It is inevitable that many involved in religious practices are actually more involved in lifestyle related activities than in spiritual pursuit. Spiritual pursuit becomes the excuse for more social life and rallies people together.
The drawback if any is that people are drawn to religion not because of religion but because of the social attraction. This may appear to be more evident recently but if we care to analyse it, social issues had always been the motivation for people to gather together be it in religious or secular organisation.
This had been the case during the days of the saints or sages many centuries ago. Men of spiritual may lament that people in a house of God are rather superficial in spiritual matters and more into social enrichment.
The gathering of people who want to be cared more than to care is not at all a bad thing. It is no doubt ironical that people in a house of God want to be cared rather than to care. They come for nectar to sweeten their life, more particularly worldly life.
As the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) puts it, they come like ants to a flower for nectar. They come to a place dedicated to God and saints but are more dedicated to their social and worldly needs.
The drawback if any is that people are drawn to religion not because of religion but because of the social attraction. This may appear to be more evident recently but if we care to analyse it, social issues had always been the motivation for people to gather together be it in religious or secular organisation.
This had been the case during the days of the saints or sages many centuries ago. Men of spiritual may lament that people in a house of God are rather superficial in spiritual matters and more into social enrichment.
The gathering of people who want to be cared more than to care is not at all a bad thing. It is no doubt ironical that people in a house of God want to be cared rather than to care. They come for nectar to sweeten their life, more particularly worldly life.
As the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) puts it, they come like ants to a flower for nectar. They come to a place dedicated to God and saints but are more dedicated to their social and worldly needs.
 |
| Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) |
This is, like it or not, a necessary step before we can hope that men will in time dedicate themselves to more spirituality. We must meet the social and worldly needs first and the rest can then follow.
Too often harping on spiritual issues will only diminished the crowd and leave it empty. But harping too much and too long on social agenda will also make a house dedicated to God spiritually empty. People might as well go out to the world beyond. In fact they will end up doing so.
Thus there are the twin issues faced by any house of God. The solution lies in having some sort of dynamic balance in meeting social lifestyle demands on one hand and pure spirituality on the other. This will ever be a challenge for any house of God. You cannot have one without the other.
Isn't this twin issues another example of yin yang nature of life and society? There is need for balance and to be atop life of yin and yang as depicted in the image of the good lord with feet atop the elements of yin and yang.
Yin and yang pose problems if not managed but are blessings if well managed, just like fire and water. They can complement and life and society can move and roll on smoothly and in peace. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) reminds us time and again.
Too often harping on spiritual issues will only diminished the crowd and leave it empty. But harping too much and too long on social agenda will also make a house dedicated to God spiritually empty. People might as well go out to the world beyond. In fact they will end up doing so.
Thus there are the twin issues faced by any house of God. The solution lies in having some sort of dynamic balance in meeting social lifestyle demands on one hand and pure spirituality on the other. This will ever be a challenge for any house of God. You cannot have one without the other.
Isn't this twin issues another example of yin yang nature of life and society? There is need for balance and to be atop life of yin and yang as depicted in the image of the good lord with feet atop the elements of yin and yang.
Yin and yang pose problems if not managed but are blessings if well managed, just like fire and water. They can complement and life and society can move and roll on smoothly and in peace. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) reminds us time and again.
