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The Tools
of Religion
Examination
of the religious ceremonials
Of present-day
Tibetan rituals
Reveals
an overgrown brotherhood
Of priests
who practice an elaborate ritual
Embracing
bells, chants, incense,
Processionals,
rosaries, images,
Charms,
pictures, holy water, gorgeous vestments,
And
elaborate choirs.
They
have rigid dogmas and crystallized creeds,
Mystic
rites and special fasts.
Their
hierarchy embraces monks, nuns, abbots, and the
Grand
Lama.
They pray
to angels, saints, a holy mother,
And
the gods.
They
practice confessions and believe in purgatory.
Their monasteries
are extensive
And
their cathedrals magnificent.
They
keep up an endless repetition of sacred rituals
And
believe that such ceremonials bestow salvation.
Prayers
are fastened to a wheel,
And
with its turning they believe the petitions
Become
efficacious.
It is inevitable
that such a cumulative liturgy will
Become inordinately
cumbersome
And
intolerably burdensome.
The Christian Bible
To bring the teachings of Jesus
To the favorable notice of certain groups in his day,
The Apostle Paul wrote many letters of instruction and admonition.
Other teachers of Jesus' gospel did likewise.
None realized these opinionated writings
Would subsequently be brought together
As an embodiment of the teachings of Jesus.
While the Christian Bible includes much of Jesus' gospel,
It also contains much that he did not teach.
The bible incorporated many teachings from the Persian cult mysteries
And Greek philosophy.
It overlaid the gospel teaching upon Jewish
theology
To make the gospel of the kingdom more acceptable to
Disbelieving Jews.
In addition, the early followers of Jesus made the gospel about
Jesus, himself.
The overemphasis on the personality of Jesus obscures his teachings.
The story about Jesus should not eclipse his saving messages:
The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
Rebirth of Christ's Religion
Today's self-gratifying
And socialized
Christianity
Needs renewed contact
With the uncompromised teachings of Jesus.
A new and fuller revelation
Of the religion of Jesus
Will soon conquer
The empires of materialistic secularism
And overthrow mechanistic naturalism
(That mistakenly teaches free will is illusory).
Earth is now entering
Its most amazing and enthralling epoch
Of social readjustment,
Moral acceleration,
And spiritual enlightenment.
The teachings of Jesus
(Though greatly modified)
Have survived cults,
And the ignorance and superstition
Of the dark ages.
Now, they
Are slowly triumphing
Over modern materialism,
Mechanism and secularism.
Times of great crisis
Such as these
Are times of great revelation.
Religious Leaders
Most great religious epochs
Were inaugurated
By the life and teachings
Of superior personalities.
Great leadership initiated
The majority of the worthwhile
Moral movements
Of history.
Unfortunately,
Men tend to venerate
The leader,
At the expense of his teachings.
They revere his person,
While losing sight of the truths
He proclaimed.
There is a reason for this.
Evolutionary man has an instinctive
Longing for help
From beyond
The material veil.
This craving was designed into man
So he would anticipate
The appearance on earth
Of the Planetary Prince
And Adam and Eve.
Since Earth
Has been deprived
Of these superhuman
Rulers and leaders,
Earth mortals compensate for the loss
By enhancing the lives
Of their human leaders
With legends and myths.
The New Religious Leaders
Religion needs new leaders -
Spiritual men and women
Who will dare
To rely solely
On the incomparable teachings
Of Jesus.
If Christianity persists
In neglecting its spiritual mission
While continuing to occupy itself
With social and material problems,
The spiritual renaissance
Must await the coming of the new teachers
Of Jesus' religion
Who will be devoted exclusively
To the spiritual regeneration of men.
These spirit-born souls
Will supply the leadership and inspiration
Required for the social,
Moral, economic, and political
Reorganization of the world.
The Religious Experience
It is difficult
to identify
And analyze the
aspects
Of religious experience.
It is not very
difficult
To note that religious
practitioners
Live as if they
are already in the presence
Of God.
Believers react
to this temporal life
As if immortality
Were already in
their grasp.
There is a valid
originality
And spontaneity
of expression
In the lives of
such mortals
That forever separates
them
From their fellows
Who have absorbed
Only the wisdom
of the world.
