{"id":2761,"date":"2019-11-29T15:32:09","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T15:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=2761"},"modified":"2019-08-05T07:15:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T07:15:11","slug":"religion-is-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/open-religion\/religion-is-open","title":{"rendered":"Every Religion Is Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Many existing religions are incompatible with each other. To me, these incompatibilities are \u2013 one way or another \u2013 as many signs of superficiality. Underlying this is Openness, as in: &#8216;Open direction to God.&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>[see also: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog?p=2186\">Religion IS Openness<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dare I speak of God?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dare you? God is a \u2018concept\u2019 that means something different to each culture and within any culture, to each person.<\/p>\n<p>One can see in this that God is a <em>personal<\/em> experience, a <em>personal<\/em> relationship at least from one side. People can talk about God and recognize God in the talking of others. Yet someone who thinks that God is reducible to his own private concept is mistaken.<\/p>\n<p>God can be found in pure consciousness [see: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog?p=2757\">Pure Consciousness<\/a>\u201d] which is Openness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The history of religions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>shows that no religion has \u2018fallen from the sky.\u2019 They may proclaim so, but historically, we know that the genesis of any religion is messy.<\/p>\n<p>Take Christianity, which I know best: extremely messy. As a teenager, I went to the \u2018College of the Holy Trinity.\u2019 Well. Christianity barely started to be \u2018a religion\u2019 and already [1 = 3] didn\u2019t add up at all \u2013 in spite of Nicaea \u2013 for Arians versus Athanasians versus the whole lot. And so on, and so on, almost indefinitely.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t let yourself be fooled: no religion has escaped immense messiness. This said:<\/p>\n<p><strong>within the core of <u>every<\/u> faith lies Openness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In many cases, this is especially apparent in the beginning stages, when an organization has not yet taken over, institutionalizing, closing doors, driving believers towards one gateway which leads not directly to heaven (God) but to the institution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are not strong enough by themselves, so they need us, the institution(s).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This has always been a ridiculous argument, posited by \u2018us\u2019 who then fare well by it, be it in status, money, power.<\/p>\n<p><u>Every<\/u> religion is about Openness. If an institution is not about Openness, it is not about religion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So, dear pope or whatever, be humble<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>at least, if you want to guide people. And indeed, they (= we) need guidance. A lot of it.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t done by closing doors, helping your aggrandizement, but by helping people to deal with open ones. This way, people can gently open them at appropriate moments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I mean: Opening their own doors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>with a big O, because it\u2019s about Openness to deep inside. Open as in Open Religion. [see: \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog?p=1051\">What is Open Religion?<\/a>\u2019]<\/p>\n<p>Open as in any religion. All of them have struggled with this. Indeed, all of them have sought for ways to accomplish it as well as possible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So, why don\u2019t we see more of it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My guess: it is challenging to get a good feel, a good insight into the reality of human nonconscious processing.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, it is not evident for individuals to take this direction, including in their religious quest.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, one can easily make the mistake of looking <em>towards<\/em> outside without noticing that one is looking <em>from<\/em> deep inside, or even \u2013 in introspection \u2013 <em>towards<\/em> deep inside.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals who do so, tend to find themselves alone, if not very lonely. Moreover: in an environment that may be hostile towards any endeavor to subvert existing schemes, vested interests, institutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Still, to the core, the aim of any religion is precisely to be Open.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every religion is basically Open.<\/p>\n<p>We will get there.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-2761\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many existing religions are incompatible with each other. To me, these incompatibilities are \u2013 one way or another \u2013 as many signs of superficiality. Underlying this is Openness, as in: &#8216;Open direction to God.&#8217; [see also: \u201cReligion IS Openness\u201d] Dare I speak of God? Dare you? God is a \u2018concept\u2019 that means something different to <a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/open-religion\/religion-is-open\">Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"2761\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-2761\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/412.jpg?fit=960%2C564&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fdiq-Ix","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2761"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2766,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2761\/revisions\/2766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}