According to
etymological
dictionaries the
origin of the
word religion
comes from the
Latin "re-ligare"
meaning
reconnecting,
connecting
again. Thus, we
arrive to the
conclusion that
the word
religion means
to reconnect
again our ties
with God. To do
so, however, we
must accept
that, somehow
and at some
point, we cut
our ties with
God and with the
source of Life
that nourishes,
and surrounds
us, and
penetrates
everything in
the Universe.
However, there
is something
still unclear.
When were these
ties broken? Was
there a moment
in history when
this happened?
Or does this
occur always and
intermittently,
since from the
very beginning,
when man sensed
in a very
rudimentary way
that he belonged
to a sovereign
Author, who gave
him life? Or was
it when the
souls, going
through the
tortuous paths
of many lives in
a succession of
reincarnations,
arrived to a
more clear
awareness that
there was a wise
and perfect
Intelligence
from which their
own life
originated? Man
has an inherent
instinctive
impulse to look
for the help and
inspiration of a
Strength or
Supreme Being.
Contemplating
the starry
infinity above,
man intuit the
manna of all the
spiritual
nourishment
needed to move
forward on his
hard learning
day - thus
originating
faith - and
thus he became
responsible for
the creation of
countless
religions. These
religions were
born
concomitantly
with multiple
temperaments of
people and from
cultures, social
contexts and
different views
of life.
We need a more
rational
religiousness
However, in the
endless
succession of
historical
facts, today we
are aware with
more clearness
of an issue,
which under a
closer analysis,
offers us an
impasse. Would
the positive
influence of an
institutionalized
religious format
be an efficient
help for all
serious dilemmas
of humanity with
its moral
dramas, wars,
political and
social problems?
Based on only
the established
beliefs about
theoretical
theological
contents, and
speeches in
pulpits or
rostrum, or
still on the
reading of
sacred books
forged by man
himself? Or what
we need most,
with the severe
global crisis in
full planetary
transition, is
something that
requires from us
a more practical
and rational
religiousness
- especially
demanding from
us a larger
share of
responsibility
for our
attitudes and
their
consequences,
putting us as
co-authors of
our own history,
and rejecting
the comfortable
attitude of
imputing to
God's
punishments all
the evils that
happen to us, as
if they do not
belong to us?
A
religiousness
- as a reference
of a more
spiritual
lifestyle,
implying
maturity about
choices that
create endless
repercussions
for us and for
our neighbor, at
each initiative
on a short or
long term?
This premise is
supported by the
same Universal
Laws that govern
us, discussed
and explained
today in sync by
several
scientific
fronts and
current
philosophies,
mystique, or
even religious.
Coding books and
several other
Spiritist books
mention how the
Law of Cause and
Effect operates
along our
successive
lives.
The Law of
Attraction is
mentioned in the
reputed
postulates of
the Jewish
Kabbalah and in
daily
discussions in
the media. And
ever since
ancient times,
from Buddhism to
Hinduism, all
religions
proclaimed the
maximum "do
to others just
what you want
for yourself ".
From the Middle
Ages up to today
very little has
changed
Early this year
we were shocked
as the tragedy
in Paris echoed
all over the
world - the
massacre in a
satirical French
weekly magazine
carried out by
Islamic radical
extremists.
Unfortunately,
these terrorist
acts are wrongly
associated to
religion itself,
but the prophets
and messengers
of the divine
light never
encouraged
violence as a
response to the
ideological
sensitivities
within religious
territory.
Therefore, there
was a
disproportionate
response to the
perceptions of
the French
cartoonists, and
we do not know
to what extent
they were aware
of being wrong
about the
religious values
of other men.
Curiously, a
similar case
happened, during
Middle Ages when
the French crown
ended up
supporting the
Catholic
despotism to
unleash the
brutal
Albigensian
Crusade, in the
Languedoc
region, due to
differences of
interpretation
and conduct
regarding Jesus'
message, which
at the time
threatened
especially the
control of
consciences and
political/religious
supremacy of
Catholicism over
the Cathars,
burning them
alive in the
hateful fires of
Inquisition.
From that time
to now,
centuries have
gone by, but
what changed? In
essence, not
much. Economic,
political,
religious
investments, or
mere opinions,
always, and
somehow, are and
will be
confronted by
the thinker who
dares make use
of his freedom
of expression,
of his thought -
even if
undeniably and
improperly
regarding other
people's values,
if what he wants
for a civilized
society is
precisely the
respect for
ideological and
faith
differences of
the individual
or population.
