When one starts out learning a spiritual system, there are many absolute assertions that masters make. These must be accepted with a provisional faith: Each must be tested and proved to yourself before you can believe in them.As I've made abundantly clear on this blog, I am no fan of religion. The quote above goes to the heart of the issue. Religions are all about EXTERNAL assertions. Adherents are told to believe this and that because somebody else decided such tenants should be accepted as truth.
~ from 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, Entry 85 ~
Most religions that I'm aware of -- this is particularly true of the various brands of fundamentalist Christianity that pervade this country -- are loath to want "believers" to test or prove anything to themselves. When you walk in the door, they hand you the unquestioned rulebook and you are charged with twisting and bending your life to their interpretation of what the rulebook says.
And what is the result of all this twisting and bending? A lot of angry and lost people. They tend to vent this anger, not only on themselves, but on anyone who dares to align themselves with even a slightly different brand of belief.
Philosophical Taoism, on the other hand, encourages people to test and prove everything. Don't take anything based on some other person's beliefs. Each of us must walk our own path. Each of us must discover for ourselves what embodies harmony in our own lives.
Very true. We tend in this field to have a group of similar truths but unique perspectives elsewhere. We also seem to have this questioning nature. We have the ability to let others have their ideas while we explore our own.
ReplyDeleteIn a room full of Taoists you could have so many conversations and all learn from each other. We do all seem to learn from watching others and watching ourselves.
I never took to the structure, contradictions and weak interpretations that religions offered. I was lucky to be brought up in a home with no religion, but I was even more fortunate to find Taoism as it informed me that a unique path was the path.