Religionists are
emancipated
From the stressful
vicissitudes
Inherent in the
currents of time.
They reveal a stabilized
personality
And a tranquility
of character
Not explained by
the laws
Of physiology,
psychology, and sociology.
Not for Sale
Salvation cannot
be purchased.
It is the gift
of God.
Humans are not
saved
By living a righteous
life.
People live righteous
lives because
They have already
been saved.
They have recognized
sonship
As the gift of
God
And service in
the kingdom
As the supreme
delight
Of life on earth.
Realization of
sonship
Is incompatible
With any desire
to sin.
Kingdom believers'
hunger
For righteousness
And thirst for
divine perfection.
Comparing Religions
The Jews extolled
goodness.
The Greeks exalted
beauty.
The Hindus preached
devotion.
Ascetics taught
reverence.
The Romans demanded
loyalty.
Jesus demanded
a life
Of loving service
For his brothers
in the flesh.
Evolved and Revealed Religion
Religion can never become
A scientific fact.
It will always remain
Evolutionary or revelatory
Or a combination of both
Just as it is in the world today.
All new evolutionary religions
Are merely developing expressions
Of the older beliefs -
New adaptations and adjustments.
The old does not cease to exist.
It gently merges over time with the new,
Just as Sikhism
Budded and blossomed
Out of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam,
And other contemporary cults.
Only with revealed religion
Does autocratic and intolerant
Interpretation
Of
theological egotism emerge.
Quality of Religion
The quality of one's religion
Is indicated in
five ways:
By the level of values – loyalties;
By the depth of meanings - the sensitivity
Of
the individual to the idealistic appreciation
Of the highest values;
By the consecration intensity - the degree
Of
devotion to these divine values;
By the unchained progress
Of the personality
in the cosmic path
Of idealistic spiritual
living;
By the realization of sonship with God
And never-ending
progressive citizenship
In the universe.
Religious Conversion
Religious meanings
Progress in
self-consciousness.
When the child transfers his ideas
Of omnipotence from his parents to God,
The entire religious experience
Of the child is largely dependent
On
whether fear or love
Has dominated the parent-child relationship.
In addition,
Civilization, science,
and advanced religions
Must deliver mankind from those fears
Born of the dread of natural phenomena.
Greater enlightenment delivers educated
mortals
From all dependence on intermediaries
In
communion with Deity.
Aiding Conversion
Intermediate
stages
Of idolatrous wavering
In the transfer of veneration
From
the human and the visible
To the divine and invisible
Are inevitable.
These interim periods
Should be
shortened by consciousness
Of the facilitating ministry
Of
the indwelling divine spirit.
Man is profoundly influenced,
Not
only by his concepts of Deity,
But also by the character
Of the heroes
He chooses to honor.
Those who venerate the divine
And
risen Christ
Should not overlook the man -
The valiant and courageous hero,
Jesus.
Redefinition
Modern man is adequately
Self-conscious
of religion.
His customs for worshiping,
However,
Are confused
By his accelerated
Social metamorphosis
And unprecedented
Scientific developments.
Thinking men and women
Want religion
redefined.
This demand will compel religions
To re-evaluate themselves.
Readjustments
Modern man faces
the task
Of making more readjustments
Of human values in a few generations
Than have been made
In two thousand
years.
This influences
the social attitude
Toward religion, for religion
Is a way of living
As well as a technique of thinking.
True religion
must always be
Both the eternal foundation
And the guiding star
Of all enduring civilizations.
A Practical Religion
The religion of Jesus
Has practical
implications.
The practical political, social,
And
economic value
Found in his teaching
Is the natural outworking
Of the inner experience of the soul
As it manifests
the fruits of the spirit
In the spontaneous daily ministry
Of genuine personal religious experience.
True Religion
The religion of Jesus
Dominates
and transforms
Its believers.
The religion of Jesus
Demands that
men
Dedicate their lives
To seeking for knowledge
Of the will of the Father in heaven.
The religion of Jesus
Requires
that the energies of living
Be consecrated to the unselfish service
Of the brotherhood of man.
Transformation
The social characteristic
Of true
religion
Consists in the fact
That it seeks to convert the individual
And to transform the world.
Making the world a better place
Is
closely related to the urge to serve.
