Reflections and Musings

March 5th, 1998

I've been reading another of Marianne Williamson's books, Illuminata, which I picked up at the library yesterday. I'm not very far into it yet, but I stumbled across a quote that I liked...

"I used to think I was not religious, and perhaps I was not. I didn't like what organized religion had done to the world; I still do not. I have come to see, however, that true religion is internal, not external. The spirit within us cannot be blamed for the blasphemies carried out in its name. What some have done in the name of religion, projecting their neuroses, even perpetrating evil on the world, does not make religion as a mystical phenomenon invalid."

I think the key phrase for me in that excerpt is organized religion. Religion is not something we are meant to be given or to have forced upon by others, it's something we need to look inside ourselves and find. I have no qualms with individuals joining to share their insights, to tell others what they have learned, but turning religion into this great big political heirarchy seems like it's always going to lead to trouble of some sort.

I'm not saying that the Pope is evil, or that going to church is wrong, or anything along those lines; I'm just saying that, as in any chain of command, there is the chance for corruption and the chance to mislead a large group of people who come to follow their leader instead of to think for themselves.

I'm no history buff... I'd like to know a lot more about it, but it's a slow process for me, as I like to hunt down bits and pieces of information and have a very hard time reading through dry history books. Despite that, I have read bits and pieces here and there, sometimes from somewhat unlikely places, like Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods. At any rate, I have read about some of the things organized religion has lead people to do. The destruction of the library at Alexandria stands out first and foremost in my mind.

I can't help but wonder that if that library had somehow been preserved until what we call modern times, what might have been learned from it. Or what might have been learned from the ancient peoples of South America. That information can now never be reclaimed, because of misguided leaders who perhaps feared that their power base would be destroyed if their followers ever learned there were other ways.

|| Previous Entry | Next Entry || || Home | Journal Index ||

< back two < previous < [ list all | next five | random ]

This Webring site owned by Lisana.

> next > ahead two > [ about open pages | about webring ]

Rose Background by: