One thing I’ve thought a lot about is religion. I’ve moved from being Christian to agnostic to atheist to spiritual (which has nothing to do with religion). I’ve read about different religions and its effects on individuals and larger populations throughout history. I’ve had discussions with friends of varying faiths and I’ve observed how different people act in the name of religion. One thing I’ve always wondered is if religion plays a big part in keeping people spiritually and financially poor.
I suppose we could blame anything and everything for keeping people poor: governments, the media, the corporations, wars, peace, race, health (or the lack of) – really, we could just blame money itself for keeping people poor … and we do.
I’ll just stick with religion for the moment (I’ll get to the why).
Is religion really the opium of the masses?
Everything on earth – every institution, every thing, every person – has ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in it. It all depends on your mindset, what you choose to see, and how you choose to perceive what you see. Religion is one of those hotly debated topics and I’ve personally been all over the spectrum in that debate. In essence, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ probably doesn’t even truly exist, save for the fact that we’ve created those concepts in our own minds.
I ultimately believe that religion itself is neither good nor bad. Religion is an extension of man and everything man is about. In other words, whether or not there is a God, religion is not God-created. Religion is the result of man’s own perception and distortion of God-sent (assuming there is a God) or agreed upon guidelines.
What I really resent about religion, and what I believe a lot of people unconsciously resent (including the people who subscribe to religion), is what man does in the name of religion. I now realize that in the past a lot of my resentment has been misplaced in regards to religion.
Bipolarity and religion: two sides of the same coin?
They say power corrupts and I’d agree — if it falls in the wrong hands (or rather, people in the wrong state of mind). And sadly, that’s a fact with many religious leaders. Religion is frequently used to manipulate people into thinking certain ways, which then prompts them to act in certain ways, and then lead certain lives. I personally believe that religion is where a lot of the most blatant forms of thought manipulation occurs which is why I’m using it as my example today. And what they teach is confusing to say the least. Religious leaders promote an odd mixture of scarcity and an ‘ask-and-ye-shall-receive’ mindset.
I don’t know about you, but that’s confusing as heck. “So, let me get this straight: I need to know what I want and ask for it, but I might not get it. And if I don’t, there’s little I can do about it. Because it’s God’s Will. Okay.”
I find it ironic how some religious people give and give and yet still remain in a scarcity mindset. It’s like their actions and their thinking are diametrically opposed. Many religious people around the world tithe and set up charities, yet there’s still turmoil and poverty in the world. The same problems these charities are trying to fix still exist despite of the aid and, in fact, continue to get worse.
Am I blaming the charities? Not really, but they (or the people in them) aren’t really helping either.
It’s like someone or something out there knows the mind state of the giver: if the giver gives in a mindset of scarcity, the scarcity somehow gets spread to the recipient of the aid. Both the giver and the recipient remain trapped in a tainted cycle of spiritual and financial poverty.
Huh? Can you say ‘internal conflict’?
Before your finger gets the itch to point somewhere…
We can’t really blame the religious leaders. Many of them truly believe in their own confusion. You can’t really blame whoever raised or influenced these leaders and you can’t blame the followers … for they believe in that as well. Who am I to judge whether their beliefs are wrong or not?
If they find solace in these beliefs and are still happy, are they wrong? Nope. The problem is many people, religious or not, AREN’T really happy. Why else would they say one thing and do something completely different?
Honestly, I don’t know where the cycle started and we’ll probably never know. I do know that the religion model and the people involved in it have a deeply engrained pattern that probably needs to change in some way.
If there is a Supreme Being out there, I don’t think he/she/it would be advocating this kind of confusion. I believe the universe wants all of us to be spiritually and financially rich. But somehow the message got lost in translation for the majority of people — resulting in a lot of confused minds and a very confused universe trying to fulfill our jumbled requests.
Eliminating the confusion in religion – your thoughts?
So is the solution to end religion? It would be fine if religion itself was the problem. Eliminating religion doesn’t necessarily eliminate the lack of awareness in the people. On the flip side, many religious leaders don’t really promote awareness outside of religious boundaries, so what gives?
