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.
Then you have others in the churches who have, in my opinion, perverted what church is about. Religion initially was a way of organizing people to come together in community to tap into the power within, connecting the "little" self with the greater Self. That connection is, for me, what prayer and meditation do.
What I've found, however, is that much of the institutional aspect of church wants people to believe the power is not within themselves. Power is only within certain ordained people. This is certainly causing a problem. Many people are leaving their religions because they are not finding their spiritual connection. In fact, they find that situations within churches, some being the horrors of sexual abuse, inhibit connection with God. People are yearning to find the God of love that they were raised in hearing about, but they weren't experiencing in their institution.
Many people still within the institution of church don't understand this. What I see happening in society is a great division. On the news and radio people are saying that those who leave the traditional church, who believe that God is within, are not truly spiritual people. Some pundits even call them atheists and have lumped them with those people who believe there is no God. This causes great discord.
People fully involved in the institution of religion find it difficult to understand those who no longer feel nourished there. There are many avenues for spiritual food. The "religious"call those who have left the institution the "unchurched" as if someone making that choice has an illness.
There are many avenues for spiritual growth and development. I've seen that in people who come to my office and talk about their relationship with God, Spirit or whatever name they use for their Higher Power. Some find this relationship through organized traditional religion. Others go to non-traditional spiritual organizations such as Unity and Science of Mind. Still others gather in private meditation groups on a regular basis.
What I notice in those who are what I would call truly spiritual is their love and acceptance of others and their commitment to personal growth and development whether they are in an "organized" religion or have chosen another avenue to connect with the Divine.
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