Many Christians may read this as heresy, but it shouldn’t. Hinduism is more than just a few strange Gods; it is tool to help any spiritual, religious person find the depth of their own faith. It is a freedom to break through the manipulating institutions and power hungry leaders that bound us like a possessive lover.

If we have true faith in ourselves and our religion then we can truly learn to love and appreciate those who experience it differently – whether it is mother’s joy in celebrating her daughter’s birthday, or a devotee of any religion wanting to share their blessing.  It is this freedom of faith and understanding that will progress civilization. The more we try to control and suppress faith, the more we will destroy civilization and give more power to those leaders trying to control us.