Distortions Vs. Reality

Rebecca's picture

I recently was blessed with a lovely and insightful conversation that inspired me to go deeper and further into my perspective (http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/true-respect-and-fake-respect-galactic-free-press)

Yesterday, members Will, IndigoDream432 and I debated the validity of religion and whether or not it is deserving of respect. They maintained that religion is functionally limiting and is obsolete. I agree it is limiting and will eventually become obsolete, but not until it no longer serve its believers who have chosen it from a place of love. My new friends also maintain that religion was designed to oppress people under the guise of helping them. This is where I diverge from their shared opinion.

I don't believe religions were designed to hurt, rather I believe the vast majority of them were designed to help. The creators had honorable intentions of guidance, love and compassion and sadly, were co-opted by fearful and ego-centric individuals. These misled souls got away with their misrepresentation for so long that the face of religion became what they projected, rather than its true creative intent. Fear and ego kept the illusion going for eons, but the honor of religion lives on if you scratch the surface and take an objective look within it.

Furthermore, followers of any religion are not necessarily oppressing anyone by simple association. Good people practice their faith within badly led churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship. This is the case in nearly every religion that I can think of, even the so-called “good” ones. Power dynamics are already difficult to manage in any group, especially spiritual ones. Add ego/fear and we will have problems.

The dogmas, I will say, are overrated, but that is my personal opinion. The essence of Christianity is beautiful – Love the Creator and Love each other. Simple. I don't really care how many times an individual goes to church, or how often s/he counts on her rosary, or if he does at all. I care about what is in his or her heart, and what s/he does with his or her power.

I view religion as fundamentally a tool to serve a function. The validity of the tool itself is not at question, it is the wielder of said tool that bears responsibility. A tool can be used to serve and to serve others, yet it can also be used to solely serve oneself. That is where it ends with me. I will not judge a religion's validity, but I will judge the actions of the person, or persons applying it. There are only one or two exceptions to this rule that I can think of, and they are so obscure, I'm not sure many even know about them.

As shifts of higher frequency continue, the distortions will fall away. The illusory versions of our creations cannot withstand the winds of change. Religion, I believe, can and will remain in its true form. Many may no longer need or want it, but some will, and that is a wonderful cause for optimism.

 

That is my position, but upon reflection, I'd like to expound upon it.

Religion is not the only facet of society that reflects this dynamic of distortion by the hands of ego and fear. There are many that were created with noble intent but became ugly. The ugliness is illusory, a mask of sorts, but ugly nonetheless.

For example, business can be a wonderful tool of service. It can serve people and communities, it can provide a source of energy transfer in a positive way rather than a negative one, and it can be a vehicle of prosperity – the more we give, the more we receive. This is natural law and business can, if applied properly, be an asset. 

However, that isn't what has happened. Greed has distorted its function and created what most perceive big business to be – a force of oppression, control, and other harmful intentions. It has become a servant to itself and toxic to the rest of us. Business has gotten so out of balance that it has taken over our political spheres to meet its own agenda, which is flatly indefensible. 

Another example is the legal system. The law was designed to maintain justice, which is a noble ideal. It also was intended to resolve conflicts (not all conflicts are negative) and to maintain balance of power within society. The police, lawyers, judges and other authority figures are supposed to be serving us with their expertise in power dynamics. They are supposed to be protecting us.

They aren't and this isn't necessarily because the law is a bad thing, it is because the legal system has become so out of balance that the individuals within it cannot function any other way. Even if we were to successfully scrap the entire legal system, something must replace it, because the noble causes such as justice, equality, and conflict resolution will remain. They will demand a system of some kind. It would behoove us to remember what the honorable function of law and order was to begin with.

There are many more examples of illusory distortions becoming misrepresentations:

  • Science was designed to help us understand our world, to see how it works, and to even provide a way to make life easier for us. Technology, for example, has connected us all beyond our wildest imagination. It has fostered communication beyond anything I could ever conceive. Science is a beautiful thing and it will eventually support and confirm the existence of the divine. After all, it was created within divine creation. Some unbalanced people and entities use it as a tool for ill conceived purposes. They create more efficient weapons, methods of mass destruction, tools of oppression and "better" ways to wage war. Also, science has yet to fully embrace the existence of spiritual energy, but it will. I am sure of it.

 

  • The field of Medicine/Health Care was created as a way to foster healing, and to provide support for life itself. A distortion of medicine has emerged and become mainstream. It is not supposed to be a business, nor a money-making venture. It should never have come to rely on a business model at its foundation, but it has. It also has yet to fully embrace the existence of energy, or a holistic approach. Also, the distorted version of medicine aims to treat the disease and heal symptoms (allopathy) instead of reaching for the cause (naturopathy, homeopathy, etc).

 

  • Politics are supposed to be about leadership and an honorable form of service. We will still need leaders when higher frequencies come to fruition. Political leadership should never have become a tool of exploitation. 

  • Art is supposed to inform, educate and celebrate life. Some music is used to keep people locked in fear mode, which is tragic. Dramatic arts, literature, and artists/celebrities are supposed to be reflections of ourselves; they are supposed to show us what we are. They serve us, if done right. Instead of little mirrors, they have become little gods for the masses- further separating many of us from ourselves. Reality shows exploit people and gratuitous violence passes for entertainment. The list of dysfunctional art goes on and on.

