View of Langdale Pikes, Lake District, England – click image to see at full camera resolution.
"It is ugly to argue about God" – Native American teaching
Every Path has its Beauty, but every Path has its problems! So do not let the wisdom of religion dazzle you, a lot has become distorted from its original context and message. ...What is religion for? ...Personal issues or Societal issues?
Paganism is increasing in popularity today while Christianity is declining, so only by understanding why, can we gather ourselves as effective Voice for the spiritual in this secular dominated word. There is a lot of error now in the orthodox beliefs, but the alternative spiritual free thinkers are a fragmented movement.
Be Balanced - Be Curious
The Spirit Unites our paths, but human arrogance separates
The Christian Church claims to be the path to the one true God, but how much tyranny and genocide has been done in its name? ...Yet still there are good and true people amongst the Christians. We have to separate true spiritual insight from human arrogance.
Islam in principle is more accurate, but sadly now has the reputation for arrogance and imposed tyranny – extreme male politics leading to poverty and fighting... But their own Qur'an says: "Let there be no compulsion in religion", and Imam Ali said: "Don't expect hungry people to have religion." ...so we have to separate the true spiritual from human arrogance... Only a few Muslims do this, passive obedience is not the same!
Nature Spirituality is better, though not totally immune. Pagans, Druids and Heathens can still be susceptible, (or react) to male arrogance followed by aggression. So again, we need to separate the true spiritual from human arrogance.
"Religion is male, Spiritual is female – Unity is non-binary!"
Much spiritual wisdom has been lost to the world over the centuries due to religious arrogance, so now we need to reach out and bring the scattered fragments together!
Immanence and Real Science
What does Spirituality really mean? ...and how has this been hijacked into something else?
Immanence, or recognition of the internal animating Spirit, is fully compatible with genuine scientific study of life and related phenomena.
Orthodox Religion often states the opposite, that people and spirit are separate. The notion that earth life is unclean and despised, needing Priests to intervene to connect with their God... This is the ridiculous notion that Humanists have rightly rebelled against. Alas, two wrongs don't make a right.
To show the reality of Immanence (Spiritual), I will reference five natural phenomena...
- Our Consciousness can be outside our body.
- Our Consciousness continues after death.
- Animals and Plants also have a 'spirit' form.
- Nature is Intelligent 'Design'.
- 'Reality' is Non-Local in Quantum Physics.
This is why diverse holistic and spiritual people of all paths need to come together – to find true essence and hence gain eloquent Voice.
Problems of Blind Faith – religion and political ideology
From world history right up to the present day, blind faith in religion permits manipulation and distortions that have facilitated tyranny and genocide. Islam and the Christian Church as prescriptive faiths have been very susceptible to this. But none of these abuses ever came from the Divine!
As a reaction, many people have turned away towards atheist-science, and now have a blind trust in it to solve all their problems. But this becomes a blind faith in a new kind of 'religion' – with the university professors as the new high priests! Then the same as before, blind faith in something held sacred, that is unquestionably thought to be true, opens the door for manipulations and distortion. Are Vaccines, the Health Service, Artificial Intelligence and 5G cellphone masts really 'Sacred' beyond question?? ...So Socialists and Humanists take note, be very careful of what you blindly trust!
We must always question from different angles and learn from experience.
The Coming of Monotheism
For everyone to whom English is their native language, our spiritual heritage is Tyr, Odin/Woden, Thor, Freyja and the other aspects of God. As in Tyr's day (Tuesday), Woden's day (Wednesday), Thor's day (Thursday) and Freyja's day (Friday) ...Like the Spiritual Forces that seem to drive humankind described in mythical stories. It is our heritage, but when Monotheism came to our ancestors, something profound also began to be lost! Our distant ancestors recognised many Spirit Forces, both male and female, yet they did not have any particular word for 'religion'. This was replaced by the one Male God of Christianity who now needed a 'Religion' of male Priests as go-betweens. So while monotheism corrected some false thinking, this male view was the seed of many other problems.However, there is only ONE Source, we could refer to it as the ubiquitous God-Force, or The Great Spirit, or The Great Unknown, and speak in any language, but there are problems with the notion of Monotheism.
1. Firstly the word "Mono" - yes there is only one Source, but everything we can perceive of this Source reaches us through both Gendered Pairs, as well as multiple characteristics! This is not just biology of life, but all of Thought Creations and consequent Physical Creations, including the Atom with its gender divided Linear and Rotary motions. ALSO, everything we know about our world shows multiple characteristics – like; ordered, random, constructive, destructive.... So there are problems to the notion of 'Mono'.
