What do you get out of practising a religion? Has it always been a part of your life? do you currently practice the same religion you were raised with?
I was raised Catholic, but not in a deeply religious way. My other siblings went in different paths, not being religiously inclined, and my eldest brother considers himself an atheist. I am deeply Catholic today, and it was something I made my own. I can understand the reservation some have in regards to organised religion, and even the hostility towards it. I would probably have such a stance de facto, if I wasn't introduced to orgainised religion in my upbringing, Christianity-Catholicism in my instance. This topic is such a big one, and there are so many bears in the closet, and loose rope ends, that it almost becomes a headache to approach such topics in dialogue. Yet such dialogue - not debate, but a sharing, an unfolding of one's narrative, of one's soul even - really is the beginning of a beautiful exchange between persons - of real, and raw encounter. To see the face of another. Such encounter is rare, because such dialogue is rare between an atheist and a religist, a Buddhist and a Christian, a Christian and a Christian, and so on. Such dialogue consists in one person opening to the other, and the other truly listening (not simply waiting to speak/respond); and vice versa. A thread such as this can become a platform for such dialogue. I'd be interested in hearing more on what it means
to you to be a spiritual person, to live a mystical life.
A bit of a tangent there. But yes, I was raised Catholic but I wouldn't say it was always part of my life. Since it's one thing to believe in certain things, which one feels to be true, and meaningful, and right, but that's ideology - things need to make a journey to the heart, to be lived, enfleshed, incarnated within oneself. That journey from head to heart - not that the head gets thrown away, but heart
and head I believe need to coexist in a synergy. Only several years ago has this being the case for me in regards to my own beliefs.
The word dogma and doctrine are buzz words which trigger a strong emotional reaction of disdain, with images of chains, shackles, and a police stick. Yet the Eastern Orthodox theologian Lossky said: "Dogma [and doctrine] is mysticism par excellence." In other words, for me the doctrines and dogma's I believe in (i.e. God exists, God is a Trinity, the Resurrection of the dead, Jesus was fully man and fully God, God became man through a woman named Mary etc.) I do not see as mere abstract principles to be assented to through faith, but actual realities in which I believe I truly participate in my daily ordinary life. Thus even brushing my teeth is pregnant with meaning and purpose, when carried out in love for God - a simple intent. It sounds crazy, and in some ways it is! Sure, I could give a list of reasons behind why I believe all of this, never amounting to proof (what can be proved?) but serving as evidence of some kind, but I'm not interested in
trying to proove anything here. I'm just sharing - and it can be scary to do this, to make oneself vulnerable to others and their views - but where else can genuine encounter and growth take place on both ends.
For me spirituality and religion are not anti-antithetical, religion being a communal body of those who share the same beliefs. Despite my affinity to solitude and independence I acknowledge my inner poverty and need for relationship, and thus for community, which doesn't impinge on my sense of autonomy in the least, quite the opposite. I don't even really like the word religion, but that comes to a matter of semantics.
So what do I get out of practicing a religion? I suppose I don't so much see it as practicing a religion, but practicing a way of life, a spiritual way of being, a mystical mode of existence which looks towards the Divine, but which is grounded in the grit and hardship of reality, and with the plight of human misery (especially the most broken and hurting) in my consciousnesses - it's anything but an escapism.
I mean I truly believe I am infinitely loved, no matter what I do or don't do, by a Creator. As an artist's works reflect himself, I see the personablity of animals, but especially of people, as signs of a the Divine Artist - thus signs of a Personal Creator who
is Relationship and yearns for relationship with me. I 'practice my religion' not to win love, not to be saved, not to even become a better person, although some of these are aspects of it, but to simply enter into Intimacy itself - and I'm not speaking sexually here, but as an intimacy of companionship, of total oneness, completeness, security, friendship etc.
If I believe in a certain morality, I don't look down on those who contravene what I view as right, not at all. I realise I am the worst, because I can't even live up to what I believe. But that's okay, I'm fine with that, happy even, I try my best, and feel unconditionally loved. But if I believe in a certain ethical conduct it's not to me a set of rules to abide by, a set of prison bars. But, to use an analogy, like how a bird follows the laws of aerodynamics in order to fly. If it disobeyed these laws it wouldn't be free to fly. Thus such seeming regulations, are for me a means of liberation to enter deeper into union with the Divinity. In time it becomes so second-nature, and isn't so hard any more, like the bird that just flies and adheres to the laws of aerodynamics without even thinking of it - it just
does and is.
Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opium of the masses." I don't know about other religions, I'm not very well acquainted with them in comparison to those who really know them. But at least in my experience, this saying ts true, but not in the way it was intended. Even though
it can be in the way this saying was intended. For I truly feel on a perennial high deep within, an inner peace, freedom and joy, even in the midst of the usual roller coaster emotions of life. I can always return to the silence, and give a sigh of relief, that everything's taken care of, despite my ignorance. Yeah, I'm addicted to spiritual opium - not in a self-serving 'give me a fix' kind of way, but as in, 'yeah, this is for me', 'I'm at home'. I don't need drugs, well at least the literal kind.