Religion implies the existence
Of
undiscovered ideals
That far transcend the known standards
Of ethics and morality
Embodied in even the
highest social usages
Of the most mature institutions
Of
civilization.
Religion reaches
For undiscovered
ideals,
Unexplored realities,
Superhuman values,
Divine wisdom,
And true spirit attainment.
True religion does
all this.
All other beliefs
Are not worthy of the name
Of religion.
Civilization's Crisis
Only the real
religion
Of personal spiritual experience
Can function helpfully and creatively
In the present crisis of civilization.
True religion
Is the indispensable
source
Of that higher energy
That drives men
To establish a superior civilization
Based on human brotherhood.
The Challenge of this Age
The religious challenge of this age
Is
to farseeing
And forward looking men and women
Of spiritual
insight
Who will dare to construct a new
And appealing philosophy of living
Out
of the enlarged
And exquisitely integrated
Modern concepts of cosmic truth,
Universe beauty,
And divine goodness.
Such a new and righteous vision
Of
morality will attract
All that is good in the mind of man
And challenge that which is best
In the human soul.
The Role of Religion
While a new philosophy of living is
needed
In the process of modern world transformation,
Another religion is not required.
Religion is simply a way of living.
The
paramount mission of religion
Is to stabilize the ideals of mankind
During these dangerous times
Of transition from
one phase
Of civilization to another, and
From one level of culture to another.
The true religion of living experience
Has
no difficulty in keeping ahead
Of social developments
And economic upheavals.
This religion of Jesus
Ever functions
as a moral stabilizer,
Social guide, and spiritual pilot.
Religion as a Business
The only business of religion
Is
to create, sustain, and inspire
A cosmic loyalty in the individual
That will direct him to the achievement
Of success
in the advancement
Of all difficult but desirable social services.
Genuine religion renders the religionist
Socially
fragrant and creates insights
Into human fellowship.
The hope of human brotherhood
Can
only be realized
When the divergent mind religions
Of authority
Become impregnated with,
And overshadowed by,
The
unifying and ennobling religion
Of the spirit -
The religion of personal spiritual experience.
The religion of the spirit
Will
progressively draw men together
And cause them to become
Understandingly sympathetic with one another.
Ideals not Dogmas
Ideal goals
Rather than creeds
Should
unify religionists.
Since true religion
Is a matter
Of
personal spiritual experience,
It is inevitable
That each individual religionist
Should have his or her
Own personal
interpretation
Of the realization
Of that spiritual experience.
The term “faith” should
stand
For the individual’s relation to God
Rather than for the creedal formulation
Of what some group of mortals
Have been able to agree upon.
What Is a Religionist?
A religionist is not unsympathetic
With
social suffering...
Not unmindful of civil injustice...
Not insulated from economic thinking...
Nor insensitive to
political tyranny.
Religion influences
Social reconstruction
directly
Because it spiritualizes
And idealizes the individual citizen.
Indirectly, cultural civilization
Is influenced by the attitude
Of individual religionists
As they become active
And influential members
Of
various, social, moral,
Economic, and political groups.
What a Religionist is Not
A religionist
Should not be directly
concerned
Either with the creation of new social orders
Or with the preservation of old ones.
Religion must not become organically
involved
In the secular work
Of social reconstruction
And economic reorganization.
But, religionists must
actively keep pace
With all the advances in civilization
By making clearcut and vigorous restatements
Of moral mandates
And
the progressive philosophy of human living
And transcendent survival.
The formalization of religious groups
Often
destroys the very values
For which the group was organized.
A religious group which presumes to
function
Apart from religious activities,
Immediately becomes a political party,
An economic organization, or a social
institution.
Religionists must function in society,
In
industry, and in politics as individuals,
Not as groups, parties, or institutions.
Keeping Pace
Staying abreast
Of the life experience
With
its impelling demands
And the compelling urges
Of a growing religious experience
Means incessant activity
In spiritual
growth, intellectual expansion,
Factual enlargement, and social service.
There is no real religion
Apart
from a highly active personality.
That is why the more indolent
Of
men often seek to escape the rigors
Of truly religious activities
By resorting to the false shelter
Of stereotyped
religious doctrines
And dogmas.
Intellectual crystallization
Of
religious concepts
Is the equivalent of spiritual death.
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