What is Open Religion?
Open Religion is a project by itself. Its aim is to be able to talk religiously and at the same time put religion itself – as a phenomenon – into sub-conceptual context. [see: ‘About ‘Subconceptual’] There are many religions. In the course of time, there have been many more, now forgotten or not practiced anymore. Read the full article…
What about the Jesus Politics?
The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament depict a figure intensely focused on Compassion, humility, and the internal transformation of individuals rather than directly on political systems. Jesus was not overtly political by today’s standards; rather, he presented principles that were radical for the time and remain thought-provoking today. If we consider these teachings, Read the full article…
Psychedelics and Religion
The connection between psychedelic and religious experiences is grounded in the concept of subconceptual processing. Thus, we can focus on the transformative potential of both when approached with respect. The profoundness of genuine religious experiences should never be diminished. These encounters offer transformative insights, shaping individuals’ lives in deeply meaningful ways. Interestingly, psychedelic experiences can Read the full article…
The Deeper Meaning of ‘Godless’
Many people adhere to a specific religion mainly to shield themselves from being ‘godless.’ To them, ‘godless’ means a lack of morality, depth, a profound sense of community, a personal feeling of sacredness, a certainty of justice, and the meaningful prospect of an afterlife. That is quite something. Moreover, the list is not meant to Read the full article…
Science x Religion = Disaster?
Combining the pragmatic possibilities of present-day science with the imagined truths of traditional religion is a combustible mixture ― a recipe for disaster. Humanity has gained super-human technological power. Yet, currently, we see science often focusing on externalities and religion being trapped in ancient dogmas that are mutually contradictory. We urgently need to get beyond Read the full article…
Faith without Belief
This blog explores the possibility of maintaining faith within a specific tradition, cherishing personal and shared experiences while not intellectually adhering to beliefs that conflict with rationality. Is this possible? Belief and faith are often seen as inseparable. Consequently, rigid belief – rooted in specific historical events or conceptual descriptions – and faith – as Read the full article…
It’s about the Symbols
Symbols, more than just representations, connect to deep-seated patterns of mental content. This underscores the profound influence symbols can have on our non-conscious mind and behavior. Fundamentally, humans are symbol processors. Often, we don’t consciously act as such, but it fundamentally shapes our behavior. This non-conscious processing can lead to seemingly irrational choices, driven by Read the full article…
Neurons, Mental Depth, and Open Religion
Many people sense a connection between these three concepts, but how strong and in what ways? In reality, we know quite a lot about their interrelatedness. Patterns It all starts, more or less, with synapses, neurons, and the patterns they create — essentially mental patterns. These patterns underlie all mental activity, illustrating the profound connection Read the full article…
Sacred Space
In many religious settings, a ‘sacred space’ represents a tangible location where extraordinary events may occur. According to specific belief systems, a divine presence might be particularly felt there. Such spaces can also symbolize the meeting point of the mundane and the divine, enhancing a person’s spiritual experience. Ubiquitous This concept is prevalent in most Read the full article…
Opening Religion
This is the introduction to a Lisa File (53 p.). If you want the whole file, please contact lisa@aurelis.org, stating who you are and why you want the file. For more about the Lisa Files, click here. In a world increasingly characterized by diversity and interconnectedness, the need for a more inclusive and flexible approach to Read the full article…
Compassionate Evangelicalism, an Invitation
Evangelicalism has an immense impact on world politics. It counts 80 million adherents (voters) in the US and many also in other countries such as Brazil. At its core, it is about sharing the good news — literally, the Evangelion of Jesus. For centuries, this has been understood as the message of salvation, a call Read the full article…
The Future of Open Religion
The future of Open Religion, >as explored in many blogs<, foresees a significant transformation in religious experiences and beliefs. This blog integrates some key points. At its core, the future of Open Religion is about inclusivity, Compassion, and profound understanding, surpassing traditional boundaries and cultivating a global community founded on shared spiritual values and experiences. Read the full article…
God = Human Non-Conscious?
