History of religion in a nutshell...

[Kindred]

I have generally found Gordon Duff at Veteran's Today to write some great articles that truly 'spell it out like it is'. I have found some pieces that I don't totally agree with, but I have neither the knowledge or time to investigate the details, or choose simply to ignore that which I disagree with. Just the same, much of what he writes has the degree of honesty I find refreshing and eye-opening.

This piece put out today (05-04-2012) is just such a piece (IMO). Yep.. Nobody's going to like the Truth.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/05...nna-like-this/

In (the Hope Of) Unity and Peace

[MacStar]

When in doubt refer to the Life of Brian

[mexrph]

The current religion known as "Christianity" has been copied from other religions dating back to several centuries before the birth of Christ. RELIGION IS BRAINWASHING. Today it teaches its brainwashed followers to be obedient to tyrannical government (render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's). Obedient Catholics allowed Hitler to commit his unspeakable crimes. Only a few spoke up. We need to learn from the Germans and be disobedient to tyrannical government and to speak up at every opportunity.

[StarDust]

Religion is like any other modality for learning and offers an opportunity for spiritual growth for the seeker. Although I am not religious myself, I do honor it as positive force for many. Any teaching can be abused or used to hide behind; but that is up to the individual to try to learn as opposed to trying to control others. There is a huge difference. I think that Inelia Benz summed it up well within her most recent blog:


http://ascension101.com/en/talks/61-...-religion.html


Today I’d like to talk about religion. From what I remember, religion; the word religion comes from the word ‘rely’, to rely on something. And the origin of the word ‘rely’ comes from an alliance, something that we are allied to or depend on.

Religion has been one of those subjects that’s really fascinated me throughout my life. I haven’t had broad experience with any particular religion. Although, one could say that between 11 and 14 years practicing Buddhism might be broad experience, but really it’s nothing compared to what other people have dedicated their lives to and even with my Buddhist practice I wasn’t really aligned with it. Like religion; what does religion mean? It’s an alignment with or a very strong alignment with something - a belief system.

I couldn’t really say that was my experience with Buddhism. I always said - and this used to annoy the Buddhist leaders - that the type of Buddhism I was practicing was an extremely good tool and that I would practice it for as long as it was the best tool I could find and if ever, at any time I found a better tool, I would move on to that better tool. And that’s exactly what I did.
But while I practiced it, it was extremely helpful to me. Very helpful, I could say it probably saved my life.

Although I’m not personally involved with any religion right now, I’m not aligned with any religion, I do respect and honor all of them.

There is a place for every religion on the planet and there’s people who need those religions.

There’s people who need the comfort, energy, and tools that each religion provides. And this goes as well with cults.

I was part of a cult for about a year. And what I learned within that cult was extremely useful because amazingly, they use a lot of the tools that society at large uses to really keep people asleep.
That particular cult is very much a light worker’s trap, they seek out and suck in people who are really really keen on fixing the planet or making a better world. And then they convince them that the only way to do it is through these tools. And before they know it, they are working 90 hour weeks, or more - there were some people who used to go up there from 6 o’clock in the morning and wouldn’t leave until past 12 at night, every day including Sundays.
And they don’t get paid. They do it all as voluntary work -although they don’t tell you that at the start - and then they are emotionally blackmailed, psychologically abused, they get separated from their families and relatives and anybody who might tell them that there’s something going on there that’s not quite right. Separate them from society.

And that’s very much what’s happening in society at large. Because basically when people sit in front of a television for many, many hours a day, they are basically separating themselves from their relatives, their family.
And anybody who decides to do something different or be different, believe something different, is castigated. They have peer pressure to conform. And then there is the fact that people have to work very long hours to be able to live on this planet, which is really a very ridiculous concept.

But broadly, with regards to the main religions for example, I’m very close to a couple of people who receive an enormous amount of wisdom, comfort and guidance from their own particular religion. And I really honestly don’t know what their lives would be like if they didn’t have that.

So religions. Really, they have been invented or made up in order to connect us. Connect the individual back to the divine consciousness.

