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Mankind's True Religion
Mankind's largest problem is finding out what Reality or Truth is.
This unending search is what true religion is all about. This
eternal religion that everyone on earth belongs to is the religion of
seeking happiness. All humans on earth and all creatures wish to always
exist, always to be conscious and always to be happy. If any one of these
ingredients are missing, then it is unsatisfactory. We on earth are all
brothers and sisters in this search for eternal happiness. There is not
one action or thought that does not revolve around this search for
happiness in some way. Happiness is our true God. We would not
even attempt to discover God or Truth if it ended in suffering. Different
people use different methods for
attaining this happiness and it manifests in endless desires and actions
in the attempt to reach this plateau of happiness.
Ignorance is the largest obstacle to permanent
happiness. People usually don't know how to be permanently happy and
there are no authorities to show them the way. Even if they were shown the
way, they may not believe it or take the effort to see if it is true.
Insecurity and fear is what haunts all of mankind in some
fashion. Much of what people do in their search for happiness is to
eliminate insecurity. People seek it in money, in position, in a mate and
yet it is all temporary. Money can be lost, fame and position
ends and a mate does not last forever. People are driven to escape this
insecurity by clinging to the right religion or belief system-- anything
that can promise
them a permanent security--if not here then in another world. Many think
that if one believes in some religion, the belief will save them. But this
belief is only a group of thoughts, and thoughts are ever changing. So how
can thoughts which are finite and changing bring one to the Infinite which
should be permanent?
Since people so heavily identify with
their body and personality,
they are fooled into believing they are only that. When the body suffers,
they think they suffer, if they are disappointed it is because some desire
is unfulfilled. But in both cases they are just thoughts. Thoughts are
ever-changing and affect people differently. What makes one person happy
makes another sad. But it is the thwarting of desire which creates the
unhappiness and so it is the results of a person's own thinking that makes
the person suffer. Yet so often people blame others or circumstances for
their own self-created suffering.
We are Brainwashed
People in general are sleepwalking through
life. Because of
essential mental laziness they do not question their existence or what
reality really consists of. People are brainwashed from birth by their
parents, culture, society, television, media, newspapers etc. into a
reality
that is borrowed and not really their own. If you do not question the
belief-systems of others, you can easily flow with the thought patterns of
others and not really live your own life. You think you are free and
that you make your own choices---but that is the big delusion. The
choices you make are limited to the influences around you.
Our minds are so
conditioned from birth, that there are few original thoughts that people
can have. The reason is that so few question, and so many just accept the
authority of others--the experts who know, the doctors, or lawyers or
scientists or news media.
People don't have time to investigate on their
own so they can only assume that what other say is correct. People do pay
the price in ignorance, because many others are ignorant also. See how
many times scientists reverse themselves on many issues, or how experts in
many fields differ or see how many religions are convinced that they have
it right.
Even now you are reading this, thinking that you need something
more in your life. If you were content you would not need to do this. You
are searching---searching for that something that satisfies. Well guess
what? Most authorities out there are not authorities. But it really
doesn't matter does it? We just want to believe in someone---anyone who
claims that they know. Then you can dive under your blanket of security in
peace knowing that someone knows and everything is alright. Yeah, ask your
minister I am sure he knows---and the politician---they surely wouldn't
lie--or your mechanic, or doctor or the guy on TV saying that this product
is the best---surely they
know don't they? But lies do work because we are too lazy to want
find out for ourselves and it is easier to believe and trust. We
pay for it eventually by living in delusion. You get what you pay
for--and we are going to pay one way or another.
What is life all about and who really knows? This is a question
that needs to be asked and yet many times intelligence is measured by a
college degree which consists of a person getting a pat on the back (a
degree) for regurgitating other people's thoughts in an intelligible
manner. Since
money is such a dominant factor in Western society, education becomes
tainted by it also. Success is measured by money--on knowing how to make
it. A
degree is only meaningful to many people if the outcome is money--as if
money is the end
all of happiness. But there are enough stories out there to know that
money is not the end-all of happiness. Through ignorance it does seem that
it can bring happiness, but it is only temporary and not ultimately
fulfilling.
True education is education about yourself. So many wander their
whole life not knowing who they are or why they are.
