No 1424 of Living Life Series 1
No way for anyone to make spiritual headway if they go by the way of what men delineate as religion or sect.
Men must always question and not accept as untouchable any teaching or tradition set up as rigid and unquestionable.
Not to believe and to have doubt is frowned at and this puts off men in none of two ways.
If they do not accept, they cannot stay on in the religion and must leave. This can be an issue in religion.
If they want to stay on in the religion, it is taboo for them to ask and question why but just to do and to die by that beliefs set up by men in a religion when they reach the end of life.
Prophets known to men had always not accepted what religious beliefs they were born into but they always questioned, challenged and changed the beliefs so that others may not go blindly into and stick to the beliefs and die by the beliefs.
Prophets were never born into any religion. They were just born into popular beliefs of their race. There were no religions then and no issue of this was your religion and that was mine.
How come, men can put together what the prophets taught as a religion when what the prophets were born into are never termed religions then?
If men never had coined the term religion, it would be so simple. Men do as what others do in others' place. Then they will be accepted by the others. Then if men do differently, others too may pick up what such men do and this becomes what the others do when the others are back at their own place.
Isn't this to be good and to be expected? In time, men integrate what men learn at others' place into what men do at their own place. This is simple, logical and cool. No problem at all and this is best.
But the moment humanity use the term religion, this automatically spells problems. Humanity runs the risk of erecting mental walls to separate one group from another. Men take what are practised in another religion as distant and if possible not to be accepted.
This will be more so, if some in a religion tells others in another to give up what these others do spiritually if the others are to accept what they believe and do in their religion.
Fortunately among those involved with religions, with more level headedness and globalisation, such barriers are breaking down and the lines drawn if any are blurred.
But some of the faithful in a religion stick to their religious passion and insist on drawing the lines and creating barriers and walls among men.
This will of course run counter to what religiosity should promote - the oneness of people. Instead this primes men into distinctive groups even within the same religion or sect.
Bo Tien 武 天 said that he came to this world therefore not to further create any new religion or to favor any but to open the eyes of men to see that they can learn from all beliefs to make them better in what good they already are.
Men must always question and not accept as untouchable any teaching or tradition set up as rigid and unquestionable.
Not to believe and to have doubt is frowned at and this puts off men in none of two ways.
If they do not accept, they cannot stay on in the religion and must leave. This can be an issue in religion.
If they want to stay on in the religion, it is taboo for them to ask and question why but just to do and to die by that beliefs set up by men in a religion when they reach the end of life.
Prophets known to men had always not accepted what religious beliefs they were born into but they always questioned, challenged and changed the beliefs so that others may not go blindly into and stick to the beliefs and die by the beliefs.
Prophets were never born into any religion. They were just born into popular beliefs of their race. There were no religions then and no issue of this was your religion and that was mine.
How come, men can put together what the prophets taught as a religion when what the prophets were born into are never termed religions then?
If men never had coined the term religion, it would be so simple. Men do as what others do in others' place. Then they will be accepted by the others. Then if men do differently, others too may pick up what such men do and this becomes what the others do when the others are back at their own place.
Isn't this to be good and to be expected? In time, men integrate what men learn at others' place into what men do at their own place. This is simple, logical and cool. No problem at all and this is best.
But the moment humanity use the term religion, this automatically spells problems. Humanity runs the risk of erecting mental walls to separate one group from another. Men take what are practised in another religion as distant and if possible not to be accepted.
This will be more so, if some in a religion tells others in another to give up what these others do spiritually if the others are to accept what they believe and do in their religion.
Fortunately among those involved with religions, with more level headedness and globalisation, such barriers are breaking down and the lines drawn if any are blurred.
But some of the faithful in a religion stick to their religious passion and insist on drawing the lines and creating barriers and walls among men.
This will of course run counter to what religiosity should promote - the oneness of people. Instead this primes men into distinctive groups even within the same religion or sect.
Bo Tien 武 天 said that he came to this world therefore not to further create any new religion or to favor any but to open the eyes of men to see that they can learn from all beliefs to make them better in what good they already are.
Religion is only a label. It has become the reality and there is no avoiding that.
But religion as a label and identity can cause humanity to lose touch with the reality of the oneness of truth common to and behind all cultures and belief systems.