I realize that not all religious people are poor. Just like not all non-religious people are rich. I also know that there are religious people who are extremely aware and extremely driven, even more so than their non-religious counterparts. All of that just proves that, again, religion as an institution isn’t a ‘bad’ force in and of itself — it also proves that the individuals themselves are the constant factor in whether they become mentally and financially rich or not.
As far as religious manipulation: what’s the missing link here? How can we begin to improve religion as an institution and reduce the confusion associated with it? It’s obvious that the answer lies in the individual members, but how can the awareness spread and stay intact?
I’m certain that creating a new religion won’t be the answer. The leaders will start out with good intentions, promoting awareness. Then, over generations, the religions will degenerate into a stiff, unyielding institution that imposes all a confusing mixture of beliefs and rituals, good and bad, onto its members. The members will get comfortable with it and perpetrate the cycle. It’s happened time and time again.
Is it all just unavoidable human nature — constantly seeking the familiar and the comfortable? Is it possible to keep masses of people on their toes?
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Related posts:
- Religious tolerance also includes lack of religious belief
- [Spirituality month] The beginnings of exploring spirituality and religion
- Embrace confusion by taking the time to question yourself
- Keeping it to myself (saying no to unnecessary comments)
- Why placebos are good – and why we’re all liars and thieves, to boot.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I, too, am not a fan of religion, but I definitely see its purpose. What is undeniable is that religion gives people hope, courage, and perseverance through the practice of its rituals. Human beings respond to repetition and ritual. Whether it is a God who sits on a throne with a white beard and insists on 10% of your gross pay or if it the “God” who lives inside us all, the most important thing is the belief in a divine power that compels you to stay the course. It gives people a strong will, which can of course be co-opted for malice, but also a source for good. Besides, if religion was totally abandoned, people would just find something else to compel the “right” behavior of others.
That said, I am coming to belive that we should all have our personal religions. Since most religions encourage prayer and direct communication with God, then they must believe that everyone has a unique and distinct relationship with Him. If so, then adhering to a set of rules and rituals created centuries ago may not be how your spirit is comfortable expressing itself. Religion is about ritual; church is about adehering to those rituals with others; and your spirit is your guide. So when and how you pray shouldn’t be dictated to you, it should be learned through your own study and trial and error. And once you learn, that ritual (religion) becomes patently yours.
As for finances, I think spirituality is mutually exclusive from fiscal gain. I do, however, believe that those with positive sprirts and approaches will rarely want for anything… whether it be because they are satisfied with less or their approach gets them more.
At any rate, another good and interesting entry. I don’t agree with everything in it, but I certainly see the soundness of your positions. Your spot will definitely become one of my new haunts on the ‘net.
ForNot´s last blog ..Walk This Way
ForNot, you hit it right on the head for me with the ‘personal religion’ bit. Are you familiar with the Igbo proverb: “When a man says yes, his chi says yes also” ? I’m not sure if you agree with that saying completely, but when reading that from “Things Fall Apart” back in 9th grade was one of the things that really made me start thinking about God and religion in more depth. It seems to me each person has their own interpretation of what God is and what God means to them, so ‘God’ would really appear to be a manifestation of each individual’s mind. I’m rambling a bit… but again, I do agree that if people focused on the own unique relationship with their own spirituality (whether it’s with ‘God’ or something/someone else) instead of imposing it on others, we’d all be so much better off.
Good point on people just finding other ways to correct other people if religion were abandoned. Abandoning it doesn’t solve the problem. I guess I was wondering if there was a way to change the patterns that are so prevalent in religion, but that may be a pipe dream.
Spirituality and finances are mutually exclusive, but if religion serves to bring down people to a level of constant fear and negativity, which some spiritual leaders inadvertently do, then they are actively, even if subconsciously, contributing to keeping people wanting. Kind of like holding a carrot in front of them with no intention of releasing it. Just my opinion.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Of course, I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, I just enjoy the interaction! I’ll be stopping by your blog to which I’ve subscribed.