(see my book Beyond Physics)
2. "Theism" - this sets up a doctrine and needs people to interpret the doctrine, which is the wrong way round to be learning. Rather we actually only grow spiritually from what we experience ourselves and reflect upon, not what we are taught by doctrine from the outside.
...don't confuse Spirit Forces with 'The Source'
Like Currents within the Formation,
The Necessary Diversity for the Purpose of the Whole
The word 'Polytheist' was created by Christian intellectuals as a derogatory term, similar to the word 'savage' used for non-christian people. Whereas people who sense and experience the multiplicity of spirit themselves speak in empirical terms, not academic terms... So 'gods' or 'God', be careful what different people are actually referring to by these words!
Some of the 'Spirit Forces' are at a higher level concerning the evolution of Life and Humanity itself; all of which have characteristics of being both inseparable and distinct. Monotheism made catastrophic mistakes, not in perceiving the Oneness of The Source, but in denying the Feminine side of The Source and the necessary diversity of Creation. So only by looking from a higher plane, can we reconcile seeming opposites!
Every genuine Prophet that ever came, brought a message to replace something worse or cruel in a specific society. ...Never did a Prophet ever speak to a 'blank canvas'! So their messages were specific to the Land and culture of their revelation. Human language is very limited in its ability to express deeper holistic truths, so we interject many distortions by trying to take a religious teaching from one Land to another, one culture to another. Philosophical concepts might advantageously be shared with other nations, like ideas about Karma, Compassion, or Reincarnation; BUT not religious doctrine, which out of context would exclude or oppress.
Also, when Monotheism rejects the Reality of Gender Polarity as the means by which the Universe is Created - its 'modus operandi' - Monotheism then becomes male control by definition!
As Gender-Polarity is part of the Big Design; Monotheism only has any validity when this fact is clearly recognised!
...Speak in the Abstract, we must!
Nature Religions
In many cases it is inaccurate to call this Poly-theism, as it is a different way of looking at the Divine. It is the semantics on the meaning implied. Like describing something by what it does, or by what it is – yet it is the same thing. There is only One Source for the Universe, but many seeming conflicting forces, like a story or play...Story Archetypes, after The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell which included the ideas of Carl Jung.
Hero
Mentor
Threshold Guardian
Herald
Shape-shifter
Shadow
Ally
Trickster
A Story or a Play that means something, says something, could not do it without having different actors, which can be generalised as archetypes. I would suggest that the Spirit Forces we know as Odin, Freya, Thor, Loki etc. of the Sagas (stories), are archetypes of humanity. The Mythologies are all about how we understand ourselves amid all these 'Spirit Forces'.
So defining ourselves by recognising ONE SOURCE, or defining ourselves by recognising a DIVINE PLAY of many Actors, is like describing something by what it does, or by what it is, yet it is essentially the same thing if both are true to their roots. — is it not just an example of the Polarity of everything manifested, and by comprehending the whole, we become more accurate in what we perceive.
In some ways the monotheistic religions have enlightened humanity, but in other ways their spread has done a lot of harm. Now is the time to climb above all this stuff and see the positives and negatives of all previous paths, and continue to make our own individual way towards our ultimate common destination.
Don't you think the early Christians also recognised spiritual connections to the Heathen ways?
...Between the opposites, we can reach to a higher plane. It is inevitable therefore that there would have been a two-way intermingling of ideas, which later generations of religious people failed to comprehend! ...Concepts about God and the stories were later interpreted as literal, not metaphorical of a higher plane!
Native American Spirituality
This is the best there is, it surpasses all else in terms spiritual wisdom and compatibility with holist science. Life and the World are understood as being within a Process, not static. Their respect for "Two Spirit" people and their gifts is exemplary (spiritual non-binary gender). But the genocide and tyranny that has been done to Native Americans by invading Christian settlers is disgusting. Even today, Church attitude is of prejudice and missionaries. So sad.
Native Americans are necessarily connected to their Tribe and their Land, we cannot just copy their practice and use it for ourselves. Everything has been taken from these people, we must only accept with gratitude what is now given. Each of us has to look to our own fragments of indigenous spiritual tradition, and then improve it by the wisdom we learn from others.
Diversity of Religion
We like to be part of community like a Religion, this is natural, but notice there are different ways a spiritual community can come together...
By the Law - such as Judaism.
By Mythology - such as the Norse gods.
By deep awareness of Nature's interconnected processes - Native American Tribes.
By a particular Philosophy - Like the Tao of Yin and Yang.
So spiritual paths do not have to be of a Religion, we can make our own path of how we perceive Reality, perhaps a hybrid of many concepts — and be part of a new community returning home.