Humanity can always integrate the systems, add or subtract in a given culture and promote better understanding how to be good and be with God and saints - how to have the divine peace of God and saints.
This is inside all belief systems and cultures. It does not mean men must denounce their own culture and become members of another culture. Men can imbibe and have cross learning. Men can develop a national, a community and a global culture. No need to draw the lines but better to overlap and enlarge the common ground.
But men cannot disown themselves from being in a specific ethnic group so as to be members of another ethnic group or race. This is the reality society have to live with but men in society must appreciate one another for what men are and for the differences in men.
This is so simple and the in-thing but somehow sections of humanity can be blind to this.
Alas, to have a racial or ethnic label is already drawing the line and introducing social barriers. For some on the edge and not in the mainstream, they rigidly hold on to religion and use religion as another social identity.
They can even feel so proud of their religion and pride get into their heads. They feel they are in a class of their own. This is to add another potential problem to the potential problem of ethnicity.
Bo Tien 武 天 commented that the problems of men are many and plentiful - even more so with spiritual matters.
Men can be immature and blind when they get passionate with identities. Race as an identity is one. Having clan and dialect as additional identities further divides.
Then what happens if on top of all these, we have man-made religious labels which never existed as labels during the lifetime of the religious prophets.
Men become religious to solve problems and find happiness but may end up creating problems and unhappiness. Problems are sure to surface if some men are out to erect religious barriers.
Any quotation of a prophet or saint if applied out of context centuries after the lifetime of the prophet or saint can twist the meaning and intent of what was said.
This can lead to more problems for religions and more barriers between one religion and the others. This can do great injustice to the wisdom of the saints and make them appear more like man than saints.
Their mindset can be explained when we accept that man is no saint and will always err. But what if such men cause problems to other men in the name of a saint? Well, do not blame the saint for the fault of some men.
Bo Tien 武 天 says man is man and saint is saint. There will be no end to the problems of man. The potential for problems and to incite problems is simply there waiting for the slightest of triggers for problems to materialise and happen.
Some men simply have to learn the hard way from life even if they fail to learn from what a heavenly saint taught and the sad part is that they may even misconstrue the good intention of God and saint.
This erect walls to set their religion as distinct and superior to other religions. This sadly can cause problems when they try to impose their views on others. Religious barriers if any are erected by such men and not by saints.
These are the few men who are loud and such men can unsettled others and even cause pandemonium for the silent majority. They even do so in the name of saints and try to sway the usually silent majority.
They think they know best. They deem the majority as ignorant and apathetic. They are so intoxicated by their beliefs to extent of being deluded and out of touch with logic.
They are no longer rational and in touch with reality and they are in a world of their own. They impose their world on others.
They end up stirring disquiet, problems and unrest. Then what is supposedly meant to be religious in religion become far from religious.
Society must help such people who can be in any religion. No religion is spared from such wayward people who are in the minority. So for goodness sake, do not point fingers at any religion. Though small in numbers, what they believe and do can wreck havoc.
What can society do to them for the greater good of all? Well, only love can change them. Surely, any action based on dislike or worse still hatred will not work but will make matters worse by making them more entrenched in their fixation. Make them feel loved and wanted instead - not abhorred. Then in time, they will get out of their mindset.
This is the divine love or loving kindness God and saints talked about. Bo Tien 武 天 says that to be at peace and have inner peace, there must be love all along the way of the spiritual path, from the start to the end and beyond. This is core to the teachings of all saints and all religious systems.
There is no place at all for hatred and prejudice in religiosity but only for love and acceptance, otherwise religions will pose barriers for religiosity.
Religious barriers if any are by men and not by God and saints. The use of the term religion may be the root cause. But wider society all over the world have embraced the term religion and the term is here to stay.
Whatever the case may be, with or without the term religion, some men fueled by the passion for their religious or belief fixation will somehow justify hatred and prejudice as the right to have God-worthiness in religiosity.
Then there will be no religiosity at all as long as there is hatred, dislike, partiality, bias and prejudice. Hatred or bias has no place in any belief systems, call these religions if you prefer to do so.
No religion is spared from having the odd characters who consider hatred as a religious virtue - the mother of all virtues to have in religion. This is just badly misplaced and misconceived passion. This is absolutely not in keeping at all with God and saints in any religion or culture.