I love this sort of interaction too! People can learn so much by just discussing ideas without attempting to be right, but just share their opinions and experience. Love it.
I am familiar with that proverb ( I actually wrote somewhat about the book and this topic a while back forwardnotion.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/things-fell-apart/) and I agree with it. I also agree with your point that religion is often used to instill fear in people; that’s the kind of church I was raised in. It is an entirely oppressive mindset to lay on people and you rob them of success in other areas.
Now I’ve got to go play catch-up on your archives!
ForNot´s last blog ..Walk This Way
Whoa, that is a nicely deeply written article.
I too have bounced around in my religious mindset in my life. Earlier in my life (younger), I was zealous and excited about it. I went on a two year church mission to Ireland for service and sharing our message.
If religion leads to cooperation, inspiring acts, and thoughtful conversation, then I think it is definitely something worth doing. When it leads to hate, arguments, and spite, then I think it is getting used for a purpose that is corrupting, and not useful for the growth of anyone.
But age and experience (of which I will have a lot of experience to gain and much to learn) have a funny way of balancing everything out. Do I believe there is a God? I hope there is one, a creator, father, who is watching us. But I believe if he is there, he leaves us all, the majority of the time to learn and grow for ourselves and develop our own unique talents.
Thanks for sharing your unique thoughts!
Jeremy Johnson´s last blog ..Introducing The First Wizard, Lisa Irby
You have a deep and interesting insight at your young age..lol…well compared to me you’re a bit young…It took me a long while to develop into the spiritual person that I am today. I totally agree with you that being religious and spiritual are two very different things.
I won’t go into a lot of details on my thoughts as we would be here forever. I will say that I believe in God with all my heart and soul. I’ve had way too many experiences that had God written all over it not to believe. However, having said that, let me get more to the topic at hand. I use to work as a part-time financial counselor at nite. I would set up clients in a debt management program. I can’t tell you how many people came in there who would not even be in the desperate financial situation they were in had they not tithe. Fine if you want to tithe, but do you really need to give $500 a month when you can’t afford groceries each month? According to these people yes, they really had to because that was their 10%. Now let’s think about the concept of tithing…most people to me tithe because they want God to bless them financially. So they are already going at it from the wrong stand point. I’m sorry but I just don’t believe that most people tithe because they feel it’s the right thing to do. They expect something in return and give because they believe God will bless them financially. Now if this is true, how come some people that tithe are blessed financially and others aren’t? God is not a God of confusion. So why does this leave me confused and scratching my head?
I do believe that if you give from your heart that God will supply your needs. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be rich or have continous money flow. I think where the blessing comes in is the faith you had when you gave the tithes. You gave with blind faith and therefore you were blessed. But at the same time um, doesn’t the fact that you handled your money wisely and already had enough money left over each month have to do with the good financial situation you are in as well? Maybe it is part of your destiny to have money because of some purpose you are suppose to serve down here and that’s why you have money. If someone makes a decent salary, and decides to stop tithing one day, but still stays mindful of their money and saves accordingly, will God “punish” them by not blessing them financially anymore?
I know people that swear up and down they are in such a good financial positon because they tithe. But what about those same people I know who never tithed a day in their lives and have no intention of tithing. They have abundance as well. So how do you explain that?
I personally don’t think God cares one way or the other if a person is tithing or giving a certain percentage to their church. What I do think God cares about is your relationship with him, whether or not you’re a good person and whether or not you are stiving to do your best each day. Everything else is secondary. Now if you are moved to give or God speaks to you one day to give a certain amount than I feel that yes, you should obey God in that regard. The beauty of that though is that even if you don’t obey God..guess what? ..he still loves you and will still bless you. Because that’s the kind of God I know, love and serve.
