Written by Wes Annac, Conscious OnenessConcluded from Part 1
The problem with all of the different religions comes not from Source or the heavenly realms, but from man. We’re the ones who decided to start killing each other over our differences in belief, and in a lot of cases, we were led into war by self-serving kings and leaders who didn’t and don’t care about the fate of their people.
Instead of fighting over the diversity of our belief systems, let’s understand that every interpretation is of the same, practically non-understandable Source, and work together to get a better spiritual grasp than we would’ve gotten before.
While we’ve been killing each other in the name of religion, “elites” behind the veil who’ve enforced religious division and war have understood spirituality all along. In editing the bible and making sure we’re given a distorted spiritual understanding, they’ve reserved the purer teachings – teachings they grossly misinterpreted – for themselves.
We’ve been left to fight and bicker over distorted and incomplete belief systems, but as more people awaken to the suppression that’s taken place right under our noses, they’ll seek true spirituality and respect the interpretations of others in the process.
Even if you don’t share the same beliefs as someone else, nothing stops you from loving and respecting them. We don’t have to agree about everything to prosper as a civilization, but we’ll only continue to descend if we refuse to accept one another.
According to Ramakrishna, whether we follow the path of another or not, we’ll go to the same heavenly place as them.
“You see, the thing is somehow or other to get into the Lake of the Nectar of Immortality. Suppose one person gets into It by propitiating the Deity with hymns and worship, and you are pushed into It. The result will be the same. Both of you will certainly become immortal.” (1)
We can follow someone else’s path if it works for us, and we’ll go to heaven either way as long as we show incentive. However, we’re encouraged to find the path that inspires and excites us the most, and work from there to achieve enlightenment.
Suppose one person’s path calls for unbridled, selfless service before they can “get into heaven”.
It sounds strict, but can you imagine all of the miraculous things they could do in the name of enlightenment? Suppose another person’s path calls for strict yoga and meditation. Again, it might sound a little demanding, but can you imagine how much the planetary vibration would rise from that one person’s actions?
Now, imagine both of those people practicing the requirements of their respective belief systems. One person works away to serve humanity by doing good deeds and helping others become aware, and the other raises the planetary consciousness with hours and hours of meditation and stillness.
Should either one of their belief systems be deemed “better” or “worse” than the other? I don’t think so, because in both instances, humanity benefits. With both belief systems, progress is made and the world is put in a better place. But as we’ll learn below, even the requirements of those belief systems aren’t enough to attain true enlightenment.
An ascended master speaking through Mabel Collins tells us that no one road will bring us to completion.
“Seek [the way] not by any one road. To each temperament there is one road which seems the most desirable. But the way is not found by devotion alone, by religious contemplation alone, by ardent progress, by self-sacrificing labour, by studious observation of life.” (2)
All of those things, while important, won’t solely take us into heaven. I think that an essential element; a flavor if you will, is required beyond all of the devotion and work. I think our respective “flavors” are unique to each of us, and maybe that unique element is what’s missing before we can reenter heaven.
All of the different religions will show us the way, but we have to look deep within to find the essential element that’ll see us onward. I tend to orient to service and nonstop seeking, be it via research or meditation, and all of this alone won’t raise my or our vibration completely.
I think we’ll all find our personal enlightenment “triggers” in due time, and until then, we’re encouraged to do what we feel is best to find a greater state of consciousness and help others do the same.
Paul Reps tells us that the famous religious entities of the past received a taste of the same spiritual existence.
“Surely men as inspiritors, known and unknown to the world, share a common uncommon discovery. The Tao of Lao-Tse, Nirvana of Buddha, Jehovah of Moses, the Father of Jesus, the Allah of Mohammed — all point to the experience.
No-thing-ness, spirit — once touched, the whole life clears.” (3)
What’s great about spirit is that we can all get a taste of it, and if I haven’t stressed this enough yet, we’ll all do so in our own ways. Religious entities who are worshiped today gained a glimpse of spirit and did everything they could to help us become aware of it, and in a lot of cases, their effort included building belief systems around the things they discovered.
Every belief system has its pure and distorted truths, and by now, I’m sure almost every religion has been intercepted and distorted to a degree by people in powerful political and religious positions. We can gain an experience of spirit despite this, and a lot of people are able to become spiritually aware because of religion.
Religion, however distorted and controlling, still has the potential to breed awareness and selfless service.
In our final quote, Paul Ferrini tells us about the two different paths of “observer” and “participant”.
“Much of the frustration you feel on your spiritual path comes from the fact that you cannot experience something and study it at the same time. If you stand back and observe, you will not have the same experience the participant does. And if you participate, you will not have [the] same experience as the observer.
One spiritual method asks you to become an observer. Another asks you to be a participant. Either method works, but you cannot practice both at the same time. If you want to ‘know,’ you must learn to stand back and observe. If you want to ‘be,’ you must dive into the experience.” (4)
Maybe an equal balance of observation and participation will give us the greatest enlightenment experience. Mr. Ferrini is right – we can’t experience both at the same time. We can, however, shift back and forth from observer to participant. Why not give it a try?
Of course, this is my opinion and my path. Your path could be entirely different, but personally, I enjoy observing and participating in humanity’s evolution. If I could only do one of them, I’d feel incomplete.
In concluding this, I want to encourage the conscious community not to fall into the traps of judgment and condemnation.
It’s easy to judge or condemn another because of a difference in belief, and for those of us who consider ourselves “conscious” it’s very easy to fall into condemnation of religious people because they’ve been made to look bad by people who judge and persecute in the name of God.
For example – the Westboro Baptist Church, who publicly and radically discriminates against gay people, doesn’t have to shape our perception of religion. Not every religious person is batty with judgment and discrimination, and those of us who don’t use religion to define our spirituality are no better than anyone else if we condemn religious people as a whole.
In condemning everything that has to do with religion, we do exactly what we speak out against. We effectively become hypocrites, and our message of peace and unity is muddied.
Let’s start accepting each other and our different viewpoints and beliefs, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned from oppressive kings and religious persecutors, it’s that we won’t get anywhere if we keep judging and hating one another. This is true for all of us, no matter what belief systems we use to define ourselves.
Love and acceptance can replace judgment and condemnation, and it has to start with our acceptance of one another. It’s so simple, but we tend to make things harder than they need to be instead of recognizing what’s right in front of us.
Wes Annac – Accepting of faith and spirit, no matter how they’re defined.
Footnotes:
(1)- Swami Nikhilananda, trans., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1978; c1942.(2)- Mabel Collins, channel. Light on the Path and an Essay on Karma. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1974.
(3)- Paul Reps, comp., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. Doubleday: Anchor, n.d.
(4)- Paul Ferrini, Silence of the Heart. South Deerfield, MA: Heartways Press, 1996.
www.wesannac.com / link to original article