When we separate ourselves as a singularity, and identify ourselves as an individual person, there is a sense of separation from others. There is a sense of separation from environment, and also a very big separation from Source and from our higher self.
All religions are, are different methods to reconnect with Source; to reconnect with our higher self.

Now of course, a lot of religions will separate still (Source from the individual) but that’s part of the learning process of the people who belong to that particular religion. It doesn’t mean it is in any way inferior - it is just a step. It is a way to the same truth.

When separated from Source, most people will feel either that sense of separation or will feel a sense of something that is larger than themselves that is out there. And within that separation, this is true. Eventually the person will realize or will feel very much that that larger sense of self will be the higher self. That divine consciousness is what they are made of, is part of what they are.

Often, I get emails or correspondence with people asking me ‘what is your view about Jesus Christ and his life?’ ‘What is your view about Mohammed?’ ‘What is your view about Buddha?’ ‘What is your view about Mother Teresa?’ ‘What is your view about...’ and then many, many religions, the name of the religions, the names of the religious leaders or a saint, or Virgin Mary.
And I don’t really have any particular view, because most of these individuals (who have been mentioned) or the people who mention them have different views about them themselves, so they say ‘what do you think about when Jesus did x, y and z?’
Well, another person will write in and say ‘Jesus didn’t do x, y and z. He did; a, b and c.’
And so, basically I don’t have a view about what people believe with regards to these masters of enlightenment perhaps, or teachers of a way.
They were teachers as far as I’m concerned, and what they taught has been, maybe, kept intact by certain groups on the planet and has not been kept intact by others. But that’s quite irrelevant because it’s not ‘who is right and who is wrong’ but basically they form the foundation of tools and belief systems that will help the individual to reach further than their singularity.
Even if it’s something that makes them think that their higher self is out there and it is a separate being from them, at least they are thinking about it and reconnecting with that higher self at some level. It is just that the language they use might be different to saying ‘that is my higher self’. They might be saying ‘that is Allah’ or ‘that is God’ or ‘that’s Jesus’ or ‘that’s the Virgin Mary’.

Religions have a very important part to play in the paradigm that we are transitioning out of.
Many individuals will choose, will choose and will continue to choose to stay within those belief systems. Because it’s a huge jump from believing that a particular saint or individual, the son of God or the son of the Goddess, or the daughter of the Goddess will come and save us all, or save those people who kept true to their religion to saying ‘that daughter or son of God or Goddess is me’. It’s a huge jump and it might not happen for many people for a very long time. It might not happen for various lifetimes. And it might never happen, maybe they are right!
In their reality - they are creating their own reality - and in their reality that is probably, actually, right.

As we all create our own realities, when we believe something very strongly like that, that is exactly what comes to pass. So for them, that’s the reality they are creating and that’s actually what’s gonna happen. And sometimes it can be kind of scary to think ‘well I’m actually creating this reality you know, with everybody else on the planet. I am part of this higher self and I am actively choosing what happens in my life.’ It can be scary sometimes.
And it might take a period of transition to move into that space.

The religion that I was involved with was a form of Buddhism which chanted to a mantra - chanted a mantra - sorry - to a scroll. And the mantra was very, very articulate and the teachings were very practical. The mantra created and would generate a lot of life force, which was what I needed at the time.
It also provided that moment and space of stillness of the mind. The space between thoughts. That’s our reconnection with Source.
It’s a highly useful mantra, and I would say to anybody who is struggling with life; I would recommend it. And sometimes I do.

Another religion I haven't had much contact with, but I tried it out for about 6 months - I often try things out for 6 months - and found it to be extremely helpful, very useful for clearing things, was the one called Ho’oponopono. It’s a Hawaiian belief system. I’m not actually sure if it is a religion or not but I think it is. As you can see, I haven’t researched it very much, I just tried their tool. I tried their tool, and the tool worked.
Basically, when anything is triggered in ourselves, the person would say ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you’ over and over again into that feeling that has been triggered in ourselves, or about the situation. And it was extremely useful. I used it as a clearing method. It’s a really, really useful tool and you can use it on a daily basis.

So you might have noticed that I see religions as tools. Tools to be used. Tools that will help an individual.