We don't know ourselves! How funny is that? What a cosmic puzzle
it all is! We cry for love, for freedom, for money, for recognition
and most of all emotional security---but
for who really? We are told who we are and who we should be by school,
friends, media, parents---but is that who we are? And if we are
that---what is the point of being that for such a short time? a few years
on earth and off to the grave with you? Is that really the way it is? And
how can we be sure of any answer from anyone?
What is Happiness?
As people we need to see that we need to
satisfy three conditions
for happiness as an ego-based individual. Any lacking of one of these
three areas can bring unhappiness. One is the body--the health of the
body must be maintained. The other is the mind--the mind needs to be
excersised and entertained, and kept healthy with a positive outlook or
philosophy. The spirit or soul needs to be attended to as well. For many
it is
to go to church, for others to meditate or read scripture or poetry. Since
all have these needs, if one ingredient is missing, some type of
unhappiness will result. Look into your life and see if this isn't so. We
become unhappy because we are not balanced. Our ego wants the candy---the
pleasure more than what is good for us in the long run. People end up
pursuing
the wine, sex, drugs, money and power for the temporary lift. Look at
the very wealthy--there really never is enough money---or for a
politician--never enough power--and there never will be because it is
limited in nature. As humans we long to be all powerful and able to
know no want--but that is because at a deep level our souls really can
operate that way. Since we identify with our outer nature and body we
try to manifest it in the outer world to no fulfilling end.
Lasting
happiness from an outer perspective can come from balance and
moderation. Even the body turns off and
goes to sleep when some outer activity is overdone. We have a natural
wisdom in the body
which seemingly has a higher intelligence than our own ego! It's funny how
we
have this body but so often can't control it when we are sick. So who is
running this machine? Is it really our body or Mother Nature's? Who is the
owner here?
Fear
For so many in this world fear is predominant in
their lives if
only subconsciously. For women, it may be the thought of not getting
married or having children and so are driven to find a mate. For men it
may be that a career is important and so money and position is important
to
attract a woman. For youth it would be the desire to conform to friends,
so that they may be accepted as a person. Since they are not complete yet
as an individual they still need the comfort of a group to accept them,
as they cannot accept themselves totally yet. People do not like to
admit their fears, but upon examination of their desires and actions, one
will see how important fear is on different levels in one's life. This is
what stress is all about--"I need more money for my family", "I need to
pass this exam to be succesful and make more money in the future"--"I need
to do this or that or that person won't like me" etc. etc. It is pressure
we put on ourselves because we convinced ourselves that we "need" this or
that to be happy.
And yet for all the stress and fear and worries, when one goes to
sleep--everything magically disappears. It is thought which makes a
heaven or hell
for a person. Change thought, change desire, change perception---- and
reality
changes with you. There is no reality, no world without you to perceive it
and experience it the way you do uniquely. You are the world -- you are
reality -- and the filter of your thoughts creates your own personal
reality.
If you go to sleep, the world recedes and you create another world totally
believable to you in dreams, no matter how outrageous. We do the same in
the
conscious state. But which reality is real? Which reality is really
permanent? It is obvious the dream state and the waking state are not
permanent realities, since they alternate every few hours and then death
take one to another reality. So what is Reality?
Reality
And so sages and philosophers from
different
cultures and
religions and epochs in history have tried to find out what this Reality
is. Many speak of a similar true reality, but clothed in different words
and ways of expressing it. Some can only use poetry to attempt to relate
that which is so difficult to relate and so supernal. One reason why it is
so difficult to relate is because we filter so much through our minds by
our own pre-conceived notions. What we think others are talking about, we
interpret in the way that we have
already been conditioned into believing according to our own particular
experience in life. We may think we know what others are saying, but we
may not.
The problems happen in religion because many, many people have a
peak experience and then relate it to their belief system or religion. The
fact is that in all religions of the world and in all centuries, people
have had peak experiences and from that conclude that their religion or
belief system must be right because of their experience.
Religious tolerance may go out the window
because a person has experienced Jesus, or Mohammed or Krishna and
conclude that they
must be the true God. Even with near-death experiences, according to the
religion of the individual, a person will see the deity that they can
believe or know. How we want our God to be--that is what we see.
