Have spent the last 3 or 4 years of my life reading, searching, talking, and slowly finding. Have had my MLC, and perhaps I am still finding my way through that, but along the way I have sought to understand my past experiences in religion and the church…

Religion by and large fails, especially the religion which relies on external symbols, rituals, rules, control and traditions, oh and fear…!!

If you like, the one true religion is that which no one can teach or write about – to me it is the experience of finding and realising the true value of ones life, becoming authentic after having faced ones internal dramas and learning to see them for what they are, and no longer projecting those dramas onto those around us, and interpreting those outside experiences we find ourselves in against our internal fears and doubts…

The Bible to me now represents so much of mankind’s attempt over the centuries to control and to manipulate. The essence of being is not found in any text, set of rules or traditions, it is found in living, right here, right now in this moment.

First and foremost as I understand it, we are spiritual beings, having a physical experience. Quite apart from our current physical experience, the truth of our spiritual experience includes both the male and female aspects or principles which as physical beings, we see as separate. Why when two are married, does the church refer to the two becoming one? I believe they are referring to that deeper truth we all know about deep down, but do not know how to relate to…

Regardless of your beliefs, you will find that the success of any relationship depends largely on the ability to communicate, not to legislate or control. To be able to accommodate and respect another with their views and their differences means that you have learnt something, you understand something of yourself, and you are willing to accommodate another seeming separate person as they are.

This doesn’t mean that you allow that other person to control or to manipulate you, if this happens, you learn to see that their responses and actions are coming from a space which largely comprises fear and ignorance – they have assumed and accepted an illusion of who they are, and have yet to realise their own true worth.

And to that end with communication, I do believe it has been my core issue, and is the core issue of most, where we do not face ourselves, we do not honestly and consciously communicate with ourselves, we have not faced our internal fears and doubts, and our internal dialogue – that self talk which is incessant for most, and will always support us in the illusions we have entertained.

And our external experiences support or reflect our inner beliefs… but that is another subject. But the point is, how can we communicate with another, if we have not learnt to communicate with ourselves?

To me now, those who rely on religious texts without coming to an understanding of their own worth and uniqueness have brought into the illusions and ignorance of others.

To accept that a character from a text many thousands of years old, should dictate your current relationships with those around you, is to my thinking, wrong! And no I have not always seen this, but I do now.

Yes it is possible that we can learn from historical writings, but we do need to learn more about who we are, and why we are. Ask the questions, and seek for answers, there is a wellspring of much depth within each of us, that if we do begin to question, and persist the answers will present themselves to us.

Religous debates are never pretty. I know, I was a part of church life for many years, and I know how desperate it can become to defend the faith and the rational behind the beliefs. But we do get to choose, follow the answers and beliefs which others give to us, or search for the answers to our own questions, and measure what we find against our own internal wisdom and knowing.

Adam and Eve or today is it Adam and Steve?? reflect a story, and a story which perhaps has some truth which as far as I understand it, is largely misunderstood. Misunderstood as the setting of the story has been lost, and therefore any truth which it might contain is misrepresented.

Adam and Eve are perhaps a picture of what was, not necessarily of what is. That story, and so many others tend to lead us away from our finding ourselves, here today. We get lost in the traditions of yesterday, and never realise that we are missing today, and not living in the here and now.

Any power men have assumed over women, I would say is because of religious teaching and traditions which mankind has entertained through the centuries. Perhaps the mindset which has developed, we have never questioned…?

Any man who assumes power of any sort over another, especially a woman within a relationship, is to my mind simply asserting his own inner weakness and ignorance through fear. He is not authentic within himself, he does not know himself, and therefore cannot share of himself in an honest and truthful way.

How sad that religion has perpetuated so many mistruths and myths for so long!

Posted on the Midlife Club Forum by forum member Barry. All rights reserved.