We need to embrace and love such oddities and win them over with love and goodwill. We should not isolate them and frown at them - not even speak ill of them.
We should not criminalise them but rehabilitate them with love. They are actually at worst deluded and misguided.
They do love God and saints in their own way but they idolise God and saints and forget the Word that God and saints stand for. That this has to be about love, goodness and peace.
They need help and they badly needed to be integrated with the mainstream and the world. Society should turn them over to the mainstream. Like what ancestors of the orient always said that if wild horses can be tamed and reined in, the horses can help to win the race and be assets.
Why do they need help? Who exactly are these few? They are the ones who have been sidelined in society and likely those who cannot find satisfaction and recognition in society.
They somehow end up finding satisfaction in fringes of religion by joining up with like minded few. They become heroes in their own deluded world and try to impose their errant views even on the rest of their own chosen religion, not just the world.
So love must be extended to them. Help them to have a place in wider society which have eluded them and sidelined them to the fringes. Help them to get the satisfaction which they failed to get in society before they become the radically different.
Then there will be no need to enter the fray of radicalised religion. This few are not just in one or two religions but can be found in all religions. No religion is spared from this aberration.
Additional factors that promote religious divides or barriers include the following two :-
(1) The need to be different from elders and parents become a factor to make some to be radically different. When respect for elders is downplayed in religion in attempt to win over numbers, some can end up radically different from mainstream in their religious views and attempt to take over leadership from elders.
(2) The feeling that these few think they know better drives them to think that those not with the same view as them are lost and need to be saved. This will create unpleasantness.
Humanity must make efforts to break down the barriers that create distinct interest groups, be it in religion or otherwise. These are man-made barriers and not at all the design of God and saints who depict divine love.
Divine love is not for select few but for all even those who have erred, transgressed and are offensive. Humanity too must do likewise.
Religious barriers in particular are by men - not by God and saints. Religious barriers are divisive. Such divides in a religion and between religions are by man-made. Chew on this and ever be mindful.
But religion as a label and identity can cause humanity to lose touch with the reality of the oneness of truth common to and behind all cultures and belief systems.
Humanity can always integrate the systems, add or subtract in a given culture and promote better understanding how to be good and be with God and saints - how to have the divine peace of God and saints.
This is inside all belief systems and cultures. It does not mean men must denounce their own culture and become members of another culture. Men can imbibe and have cross learning. Men can develop a national, a community and a global culture. No need to draw the lines but better to overlap and enlarge the common ground.
But men cannot disown themselves from being in a specific ethnic group so as to be members of another ethnic group or race. This is the reality society have to live with but men in society must appreciate one another for what men are and for the differences in men.
This is so simple and the in-thing but somehow sections of humanity can be blind to this.
Alas, to have a racial or ethnic label is already drawing the line and introducing social barriers. For some on the edge and not in the mainstream, they rigidly hold on to religion and use religion as another social identity.
They can even feel so proud of their religion and pride get into their heads. They feel they are in a class of their own. This is to add another potential problem to the potential problem of ethnicity.
Bo Tien 武 天 commented that the problems of men are many and plentiful - even more so with spiritual matters.
Men can be immature and blind when they get passionate with identities. Race as an identity is one. Having clan and dialect as additional identities further divides.
Then what happens if on top of all these, we have man-made religious labels which never existed as labels during the lifetime of the religious prophets.
Men become religious to solve problems and find happiness but may end up creating problems and unhappiness. Problems are sure to surface if some men are out to erect religious barriers.
Any quotation of a prophet or saint if applied out of context centuries after the lifetime of the prophet or saint can twist the meaning and intent of what was said.
This can lead to more problems for religions and more barriers between one religion and the others. This can do great injustice to the wisdom of the saints and make them appear more like man than saints.
Their mindset can be explained when we accept that man is no saint and will always err. But what if such men cause problems to other men in the name of a saint? Well, do not blame the saint for the fault of some men.
Bo Tien 武 天 says man is man and saint is saint. There will be no end to the problems of man. The potential for problems and to incite problems is simply there waiting for the slightest of triggers for problems to materialise and happen.