Mediocrity and Comfort
It is unfortunate that it does take a
life-altering event such as
the death of a close one, or loss of a job or some type of suffering for
people to question the way they think or live. So much is on auto-pilot in
life. The life of mediocrity runs rampant in this world. People want to be
safe, to follow a schedule, to be allowed to enjoy the life that they see
fit. Sounds nice, but time flies by and then the large questions of life
become ignored and when a crisis comes what do you do? Many turn to
religion, others to friends or a therapist for answers. Very few turn to
themselves. Because of insecurity, people will try to escape problems or
try to ignore the larger questions of life.
You gotta put out
There is a law in life that declares that
you get what you put
out. If you don't take the time to question and try to find out what life
is about now, how do you expect to find out when you are about to die?
The universal questions need to be asked--"Who am I?"--"Why am I here?"--
"What is life all about?"--"Why the seeming injustices of life?" We hate
insecurity with a passion. This is why people can react so violently over
the centuries over religion. You are messing with someone's beliefs---and
that is dangerous. The desire for certainty and security is so strong that
people do not want to be challenged. This ego wants to survive death at
all costs and if the ego is insecure--- it will attack others who
attack that security. This is one of the reasons for religious wars
through the centuries.
We are in this world of duality that seems endless. Where there is
dark there must be light, where there is goodness there must be evil and
where there is sadness there must be happiness. Without these opposite
qualities there would be no creation. For every quality there must be its
opposite--birth and death, happiness and sadness, love and hate. If one
never questions these qualities, one is condemned to be stuck on this
endless wheel of existence trying always to cultivate one aspect, or just
attempting to fulfill certain desires only when it can never last--for
such as on a wheel if you go up you
must go down. Yet people strain at life for a little bit of
happiness, for the few crumbs that this world may give. But if you see
this wheel,
then you may try to find out how to get out of this wheel and attain
permanent happiness.
"You gotta wanna"
So what are the methods for finding this
permanent happiness?
They are varied according to the temperament of the seeker. The one
element that is absolutely critical in any search and for any success is
the quality of earnestness or desire. Without this one quality, no method
will ever work. It is the same rule of energy that exists in life. Success comes to
those who put the right amount of energy into it. Another way to put it is
"Seek and ye shall find". Anything of worth in this world you have to work
at it. Yet in some religions, when it comes to the after-life all you have
to do is
believe correctly and you will go to heaven. How easy and
simple!!
The belief in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny is fun too---you
know--warm
and fuzzy. There is a type of reality they
have because we have given them reality---but how
real is it?
Spiritual Materialism
It is so easy to get caught up in spiritual
materialism. We see heaven in the way we personally understand it. If we
love money---then heaven's streets are paved with gold. If you are male
and want to enjoy many women----many virgin women will be provided for you
in an Islamic heaven. What do you want in your heaven? Have you thought
about it? What would you like? Wouldn't you get tired of it
eventually? Humans really want something that is ever-new and joyful---the
problems is that all the sensory delights are not ever-new---they are
transient. We want a heaven but we don't know what to stock it with so
that we can be permanently happy. Will
God force you to be happy? So much for
freedom in heaven I guess.
Misunderstanding
You can't force evolution, you really do have to
accept people as they are and let them be, you really can't make anyone
understand.
People can only understand at their level. Anyone who comments on their
interpretation of a spiritual principle or reality is just speaking at
their level. We can't get away from that fact, that
all of us only understand at the level where we are at. One
form of delusion that is common is when you are at a meeting or lecture and everyone shakes their
heads
and nods and think they agree and understands to whatever is being
said. That is the illusion---the false comfort that we agree on the
same things--that we are safe, because we all agree on these truths. But
you can see where that is false, people can only see at their level---and
even though we think we understand through speech--you can see where the
understanding is halted at a certain level. Each person
understands
according to their own unique experiences. This unique knowledge gained by
you "allows" you to understand only at a specific level.
Who is God?
M
ost people just don't want to think. It is too much trouble. It is so much
easier to
let others do it for us. And where is the time?---really where is
it?? So funny that our society keeps on with its technological advances to
save us time----yet there is never enough of it---no matter what is
invented!
Most go to school or work in the morning---and at the end of the
day---what
do you want to do? eat--relax, watch tv. So many are so stressed with so
many activities--- children to take care of, husband or wife to deal
with---who has time to think of eternal verities???
