“As you believe so it shall be.†This is a great catalyst for being presented with information, in course to knowledge and understanding. Religion as expressed in the “Introduction to Spirituality†from the Culdian Trust website contains an element of belief as its foundation. Religion uses this belief to form a more solid truth about the whole of humanity. The religious believe in a tradition, expressed in ritual and song, and a unity underlying their belief, bringing a more concrete absolute for humanity to believe in—such as the Bible. Belief in the Bible teaches the believer to believe, love, and obey. To believe, involves perception, imagination, and thought because we would not reach belief without them. Thought about what is believed in, such as the Bible, helps to form our spiritual side which is separate from the intellectual side more associated with belief. The spiritual side of humanity is what brings about virtues such as faith, hope, and love. With faith, it is the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout the body that brings us to it. Again, this is a way to separate belief from faith because belief involves the intellect, and now, faith involves the supernatural.
I must bring forth the belief that “Amen†means “So be it†or “I believe.†It is the intellect that is challenged with this statement after prayer and other ritual. However, it is religious and can in an instant or over time bring a person to faith. The movement of the Holy Spirit helps to form our hearts, essentially faith. And belief helps to form our minds. Many have heard of the statement: with all mind, body, and soul. Because we believe in our thoughts, we can help to chisel away at the rock blocking our hearts with death, destruction, chaos, and greed. We mourn and grieve because of these facts of temporal life. So, as you believe (mind) so it shall be (Amen, and formation of faith).
Yes, Religion may, in one of its characteristics, be defined as a ‘belief’ in something, whereas Spirituality includes direct knowledge or experience with the thing.
[i]"It is fundamental to our subject that a distinction be drawn between the two (Religion and Spirituality). Religion is the product, the outcome of spirituality, but it is not spirituality itself…
…Spirituality transcends religion and is not related to beliefs or rituals, neither does it relate to worship. These are expressions of the religious instinct in human beings, but they are not spirituality in its essence. Spirituality is a state of being, it is something which is integral to a person’s make-up and has little to do with religious superficialities. It is a life force, the inherent life of the Spirit, while belief, ritual and worship pertain to the intellect and express concepts about the things of the Spirit. Of course, beliefs necessarily have a spiritual foundation and in a certain sense they may even be said to minister to the life of the Spirit, just as clothes may be said to minister to the life of the body. So beliefs are in fact the clothes in which the intellect dresses up the spiritual instinct in humans…
…Concepts such as vicarious atonement, primitive sacrificial rites, placation, self-mortification or humiliation and attempts to influence Higher Beings through adorational rituals, are more related to magick and shamanism than to any spiritualising process. Most forms of human worship are based upon concepts which relate more to kingship and sovereignty, to the vassalage of subject to ruler, than to an elevating relationship between the Creator of all and beings made in His spiritual image. Human rulers may require their subjects to adopt such attitudes, but surely the God of all should not be a magnified projection of this model. Nothing man can do can in any way add to what God already has, and the concept we hold should place Him well beyond the vanities of mortal men.
A study of spirituality shows that the part we have to play on Earth is a positive, constructive one entailing responsibility for ourselves and our ultimate destiny, as well as for the planet of which we are Trustees. It requires the effort of conscious participation in things relating to the progress and wellbeing of humankind as a whole. Perhaps this is why so many choose the easier road, repudiating individual responsibility for their spiritual wellbeing and casting the burden of Earth’s destiny on a God conceived in the likeness of an earthly monarch. To any having such an ingrained concept this handbook will be of little value.
Spirituality expresses itself irrespective of theological thinking…
…This attitude of exclusiveness, of having access to the only Truth, is at the root of all the religious conflicts which have afflicted the world and which are still very much in evidence. However, there is today a large body of unbiased people who fortunately refuse to attach themselves to any one sectarian religion. They are by no means irreligious, and might indeed be more appropriately called ‘Seekers after Truth’. These are the individuals who will benefit most from this publication and whom the Publishers would like to place on an appropriate path. Although these people cannot be said to be religious in the generally accepted sense of the term, they can and do study various religions in an objective manner. Speaking in general it will be found that most of them have rejected Christianity in its creedal or ecclesiastical form, yet are by no means anti-Christian so far as the life and example of the central figure of the New Testament are concerned. It may be said that they follow the precepts of Christ but reject the traditional dogmas which have arisen around them.
