Ask Erin: What religion do you follow?
March 1st, 2006 by Erin Pavlina
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Question: Your experiences suggest you are closest to Hindu beliefs yet you don’t seem to follow all their tenets. Can you explain to us what your religious beliefs are so that we may better understand where you’re coming from? - Allen
Answer: I am not at all religious. I follow no religion.
I was born into a Jewish family, but we rarely went to Temple, except occasionally once a month, on Children’s Night when they handed out coloring books and crayons. My mom would sit us in the back of the temple where the Rabbi’s sermon wouldn’t disturb our coloring. Afterwards they served bread and cookies. I thought it was a nice place to visit, but I had no understanding of its true purpose.
My parents were not religious so I and my brother and sister didn’t know anything about being Jewish. We celebrated Hannakah and Passover and other Jewish holidays but more out of a desire to have a party than for any sort of religious observance.
Although I do not consider myself Jewish or religious, I do consider myself spiritual. As I got older I began learning about the various religions currently practiced on our planet. I noticed that there were a few things they all had in common. For example: to be nice to each other, to love each other, to take care of each other, and to learn and grow.
To me, religion is a culture’s way of attempting to get in touch with Source and understand the meaning of life. I don’t feel I need to belong to a structured religion in order to ponder the nature of the universe and the meaning of life. I can commune with Life itself and get answers when I need them. Walking into a building and kneeling down in prayer once a week doesn’t seem like the best way of connecting with Source.
There’s a great quote I’d like to share but I’m not sure who said it. It goes like this: “When we decide what is, we close our minds to possibilities of what could be.”
To belong to a specific religious group and follow its tenets to the letter seems too limiting to me. Why do we need a label? Why do we have to be Jewish or Muslim or Christian? Why can’t we just be spiritual beings on a human journey to reconnect with Source, God, the Universe, and Love?
Religion suggests that one group is right while another group is wrong. I don’t think that promotes goodwill among all of us humans. Spirituality, on the other hand, allows us to explore our own beliefs through our own experiences so that we may draw our own conclusions.
If you are currently a member of a specific religion, did you decide to be a member of your own free will or were you automatically indoctrinated because of your family? Do you believe everything your religion tells you to believe or have you considered that perhaps another religion might suit your spirituality better? Have you stopped exploring the meaning of life because someone else has already told you what to believe?
There are aspects of every religion that I find appealing, which is why I adopt the aspects that ring true for me and throw out the rest.
I encourage you all to explore your own spirituality, your own heart. To connect with Source you need to open your mind and your heart to the truth. Then act on what you learn.
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March 1st, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I was a Catholic until 6 months ago when I read Leo Tolstoy’s “The Kingdom of God is within you”. Now I’m just a Christian, a very open minded one.
In my humble opinion, when religion is taught by bears, it tends to be very grim, very exclusive, most of the time in direct conflict with its core values. The bear preacher will often try to make sure that his bears will not try to leave the cave for other caves pointing out the beauty of his cave and the empty dark spaces of the other caves. When a different race of bears come to their cave they are often met with suspicion if not with a growl. If they try to speak about their home cave they often risk being either thrown out of the cave or being pushed in a dark, secluded place.
When religion is taught by an eagle, it shines, its most beautiful parts reflect the sunlight in a joy of colours… and it is very well received by other eagles… you will often find eagles of different colours and races planning together incursions in the bear caves, some bring the fireworks some bring the blow torches.
March 1st, 2006 at 9:18 pm
i’m a hindu. I was born into a hindu brahmin family (the class of preists) but my family practices only bhakti-yoga (worship by prayer). i only found this out, and even the name for it when i had a spiritual awakening and researched my religion thoroughly. however, i had neither a bear nor an eagle teaching me - just myself. i took the lord (even though we believe in thousands of gods, there are various parts of hinduism that pray to only one of those gods) to be my guide. however i did not get all the answers i wanted satisfactorily. After a long time (about 2 years) of soul searching passively and actively - i started conciously turning to self-development. it is through self development that i finally understood more about religion itself and it’s purpose, not to mention answers to almost all the questions i’d been seeking.
religion does not suggest that one is right and the other is wrong. religions were rarely created with reference to other religions. it is only the “bears” of a religion who misinterpret the teachings of thier faith to answer questions regarding how they should interact with other faiths.
the positive part of religion is that it provides you with a time-tested beleif system that works - it connects you to the supreme, it ensures you live a emotionally and spirityally healthy life, and even provides answers to happiness in your life. however the way most people go about submitting to religion is by just that - submission. surrendering yourself completely to a higher power can be very releasing and beneficial… but it might deprives you sometimes, of your freedom of thought as well.
my two cents - do not turn to religion by submission… do so by choice.
Choose to believe that which empowers you. And religion can definately also be an empowering beleif system.
March 1st, 2006 at 11:12 pm
So after your quote “When we decide what is, we close our minds to possibilities of what could be.” — you decide what religion is. OK, you can’t really feel the power of religion until you have fully committed yourself to it, right? — that’s with anything in life — and you haven’t committed yourself to a religion, how can you tell what it is and what it isn’t, and if it is limiting or not? [And we all limit ourselves in many, many ways -- that is part of being human.] So keep your mind open and allow for the possibility that religion can not only reach the stage of evolution that you are currently in right now, but can help you to reach all the way to the Source ;-{()
Not all souls follow the same path. Not all souls are in the same stage of evolution. So let’s not get rid of the religions — they serve a purpose. (And I don’t mean that those at the lower end of the evolution scale need religion and those on the higher end, don’t need it!)
And please don’t do this:
> There are aspects of every religion that I find appealing, which is why I > adopt the aspects that ring true for me and throw out the rest.
The parts that you find unappealing — they’ll probably help you grow the most. See what in you is causing resistance — simply be aware of it to start with.
-st
PS. Great blog, love your site — please keep it up
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:37 am
Peter, I just read the same Tolstoy book not 2 weeks ago. I don’t know if you’ve read any Kierkegaard, but he has a lot of similar views. Check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_anarchism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_existentialism
I too am a bit disillusioned with the church establishment with its desire for status quo and control. True religion or ’spirituality’ is seeking to serve God and to surrender to Him at every turn. Paradoxically surrender to God brings greater freedom than serving the ’self’.
March 2nd, 2006 at 11:35 am
@Peter: Very interesting insights. Good use of the Bear/Eagle analogy.
@Mithun: True. I should say that blindly following a religion without ever consciously deciding for yourself if its tenets resonate with you is what I recommend avoiding. I have nothing against religion if that’s how people consciously choose to practice their spirituality. Good point!
March 12th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
[...] Now if you’d read my previous entry about religion, you may wonder why I use the name of Jesus Christ when I am not remotely religious. So I want to clarify. [...]
March 18th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Erin:
If you are jewess, you must know where you came from.
http://www.askmoses.com/qa_detail.html?h=548&o=46167
September 6th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
I was adopted at age 2 and raised in a catholic/southern baptist household and barely survived with ANY spirituality intact!
After studying various religions on my own for several years, I found my path to be wiccan.
I feel connected to the earth and nature and my path is not that of my upbringing, but I am respectful of others.
September 13th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
I recently learned about Spiritualism. After years of not knowing what I believed — I thought I was an atheist but that didn’t jibe with hearing the voice of my guardian angel — I found something that completely aligned with my beliefs and experience.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism and http://www.nsac.org for more information.
October 16th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.
–Jalaluddin Rumi