So time devours us---our lives and we follow the pattern set day in and
day out----and maybe when something tragic happens in our lives we stop
and think, and try to find a way out of the unhappiness.
It takes
effort---no doubt about it, to find what is real and what is true. Our
world is filled with lies and empty promises---promises that almost always
fall short. If you get a new car---that is fun
and exciting---at least for a short while------then there is that picnic
to go to, that wedding, that party.....but it is never enough, and will
never be
enough---because you keep on looking...looking for that something else
that
will make you happy---new romance maybe---new clothes? new
restaurant. Whatever it is-----it all ends someday. You don't know who you
were before you were born, don't know who you are after you die--don't
know too much about who you are now----yet you do know when the Super Bowl
is and about that sale at Wal-Mart. Trivia rules in our society!!
Yet when we lose that something or someone and the pain cuts us---or when
we are sick or near death and whimper for help----what of all those things
that we thought so important? You can make all the excuses you want---but
who do you make them to?? and to what end?
If we are all children of the
One God then our very essence is God-like as well. We all can share in
that common divinity. We are truly brothers and sisters of the One. The
cognizance of who we are is critical for then we see the One in all beings
and ultimately in our very selves. Where do we direct our worship then?
God is everywhere and in everything---what need of religion then? The
heaven that we sought so vainly in others, in the world or in a heaven
after we die, can be found everywhere. Maybe Jesus was right in saying the
kingdom of heaven is within. The simplest and most powerful truth and yet
so difficult to believe. It probably is why God hid inside a person,
knowing that it is the
last
place one would actually look!
The strange thing in all of this is that one can never see God. Why is
that? Because by definition God is the creator and all things come from
God. You can't see God because that would make God an object and the
totality of God can not be a finite object. The totality would be subject
(looker)
and object (looked at) and seeing can only be of an object. So we can
never see God---we can only BE God. And that we are by essence. God is
looking through our eyes to objects that are only made of God. So it is
all God through and through. We have come from creation and we go back to
creation in a perfect circle. And as that is the case, all we can do
is just try and sit back and enjoy this cosmic motion picture that we are
in to the best of our abilities.
The Gospel
1. God or Spirit is eternal, complete, without beginning or end. It is
one, the only true being in all the universe.
2. In God is the origin of all knowledge and love. The origin of all power
and joy.
3. God causes creation to emerge from the primal creative force which
manifests as AUM or the Word. From this Time, Space and the Atom
(material) emerges.
4. The cause of creation is the atom. Collectively this creation is God's
illusory dream--God's thoughts or consciousness manifested or observed as
a reality observed by the senses.
5. The Love aspect inherent in creation which is omniscient is called
Christ Consciousness. The individual Self, being Its manifestation, is one
with it.
6. The Atom forms the mind's stuff, which when spiritualized is called
intelligence. The opposite of this is the ego mind construct in which the
ego dreams the idea of a separate existence.
7. In duality there are seven planes of existence from God to the material
plane. 7th heaven is the sphere of God which is the nameless. 6th heaven
is the sphere of the Holy Spirit which remains forever undisturbed by any
limited idea and is called the Inaccessible. 5th heaven is the sphere of
spiritual reflection where the idea of separate existence of Self
originates. 4th sphere is the sphere of the atom, the beginning of the
creation, and of darkness upon which Spirit is reflected. 3rd plane is the
sphere of auras, the electricities. 2nd plane is the sphere of electrical
attributes, of fine matters. 1st sphere is the last and lowest which is of
this gross material creation which is visible. These seven planes (seven
churches in the Bible) corresponds to the seven chakras which is in the
body.
8. Just as objects seen as real in a dream are seen as unreal upon
awakening, so our waking perceptions are likewise just as unreal---being
only a matter of inference only.
9. What we need is a Savior who will awaken us to spiritual effort and to
the perceptions of Truth.
10. Liberation is obtained when one realizes the oneness of his Self with
the Universal Self or God, which is the Supreme Reality.
The Goal
1. When one realizes that one is blinded by illusion, that things are not
as they seem, one seeks relief. Just as in suffering one seeks relief and
wishes to be free of all pain, so the person desires freedom from
ignorance and wishes to know the truth in all things. Thus the beginning
of spiritual effort is born.
