Start worrying about your religion if...

After reading my last post, a friend enquired about whether any lightning strikes have been observed heading for my increasingly faithless soul. He was joking. But the vision of bolts from heaven being thrown at the unfaithful got me thinking: Isn’t it strange that, jokingly or not, we can entertain the idea that a God who supposedly is so much better than us also can be imagined as so much worse?

I make no claims about possessing any divine qualities. But if you disagree with me, almost certainly I won’t get mad at you. Peeved maybe, but not mad. So right off I seem to be a better person that the God of the Bible, who gets really testy if you doubt him or fail to heed his commandments.

I’m not going to follow any faith that worships an entity possessing fewer good qualities than a decent human being. This would be going backwards rather than forwards. If a religion aspires to less than an exemplary person already possesses, then it is heading in the wrong direction.

Let’s make the baseline of theorized divinity the observable qualities of what is generally considered to be a “good person.” Anything above that is gravy, and possibly God—or a God-realized human being. But not anything below.

This is why I feel justified in criticizing some central aspects of both the spiritual path that I’ve been associated with for a long time—Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a.k.a. Sant Mat—and also every other organized religion that I’m acquainted with. They put before us the ideal of a supreme being that doesn’t strike me as supreme at all. And, probably not coincidentally, the personal qualities of long-time adherents of these faiths also generally fail to rise to the standard of a good atheist.

I had a coffee house conversation on this subject recently with another friend who, like me, has believed that being a teetotaler and a vegetarian is morally uplifting. Yet she said, “I’ve found that the nicest people drink and eat meat.” Part of what she meant is that these people just try to live a normal human life. They don’t think that they are doing anything special, as many of us high-minded holier-than-thou vegetarians do.

Taoists like to say that when virtue is lost, righteousness abounds. Virtue is acting naturally, doing the right thing without thinking “I’m doing the right thing!” Righteousness is acting unnaturally, following rigid rules or commandments that all too often make us a worse, rather than a better, person.

When I started to open my eyes and take a closer look both at myself and others who had been similarly pursuing the Radha Soami Satsang Beas spiritual path for many years, this is what I saw: People who seemingly could talk the spiritual game much better than they could play it and lacked the qualities of humility, courtesy, openness, self-criticism, flexibility, and, most importantly, love, that I’ve observed in many other people without a whit of faith in either God or guru.

What’s the deal here? How is it that someone who assiduously follows the tenets of a religion can end up being less of a good person than someone who just acts naturally? My suspicion is that the answer has to do with a fundamental flaw at the core of most spiritual paths: believers wrongly consider that they can become divine without first being human—truly human.

This erroneous conception is fostered if a religion or spiritual path puts forward a conception of God who himself/herself/itself possesses fewer good qualities than a decent Homo sapiens.

So I think you should start worrying about your religion if the God or guru you believe in…
--is so unloving you are punished for making mistakes
--is so vain you have to bow down before this being, literally or figuratively
--is so egotistical you must daily praise him/her/it
--is so uncaring you have to keep begging through prayers for what you need or want
--is so insecure that questions and criticisms aren’t tolerated
--is so prejudiced only certain chosen people are singled out for salvation

It’s great to belong to a church that aims to transform people into the image of God. But if that ideal is less desirable than the sort of good person I meet every day here on the streets of Salem, then maybe you should consider the virtues of becoming churchless.

Comments

[R Smith]

You're asking the right questions.

[J. Scott]

Points are well laid out...makes a great deal of sense. Puts into words the worrisome feelings I have dared to even acknowledge about the RSSB path.

[nikki]

To borrow a quote, 'Virtue is acting naturally, doing the right thing without thinking “I’m doing the right
thing!” Righteousness is acting unnaturally,...' doing the right thing so that others will marvel "they're doing the right thing!" A major turn-off of religious peoples for me is that according to their words, everyone but them is going to hell, yet according to their actions their passport to hell has been stamped long before. It is their faithful words yet shameful lifestyles that give faith a bad rap, yet many faithless people I've met are truly doing "the right thing" by just living their lives objectively and respectfully.