From a scientific perspective, the human non-conscious is best understood as a direction. Whether it’s a direction within or through the non-conscious as an entity remains uncertain. Should we care? In both scenarios, the path appears endless, and the experience remains the same. The direction is toward the inside. Thus, from an ego perspective, it Read the full article…
Jesus was a Humanist
Jesus’ teachings, if ever He lived and as recorded in the Gospels, emphasize Compassion, tolerance, and care for the oppressed, the poor, and the marginalized. Also, He was a steadfast advocate for peace and understanding, values that are central to humanism. From a deeper perspective From a deeper perspective, Jesus’ emphasis on inner transformation and Read the full article…
An Aurelian Take on Jesus
This is the introduction to a Lisa File (36 p.). If you want the whole file, please contact lisa@aurelis.org, stating who you are and why you want the file. For more about the Lisa Files, click here. This document presents a unique perspective that delves into the figure of Jesus through the lens of the Aurelian Read the full article…
The End of NOMA
‘Non-Overlapping MAgisteria’ (NOMA) is the traditional division between science and religion. Did it ever truly work as claimed? It still mainly seems to enable scientists to artificially keep their religion while knowing better. ‘Non-overlapping’ So, this used to be the pretension: that they don’t overlap at all — therefore, have nothing to say one about Read the full article…
True Religion
Religions often view each other as ‘false.’ In this sense, every religion is deemed false by someone within the religious sphere. But can we fundamentally talk about ‘false religion’? Religious feelings are never false. That’s an essential point. One can fake religious feelings, but then there are no genuine feelings to be false. True religious Read the full article…
Dancing with the Divine
Religious feeling, such as in prayer, can be seen as a dance with the divine, where both partners invite each other. It’s a continuous two-way communication. In this regard, the concrete meaning of the divine is secondary. It’s about a general feature — or should be, in the best case. Think of it from the Read the full article…
Heaven Weeps over War
Religion has played a causal role in many wars and still does. This is the weirdest thing in the universe. In this blog, I take the position that religion is about more than just a fairy tale. Being raised in a post-Vatican-II Catholic environment, what has struck me most and has stuck till the present Read the full article…
Importance of Symbolic Reality
In the West, most people live in a rather exclusively conceptual (view upon) reality. The negligence of the symbolic (view upon) reality leads to mental impoverishment and suffering. Symbolic reality is everywhere. This is because complexity is everywhere. That makes reality (the human environment) too intractable for merely conceptual communication in both directions. This means Read the full article…
Being Catholic and Open Religious?
The question is relevant to any faith or denomination. Does Openness (to one’s deeper self) open faith or preclude it? Feeling Catholic It may be better to think about feeling than being. What else to do if you think you’re Catholic, but you don’t feel like it? On the other hand, if you profoundly feel Read the full article…
Are You Open Religious?
The Open Religion Questionnaire (ORQ) is a list of 30 assertions (actually, in-depth questions) meant to make you think about whether you would qualify yourself as ‘Open Religious.’ The sum of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers is no more than an indication. It also depends on the relative importance you attach to each assertion. Moreover, your Read the full article…
Opening Religions — Meaningfully
Opening religions – this is, the Open Religion endeavor – should lead to more deeper meaningfulness — certainly not less. Organized religions typically provide deep meaningfulness through storytelling. That is their main strength and also their main problem — not in the storytelling itself but through the frequently mistaken unification of the story and reality. Read the full article…
Does ‘Salam’ Mean Submission or Peace?
To me, there are two fundamentally different kinds of Muslims according to this distinction. ‘Salam,’ as in Islam and Muslim ― same root, also as ‘sjalom’ in Hebrew. I intend no denigration of Islam or any other religion. Every religion is worthwhile if one dares to fall deeply inside. Otherwise, it’s just a sociocultural happening. Read the full article…
Have Christians Forgotten Jesus?