However, to what
conclusion can
we arrive from
all these
repetitive and
painful events
throughout
History? If we
are impartial
and "impersonal",
we can say that
from the Middle
Ages up to today
very little has
changed.
It is necessary
and urgent to
respect
differences
We are living an
irreversible
process with a
progressive
globalization,
territorial
borders
attenuated, and
an increasing
widespread of
news. With all
this, how can we
still live and
maintain
inflexible and
orthodox formats
regarding
religions?
Effective and
irreversibly,
there is enough
information,
crossed
knowledge all
over the world,
information
clarifying all
matters for
individual
choices, so why
do we not review
the urgency of
peaceful
coexistence
between the
different
mentalities,
different world
temperaments and
understandings
about what is or
what is not
divine, and the
many ways of
dealing with the
problem in favor
of human
progress.
At this moment
of great pain,
experienced by
the French and
Muslims, in the
clash of
opinions, the
most sensible
immediately
reflect about
the converging
points of
countless
temperaments, of
the many
religious trends
in the world. It
is necessary to
urgently learn
to respect
differences and
to enhance our
neighbor's
virtues, whether
Muslims,
Christians,
Jewish or
Buddhist. We
also have to
learn to enhance
and respect
their best views
of
religiousness,
instead of
suffocating and
voiding them,
especially
privileging our
private
perceptions and
rooted in
several cultural
contexts. If we
proceed to an
adequate
analysis, we
will
surprisingly
arrive to the
conclusion that
they all point
to the same
direction and
their purpose
is the same:
the need to find
peace in the
inner recesses
of every human
creature.
We need more
religiousness
than
religions
This direction,
however,
hopelessly is "outside
the square".
Of any religious
"square",
institutionalized
or not. Out of
that that
formula, which
has already
proved to be a
failure for the
proper
harmonization
between people,
if what we want
is a kind of
life in this
planet, so that
we will never
see again a
"September
Eleven" or a
"Charlie Hebdo".
It is the
formula that
favors more the
religiousness
attitude instead
of the format or
religious label.
The one who will
finally
recognize, with
daily practice,
that the cream
of the religious
message brought
by successive
prophets and
teachers, who
visited us in
pure mission
Love through the
world, arriving
from more
evolved
dimensions of
the Universe,
does not belong
only to
Christianity, to
Islam, to
Spiritism, and
not only to the
Bible, the Torah
or the Koran.
The most
important part
of this Message
tells us that in
a future, more
or less distant,
those boundaries
will also
disappear and
that, without
the need of the
support of mere
religious
labels, which
separate and
trigger wars,
man will live
adding to
himself the best
essence of what
one day was
intended to be a
perfect
religion,
present in all
religious
currents that
have existed and
still exist,
focused on the
good in the
world: the
essence of the
supreme Love for
Life,
existing in
himself as a man
and in his
neighbor!
The vital power
that is in every
creature on this
planet, and also
in other worlds
scattered in the
Infinite, as in
the countless
dimensions,
which man does
not even suspect
of, gradually
encourages his
greatest
spiritual
awakening.
The value of
life is the same
for all people
We must learn
that the
ultimate
solution to
pacify people is
"outside the
square"! Of
the so many
rigid formats
that even
nowadays many
cling to
preserving a
basically
selfish version
of life. Formats
and religious,
political, and
economic labels
that are not
efficient for
the solution of
the greatest
hardships
endured by the
material and
spiritual human
race. And after
so much
suffering, and
what we learn
through the pain
of these
collective
experiences, we
will gradually
arrive to a time
in which all
social contexts
will fail on its
own, inflexible
and separatist
formulas!
Only then will
we be able to
see that Life
has the same
value for all
people who want
peace and
happiness
instead of tears
and pain, and
humanity will be
more unified,
enjoying the
generous wealth
of a prodigal
planet. And all
of us, in
possession of
this new
understanding,
will finally
tend to unify,
and to enhance
the rich
diversity of
existence - not
the illusion of
rigid formats of
oppressive and
inflexible
ideologies that
generate
conflicts and
sufferings, in
all sectors of
society!
And blessed will
be those times,
when the Divine
and the Universe
will be
understood and
will peacefully
come together
and the people
of an orb will
not need any
religion,
because man will
be aware that
the seed of the
Light Source
lies in him,
like a blessed
lighthouse,
guiding him
safely and
making him
responsible for
each choice
leading him to
live
harmoniously,
always based on
the harvest of a
permanent
seeding of
Love, Respect
and
Religiousness!