The centuries of methodology in expressing “faith” in eastern and western cultures have too often proven to drift into extremes of expressing reverence. The totally passive acceptance of one’s station in life as it was once submissively practiced in Eastern belief systems was the devotion to conformity which mired too many spiritual seekers in the grip of fatalism. It stressed what might be termed “going with the flow,” but it offered no suggestion that the flow of events are fluid and alterable. As a result much of eastern cultures endured a long history of experiencing disease, poverty, illiteracy, and lack of basic needs. The plus side of eastern faith systems was the understanding that each person’s “calling” was to strive for mastery through interacting with higher power, a connection which they correctly recognized as dwelling within.
On the other extreme, Western cultures have been persuaded through control-addicted spirit merchants to concentrate on imitating higher or “divine” power by attempting physical domination of exteriors. As a result western cultures thus tended to delve deeper and deeper into technological artificiality which have often bent natural forces into extreme contortions. This, too, can drift into a kind of fatalistic stupor which gets constant rerun billing nowadays in fantasies of an approaching Apocalypse.
In a larger sense both eastern and western faith systems have erred for the same reason: they have often pushed their particular man-concocted faith system’s approach to extreme and in doing so have ignored the Creative Power’s use of, and demand for diversity and variety. Consequently neither eastern nor western faith systems have fully opened themselves for the practice of respectful interaction with Creation’s diverse and varied components.
To a faith cultivated western mind any suggestion of establishing such a balance between the attempt to dominate nature and seeking to enfold the divine potential which is held within oneself suggests to them a loss of their precious individuality (known as ego). And yet the underlying and contradictory message of religious counsel in western cultures is that we mus submit to an ultimate authority, personified as a human-like Creator. In addition that style of holy counseling is generally muddied with the inference that submission to the creative power can be accomplished only through the regulations which are imposed by their particular man-conceived faith system. In contrast, the more passive eastern practices inspired little more than the implication that their souls might never attain those envisioned rarefied pinnacles of spiritual snobbery which is implied as continuing in a heavenly caste system. It is thus the extreme affectations within both the eastern and western belief systems which blind the believers to Creation’s law of diversity and variety with consequently mires them all in needless and unintended limitation of spirit.
World societies, their public issues, their concepts of law, justice, education, science and management of material wealth are all influenced and maneuvered by whatever man-conceive faith system happens to have achieved a temporary authoritative position in their particular region of the world. Unfortunately the creed, doctrines, dogmas and schemes of order are but the inventions of man and therefore their functions are intentionally self-serving. The result of man-formulated faith markets is that man’s orchestrated “faiths” are not always–indeed rarely are–the true champions for moral conduct and ethical behavior as they habitually claim.
The theatrical indulgences referred to as religion is commonly defined as the expression of man’s belief in and reverence for a superhuman power o powers which are regarded as having created and govern the universe. It is when that “abiding faith” gets channeled into an obsession to compel others to practice “reverence” in their specific man-invented manner that one’s faith ceases to truly honor the creative power which is active as the Life Principle. This in turn results only in all devotion and reverence of seekers being turned in upon the faith system itself. That herding technique into cult-like activities is nothing more than a hard marketing ploy, and that faith system is not a manner by which genuine reverence is transmitted to the power which is active within each seeker. When “faith” is made into nothing more than a posturing management organization it has degraded itself by pursuing only worldly advantages for the system itself. Under this false flag these regimented faith systems intentionally thrust themselves between the seeker and the ultimate power instead of guiding and instructing each seeker in how each one may personally approach and be infused by that all-embracing power.
Rigid, uncompromising faith systems (known as fundamentalism) always bear the mark of Cain upon themselves–the ugly blotches of deceitfulness, trickery, intimidation, coercion, lies, seeking to bring down democratic principles, naked intolerance, slanderous allegations, hateful rhetoric, political scheming, shameless discrimination, threats of violence and outright terrorism. Even in the United States, founded upon and dedicated to personal freedoms, we have seen the mark of Cain magnified and exemplified in the Religious Right’s attack upon life’s diversity and variety by inciting the spiritually naive through such low tactics. These false prophets are the ones who consistently attempt to obliterate the wise Constitutional precondition of church/state separation. Only false faith finds it necessary to indulge in endless proselytizing, manipulating cohorts into governing offices (such as the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court) with subversive intent, and even blatantly attempt to subject all men and women in our military branches into forced discriminatory religious observances. These hard line tactics are immoral and unethical and designed only for extracting material and political advantages for themselves, not a formula for true democratic comportment, and certainly not a means for any spiritual advancement. Such assertive faith systems can, however, point to their priest-written tales in the Old Testament for holy examples of godly approval for indulging in such treacherous behavior.
When one ignores Creation’s law of diversity and feels that their personal faith must be forced upon others, that fixation openly demonstrates that it is merely selfish aggressiveness and is not a secure inner faith. That power which they bow down to is nothing more than a disguised and driving fixation for material power and physical dominance–the gnawing desire of self-importance (ego). Such an inflexible “faith” is thus only mutated idealism in which personal ego is regarded as their holy connection. And in that induced spiritual stupor the hardliners of those by-the-book faith systems mistakenly believe that they alone hold a priority rank with the Absolute.
Time Frames and Taboo Data Blog 