Or better, have many Christians ever known Jesus? Apparently, many have not to the full extent. This blog puts Jesus in the present. Why? It just feels right while writing, as it also feels right to treat him not as a god or fairy tale personage but as a human being for now. What a Read the full article…
Jerusalem — City of God
This is meant to be(come) the city where people of all creeds can be together in Open Religion (see this category). No deeply religious insight, feeling, or motivation needs to be discarded. If you are religious, please try to deepen the feeling ― an endless direction. If a non-enemy of thy enemy can only be Read the full article…
Freedom is Space for Soul
Different people and different cultures seek soul in different ways. Yet there is a related search for freedom and space (free space) in all of them. ‘Soul’ is used here in a spiritual sense, transcending any specific religion or even religion as a whole. It’s about subconceptual mental processing without saying where or whether it Read the full article…
Rites and Vain Repetitions
In religious or other contexts, rites can be tokens of something special happening. On the other hand, they can be effective without meaning — as vain repetitions. See also: Rituals. Like stones around a campfire These stones denote the fire’s borders — a clear delineation of the campfire. This is useful and even helps the Read the full article…
Are Religious Symbols Placebos or Invitations?
This depends on how they are interpreted and used. The difference is crucial even though the dividing line can be fuzzy. With ‘invitations’ in this setting, I mean Aurelian autosuggestions. As placebos A placebo is something on the outside that carries the pretention of causing something that is, in reality, caused by the inside of Read the full article…
Toward One Religion
Behind any religion lies the one. How could it be otherwise? Eventually, there is only room for one. And it is Open. See: What is Open Religion? Behind any religion Religious people of any creed or denomination may feel this. Generally, it is seen as a ‘mystical’ feeling ― transcending somehow what is felt by Read the full article…
And the Mother did Weep
It is Good Friday today. Jesus may have existed. He may have died on the cross exactly 1990 years ago. His mother may have wept. She may have wept as if weeping would be there for always. Damned. I don’t know whether He existed or whether He died on the cross. I don’t think so, Read the full article…
The Real God
Yes, I know. But it’s time we get to religious adulthood, isn’t it? Even then, there’s a long way to go, so let’s start moving. You don’t have to follow me if it makes you feel bad. Please follow yourself and enjoy the journey. I can only invite you. We might meet each other eventually. Read the full article…
Are Religions Ready for Openness?
In the long term, religions seem to evolve toward Openness, be it with ups and downs. Possibly, we are standing before an era in which the gates will be thrown Open. Much readiness is needed to make this happen in a gentle way. Fundamentalism is the reaction towards closedness. We see fundamentalism growing stronger within Read the full article…
One Sacredness for All
People from any religion can feel that sacredness transpires through their religion. Can they also feel sacredness transpire through other religions? Can you? Sacredness versus reductionism For the reductionist, the only ontologically real entities are particles in motion, to which any other complexity in the universe can be reduced and explained. Sacredness is the faith Read the full article…
AURELIS Coaching is ‘Spiritual’
‘Spiritual’ as in ‘deeper self,’ this is: inspired, inspirational, spirit, even ‘Holy Spirit’ ― symbolically speaking. This contrasts with merely symptomatic relief in health or any other domain. This shows in aim and means. The aim of AURELIS coaching In contrast to Western medicine’s objective in mental issues, the direct aim of AURELIS is not Read the full article…
The Future of Religion
The future domain of religion will be essentially different from the present organized religions. Nevertheless, people will not be missing out on anything fundamentally worthwhile. This is a description of the setting in which many as yet unknowables will have their place. Symbols and signs A sign is horizontal; a symbol is vertical. Signs are Read the full article…
Why Open Religion is Global
OK ― Not yet global in its present reach. The global aspect lies in its openness to everyone: believers and non-believers, anywhere in the world. Please read: What is Open Religion? How can non-believers adhere to Open Religion? You don’t have to believe in any conceptual construct ― no god, saint, angel, heaven, or hell. Read the full article…
Religion vs. ‘Meaningless Humanism’
This tension has been brewing for centuries on a global scale. With deeper insight into the human being, we can get beyond. Let’s do so. Some history For at least some 350 years, there has been a movement in the West that wanted to emancipate the human being from what was felt by many as Read the full article…
Religion of Anxiety versus Religion of Compassion
It seems to me that anxiety and Compassion are the two main – and mutually opposed – deep drivers of religiosity. All secondary drivers build on these. This goes beyond a God-fearing stance and any concretely conceptual belief. FYI, I am not an adherent to any denomination on the planet nor the universe. Nevertheless, I Read the full article…
A Religious Question
When doing away with all conceptual things from your religious denomination, what would remain that you find crucial to yourself? For the atheist reader: Give me a break, and let me talk about God in this text in a manner as poetic as you unknowingly talk about many things. If you fall over this, you Read the full article…