Belief, Worship, Truth and Histories
Belief is a psychological state of mind, nothing to do with the facts. It has more to do with what we learned first when we were little children. Our position in the afterlife does not depend upon what we believe, but on how we behave while we're here!Worship is basically pretence, what really matters is our: Gratitude, Kindness, Honesty, Fairness, Steadfastness and striving to improve. Spirituality is not something separate to our daily life, it is what we are.
Truth, as they say in Law: "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth", because partial truth is not acceptable – "Leaving things out is as big a distortion as putting things in!"
...Now Think Gender-Balance in Religion and Philosophy!
Histories: When people believe in different histories, which are actually only part truths, then they can then direct their energies in dangerous ways! The Real Enemy is ignorance, and always has been.
...we cannot fight that with guns!
People in the Religion, or Religion in the People ?
People who follow a Religion accepting its rules, thereby make themselves separate from other people (believers and non-believers). They restrict their perceptions of what is beyond. In making Religion the framework they live their lives by, they are effectively 'In the Religion'. This is the same control dynamics of employees within a company.
Implausible Professions
To be a Prophet, a Seer, a Healer, a Dowser, or a Shaman; these are valid spiritual occupations that depend upon the gifts of the person concerned. BUT to just lead people in organised religion is not the same. The Spiritual cannot and should not be made separate or a separate profession, because this would introduce a corruption ...and when such religion-people make life changing decisions over common people, it gets really bad! The Reality is; Spiritual is an aspect of everything in Life, not something separate, and should not be treated as such.
If a religion requires us to learn 'facts' or 'methods' or a 'book' before we can supposedly connect with their deity, then it is a complete fabrication! Unfortunately, this is often the case with monotheistic faiths. ...All Life-forms, and everything physical, is permanently connected to that which Created us all. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.
Male God?
The belief in a 'Male God' has caused a lot a damage!As the saying goes; "Leaving things out is as big a distortion as putting things in". So by believing God is male, it omits the Feminine half of 'The-God' thus making the believers unbalanced, and therefore susceptible to doing all the bad that has happened. – Whether this was caused by culture or intent, the damage has been insidious.
Historically Semitic languages used the masculine noun to imply singular, and the feminine noun to imply plural. European languages originally used the masculine prefix to imply active nouns with the feminine prefix to imply attribute nouns, but all this has become blurred over time. But modern language is technical, so masculine words are taken as male – a subtle change of meaning exploited by those who wished to control.
This male-god disease has infected our Philosophy and Logic, it is always the masculine variant that is assumed. Scant regard is paid to Feminine Philosophy or Logic. Even those who consider themselves Humanist having left religious notions, still have default attitudes set by Christianity with their Language and male God image – this hinders their perception of any real spiritual insight!
This has also caused 'Mathematics' to be assumed to be the 'Language of the Universe', but it is only the masculine part. The Feminine side of the 'Language of the Universe' is impossible to be expressed by mathematics! Feminine Intelligence is different – correspondences can seen that makes no sense to mathematics.
Heathen and Pagan Spiritual Practise do not suffer the same from these problems, as closeness to nature and recognition of 'goddesses' helps prevent it... However, we must be careful here not to confuse Spirit Forces with 'The Source'.
The Case for the Defence – Christian Positives
Monotheistic religion done properly has positives that Pagan or Heathen spiritual paths do not – Collective action with awareness of higher accountability.The formation of Schools, Hospitals and community charitable organisations to support the poor, these were only formed by monotheistic religions. The true religion people always saw it as working for God like an aspect of their Faith, and not seeking any earthly reward. ...Collective action can also be done for political or national motives, but only the Religious life gives collective action with awareness of higher accountability, that is our position in the afterlife. The higher accountability of God, the awareness of it, will always tend to correct any temporary misuse of power by people, however long this takes.
It was the Quaker movement (Society of Friends) who organised together to stop Slavery – never did or could the Pagans or Heathens do this, regardless of the spirituality of specific individuals. So too it was the Quakers who were at the forefront of showing a decent kindly way to treat their factory workers, and their housing. These were enlightened people gathered together by their religion.
So often the true ones are rejected by the loud tyrants, but see the true ones anyway.
Immanence verses Arrogance...
The real divide is not between monotheist and polytheist, as these are just semantics on the meanings of the words used. Rather it is between those who recognise the inner animating spirit (Immanence) verses those who arrogantly try to impose their ideas upon the rest of us. This includes totalitarian religion, totalitarian political systems and a 'World Health Organization' that is becoming an unelected fascist dictator hostile to the Spirit!
Together we stand, divided we fall — Literally