When a tool becomes obsolete, when it stops helping the individual or the group that it is serving, then it’s time to move on. This point is where most religious leaders will clash with me because, I would say that no religion is the true and only way.
I think all religions are a way and a method. And each religion will fit into very particular situations or individuals or cultures. But they are not the only way. There is not one only way. There are many ways and part of the fun of a person is to find and investigate and find perhaps many ways that work.
I often say ‘well, you know, look at the different religions and see what resonates with you about that religion and drop the rest’. Of course that is not acceptable for most religious leaders because they would like to say (most of them, not all of them but most of them will say) ‘no hold on a minute, you have to take it all or leave it all, but you can’t be “shopping around” and just take what you think is good because mine is the only true way and everybody else’s way is wrong’. And that’s fine, you know, they can say that but it hasn’t been my experience.

There are many types of different things that individuals might think of as religions as well. A lot of people dedicate their lives to finding the right partner, for example. Their soulmate. And they are never quite happy until they find that person, and often they never do find that person. But sometimes they do.
And they align themselves to that relationship in a very religious type way. They base most of their happiness on it, they use it as a tool for ascension and enlightenment. A tool for dealing with everyday life, and of course when they don’t find it then it means they are on a continuous journey of discovery or trying to look for one particular thing that they think will solve everything, or that it’s the meaning of their life.

That’s just one example. Most people use the example of money. How money has become a religion. But I think that’s very much breaking down these days. There are so many forms of exchange now - energy exchange - that are coming into our planet right now. It’s wonderful.
But yeah, money is still very much the number one energy exchange there is, because it’s easily used, easy to exchange. It’s like a credit system of energy where we can take energy from one person, for an exchange of our energy and then that energy we took from that other person, we can use for something else. Food, rent, other things. But I suspect that’s going to change within 3 generations. We will no longer be using money.

So back to religion.

Have these religious icons, leaders or gods existed on a historical perspective? I believe they have existed. But I also believe that a lot of history about them has been changed or merged with other things and sometimes their message has been changed to serve organizations rather than the individual whom they came to serve.
That happens a lot around the world.

It’s a little bit like most social structures, present social structures. A lot of present social structures were originally designed, invented and structured to serve the individual and serve society but then they became tools of self-service for a few individuals and that is coming up into society now and becoming known to most people on the planet.
After the knowledge comes out, change happens. Transformation happens and I believe that is happening, is going to happen with religions as well. The belief systems and the rules and regulations and structures that were placed on top of the original teachings will come to the surface and be examined by those individuals who are practicing their religion. And then they will be able to choose to remove them or to keep them, if they are useful.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this walk as much as I have
We have been visited by a lot of birds today. And I am hoping to make these talks a regular feature of our newsletter subscription. So if somebody forwarded this talk to you and you’d like to receive more, do go to ascension101.com and subscribe to the newsletter.

And do feel free to share this talk if it has been in any way useful to you.

And I’ll see you soon!

[Fundy Gemini]

*RESPECT* for Mr. Duff....
Bravo!

[Lazlo]

Religion is a tool to control access to the divine. It mostly serves to prevent people from finding sprituality.

At the end of the day, it's a business model. When you have a religion to tell you what to think, you don't have to do any thinking for yourself. Every time someone tries to proselytize to me about Christianity I ask them:

"Have you actually read the bible for yourself? I have and it is full of acts that I find morally unconscionable."

[percival tyro]

Every time the plot thickens, It gets more difficult to filter. The soup is now like concrete and belongs at the bottom of the ocean. Can anyone think of a new starting point for a new momentum.

[delfine]

Posted by Kindred (here)
I have generally found Gordon Duff at Veteran's Today to write some great articles that truly 'spell it out like it is'. I have found some pieces that I don't totally agree with, but I have neither the knowledge or time to investigate the details, or choose simply to ignore that which I disagree with. Just the same, much of what he writes has the degree of honesty I find refreshing and eye-opening.

This piece put out today (05-04-2012) is just such a piece (IMO). Yep.. Nobody's going to like the Truth.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/05...nna-like-this/

In (the Hope Of) Unity and Peace

Very interesting. Will look into it later..