How to Light a Little Candle
Lighting a candle in a church or any other temple can be a meditative moment with profound value. The meditative direction can be on ‘emptiness’ – less evident to many – or it can be a contemplation on something or someone. It’s all OK ― in principle. However. No God in the entire Universe understands Read the full article…
Sea of Faith
It’s an excellent idea, all religions coming together in a sea of faith. For someone outside of any organized religion, this may feel like coming home for oneself and everyone else. It didn’t work out in the past. On several occasions, in places as remote from each other as the Netherlands and India, attempts have Read the full article…
Religious Belief Revisited
This is about any religious belief, credence, or denomination from any time and place. What does the girl in the image (Muslim or Catholic) think of this text’s title? Nothing religious without depth Anything purely conceptual – clear characteristics, crisp boundaries from other concepts – can be crystal clear but cannot have human depth since Read the full article…
Open Religion in Every Religion
Open Religion can be seen as a direction that can be taken from any conceptual religion. Alternatively, it can be seen as potentially present within the latter ― making Openness more easily accessible to many. I write of ‘religion’ here in a broad sense. For instance, Buddhism is another religion in which Open Religion can Read the full article…
Superficial Symbolism
There’s a lot of superficial symbolism around, especially in alternative medicines and New-Age spirituality, but also in old traditions such as freemasonry. Is ‘superficial symbolism’ possible? Not literally since symbolism itself is about depth. [see: “Symbolism: How-To”] But one can feign depth, or one can think to reach it by just putting stuff together that Read the full article…
God is in the Eye of the Believer
Is it not time to stop fighting for nothing and find the door that leads to everything? To believe is to belove (same origin of the word). God is in the eye of the one who is in love with what is right before him ― be it a person, a view, or the universe. Read the full article…
Explosion of the Heart
Nothing changes, and nothing is the same anymore after such individual experience. An open landscape may emerge for all to be one. Peak experience Maslow called it a peak experience, but, indeed, it is an explosion of the heart. It can happen in very diverse circumstances. We’ll see three examples. An explosion of the heart Read the full article…
Religion and Compassion
Compassion = Open Religion? Please read first [see: “Essence of Compassion“] to get a feel of appropriate un-easiness. That is always a good start towards Compassion. Compassion, the road towards nonbelief A belief in a conceptual anything is not religious in my use of terminology. I foresee a gentle slope towards Open Religion [see: “What Read the full article…
In Search of Nonbelief
Taking Inner Strength as goal, nothing should stand between it and the person as an individual. Lending much-needed proper support to this is the Aurelian way. In this blog text, the concept of ‘belief’ denotes the result from a continual search for deeper meaning whereby this result doesn’t flow naturally from inside out. Such belief Read the full article…
Spirituality – Deep vs. Superficial
What shows itself as spirituality may be pretty superficial. Please read first: [see: “Spirituality“] Many people seem to be looking for the superficial kind. Many are not even looking for spirituality in spirituality, but rather any evasion ― providing the idea that “this is not all” while not carrying any threat. The ‘search for spirituality’ Read the full article…
Grace
In depth, nothing happens automatically. In organic growth, nothing happens automatically. During an AURELIS-session, nothing happens automatically. Yet it happens as-by-itself, gracefully. Etymology The term ‘grace’ is derived from the ancient Greek ‘Χάρις,’ denoting a favor or gift of kindness, beauty, nature, human creativity. Grace is gratifying, literally, figuratively, or spiritually. Charites were ancient goddesses Read the full article…
Each Belief Deserves Respect – In Freedom, Openness, and Depth
We are not going to get out of a big religious mess without respect and a huge exercise in ‘saying yes.’ Religion and belief A religious feeling is, well, a feeling. And It’s religious. So far, so good. It can be a wonderful, poetic feeling. To me, ‘religion’ is about this feeling. [see: “The Religious Read the full article…
Sacredness, Sacrilege, Openness
In matters of traditional religion, this turns everything inside out. The words one uses are unimportant. What lies behind is hugely important. ►►► WHY read this? To relieve suffering and enhance human growth through what is most important for many.◄◄◄ Enemies God-fearing people still frequently see atheists as their enemies. An atheist doesn’t say: “I Read the full article…
Open Religious Atheism
Open Religion is, in Openness, not tied to any exclusive image of God, nor even to the exclusivity of God. Openness is Open to what is not easily, or not at all conceptually graspable. Even talking about ‘God’ is at the edge of being able to do so. ►►► WHY read this? All religion is Read the full article…
Killing Babies? – Nobody Does
No sane person likes killing babies. I don’t like killing babies. I don’t like the killing of babies. I don’t like the idea of babies getting killed. Babies should be respected as human beings. But put one cell together with another cell, and there is no baby. Calling that a baby is disrespectful to babies. Read the full article…
Is Religion Poetry? – Is Poetry of Highest Value?
