After one ends a period of meditation or prayer, it is a powerful experience to write out words that come to you. Following are some of the ideas that came to me about religion springing from my life experience. They, of course, may be very different from your personal views.
My grandmother was a very fervent member of the Episcopal Church. She believed fully in religion. She was a deeply spiritual woman who continually searched for God's will in her life. My mother, raised in that environment, was also deeply spiritual. When she married my father she became a Roman Catholic, not too different from the Episcopal Church in many ways.
What I've seen within religion are two groups of people. There is the spiritual and then those interested in control over others.
The spiritual are connected to God. They've discovered that what they knew intellectually as the Supreme Being was not outside of themselves, but love within themselves. Someone who has had a truly spiritual experience will talk about how much stronger they feel by giving themselves over to whatever name they use for God.
With the discovery that God is within, people who have had a spiritual awakening discover their personal power which is within them. It is not unusual for this type of experience to result in what can be called mystical experiences. Mysticism leads people to realize that they don't need someone "out there," as in religious leaders, to tell them what is God's will. Many of these people leave what is called traditional religion and find their way into what is known as New Age spirituality.
My grandmother was a very fervent member of the Episcopal Church. She believed fully in religion. She was a deeply spiritual woman who continually searched for God's will in her life. My mother, raised in that environment, was also deeply spiritual. When she married my father she became a Roman Catholic, not too different from the Episcopal Church in many ways.
What I've seen within religion are two groups of people. There is the spiritual and then those interested in control over others.
The spiritual are connected to God. They've discovered that what they knew intellectually as the Supreme Being was not outside of themselves, but love within themselves. Someone who has had a truly spiritual experience will talk about how much stronger they feel by giving themselves over to whatever name they use for God.
With the discovery that God is within, people who have had a spiritual awakening discover their personal power which is within them. It is not unusual for this type of experience to result in what can be called mystical experiences. Mysticism leads people to realize that they don't need someone "out there," as in religious leaders, to tell them what is God's will. Many of these people leave what is called traditional religion and find their way into what is known as New Age spirituality.