Some men simply have to learn the hard way from life even if they fail to learn from what a heavenly saint taught and the sad part is that they may even misconstrue the good intention of God and saint.
This erect walls to set their religion as distinct and superior to other religions. This sadly can cause problems when they try to impose their views on others. Religious barriers if any are erected by such men and not by saints.
These are the few men who are loud and such men can unsettled others and even cause pandemonium for the silent majority. They even do so in the name of saints and try to sway the usually silent majority.
They think they know best. They deem the majority as ignorant and apathetic. They are so intoxicated by their beliefs to extent of being deluded and out of touch with logic.
They are no longer rational and in touch with reality and they are in a world of their own. They impose their world on others.
They end up stirring disquiet, problems and unrest. Then what is supposedly meant to be religious in religion become far from religious.
Society must help such people who can be in any religion. No religion is spared from such wayward people who are in the minority. So for goodness sake, do not point fingers at any religion. Though small in numbers, what they believe and do can wreck havoc.
What can society do to them for the greater good of all? Well, only love can change them. Surely, any action based on dislike or worse still hatred will not work but will make matters worse by making them more entrenched in their fixation. Make them feel loved and wanted instead - not abhorred. Then in time, they will get out of their mindset.
This is the divine love or loving kindness God and saints talked about. Bo Tien 武 天 says that to be at peace and have inner peace, there must be love all along the way of the spiritual path, from the start to the end and beyond. This is core to the teachings of all saints and all religious systems.
There is no place at all for hatred and prejudice in religiosity but only for love and acceptance, otherwise religions will pose barriers for religiosity.
Religious barriers if any are by men and not by God and saints. The use of the term religion may be the root cause. But wider society all over the world have embraced the term religion and the term is here to stay.
Whatever the case may be, with or without the term religion, some men fueled by the passion for their religious or belief fixation will somehow justify hatred and prejudice as the right to have God-worthiness in religiosity.
Then there will be no religiosity at all as long as there is hatred, dislike, partiality, bias and prejudice. Hatred or bias has no place in any belief systems, call these religions if you prefer to do so.
No religion is spared from having the odd characters who consider hatred as a religious virtue - the mother of all virtues to have in religion. This is just badly misplaced and misconceived passion. This is absolutely not in keeping at all with God and saints in any religion or culture.
We need to embrace and love such oddities and win them over with love and goodwill. We should not isolate them and frown at them - not even speak ill of them.
We should not criminalise them but rehabilitate them with love. They are actually at worst deluded and misguided.
They do love God and saints in their own way but they idolise God and saints and forget the Word that God and saints stand for. That this has to be about love, goodness and peace.
They need help and they badly needed to be integrated with the mainstream and the world. Society should turn them over to the mainstream. Like what ancestors of the orient always said that if wild horses can be tamed and reined in, the horses can help to win the race and be assets.
Why do they need help? Who exactly are these few? They are the ones who have been sidelined in society and likely those who cannot find satisfaction and recognition in society.
They somehow end up finding satisfaction in fringes of religion by joining up with like minded few. They become heroes in their own deluded world and try to impose their errant views even on the rest of their own chosen religion, not just the world.
So love must be extended to them. Help them to have a place in wider society which have eluded them and sidelined them to the fringes. Help them to get the satisfaction which they failed to get in society before they become the radically different.
Then there will be no need to enter the fray of radicalised religion. This few are not just in one or two religions but can be found in all religions. No religion is spared from this aberration.
Additional factors that promote religious divides or barriers include the following two :-
(1) The need to be different from elders and parents become a factor to make some to be radically different. When respect for elders is downplayed in religion in attempt to win over numbers, some can end up radically different from mainstream in their religious views and attempt to take over leadership from elders.
(2) The feeling that these few think they know better drives them to think that those not with the same view as them are lost and need to be saved. This will create unpleasantness.
Humanity must make efforts to break down the barriers that create distinct interest groups, be it in religion or otherwise. These are man-made barriers and not at all the design of God and saints who depict divine love.
Divine love is not for select few but for all even those who have erred, transgressed and are offensive. Humanity too must do likewise.
Religious barriers in particular are by men - not by God and saints. Religious barriers are divisive. Such divides in a religion and between religions are by man-made. Chew on this and ever be mindful.