Poetry as a way of being, of being motivated, of giving attention is religion. ►►► WHY read this? Religion is frequently non-poetic. In a rational age, this leads to huge clashes and fundamentalism.◄◄◄ Religion, poetry. It is exactly the same. Good poetry is an orientation, as is religion. Good poetry is a metaphor, as is Read the full article…
The Religious Feeling – What Religion Has Always Been About
The religious feeling lives deeply inside and everywhere. It is ubiquitous and invisible. It can be supported and downplayed without anyone’s knowing. It is very much Open. What I dare say One can have full-blown religious feeling without believing anything conceptual. There is no need to lose anything of this feeling by ‘not believing.’ The Read the full article…
Symbolism: How-To
Symbolism is invitation, from a to z. Invited is deeper meaning. ‘How-to’ should be sought at this level, bringing the symbol ever closer to YOU. This text is about your experience. It is not about any superficial kind of better or worse. It’s your doing, your experience, your depth. Do something else and the experience Read the full article…
Every Religion Is Open
Many existing religions are incompatible with each other. To me, these incompatibilities are – one way or another – as many signs of superficiality. Underlying this is Openness, as in: ‘Open direction to God.’ [see also: “Religion IS Openness”] Dare I speak of God? Dare you? God is a ‘concept’ that means something different to Read the full article…
Supernatural is Natural
If ‘everything that is’ is denoted as nature, then how can the supernatural be anything more than nature? Oops, did I already say – within this question – everything that needs to be said? Of course, it’s terminological. I just equalized ‘nature’ with something of my own choice. Indeed? But what is another option for Read the full article…
The Temporal Eye
In memory of a personal experience. Sitting at a bench looking over a field of grass and a pond. Trees in the distance. Sunshine. Late afternoon. Very relaxed. Becoming the trees. You may see this as a mystical experience. I do, if ever there is one. Being the trees. No difference between them there and Read the full article…
From Symbolism to Psychosis
I see a continuum between both. That should not be a reason to avoid symbols. Quite the contrary. Mainly: no blame to anyone! A continuum Working with symbols may in unfortunate circumstances lead to a darker progression. This needs to be managed. Actually, any symbolic experience [see: ‘Symbolism lost. Symbolism regained.’] can be seen as Read the full article…
Why Bother about Symbols?
