Cecil 1995 (4 x 5" pen & ink, watercolor) From "Journal of an Astral Hobo"
Life is a series of questions seeking answers to still the mind. Some questions are religious in nature; others deal with things outside of the religious arena.
If religion is considered 'obsolete', then we have reached a conclusion that 'religion' can no longer provide answers to our questions regarding 'the spiritual'. When we move past religion, religion will remain for others to pass thru. Its obsolescence may apply to the individual but to not society, for society requires religion to acknowledge that there is more to existence than what we live.
No matter the local upon this planet, no matter the race, no matter the advancements mankind has acheived, there is a need for some type of religion to sustain the quest for the answers, those deep philosophical questions that we humans have always asked - Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? What's the purpose of life? There are others but those man have always asked, either themselves or others.
It is this question asking that developed into religions, some thru the asking of the questions while others have created religions from observing and listening to those that have, or least seems to have, the answers.
Some theorize that it was mankind's earliest awakening, looking up at the stars at night, where the seemingly endlessness of twinkling, shining stars were always there... every night. The animal kingdom, the beasts that walk the earth pay little attention to the stars above. Their senses are attuned to the earth, the winds, the smells about them, the distant sounds of other animals. They are in tune to the planet... not the stars.
We are the stargazers... the ones that lift our sights heavenwards. We are the ones that look beyond our planet and wonder our existence. True, it is not all of humanity, but those that do pass their thoughts, their ideas and their questions on to others.
This passing of questions provokes thought amongst others, and this process of spreading the question(s) is when 'we' collectively sit around the camps fire and speak of our existence, our purpose, our being that we somehow 'sense' through our senses. A religion is born... young and restless, like youth, the religion is sustained by the social group and it is this social gathering which becomes important, for it is this questioning seeking answers that glues the social group together... the commonality of greater thought than where is our next meal... a greater thought than whose turn is it to gather the berries... all necessary but bringing in those deeper thoughts, the sharing of our inner most beliefs, binds the group closer.
The Buddha, after his sojourns and seeking, sought the answers to his questions by sitting under the Bodhi, meditating. When he found his enlightenment he spoke to others, answering their questions. Those that found peace within his words followed him.
The same with Jesus - his followers found the peace they were looking for in his words, words that came from a soul that became "the son of god"... at one with his inner being.
And so religious history has gone, and will continue to do so - following the path that brings its followers together ... the binding of society. All religions depend upon "The Answers" to bind their flocks into one. Religions are dependent upon followers, and followers are dependent upon the answers that bring them a sense of peace and an understanding of their own questions, no matter the depth.
If we look at what the beginnings of any religion we find that all that have attained "the answers" to their own questions were the rebels - the one's that no knew there were answers to be had but their own questions had to be found outside their religious doctrines... these were not enough to satisfy their own quest. All the religious historical figures that we are familiar with - from Buddha through Zoroaster - went their own way to find answers to the questions that demanded answers. Once they found answers to their satisfaction they imparted these answers to those that listened, and those that listened found consolation in their words... another religion was born.
As many religions there are they all have a common ground, despite the conflict of beliefs amongst the various schools... the common ground being know thyself... awaken to your inner being... find the godhead within... see the light... the experience of attaining that special place is, at once, Heaven, Nirvana, True Peace, Truth, Enlightenment, Awakening, the Great Spirit... the names are many but the experience is the same...
It is only those that follow that do not know and so the wars continue, the battles of beliefs leave death and destruction in its wake, all because of understanding, or lack of. One would never find Buddha battling Jesus or Jesus battling Zoroaster, or Mohammed battling Moses... they knew better because they all attained the experience of Oneness and from that experience and they, too, became one "in God."
One day, should mankind continue to exist upon this one fragile planet, the only life-giving rock in our solar system, we will attain, perhaps even give birth to, Oneness, where all borders that we have created between us are dissolved, where the collective society is us... all of us, no matter our geographical location, no matter our color... we will only see the Light within each of us and No Thing will perish needlessly at the "Words of Belief" but rather flourish under the "Light of Awakening".
Cecil
20 March 2005
Spring Equinox (Northern Hemisphere)
Autumn Equinox (Southern Hemisphere)
Cecil, March '05 - Northeast Phar Lepht
