Chapter 3 - From Awareness to Empowerment

 

The awareness of one being the witness of everything is the secret of self-realization. Self-realization is either the knowledge that “I AM the truth of me” or “I have known Myself”’ or “All are one Atma” or “I have experienced that the individual and the universe are not distinct”. —SSSB

 

If we take a few minutes to reflect on the past, particularly in relation to our elders or ancestors, we will find they were extremely particular about their principles, scruples and morality.

They rarely, if ever, contradicted their moral or ethical code. This is understandable because our forefathers—regardless of whether they were Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Parsees, Jains, Yoruba or members of other religions—closely followed the tenets of their respective religions. They felt a sense of pride and self-esteem to be able to be regarded as people of honor and principle, which was the yardstick of substance and character.

Why have values changed so much over the years? The answer lies in the pace and rapidity with which the world has been changing over the past sixty years. We have advanced more in the past few decades—socially, technologically, educationally, intellectually and spiritually—than we have over the past two thousand years.

With this type of rapid advancement, change was inevitable. Everything in life has a price. Where there is a cause, there is an effect. If you inflate a balloon beyond its limits, you will weaken its integrity and it will burst. Similarly, water finds its own level. We have paid a price for rapid growth: inflation overran us, money got expensive, wives were forced away from home to seek jobs and, thus, time became a precious commodity. Hence families had to expand and open their minds to new rationale, and parenting was relegated to an incidental pastime, because both mother and father worked to maintain a reasonably healthy lifestyle.

With each generation, as this change took place, we became more aware and far more educated. This forced our minds to expand into a broader sphere of consciousness that, in turn, caused people to begin questioning the rationale of religion, which appeared to be a bureaucratic machine bent on extorting money in the name of GOD (poor GOD!) through fear, damnation and guilt.

Overseeing this fiscal enterprise of religion were the so-called harbingers of GOD, who ordained themselves as priests, parsons, reverends and evangelists, each representing different religious enterprises, to be the interceding authority to the ultimate Creator on our behalf. The fact that this undermined the very tenets of freedom of self inquiry taught by Jesus, the Christ, in no way prevented this movement from committing the greatest atrocities mankind has known. After all, Jesus clearly told us that the Kingdom of GOD lies within each of us. He said that when we wish to pray, we should go into the closet, close the door and pray.

When Jesus spoke to a group of illiterate, uneducated, simple people two thousand years ago regarding the divinity that lies within, I would imagine he meant that we should be still, close our eyes (in contemplation and meditation), go within (introspection) and communicate with the very divinity that lies within us all.

To think that we are told GOD made us in his own image! Somehow this conflicts with the concept of having a moderator in the form of organized clergy, subjugating and dominating a group of freethinking people into “flocks of sheep” who actually are the product, reflection and beauty of that very Godhead. Recent examples of this extremism are the Irish insurgents, Muslim fanatics, Orthodox Jews, right-wing Christians and all other fundamentalists who believe their way is the right and only way. No wonder we have confusion, conflict, war and chaos!

Despite the activities of extremists, the spiritual revolution continued from one generation to another. The rapid changes in values fueled the enthusiasm in the hippie movement of the sixties. A by-product of this movement was the influx of eastern philosophy, which caused an overwhelming exodus from organized religion. This movement rapidly brought home a new realization of unity about the relationship between GOD and mankind. It made people experience a feeling of liberation from religious mental slavery as they came to the realization that they were their own spiritual priests, responsible for administering to their own souls—through right action, right conduct, non-violence, love and service to their fellow beings.

This spiritual revolution resulted in the creation of competition and confusion for a church that appeared to be losing its influence and control over its adherents. The resurgence of this new influence of eastern philosophy was a beautiful message, but it conflicted with the confining and limiting message of exclusion and divisiveness set forth by organized religion. This is clearly evident from the competition and rivalry between the different sects of Christianity. Many people have lost faith and trust in the integrity of the supposedly altruistic message of the organized church.

It boggles the mind that we all—regardless of color, race, religion, sect, class, education, sex or persuasion—came out of the womb. Each and every one of us will one day return to that dimension from whence we came, while our physical body will return to ashes. The message of inclusion, in reality, appears to be lost in organized religion; there we are chastised and told by members of the clergy how bad we are and how people are lost due to their sexual and religious stances.

If my parents had spent so much time condemning, chastising and complaining about how lost I was then, I would have wandered the earth with low esteem. I am thankful they followed the essence of the spiritual teachings by not being judgmental, narrow minded, unforgiving or bigoted.

Unfortunately, all members of the organized clergy have been taught from a system that, in its original concept, was flawed in its intent, lacking truth, honesty and sincerity. A system called Christianity, contrived by the Romans approximately 200 years after the birth of Christ and perpetuated by the Vatican, was a machine put in place to control, monitor and influence its subjects. One has got to give the clergy credit for having done an excellent job over the centuries, especially since Jesus was, in fact, a Jewish Rabbi.

The teachings of Jesus, the Christ, were formalized into a faith of rituals, duties and obligations seemingly benefiting the religious power machines as opposed to society at large. The self-interest of the churches is reflected in the negative publicity they got concerning their transgressions regarding slavery and because of their backing of the Nazi regime, fully aware of the atrocities being conducted against the Jews in the holocaust. Another example of this self-interest and resulting negative publicity is the recent backlash regarding the exposure of the cover-up of acts of pedophilia perpetrated over many years.

Organized religion, therefore, appears to have been a force bent on more rhetoric than action as our brother’s keeper. More time is spent on teaching the history—or the various accounts of the story of Jesus—than teaching and following His unifying message of love, wisdom, truth, compassion, tolerance and service to our fellow beings. A typical example of this is the bigotry and lack of love and tolerance in the Christian—particularly Protestant and Pentecostal—churches regarding gays in and out of the clergy.

In each religion we find supporters who grew up under the sole teachings and influence of their respective religions. Many of these supporters firmly believe that since their particular religious teachings have lasted for centuries, their authenticity cannot be denied. We tend to take for granted that this belief is indisputable, especially since we have been taught the same scriptures over the centuries with strong conviction, confidence and (what appears to be) a domineering degree of authority...

 

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© 1996 by Oliver H. Jobson, CHy

From His Book

Expanding The Boundaries Of Self Beyond The Limit Of Traditional Thought Discovering The Magic Within This thought provoking book is appealing to the religious, agnostic and atheist. Published June 2005.