God and money.

”Sell everything you have and give to the poor.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

”I'll say it again-it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" ”No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Those who are fond of literal interpretations of the Bible rarely interpret these sentences literally.

Comfort blankets

Many people with a difficult life situation find consolation in a religion, spiritual fantasies or in the bottle. This is not a problem. Religion, spirituality, or a bottle of wine does not necessarily mean something bad. If a religion, a spiritual belief or a bottle of wine make you feel better, enjoy life and other people, why not. However, there is a flip side of the coin.

All the religions have crated and are still creating endless horrors, religious wars and terrorists. All the religions oppress women and children. All the religions work against equal rights. All the religions side with the rich. All the religions claim that without religion there would be no ethics and morals. This is a lie. All the religions are based on lies. (Christians, for example, have never bothered about ethics and morals. The slave trade, the witch-hunts and the blessing of the atom bomb are proof enough. How dare they talk about ethics and morals?)

Non-religious people who are interested in spiritual matters are usually not that aggressive. They are mostly harmless. I don’t mind if people believe in astrology or the healing powers of crystals. I don’t mind if people believe in reincarnation or ascended masters. However, to me they are like small children who still believe in Santa Claus and fairies.

At some point in life, we all stop to believe in Santa Claus and fairies. We all grow up whether we like it or not. This is not the end of the world. It comes naturally. In the same way, at some point in life most people stop to believe that Jesus walked on water or that he returned from death after three days. (Those who hold on to such beliefs in their fifties have probably psychological issues.)

Similarly, at some point in life, we may find ourselves not believing in anything anymore. Religion, spirituality, political ideology, philosophy, everything seem like kids stuff. This is not depression, negativity or misanthropy. This is the end of the tunnel. This is waking up. This is leaving beliefs and ideas behind. This is leaving the nest. This is a new chapter, a new spirituality, a new world.

 

Irrelevant definitions and labels.

Some people label themselves Jews and some label themselves Muslims.
Some label themselves Sunni Muslims and some label themselves Shia Muslims. There are so many definitions and labels to attach to oneself and to others, Catholic, Protestant, atheist, realist, spiritually awake, deluded, stupid, Brahmin, Shudra, left-winger, right-winger…

Many definitions and labels are just insubstantial mental creations and imaginations. Cultural differences exist only in our fantasies. They don’t represent any "real" differences. So many terrible wars have been fought because of these insubstantial mental constructions. The results have been, and still are, misunderstandings, horrors and madness.

Man and woman can perhaps be relevant labels. Men and women are different. However, in what sense is a Palestinian woman and a Jewish woman different? They hate each other because of their different labels. The Palestinian woman is upset because people who label themselves Jews oppress her and her family.

If you insist that your religion is important to you because it brings meaning, sacredness and a sense of coherence to your life, but refuse too see all the horrors it has been responsible for, then you are deluded.

Only if you are painfully aware of how many terrible things that have been caused by your religion can it possibly bring true meaning, sacredness and a sense of coherence to your life.

Destructive cults

You are probably also a member of a destructive cult but you are not aware of it yet. Cult members are seldom aware of the fact that they belong to a destructive cult. We are all indoctrinated. We need deprogramming, all of us.

You are born into a family of Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan or into a family of evangelical right-wingers in the American mid west. Maybe you happened to be born in a liberal upper middle-class family in Connecticut or in a conservative Brahmin family in Tamil Nadu. Wherever you are born, you are born into the idea that your belief system is sensible and other people with other beliefs are deluded.

You might say to yourself, “Some people are caught up in destructive cults, yes, but I’m not. I’m not a fanatic. I‘ve been working hard all my life. I’ve set up goals for my self. It’s not my problem if thousands of children starve to death every day Life is about to eat or be eaten. It‘s a jungle out there. It’s not my problem if people are exploited in Asia or if carbon dioxide emissions ruin the atmosphere. The kids in the Asian sweat shops are, after all, better off than the street kids, you can’t deny that, and I drive an environmentally friendly car”

Wherever you are born, you are born into a world of ideas and beliefs. The question is, is it possible to leave your belief system behind? Is it possible to live a life without a belief system, no religion, no atheism, no agnosticism, no political ideology? I believe it is possible, but it takes time to realize that one is misled by ideas. It takes time before it sinks in. Sudden, spontaneous awakenings are rare. Nevertheless, more and more people begin to understand now that the earth is not flat and that there are no gnomes or ghosts in the real world.

You are a Muslim or a Jew, a Catholic or a devout Neo Liberal. If you can’t leave your beliefs behind how can you expect other people to do it?

It is of course very difficult to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group of neo Nazis or a mafia family, but it is possible. It is also possible to leave the mainstream western “shop till you drop philosophy“.

It’s painful to take this step, it’s sometimes extremely dangerous, you will feel lonely, but it is necessary if you feel that awakening is important to you or if you feel that you need a deeper understanding of life. It is like an initiation to a mystery order but there is no order, no rules, no rituals and no doctrine.

If you, on the other hand, feel that awakening is not your top priority, or that a deeper understanding of life is unimportant nonsense, then you don’t have to consider these things at all.

Illusions

If you find yourself sitting on a beach, on an east coast, somewhere near the equator, watching the sunset, you can clearly see how the sun is sinking under the horizon. However, this is an illusion. The sun isn’t sinking. The sun isn't moving. The earth is turning.

You know that the sun is not moving. You know it because this is something you have learned, but this does not change your experience. You can clearly see, with your own two eyes, that the sun is moving.

Similarly, you may feel miserable because nothing is going your way. You may feel that you are a looser and that you have nothing to live for. This is also an illusion. You are all set. You have all you need. In fact, you might even be rich. You have a house, food in the fridge and friends. You know this. You have read tons of books on psychology, you have a therapist and you eat Prozac pills, but this doesn’t change anything right now, you feel unhappy anyway about your miserable life situation.