[ET]

Perhaps the rightous people are practicing, or trying to learn what some others have already learnt.I think we should have patience with them just as with a small child learning how to walk.

[ThoughtsLive]

I was married into a family with strong radha soami leanings. My mother in law is a blind follower and my husband had appreciated this philisophy/ way of life. After our marriage, I felt a subtle pressure to give up an agnostic lifestyle and take up Radha soami. I always felt looked down upon for my lack of faith in this school. When in the company of her and her extended family that follows this school of thought, I felt like a secondary/ second grade citizen. I eat meat, I drink sometimes and I keep pets which has never been appreciated. My mother in law loves to maintain that anyone who stays in the company of people who drink and eat meat are sinners and will surely face consequences for the same. Socially she is pleasant/ cheerful with people who show inclination to accept the RSSB school of thought, otherwise she does not mind being at her worst behaviour because those people don't matter in her life. She insisted a couple of times that I attend the weekly satsang but seeing her behaviour towards non believers and her general humanity quotient, I feel I am better off not even knowing where the satsang happens. If this satsang is only going to inculcate in me / anyone a false sense of sprituality, internal cleansing, superiority and lack of compassion... I would like to tell the babaji/ guruji/ the head that you have failed in your task. People who keep sitting through your satsangs and at the dera in beas are not conceptually clear about who they are, what they want and how should they treat fellow beings. I also see a high level of elasticity/ spinelessness when it comes to struggles and challenges in life. Whenever faced with a challenge, she would like to divert from her RSSB path and go to trantriks/ astrologers and go through the rigor of fasting and wearing some colors and avoiding others for personal benefit. How am I supposed to look upto this philosphy when I have till date not come across a truly ethical, loving, warm, social and rational follower. If the guruji's aim to to collect a herd / flock of uneducated mindsets and just have a following.... I don't think it is a good way.

[awake_108]

Hi,

How long have you been married?

What religion did you follow before your marriage into an RS family ?

Do you, at present, have any spiritual leanings towards knowing your essential reality?

An understanding of your background would be helpful before commenting on your post.

[ThoughtsLive]

Hi Awake_108,

I have been married for almost a year plus. I followed Hinduism but there were no tangible rituals, idol worship or any kind of following that we observed in our family. I would say that I only thought about religion when I had to fill in a form that required me to populate details on my religious leanings/ background. My parents come from devout hindu families but both together decided to lead neutral lives without religion playing an indespensable role in forming attitudes or giving identity.
I never visited a temple or any place of worship. I have strongly believed that rituals, place of worship have nothing much to do with ones elightenment or sprituality. I did visit monastries, mosques and cathedrals out of a sense of curiosity. I also believe that sprituality means different things to diff people. Your path of attaining moksha/ nirvana or enlightenment may have nothing to do with mine.

I do practise vipassana as a science of meditation. I don't think I have leanings at this point in time to understand my essential reality. I want to start with the bigger blocks in my life...

[awake_108]

Hi Priya,

Excuse me asking some more questions to understand your background before responding to your original queries.

How were you 'following' Hinduism without any rituals or temple visits? Was it just occasional participation in some festivals? Have you read any religious books such as the Gita or Ramayana? Have you learnt any mantras?

Are your in-laws Sikhs who have joined RS? How long have they been members of RS?

What does spirituality mean to you personally, in comparison to what others think?

How is Vipassana meditation a science to you? Is it because a Vipassana leader says so?

What life blocks are you facing?

Thanks.

[sapient]

Awake_108,
Why are you asking all these questions to Priya? Are you trying to prove in your RSSB way, why she is misfit in a RSSB family?

All she is trying to say is that whats the use and purpose of such path if it makes you uncompassionate towards anybody which doesn't follow the same. How does it matter what religion she or her in-laws or family is following?