Symbols bring another dimension to life. I would even say: they bring life to life. Without symbols, one way or another, we do not live a full life. [see also: “A Symbol Is Always YOU”] ‘Not fully living’: as if that would be possible. Of course, truth is: we need symbols. Without them, we are Read the full article…
Spontaneity: How-To
The main thing: not putting visible stuff in the way. Letting all ‘stuff in the way’ be invisible, transparent. Then, of course, it is the other way. [Please read first: “Spontaneity”] It doesn’t satisfy ‘one who wants.’ If this is you, then please try to make your wanting transparent. This is precisely the way to Read the full article…
Spontaneity
is the most important characteristic of life. It is very deeply falling within, then coming all the way out again and ‘meeting the world.’ Religion, Eastern enlightenment… Big words, emphasizing that, seemingly, very important stuff is going on. That is correct. It’s important stuff with huge consequences. Think of the misery that has been brought Read the full article…
Symbols and Signs
A sign is horizontal. A symbol is vertical. There is a lot of confusion about this. A traffic light is a sign. If the light is red, you know what that sign-ifies. A sign is always simple: A points to B. A à B In the mind, A is the mental concept that we can Read the full article…
Jesus = Compassion
This is an example of what can be found in any worthwhile religion. He – he – Him – him Since it transcends the conceptual, I can write He and Him as well as he and him. I know he wouldn’t mind either. I leave the capitals now mainly for the sake of those who Read the full article…
The Good Ritual
What constitutes the concrete appearance of a ‘good ritual’? According to me, the answer lies more in the deeper ‘why’ and in the deeper ‘how’ of the ‘what’ than in the ‘what’ itself. [please first read: ‘Rituals’] In religion(s), rituals mostly grow quite organically. What if one would want to ‘make’ a new ritual to Read the full article…
A Symbol Is Always YOU
Symbolism is always vertical, a communication between conceptual and subconceptual. In this sense, it is always about YOU. [see also: ‘Symbolism lost. Symbolism regained.’] ‘Vertical’? As in this drawing, showing the difference between an analogy (concept-to-concept) and a symbol: Eventually, it’s about you as a total person, body and mind, conceptual [see: ‘About Concepts’] and Read the full article…
No Rationality without Poetry
Rationality without poetry (‘depth’) is meaningless. Moreover: it’s not even rational. Thus, better call it ‘rationality’ (between brackets). [see: ‘AURELIS USP: ‘100% Rationality, 100% Depth’] Rationality is not only about concepts Of course, conceptual thinking is of huge importance. No doubt. However, through correct conceptual thinking, one can arrive at its own limits: 100% conceptual Read the full article…
Opening Religion
This is, as I see it, mainly to be done through opening related concepts. ‘Opening concepts’ One should see this rationally / conceptually AND, even mainly, sub-conceptually: meditatively. This brings a difference in methodology as well as in results. Both are to be seen much more as ‘creative’. As any of my writing, actually. A Read the full article…
The Gentle Slope between Closed and Open Religion
People tend to be trapped at either side of ‘closed religion’. Getting un-trapped may thus be hard and hurtful. Before reading this, [see: ‘Triangle of Religion’]. With ‘closed religion’, I mean: where within the core itself, the inside and the outside of a specific system of belief are mutually exclusive. To the adherents, the main Read the full article…
How to Use Symbols
Any symbol. Let’s say you are a religious person. Then symbols may ‘talk’ to you. How? [see also: ‘Symbolism lost. Symbolism regained’] Eventually, any symbol is… you. You are the crystal. Does light shine from you or through you? It depends on how you look at ‘you’. Does your mind only consist of conscious – Read the full article…
I Believe
I confess: I do indeed believe. I believe in Beauty because beauty brings motivation to believe in myself and live this life. No beauty, no me. I believe in beauty because I feel such. Firsthand. What else can I do? I mean: look at this world. I believe in Beauty, as I believe in beauty of Read the full article…
Religion IS Openness
In order to ‘make deepest connection’ (re-ligare), Openness as an invitation may be sufficient to let it happen in a natural flow. This is not about openness at a purely conceptual level. It is not about ‘talking the truth’. It is rather about ‘deeply being truthful’. Of course, this is not incompatible with talking the Read the full article…
Rituals
An action becomes a ritual when it is repeated and when it is deeply meaningful. For this, one needs to be open to it. ‘Open’ as in ‘Open Religion.’ A ritual is a repetitive action to which one attaches ‘deeper meaning’. Without ‘deeper meaning’, a ritual has no, well, meaning. It’s like an empty box, Read the full article…
Inter-Religious, Deep Down
… instead of an inter-religious ‘dialogue’ that conglomerates only at the surface, while depth is safely kept out of the picture. Because that is of course no dialogue in the first place. It’s rubbing-each-other in order to elicit good feelings and putting a nice image to outside. Hidden agendas remain unchanged. Sorry. No dialogue. Even Read the full article…
Why Religion?
