I recall that as a little girl I used to feel a great sense of wonder, joy and magic in nature – in the sound of dry leaves under foot, the sound of the waves, the perfume of flowers, the beauty of a butterfly, the birds singing in the morning, the feeling of a gentle breeze on my skin and much more. In nature I could feel a connection to a grandness, to something more than just the physical world and more than just me. What I also recall as a little girl was that no one else, or at least the adults around me, seemed to experience the same level of wonder or sense of magic – or this was not expressed. Continue reading “Why do we put God in a Box? “
Category: RELIGION
True Religion = No More ‘If Onlys’
Many of us torture ourselves with ‘if onlys’ when the world comes crashing down around us. When we begin to accept that what’s done is done, we may turn to religion for solace or rage at God for ‘allowing’ the unthinkable to happen. Either way, for many of us God is the one we call on in our darkest hours and religion is a word that seems to accompany him.
When the proverbial excrement hits the fan, we are given a moment to stop and consider what it is that we truly believe – what rings true for us and what we subscribe to in the way of religion. Continue reading “True Religion = No More ‘If Onlys’ “
From Religious Confusion to Religious Truth
My confusion about religion and God began at a very early age, probably from day one. My father didn’t believe there was a God but that there was a logical explanation for everything in the Universe.
His own father had been raised in the Catholic faith and from very early on was expected to be the priest in the family, but at 17 this pressure turned him away from the Catholic religion and he ran away to sea. He later discovered Rationalism and when he became a father himself he brought his own children up, including my father, in this belief. Continue reading “From Religious Confusion to Religious Truth “
Am I Religious?
I remember around the age of 16/17 being asked by a friend at school whether or not I believed in God. I responded by saying that it would be crazy not to, but I did not believe in God in the way we are taught through the varying religions. So at one level I was saying yes to God but at another level I was denouncing all of the organised religions that I knew. I grew up having been to schools heavily influenced by the Catholic religion and whilst I liked some parts of the teachings, there were far too many discrepancies that I did not agree with and which did not make any sense to me. Continue reading “Am I Religious?”
What hurts – Religion Itself, or the Bastardisation of Religion?
Mention the word ‘religion’ and it either goes very quiet or incites an unexpected debate, should you have struck a believer. And in many (possibly most?) circles, it is anything but fashionable to profess to being religious. Unless you are famous, of course; in which case, you get away with murder, or just about.
But what is it that makes us cringe, shrink, turn the other way, ignore the remark or smile limply – in other words, what makes us scramble for shelter at the mere mention of the word?
Is this an aversion against religion itself or is it more and much deeper than this? The former is certainly the easy and handy answer in our world of shallowness and profanities, of abuse, terror, angst, cruelty and obvious godlessness (oh God, don’t mention God please!). Continue reading “What hurts – Religion Itself, or the Bastardisation of Religion? “
Sin, Confession and the True Religion of the Ageless Wisdom
I was born into the institutionalised religion of Catholicism. At the tender age of 7, my classmates and I all underwent the training, practices and rituals that would allow us to make our first confession – currently called reconciliation. After confession we became eligible for ‘Holy Communion,’ the act which, according to Catholicism, symbolically unites one with God.
Central to the rite of confession is the concept of sin and the notion that we are all sinners with different levels of severity. There were lesser or venial sins, like calling someone names or taking a biscuit without Mum’s permission – these were the sins of childhood we were advised. Then there were the very heavy feeling mortal sins like adultery and murder that some adults engaged in, to the detriment of their ‘Souls’. Continue reading “Sin, Confession and the True Religion of the Ageless Wisdom”
The Truth about Universal Medicine 