Since the time of Christ, the goals and purposes of the church and government or state were basically the same thing in terms of their operation and policies. I am speaking of western, Christian civilization throughout Europe, but a similar condition existed in all the various religions across the world until recently. Only within the last couple of centuries has society begun to separate the two and have the political structure be an independent entity apart from any particular ruling religious institution. For most of the last 2,000 years or so, it was the church that dictated the governing policies of the various countries in western society. This is very significant, because the leaders of any country could not make their own decisions based on the needs of their people, without consulting the current religious leaders of the time. This has been the power dynamic in most of human history. Why is this a problem?
If we understand that for most of our history our political leaders were basically our religious leaders, an underlying belief structure was created and adopted by us that only the church could decide what was best for us. In essence, we believed, and still do to a certain extent, that the church was representative of God and what God wanted for us. The reality is that the church does not speak for God. Our religious leaders have no more understanding of spiritual purpose than we do. If they do, they are certainly not willing to share it with us. Our goal then is to gain information about our spiritual purpose through our own experience. It may have been true in the past for the church to create a set of appropriate boundaries for us, so we didn’t get into too much trouble. Unfortunately, however, this original intent evolved into a means to control the masses through fear and manipulation in order for those religious leaders to maintain their power over us. The most important part of our spiritual endeavor is to develop the ability to think for ourselves and conduct our own governance. The relatively recent development of western democracies have at their core the need to have the separation of church and state when creating law and policy. It was believed by the founders of the United States, for example, that we could handle ourselves in a respectful and responsible manner without the need to have intervention from religious leaders. Although there are still attempts being made today to insert this undue influence through the guise of “conservative values” within the political right or religious right, we have largely been successful in keeping the two institutions separate.
The purpose of this series of discussions is to help us understand the real impact of religious thought as a subtle, but powerful influence within our belief systems. As we examine these beliefs honestly, we will find that many of them are based on misconceptions about our spiritual reality as provided by the Christian church and the other religious institutions of the world. We must accept the idea that selfishness is still at the core of most human motivation. “Everybody wants to rule the world” is very true, and our religious leaders and institutions are no exception. If the spiritual education we have received over the many centuries of our existence were factually based, we would have no problem in our acceptance of the teaching. This is clearly not the case, as we shall see. We can create a very simple goal for ourselves as we enter this process: We want to feel better about ourselves and our world, we want to have a better understanding of ourselves as spiritual beings, and we want to have a sense of where we’re ultimately headed in our future. Let’s begin by taking a look at a few facts.
The Scriptures and Symbolism
It is important for us to understand that what is written in the Bible, and other religious scriptures, is highly symbolic in its presentation. Why is this the case? In order for us to grasp spiritual concepts and benefit from them, they must be presented to us within the context of our current level of understanding and experience. This is why the format of parables and storytelling is often chosen. The scriptures, for the most part, were never intended to be taken literally. It was understood that our perception of spiritual truth would develop over a very long period of time and, eventually, the veiling of this truth through a symbolic approach would clarify itself within our actual experience. Our religious leaders have no better understanding of this process than we do, but their insistence on a literal interpretation has created many misunderstandings within our belief structure and the subsequent problems we are currently experiencing.
Time
The fact that the scriptures were written over 2,000 years ago has some important implications for us to consider. If we accept that we evolve in our understanding over time, some material may no longer be applicable or practical in our current time period. Because we have evolved, we have prepared ourselves and are in a position to receive a new level of teaching. The leaders of the Christian church have not acknowledged this simple fact in any way. I would argue that humanity is ready to accept more truth about its spiritual reality, but the church has denied us this opportunity. Perhaps they are no longer aware of what the truth actually is. It is more likely that our religious leaders are unwilling to present the truth because, as the Christ himself said, “The Truth Shall Set You Free”. The implication here is that we would no longer require their leadership, and they would therefore lose their position of power. This is the cause of the fleeing of many of us from organized religion. We have a right to know, we want to know. If our religious leaders continue to deny us the truth, we can no longer accept their teachings as valid and their institutions will inevitably fail.
The Removal of Important Books and Information
It is a fact that over many centuries, the church has removed certain writings, books, and information from the text of the original scriptures. It is important for us to have this information to better understand what happened at the time of the Christ, and how his teachings were intended to help us understand our spiritual purpose. The Catholic Church is notorious for this type of practice. Many of the Popes the Catholic Church elected over the centuries have taken out some much-needed information in order to serve their own particular self-interest and maintain their position of power and influence. This is unacceptable and has proven to be very damaging to humanity. Some of this information involved the participation of women in the early creation of the church, which we’ll get to in the next installment of this series. This information is also crucial in helping us understand our sexuality, the origin of our species, and even rebirth, for example.
Heaven and Hell
The idea that there are only two experiences or places we go when our physical life is over is one of the biggest lies presented by the church. Why did they find this necessary? If we are led to believe that we will be punished if we don’t get it right, then we have to go through the church and their recommended practices in order to be saved and therefore avoid this punishment. The reality is that we save ourselves through an understanding of our own experiences. We are given plenty of time to learn what we need to, and the majority of us will get it right eventually. Would a loving God destroy what he has created? I don’t think so. For those of you who insist on having a place to be punished, you have already arrived. It only gets better from here.
Christ as the Son of God
The idea presented by the Christian church that the Christ is the only son of God and is somehow special, is probably the most harmful because of its negative impact on our self-perception and self-worth. Let me just say that the Christ never said this, nor did he present himself in such a way. We must recognize that much of what the church has told us about the actual words and teachings of the Christ are not factual. The reality is that the Christ has a soul and so do all of us. He is a very evolved soul for sure, and this is why he was chosen as the World Teacher. The important thing to realize is that he came to show us who we are, and that we are here to learn how to achieve the same level of spiritual understanding as he himself exhibited. His intent was never to be special or better than us. This idea is yet another manufactured reality created by the church. To present us with an awesome spiritual being and then tell us we can never be like that is a total travesty. We are all sons and daughters of God. If we are led to believe that we are sinners and can never be anything else, we will never be responsible for ourselves, you see. We would need the church leaders to do that for us. The truth is that the Christ didn’t come to save our souls, but to show us how to save ourselves.
These are indeed important things for us to at least consider. Don’t worry, we’re not doing anything wrong. Our efforts to understand what our spiritual reality actually is will provide us with the peace and freedom we so desperately need. As sons and daughters of God, we have the right to claim ourselves as the loving, spiritual beings we are.
Tune in next time as we take a look at the invention of the Patriarchy.
All my love and support, be well