I’m getting off track here a bit and didn’t really mean to type so much but my fingers just kept going and going. I think the mistake a lot of people make is their “interpretation” of things including the Bible. Semantics is a funny thing and folks get so caught up in The Word and what they think it means. The Book has been written so many times translated and interpretated through the years it’s a wonder we are able to apply anything in present day to it. Now I do believe the books is a great guideline on how one should live their life. But when you get to thinking about a lot of what’s in the bible and what people want to say it really means, it starts sounding a bit absurd to me. I think “wow, really that’s what you think God meant when he said that”? I think man has twisted the words in the Bible and fit them to mean what they want it to mean.
So why must we be bound by notions of God that are thousands of years old? These were primitive ideas to explain natural phenomena…I suspect God is a vaster and more complex Energy/Divine Intelligence/Creative Spirit than we can ever truly know or understand…practically anything we say is our own projections of our own limited consciousness…(God is probably infinitely amused by our endless speculations)
I’m happy to have discovered your blog and find someone who thinks outside the box and is more spiritual than anything. It’s refreshing. In the name of privacy and frankly because I don’t care to be bothered by other bloggers who know me by another name, I shall post this under a totally new name and use it for your blog. LOL….no but seriously, I really am not in the mood to argue with anyone, try to change their mind, have them try to change mine, etc. So I feel this is best.
Keep up the blogging. I’m enjoying.
@ Jeremy: Thanks! Definitely, if religion was used more often for cooperation and inspiration, it would be less of an issue for me and for many people. I most certainly don’t know what’s out there or if a specific someone is watching over us. I largely live my life as if there isn’t and at the end of the day, the only person I have to answer to is myself when I look at myself in the mirror. So far, that has proven itself to be enough motivation for me to try living my life the best I can and improving as a person. I could go in more depth about it, but I figure I’ll leave that for another time since I think I’ve spilled out so much in one shot within this post!
@ supastar: Hello, there… and welcome! On seeing your response, all I could think was ‘wow’ … but I’m definitely not complaining!
I’ve always wondered about the tithing thing and I’ve more or less been against it (or at least the way people seem to pressure you to do so). My mother is Catholic and when I was younger, I would always get dragged to Catholic mass. My mother would always put something in the donation plate that was passed around but she was never really strict with the tithing (if she did it at all). However, I don’t remember the Catholic church I grew up in being very strict either (as far as Catholic churches go). I definitely see what you’re saying, how a lot of people who tithe or give to charities really expect something in return deep down… which all boils back down to a scarcity mindset in my opinion. Even people who don’t do it in the name of religion seem to sort of expect that they’ll at least earn some brownie points somewhere, somehow. Because of that, no one is really thinking about where the money is going or how the money will actually help other people (or not). It’s just a lot of unfocused energy, through actions and through money, going around and it just results in a lot of unfocused, confused people. Like you, I truly believe that it’s not just your actions that counts; your intentions often do as well.
Good point about the Bible constantly being interpreted too literally or twisted to meet someone’s preconceived notions and being bound to traditions that are thousands of years old. I’ve said it before, I see the Bible as being a lot like Aesops’ tales. The stories have a lesson to them, they aren’t meant to be taken literally down to the letter. I mean we know foxes and rabbits don’t really talk, right? So how is the Bible any different? Right, the Bible has been written, rewritten, interpreted, and interpreted…. only to get aggravated by the fact that everyone one of these interpretations are hailed as the “truth.” It just loses all kinds of validity to me. I mean, of course, we all perceive things differently, so that’s not the problem. I just have a real problem when people claim that their way and only their way is right.
Oops, seems like I’m rambling, too (once again, lol). But, yea. I do appreciate you coming over and sharing your thoughts. Thanks again for your compliments on my blog. It’s unfortunate I don’t know your blog, but I understand about the privacy issue. In any case, hope to see you around these parts again!
Hi Valerie. Thank you for your feedback. Me and you think quite alike in a lot of ways. I’ll be looking forward to coming back to your blog as you discuss whatever topics interests you. fyi..I don’t have a blog…lol…I just meant I visit other people’s blogs all the time, probably some that we both read. I use to have one but I got real lazy with it. lol…