Religion seems to be at least as old as humanity. Thus, is it innate and not to be ‘lost’ without losing something that is intrinsically human? Many ways Worldwide, although the number of ‘non-believers’ seems to be growing rapidly, most people are religious. They seem to desire religion as something of huge importance in their Read the full article…
Spiritual Leadership
Enthusiasm: theos = ‘god’. | Inspiration: spirit = ‘deeper mind’. ‘Spiritual leadership’ is what leadership has always been about. Consciousness unexplained Since ages, people have sought explanations for that what comes from their deeper self into consciousness – what one is consciously aware of – . No mental conscious content (thought, feeling, emotion…) originates in Read the full article…
Everyday Mysticism
This doesn’t downgrade mysticism to everyday. It upgrades everyday to mysticism. Every day, fleeting moments of mysticism For example, a sense of deep wonder or awe for a beautiful sunrise, in the train from Antwerp to Brussels. For example, a beautiful song that carries me (much) further than usual. For example, a shared insight during Read the full article…
Triangle of Religion
This triangle is a ‘landscape of religion’ at a conceptual level, showing ‘Open Religion’ as part of this landscape. This is all very conceptual. Concrete religions or ‘ways to experience religion’ are situated somewhere within the triangle, not therefore at the corners or sides. Three corners of the triangle Within the triangle, you see a Read the full article…
AURELIS and ‘Esotericism’
If it’s your intention to be open all the way, then you have to be open to all sides and not closed to some specific one. Unless it would be the of being-closed itself. This certainly is important when it’s not easy, when people tend to misunderstand, when people interpret their attachment to certain ideas Read the full article…
Eyes of Soul
People have been looking for ‘God’ everywhere outside themselves. Then also inside themselves. Contrary to both, ‘eyes of soul’ points to the looking itself. Something When people use the term ‘God’, all you can know for certain – well, more or less – is that they use the term ‘God’. Apparently, they use it to Read the full article…
Humanism with a Vengeance
Humanism: ‘man is the measure of all things.’ Vengeance: this is about the total human being – partly conscious, mostly nonconscious. Many faces of humanism, yesterday and today Among them, I see ‘humanism’ as what puts human being at the forefront, thus not – apart from human being – any organization: no religion, no politics, Read the full article…
Is AURELIS a Sect?
… in that case I would be a guru, with all its negative connotations… No, thank you, I would rather not. Originally ‘guru’ simply means ‘teacher’. Then I think: a good ‘teacher’ strives to educate his ‘students’ so that they become better than himself. In that case, there might be an element of truth in Read the full article…
Symbolism and Placebo
These two domains have lots in common. Rationality cuts through both, but in essentially different ways. Power to the people As a matter of fact, the ‘power’ of a symbol doesn’t lie in the physical symbol itself, just as the ‘power’ of a placebo doesn’t lie in the placebo itself. It lies in the person Read the full article…
Words Like ‘Soul’ Are Not the Exclusive Right of Religion
Not of any specific religion, nor of ‘religion’ in general. It is therefore high time for a kind of ‘science of the deeper self’ that distinguishes itself from ‘religion’ in the sense that it is not based on a dogma or a story. You can compare it with astronomy that has emancipated from astrology +/- Read the full article…
Religion is a Conversation between God and Me
In the course of time, many have been killed for daring to say so. Many of these have found it worthwhile nevertheless. God and me ― an introduction For the sake of this text at least, we can take a very broad view on the notion of ‘God’. It can be the one (or many) Read the full article…
Secular Society
Secularism = the individual’s right to be free from the imposition of any religion by government, in a state declared to be neutral on matters of belief. [This text goes further upon ‘Freedom of Religion’.] Sustainability from the start ‘Secular society’ is about ‘freedom of religion.’ But not only that. In order to be sustainable, Read the full article…
Freedom of Religion
It seems a nice endeavor, the ‘best thing to do’. But is it even possible at an individual level? Is anyone ‘free to believe’? Let’s agree that you don’t believe in the existence of unicorns. Are you then ‘free to believe’ in them? Can you take a conscious decision to believe in such? I cannot Read the full article…
Is ‘Open Religion’ the Future?
