No 1378 of Living Life Series 1
Do not grow religion into a monster. Religion (or God) is not there to serve our wants but to show us that wants are just the means to the end but not the end in themselves. We must learn all the time - learn to pick up our wants, to know what changes to wants are needed as we grow and to end up with little or less wants when we are at inner peace.
Our wants cannot be the same at different times and context of life. What we take for granted and as second nature e.g. ability to walk may well end up what we yearn to have but have difficulty holding on to. That becomes a heavenly experience to go for.
Life is indeed the living gospel. Life is the de facto religion. Life is the inner truth or God common to all religions and the common religion to all in whatever religions they professed.
But if we go to religions for the world we cannot get out there, we end up far from God and inner truth though near. Bo Tien 武天 says the near can be far.
This is another aspect or manifestation of the inner truth. When this happens, those few who are good enough and more insightful will need to go against the current or trend like the kois at the mond at a temple at Bo Tien 武天.
Like in the age old Chinese folklore, we should be like the kois which swim against the current and go upstream to be transformed into dragons in the sky. We will then be saints if we can see through the true nature of life and go against the current of wants and go against it.
While we are at it, the wants are still there but they are not the end but the means to enable us to be in the stream or river of life till we reach the upper source where there is clear water. We have less wants and change our wants along the way to the upper source.
The fortunate few wise ancestors who knew it is hard to explain to the masses, let alone pass down the truth of life to the generations that follow them.
They created folklore which is attractive and appeals to the common man. Such folklore presents the few in every generation the way to unlock the truth in life - the way to know inner truth and realise inner peace.
Let us therefore not just admire the kois at a temple of Bo Tien 武天 but see more than the beauty of kois - what the sages of old want us to know about life and religion. They have a message to us through folklore.
But many are either captivated by folklore or simply disgusted by it.
Were there dragons in the past? Were the dragons flying dinosaurs? Perhaps dragons exist in the astral world? Isn't belief in dragons and folklore too far fetched and not in keeping with the times and future generations to come?
Well, those who think they know better may be far from right though they think they think they are right and know better than that. Didn't Bo Tien 武天 remind us that the near may be far and the far near. Let this be food for thought.
The next time before you think that the beliefs of other religions are odd, do hold your tongue. You may be the ones saints like Jesus say "Forgive them for they know not what they do" and think.
That is exactly why Bo Tien 武天says you should respect and believe in all religions and their saints. They can make you better persons and even better in your own religion.
The saints of all religions are one in wanting to make better individuals out of people regardless of religions. People may belong to religions but not the saints. People create religions in the name of saints - not the saints.