It is becoming increasingly recognised by impartial students of religion, that what is commonly referred to as religion is more or less what might be called an accident of spirituality in its essential nature."[/i] – An Introduction to Spirituality, Spirituality and Religion
There are many elements in Religion which are useful, but they are like clothes covering, and often mistaken for, the real thing underneath. The problem is, clothes become worn out and need replacing, and the style of clothes varies in time and place. When Religion is confused for the Spirit or Truth itself, we end up wearing tattered and archaic rags, worn down and decaying. So first, we must not confuse the packaging for the thing itself, and then we must learn to change our clothes depending on the time and place.
“Amen” is a clear and very sad example of Religion distorting Spirituality. Jews and Christians assume a definition here in which the use of the thing has been forgotten due to lack of use.
Amen (Amin in Islam) comes from Egypt… as in “Amen-Ra”. Ra is the “most high God”, and Amen is “that which is hidden” in ancient Egyptian. The ancient Egyptian definition came after its use, however, to describe what it did in action. ‘Amen’, was a tonal meditative chant used in the ancient Mystery Schools, in order to reveal “that which is hidden”, most often that being the “most high God”.
We see a correlative of this spiritualizing use in the East, where Religion did not thankfully distort the original and proper use of the word. “Aum” or “Om” is used there as a tonal meditative chant the same what Amen (Amin) was originally used in the West.
When we remove the old and tattered clothes that no longer provide any use, we may also do away with blind belief, and truly once see and experience again “that which is hidden”.
As I said previously in this thread, believing something does not make it so… but knowing something which you were once ignorant of allows you to more fully control and master your own reality.
Christopher,
I am skeptical of belief and information. I used to think truth was available from many places. I came to know that there was a disconnect between what I felt and what I was told. It became my mission to “see things the way they are”. Maybe that is a fantasy but I am still at it. On this journey I came to hear some words as clues. “information” became something that was perhaps forming inside me. Believe what I am told… the lie is in the middle… please, don’t take this part too seriously.
The real part is intuition. Something that was ridiculed and demeaned everywhere, and feelings, also pejorative in conversation, mostly. I was always taught the Descartes view of knowing the world by my senses, and my senses being deceived, my view of the world may be a deception, or so I was informed. I realized how often my logical mind, using the senses took over, and failed to perceive when my intuition would have won the day. In small things like finding a place, feel like I should turn here, but no, the mind said go the other way, and was wrong. Many times what I called my “first thought” was correct but I followed my “second guess”. A lifetime of feeling the discontinuity. I woke up in the last few years and tested the first thought/second guess and found I had missed much. At first I noticed the wrong “second guess” and later began to catch the first thought and took heed. No regrets, humans have strong intuition and conditioning teaches the logical mind is to control. I know my mind is a great asset of the heart spirit not a director.
Don’t believe a word I say, check it our for yourself.
Always, Tim
I really think your onto the “so shall it be” stuff here. It is in our decisions that we realise our freedom. Specifically following your instincts in my mind can be a kin to “going with the flow” not the flow of other people but the flow of our universe, bustling upon the stella winds as it were. Compared to some kind of directed flow. The key thing to remember here is actually what our minds are capable of. I would put it thus, that when the universe comes to an end (if we are still here) we will be faced with a grueling task. To fade into the night or burst into new realities. Neither is particularly better than the other. It is just a decision we must take, to continue to be buffeted by the turbulence of life or seek eternal repose. The more interesting question is how either is accomplished but i suppose that will have to wait for a new thread. I think maybe it is important to point out that to make a decision is hard but to reflect upon it is much easier. So perhaps it would be easy for us to get confused between the decisions made and the decisions yet to be made. One thing is sure, once you have made a choice and once it is so, it cannot be changed.