The New 'Religion'

In a review of the book ‘Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics’ (by Ross Douthat) in the April 30 issue of National Review, essayed by an associate professor of government at Georgetown University, Patrick J. Deneen, he quotes the author as reflecting “the intention that the true nature of the world will always remain just beyond our grasp”.  Spoken like a True Believer in such concepts as Original Sin - i.e., someone comfortable in his belief system, and not privy, because of the fuzzy warmth of that comfort zone, to all manner of evidence to the contrary of his belief system, both as regards The Mystery of Life and specific beliefs like that of Original Sin, in caps, thus requiring a Redeemer.*

Some of that evidence points to the fact that there was no such historical person as Jesus of Nazareth, then having become known as Jesus Christ.  And therefore no Redeemer; and therefore no need to have a belief system that incorporates the excuse-making concept of Original Sin.  But I get ahead of myself a bit, in this exercise in reality painting (and bursting a few belief balloons in the process).

Douthat puts down, in Deneen’s phrase, “the human propensity to self-aggrandizement”; and that, indeed, is a worthy observation, and take on that aspect of life.  But in the “dissolution of ‘mystery’,” the “various modern American heresies” (quoting Deneen’s review again) are doing us all a favor in the long run.  Certainly not in the bursting of cherished beliefs in the short run.  But there is no greater goal to aspire to than the truth of things.  And may we be about it just as fast as we can; before mere beliefs cause any more mayhem than they already have, in all the atrocities committed throughout the ages in the name of one religion or another.

And so, on to Truth.  And the main truth we need to incorporate into our understanding of ‘the mystery of life’ is that of the reality of reincarnation (and therefore as well of its attendant law of karma; but first things first).  Of which there is plenty of evidence by now.  Books, research papers, videos - all testify to the reality of the phenomenon, that some part of ‘us‘ - what we call our soul (and it is as good a word as any to describe such an essence in language) - persists after the death of the corporeal body, and comes back in other bodies for more lesson-learning, and consequence-reaping.  For the point of the exercise obviously has to do with the spiritual evolution of our souls.  And thus, a fair description of the process would be that life is a school, and the purpose is to graduate. 

Once we accept this reality, certain things follow  It follows for one thing that life as we know it, on this material plane, is but a play on a stage,where we keep changing parts in the ongoing drama of our making - now a prince, now a pauper; now male, now female; now of one race or religion or nationality, now another - for they are merely accoutrements to the play.  It follows for another thing, that at some point, each soul ‘gets‘ that that is all that material-level life is - a construct - and will then want to start moving on in its journey, rather than keep coming back, stuck on what the Buddhists call the wheel of rebirth.  

But the main point I want to make here and now is twofold.  (1) No one or nothing else is responsible for you.  You are solely responsible for yourself, i.e., your own soul’s journey and unfolding.  No one ’died‘ to ‘save’ your immortal soul.  You were given it by your Creator as an act of Creation.  And (2) is the fact, then, that beneath this role-playing, and -changing, which we are engaged in on this stage, we are - in reality - one another.  

That there is, in reality, then, no ‘other’.

And therefore, that We Are One. 

One divine Being, having an experience of Itself.

And thus, an important way to look at life could be summarized thusly:

As you do to others, so do you do to yourself.  For we are all One.  And All IS One.

And with that awareness widespread and spreading, we can change our world - our stage - into a New Age.  A new way of being, and relating to one another.  

And one of the main consequences of that ‘new, improved’ perspective of each other - of ourselves - is that we can do away with money - at least as it has come to be known.  And share goods and services with one another - and give of our best in the process - out of a higher motive than the profit motive (which grew out of the play’s impression that we were separate from one another, and therefore, each had to look out for ‘number one’; rather than for, simply, One).  Out of the highest motive possible:

out of gratitude to our Creator (of which we are a Part) for life with meaning.

Out of, in a word: Love.

The key to the Golden Age that we are about to enter into.  For having left an old way of being behind.  The way of being - and identifying with being - separate from one another.

When in truth - and in the greater Truth:

We Are All One.

So:

Awaken.  And arise.  And rejoice.  A major stage of the play of Life is over.  It is time for a progression into a new key of life.  A higher key - a more major key - than ever heretofore.

And it requires all of us to be in it together.  Born out of the love of our Original Source.  And deserving to inherit the fullest of our Part of that One.

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P.S.  And yes, I understand that Christians, and especially deeply committed Christians, will have a had time swallowing this pill; and will invoke the Anti-Christ, and all manner of religious conditioning.  But I have one simple response, that I invite them to take in, deeply: that nothing - nothing - is more important than Truth.


     And you can take that to the bank.

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* There may well have been something, some event, that could with some justification be called the Fall. But the concept of Original Sin, thus requiring a specific Redeemer, is another matter. And in any event, precedes the Christian era by millennia. For there was nothing original in the various aspects of the ‘Christ’ story. Each piece of it came from earlier traditions, and even different cultures.

A good book summarizing the latter part of this is ‘The Christ Conspiracy’ (subtitled ‘The Greatest Story Ever Sold’) by Acharya S. And one getting into the idea of a Fall of some sort is 'The Joseph Communications: Your Life After Death' by Michael G. Reccia (& group).