I am an average guy, in all ways, except in perhaps one. I have an unstoppable desire to try and figure everything out. At one time I may have called myself a Spiritual Tourist. It was into my mid-twenties that I was beginning to realize that I was not just touring the Cosmos for the perfect religion that I may cloak myself in, but that I was actually struggling with life purpose, and in that struggle daring to efface some of the ideas that I used to call sacred. This can put one at odds with their traditions, friendships, and most times your own held family values.
After years of searching and touring the world’s religions, philosophies and general Spiritual explorations, I have come to the realization that I need to start my own personal religion. And NOW is the time for it if I am to continue on. Based on what I have learned, have seen, have uncovered, have gained through practice and meditation, have experienced, there is no point in pursuing further the idea that there is something out there for me. I have to make it my own. I have also concluded there really is no logical alternative to this conclusion; for me or anyone, in my opinion. So, I will use this monologue to post some of the Precepts of My New Religion (which has no name). You cannot join it, but hopefully you will find some seed of Truth in it as I have.
Precept 1.
The Universe by and large is GOOD. It is GOOD in design, and GOOD in practice. The Universe is GOOD because the First Cause is GOOD. The Universe is the Effect of this GOOD and therefore carries the perfect GOOD to all places and things.
Precept 2.
Humanity is by and large GOOD. Yet everyman carries the burden of Free Will and Choice. I say burden here from a perspective that having to make personal choices can appear to hinder the efficiencies and comforts that ritual and order often provides. Yet it can also be a driving positive force for self transformation. It can negatively offer the “temptations of the flesh” so often described in religious traditions, that we are merely pleasure machines. I dare add there is also that temptation of the “intellect” that can cloud and obscure Precept 1, that all is GOOD. Choice places us squarely into the field of Opposites, where we accept that with every Good, there must also be a Bad. That things are either this way or that. I now have at my core the knowledge that all IS good, despite the horrors that the two eyes see. It is our Third eye, when opened, that only sees this Good in everything.
Precept 3.
Humanity carries within itself, in each individual, an Inner Voice that appears some time after birth. It is given a name by many cultures or Ideologies. Some call it Conscience, others that Still Small Voice. Others may call it the Holy Spirit, or Thought Adjuster.
Precept 4.
Guilt is not a logical response to the ignoring of our Inner Voice, lest it be absolutely distinguished from the kind of guilt associated with discarding an ideology or cultural identity, or dropping unhealthy habits and relationships. That is a programmed guilt, and it must be eliminated before the Inner Voice’s true message can be heard.
Precept 5.
Every Ideology, Theory, is not immutable. It is not an end in itself. It is but one piece to a grand puzzle. And each idea, whether orthodox or fantastic is just another piece of the puzzle. No one individual, no matter how great, or wise, carries all the pieces, yet we all carry the great potential that the complete Puzzle offers us. The danger to our inner voice is to accept that an Ideology that holds only a single piece, has convinced you that they hold all of the pieces, and that you can only get them through their revelation, truth or practice, and they you willfully and “blindly” surrender to it. And for what?
Precept 6.
Many puzzle pieces are hidden, or disguised. Many are in plain sight, but often missed. When you receive a new piece, a common experience is the A-Ha moment. Some call it a Revelation, which I prefer, but not in a religious way. Is not a puzzle more interesting when you find a corner piece? Or when you complete a shape of an image with several pieces? Or make a complete square with the flat pieces so you can fill the gap with the remaining pieces?
Precept 7.
Every new idea is really not new, just previously undiscovered, or never personally revealed before. Logically, there really cannot be anything new to all Humanity that has not been foreseen or foretold. It is only by our encounter with it that it seems new and fresh. We live for those moments. And it is after experiencing those moments that we seek to have more moments. Without those moments, we conform to habits of thought, and accept the world in front of our eyes is all there is and will ever be, and fall into fear. It is the fear that there is nothing more that keeps us in the horrors that we experience. Global Consciousness tends to follow behind the pioneers of Vision, who are first to see the clockworks of the Universe. I recall in the 80’s when ideas such as Energy Medicine were stigmatized as being “New Agey”. Now it is becoming mainstream due to much pioneering work into the wholistic approach to medicine. I predict in 20 years, we will all have equal access to cheap or free permanent cures outside of the Allopathic paradigm.
Later as I ponder My Religion further, I’ll delve into these precepts. I expect My Religion will evolve, as humanity has, and as I continue to learn new (or old) things.
