The Truth as I see It Part 3

I had a very interesting experience recently. In as much as my intention was to talk about religion in this section I need to circle back around and put some feet to what I talked about in part 2 of this series.

My primary message in part 2 was that we mistakenly give the mysteries of the universe in relation to energy a personality by the language we use. We spiritualize a portion of the physical realm that we don’t fully understand and comprehend.

The practical outworking of this belief system is that people remain selfish in their core beings. The reason for this is that it takes a truly spiritual connection with the person of God to truly change us. I know there will be plenty to argue that point but in the real down and dirty world of the everyday practical lives it shows over and over again in people’s lives.

Most people’s behavior can be modified by their belief system as long as stress levels do not rise too high. When those levels of tension and stress and uncertainty rise however, the selfish tendencies do begin to show themselves. These show up differently in different individuals but at a basic level this selfishness begins to assert itself in trying to control situations and other people or attempting to hide away and separate from others.

There is a whole conversation about shame and its effects on an individual which we will not enter into at this point but suffice it to say that a true spiritual connection will never be obtained through connecting to any aspect of the universe. True spiritual connections, in order for them to be truly life-transforming, must take place with some sort of entity that has personality and is outside of ourselves. People are internally changed by a true spiritual connection but not otherwise.

The interesting thing is that now it opens up another question…does it matter with whom you connect with? If we are indeed changed from within based upon our spiritual connections how much of that change is dependent upon the personality of the entity with whom we connect? It is an issue of engagement.

I believe in One True God who is full of Love and Grace and Compassion. I connect with this God. He has come to dwell with me and we interact and engage in a real relationship. The way that I have and am being changed has been contingent upon my actual interaction with Him. My actual change is evident as my ability to Love and show Grace and Compassion is growing…even when stress levels get very high. My selfish tendencies tend to be very much diminished as I relate to God.

Imagine if my spiritual interaction was with an entity that had malice and hatred at the core. My constant and consistent engagement with such a personality would eventually cause my core being to be more in line with that entity. It doesn’t matter if this entity “seems” good or not. What matters in a spiritual connection is truth. The truth of many spiritual entities are that they will appear good and kind and gracious while impacting us in our core with their true natures…that of being selfish and self seeking themselves. Guess where we end up? The same way.

A good test for a spiritual connection is (in an honest way) to evaluate who you are versus who you have been…especially when stress and tension levels rise very high. Are your selfish tendencies staying strong or diminishing?

In the Bible there is a list of what happens when people are truly engaging with the God of the Bible. This list includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. It may not be easy for others to evaluate us if they don’t know from whence we have come. But if we are honest with ourselves, we ought to be able to have a sense of whether or not these attributes (or fruits as they are commonly referred to) seem to be growing in us or not. It becomes much easier to see when the stresses of life put real pressure on us. How do we respond then? It is a critical question to ask ourselves.

Back to the interesting experience I recently had. I am going to be very vague on the details so as not to hurt anyone but I need to share the essence of what this experience was about.

I attended an event where there were a great number of people who believed themselves to be very spiritually aware and enlightened. These folks very much believed in the connection with the Universe and the elements within the earth and much more.

Their language was very much as I talked about in part 2 of this series. They gave personalities and names to physical attributes of the universe and the world. They very much behaved as if they believed that there were truly personal interactions happening or at least possible with these material elements.

In general these folks were very kind, gentle and nice to be around. However, it was very apparent that when things were not going smoothly that those positive attributes quickly went out the window and the selfish tendencies that we all have rose up and took over. Many of these folks were living in a space where they lived as if they were transformed and changed but when reality hit them in the face their core attributes shone through clearly…those of selfishness that I talked about earlier.

I wrote part 2 over a year ago and it was such an amazing experience to see it lived out in such concentration at this event. It wasn’t just one or two people but nearly everyone who attended this event.

It was a fascinating experience that saddened me very much. I so desired that I could share the Truth as I have experienced it with them. For my life has truly been transformed and if any of you knew some of the life stresses that I have gone through then you would too believe what I am talking about. My life has honestly and truly been changed and those fruits that result from a true engagement with God that I mentioned earlier are evident even when stress levels raise to very high degrees in my life. I am extremely grateful for this and I so wish that these other folks who attended this event could experience the types of freedom that I experience on a day to day basis.

We will talk later why I use the word freedom but in the next section I will get back to talking about what religion is and how it has deceived the world in much the same way as the concept of “connecting” with the universe has. In fact much of the “new age” thinking in this regard has come about because of the lifeless aspects of religion.

But…that is for another time.

Thanks, and please leave a comment below. All of the comments on my blog (hundreds of them) were wiped out because of a glitch in that portion of the database. It was rather sad. Anyhow…I would love to hear from you.