In a world replete with separate religions, that what overlaps-in-depth may show a way towards Open Religion. Being an adherent of one specific religion at the principled exclusion of others, is definitely not open. ‘Inter-religious dialogue’ is in many cases just a kindly disguised way to (non-)accept each other for some specific common goal. We Read the full article…
Islamic Veil
This is an example of a broader issue. There is nothing intrinsically particular to Islam nor to the veil, besides being a kind-of-religion and a kind-of-piece of cloth. Open Religion I see a huge difference between nonconceptual re-ligion (‘Open Religion’) and any conceptual ‘god-view’ called religion where openness, depth… are barely understood. For more about Read the full article…
Science = Re-ligion
Science is frequently seen as partly or even completely opposite to religion. In the sense of re-ligion however, things get reversed. Science is the quest to know the universe as it is and not as someone of a few centuries or even millennia ago has imagined it. Back then, almost nothing was known on many Read the full article…
Spirituality
In all times, spirituality has been about how people consciously deal with their own non-conscious mind. Has the endeavor been worthwhile and may it lead to a new dawn? Spirit = internal: the way of using one’s mind without immediate crystallizations of ‘thinking’ into ‘thoughts’ – thus: what happens in the mind before conceptualization. Scientifically, Read the full article…
75. Religion with no object
What’s in a name? Nothing. In some cases, even much less than nothing. ◊◊◊ In this world, many things are called ‘religion’ that clearly have nothing to do with what it can mean. Obvious: religion is not about believing that it will rain tomorrow (Is there a 20% chance? 60%?). Likewise, religion is not about Read the full article…
74. What’s in a book?
Believing in the bible, is not the same as believing in God. It’s believing in the ones who say the bible comes directly from God. Then the question is: why should anyone believe those guys? Because they have good marketing support? Because they have pointed ears? Because they believe in other guys who believe in Read the full article…
Open Religion = Poetry
Respect is due to all people, but not to anything just because it’s called ‘religion.’ Open religion = poetry. Let’s just say: religion = poetry. I’m not talking about words, rhythm and rhyme, although poetry of course can also be cast as such. It’s also much wider: the poetry of any art, the poetry of Read the full article…
51. Jesus! What do you think of all these stigmata?
“I have it in the palm of my hand… I used to have not the least sign of a wound. Then the lord Jesus came to me and blessed me with these signs of His own passion. Now I have the same signs as He had after being nailed on the cross.” ◊◊◊ What should Read the full article…
Is God Conscious?
If God, then: it would be unimaginable for him to not be conscious. However, it would also be unimaginable for him to be conscious. What with a nonconscious God? We humans generally associate ‘free will’ with the presence of consciousness. A person without any consciousness at all would be in deep sleep or in a Read the full article…
37. Religion explained
Scientists keep looking for God in the minds of people. In this endeavor, experiments have been done whereby certain centers of the brain are stimulated by an electromagnetic field. Especially in conditions of sensory deprivation, people can thereby start having hallucinations with a very religious undertone. Something like ‘seeing the light and this light is Read the full article…
28. Do miracle cures happen?
What is certain to me, is that miracle cures do not happen in a mechanical way. You cannot simply ‘ask’ something from ‘Above’ and expect to receive it. ◊◊◊ Something very special is needed. You have to transcend mechanical thinking. This can only be done by transcending your conscious thinking, since this is trapped as Read the full article…
Symbolism lost. Symbolism regained.
If an analogy is horizontal, a symbol is vertical. An analogy is ‘played out’ at one plane. A symbol transcends all planes. An analogy can elucidate something. It cannot deeply touch someone. X analogically represents Y, whereby Y is equally conceptual as X. An analogy has no depth. It is played out at only one Read the full article…