"Spiri-gion"
Lets assume that religion was initially formed for the betterment of humans. But the word "religion" reminds me of conflicts, violence, intolerance and egoism. Most of the conflicts in the world are based on religion...be it the Israel-Palestian, India-Pakistan upto the recent terrorism has been erupted from religious beliefs. A "set of rules" which were supposedly meant for our upliftment are taking us down...are making beasts out of us. This has naturally made me think if we really need religion to live peacefully? Is religion necessary??
This has surprised me since I consider myself a religious person. I take great pleasure in certain Hindu rituals, the colorful festivals and many other things we do under the name of religion. So I was very restless with these contradictory thoughts in my mind.
The answer I realized is not black or white. Religion is not good or bad, necessary or unimportant. If we believe that the final aim of all humans is to become one with God, then religion defines the set of rules that one needs to follow to reach Him. The analogy I would want to give here is that of a finger being pointed to the moon. The finger is the religion and God is the moon. Our efforts should be to see the moon and not worry about the finger. People have been obssessed with this finger....whose is better. We are making the rules too rigid, too unreasonable....and in that conflict we are forgetting about God. The other aspect of religion is morality....enable the people to distinguish between good and bad.....do's and dont's. But we don't need religion for this discipline in the society.....our lessons in school and the country's law and order can take care of that. So to answer the question, yes religion is important only at a personal level, until you figure out what school of thought you believe in. People fighting over it on a social level is completely foolish and unnecessary.
I am only interested in seeing that ultimate reality. And the path I use is what I call my religion. I still haven't figured out my path that well....and it surely does not fall under any one religious belief. So I coin a new name for it: "spirigion". The path that takes me towards spirituality.
This has surprised me since I consider myself a religious person. I take great pleasure in certain Hindu rituals, the colorful festivals and many other things we do under the name of religion. So I was very restless with these contradictory thoughts in my mind.
The answer I realized is not black or white. Religion is not good or bad, necessary or unimportant. If we believe that the final aim of all humans is to become one with God, then religion defines the set of rules that one needs to follow to reach Him. The analogy I would want to give here is that of a finger being pointed to the moon. The finger is the religion and God is the moon. Our efforts should be to see the moon and not worry about the finger. People have been obssessed with this finger....whose is better. We are making the rules too rigid, too unreasonable....and in that conflict we are forgetting about God. The other aspect of religion is morality....enable the people to distinguish between good and bad.....do's and dont's. But we don't need religion for this discipline in the society.....our lessons in school and the country's law and order can take care of that. So to answer the question, yes religion is important only at a personal level, until you figure out what school of thought you believe in. People fighting over it on a social level is completely foolish and unnecessary.
I am only interested in seeing that ultimate reality. And the path I use is what I call my religion. I still haven't figured out my path that well....and it surely does not fall under any one religious belief. So I coin a new name for it: "spirigion". The path that takes me towards spirituality.
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