  • Sports should foster achievement, bring people together and teach us about teamwork. Healthy competition can help us grow. Some people abuse sports – many of them have gotten so violent and a distorted form of competition has become the norm. The opponent isn't supposed to be made “weak,” it is supposed to be your challenger to provide a way to improve your own game. The honor has been lost..... for now.

These are but a few examples of illusory distortions misrepresenting noble and honorable intentions. Look around, they are everywhere. Education, housing, media, etc. Fear and ego do not discriminate, they will happily distort anything that has power.

As for the honorable intentions of these facets of society, most, if not all of these creations are necessary. When distortions fall away, we will still need art, religion, education, entertainment, etc. We will still need a 'legal' system for conflict resolution because nobody is ever going to see eye to eye on 100 % of everything, on every single day of every single year. 

Yes, we will create new systems, even starting from scratch, and we may opt out of some of them altogether. Who knows? I don't, but I do know that it doesn't make sense to rule out foundations that are already solidly in place. They still may prove useful.

Remove the reckless driving, but keep the car as it may prove to be an asset. Keep it for parts, if nothing else.

 

 

Comments

Knowing the story of how the

will's picture

Knowing the story of how the Christian religion came to be, how it's based upon an interpretation of Jesus' teachings called the Nicene Creed and not the direct words of Jesus, how it was heavily influenced by roman emperor Constantine, how the main opposition, Arius, was assassinated. Knowing all that, I have a very difficult time believing Christianity was created to help people. Here's a story from Krishnamurti that largely sums up my feelings about religion:

“You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of Truth,” said the devil. “That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to let him organize it."

Original Intent

Rebecca's picture

The truth is nobody alive today was there when they created Christianity, therefore it is probably sloppy of me to assume I know what their intentions were. But I do know that Jesus preached love and compassion above all, and what the upper echelons of the church did with his lessons have little to do with Jesus' intentions. Which is what I was getting at in my original point about religion being intended for positive goals. Perhaps I wasn't clear that I was referring to Jesus' intentions/lessons, not the church's. I was trying to include all religions, so I never specified. The church took the ball and ran with it, but we often conflate the potential of Christianity with the unethical conduct of church leadership. They are two completely different things.

In my view, churches are basically fan clubs gone awry (no disrespect intended) and I try to maintain compassion for their believers the way Jesus probably does. It isn't always easy, but I manage. Believers in general, like most of us, are scared souls bumping around, lost in the dark. If they find comfort in Jesus, who am I to judge? I am happy for them. When they start to impose their beliefs onto me, it makes me extremely uncomfortable and I don't like it  at all, but I realize that they are simply doing what they perceive as the right thing to do. I cannot fault them for doing so. I simply remove myself from the conversation if it turns to dogmatic interpretations instead of love and compassion. 

Now, when they get involved in politics... 

 

 

 

 

 

No wonder we have a very

will's picture

No wonder we have a very different view of Christianity, when I talk about it I mean the belief systems that are only vaguely based upon Jesus' words. I don't believe that Jesus founded a religion at all, in fact he seemed to have much the same view that I do on religion. "Hypocrites" and "brood of vipers" are the terms I believe he used for the established religion at the time.

Jesus is beautiful, I have no problem with Jesus. Christianity is in my opinion, the ultimate betrayal of his words though. It's a belief system that became more important than Jesus message of Love. Christianity teaches that you're separate from God, and that there's something you need to do to earn God's Love. Because of this I feel that people would be better off with no religion at all. It only provides comfort after instilling fear.

When I feel compelled, I do it

Rebecca's picture

Will , I didn't see a way to send a private message so... here you go.

I don't know if you are on Facebook, but if you are, check out these pages/groups:

 

  • Spirituality and Practice
  • Unfundamentalist Christians
  • NALT Christians Project
  • and if you are interested in observing social politics, The Christian Left

I don't know if they have websites, I only know them from Facebook. I am sure there are more but these are the ones that got stuck in my craw after our conversation. 

 

It's been my experience that the vast majority of Christians are more like these guys than the loudest and those with the most exposure who are not representative, in my opinion. For years I was sick and tired of Christianity becoming more and more eclipsed by their fearful, but things are shifting a little now. Finally, positive Christianity is becoming more visible, though not nearly enough. I wish they would shout from the rooftops more often but that's not their style, I guess. 

 

Just felt compelled to share. 

Blessings and Light

 

I Think

reiki3's picture

I think we collectively created religions that reflected our ability to be at onement with source at that time. Seperation theme is over thankfully all the illusions and distorsions are clear to see for many. We had created a strong shadow by teaching to fear God,,what a powerful compost pile so we can grown into beautiful flowers of all different shapes and sizes,,and to be aware that thiers is only the light and the shadow is produced by beliefs in seperation ,judgements ,worry  ,,fears ect .  as thier is only the  One,,I am learning to catch myself,,to listen more,,observe from a place of I like Me,,more often,,with greater  ease,,,singing  more often

Row row row your boat gently down the stream  Merily merily merily life is but a dream,,,,

oooohhhhh  toooo  choose consciously  Love

wooooohooooooo

love n light

Gene