2. Liberation is stabilization of the knowledge of the soul as one with
its real Self.
3. Then there is cessation of all pain and the attainment of one's true
desire---which is ultimate fulfillment.
4. Otherwise, birth after birth, man experiences the misery of unfulfilled
desires.
5. Problems stem from Ignorance. Ignorance is perception of the
unreal, and lack of perception of what is real and true.
6. Ignorance reveals itself as egoism, attachment and aversion.
7. The root of pain is egoistic actions, which (based on delusion) leads
to misery.
8. A human's true aim is complete freedom from unhappiness. Once pain has
been permanently destroyed then the highest goal has been
attained.
9. Permanent Existence, consciousness and bliss are the three desires of
the human heart. Once these desires are filled, the achievement of the
highest goal has been attained.
10. When this goal has been attained, one not only reflects the divine
light, but becomes actively united with Spirit. This state is Liberation
or
oneness with the Creator.
The Procedure
1. Patience, Study, and Meditation (deep prayer or concentration) are the
means to Liberation. Patience is mental equanimity or steadfastness of
purpose necessary to study and meditate enough to be liberated. Study is
the saturation of mind with the real Truth. Meditation is the shutting
down of the thought process (ego) wherein one's real nature is
perceived.
2. Moral courage is needed to do the things one should do in order to
attain
the liberated state. This also means following moral laws of self-control
which allows us the scope to go in the correct direction. It also means
mixing with spiritual people of like-mind which helps us to
progress.
3. By following spiritual laws and putting spiritual effort one can see
the Truth and bondage disappears.
4. True perception leads to knowledge of all creation. Pure concentration
or meditation enables one to abandon individuality for universality. In
meditation God's vibration is revealed and one merges in that vibration
and attains the state of Divinity.
5. Through many births on this physical plane humans gradually learn by
experience what the truth is. The beginner or lowest evolved humans
misunderstands
everything. One can only grasp ideas of the physical world at this stage.
As one gains in understanding one begins to entertain doubts as to the
reality of the world and struggles to clear the doubts. When one begins to
struggle, then the person becomes energetic, ready to do what is necessary to see correctly. As one progresses this turns into the
need to do spiritual work to free one's self of misconceptions. Finally
the soul finds a person or teaching which helps the soul to follow the
correct procedures necessary to liberation.
6. Evolution is the cause of many classes of people, many religions, and
many methods. Historical periods, civilizations, cultures, countries,
communities and individual humans are all subject to evolution and can be
classified
according to their level. As a wheel turns so does everything on earth.
Evolution will bring a point on a wheel full circle again and again. Every
point in space/time can be measured and classified as to level of
evolution. As we begin in creation from God, so do we return again back to
God. God being the only Reality, it cannot be otherwise.
7. As humans evolve and begin to understand Reality then they are not
subject to ignorance (Satan) anymore. They repent of their sins
(ignorance) and finally abandons the vain idea of its separate existence
wherein one attains Liberation or oneness (identity) with Spirit.
Revelation and Conclusion
1. Liberation is achieved by purification. This purification is chiefly of
the mind.
2. Purification is possible through spiritual work or effort. As the mind
becomes purified by meditation it is able to be placed directly on God
vibration and then merged into That. Through merging again and again into
That, one starts to claim and see one's divine identity and this true
identity starts to percolate in one's consciousness until it becomes
stable.
3. As one's identity becomes stable one can dissolve the ideas of
manifestation--of Time, Space, and particle (Atom). As the ego is driven
and perceived because of these manifestations--the ego is then seen as
illusory---as illusory as these manifestations.
4. Being then victorious over the poweres of Darkness and Ignorance, a
soul becomes one with God.
5. Knowledge of evolution, life, and dissolution thus leads to complete
liberation from the bonds of delusion. Seeing the self in the Supreme
Self, one gains eternal freedom.
Never forget the great goal of life, of existence. One does not know when
death will strike. Use one's intelligence to put the right effort in the
right endeavor in life today. Tomorrow is promised to no one.
bgarcia@mail.utexas.edu
Phone:
(512) 475-8138
Fax:
(512) 471-9038
Mail Address:
Department of Mathematics
The University of Texas at Austin
Mail code: C1200
RLM 8.100
Austin, TX 78712
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