Religion and 'Mind', Part 1

In wrapping up my last two topics that I mentioned I would discuss I'm going to examine the idea of creating one's own Religion and as well as contrast between the notion of the Spirit and that of the 'Mind'.

So, let me start off with religion. Throughout my life religion has been a fascinating topic for myself. I recall the days of high school where I would be constantly redefining what religion I followed, spending time examining a multitude of beliefs and cults by reading religion dictionaries. I never became an expert on any religion per se, at least in the sense of what one would be like had they devoted a more substantial amount of time to it, but it was nonetheless an important experience for myself.

Today I still find myself constantly redefining my beliefs. I find myself at a loss when trying to find a religion that addresses all the questions that I have and presents a model of beliefs that are consistent and in harmony with my world view. My latest foray is into Buddhism, and I must say that my relation with Buddhism is amongst the strongest I had with any religion. I belief that at last I've found a set of teachings, a model of wisdom, that is held in consistancy with the world view I had a priori.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure if Buddhism will have all the answers. I don't know if any religion has all the answers. Nor do I know if I can completely dismiss the teachings of one religion if I find that another religion better suits me. And I've come to the realization, that one of the ultimate acts of self-expression is the defining of our own Religion, the expression of our own beliefs made manifest into a set of principles that anyone can adhere to. I don't mean to see that we should use the exercise of creating Religion as a means to bolster one's ego, quite the contrary. It should be seen as a means to help people on their own path of creating their own religion. And its not to say that this act of creation has to be based entirely on one's own, formulated worldview. There is no reason to re-invent the wheel. The amount of wisdom present in the existing world's religions is immeasurable. But to deny the teachings and wisdom of one religion because it conflicts with the doctrines of another belief you currently have is erroneous. One should not deny him/herself of a body of wisdom simply because it doesn't conform 100% to your already established beliefs.

So, the act of integration and the act of acceptance is extremely important, both in the formulation of ones own religion or the expression of ones pre-existing belief set. The force of religion is one of the most, if not the most, domineering aspects to human society. The fact that a person is willing to lay down their very lives in the name of, at often times, an insubstantial truth is phenomenal. It goes to great lengths in presenting what I believe is the beauty of the human condition. Not the fact that humanity is so predisposed to violence, but rather that we cry so much for that transcendence, some relation to God, that even in the face of rationalism, logic, and the forcing of the acceptance of our intuition, that we go to such great lengths to preserve our beliefs.

The act of creation of one's Religion could simply be the statement that I follow the teachings of Christ, or the Koran, or that I simply affirm I have no beliefs. Or one could go so far as to compile the entire volume of their beliefs and adhere to the ones you set for yourself. But the important thing is that we recognize that we can, and should, create our religions for ourselves and acknowledge our beliefs, our religion, as our own.

I'll touch on the issue of the 'Mind' in contrast with Spirit tomorrow. Its getting rather late and I want to try to get a good night's rest for once. I'm not sure if todaqy's topic or tomorrows will go exactly like I had hoped and planned for it to go when I first constructed the list, but I think it still went in an interesting direction. I'd appreciate comments, insights, or suggestions for elaboration.