On religion, spirituality and the Supreme Being

[silversolitaire]

The discussion today made me think of my own spirituality. As we where discussing I thought about how my belief reflects my personality. I've been troubled spiritually all my life. Ever since I have started to develop a mind of my own about such things I have been searching. Searching for the right thing to believe in. I've read up on this and that, different religions and cultures. I've always had a deep fascination with mythology. I was wishing back the old Gods. I wanted to worship Thor, Freya, Bragi and Loki (yes, even him), Apollo, Athene and Demeter…

Why? Because I loved the multitude of these Gods. Their stories, their "humanness" in a way. They made mistakes, they were angry, they loved, hated, desired. I liked the idea of someone powerful who could still fail. And I also liked that those Gods expressed themselves through art, music, poetry. I was missing that in the belief I was brought up in. But of course I realized those Gods were gone. Long gone… I was searching for stories, for legends that confirmed that they still existed… but somehow it was clear that they were gone. I was sad.

I kept looking. I read up on Buddhism, but it never really caught on for me. Whereas I found the teachings inspiring and certainly true, I realized that I needed a Divine Being I could feel safe with. Then I found Krishna and I submerged in studying him. He was fascinating, his teachings, the legends around him and also his looks. All Hindu Gods gave me this inexplicable feeling of awe when I looked at their brilliant blue skin, red palms and rich decoration. I felt their Godliness. In the Bhagavad-Gita he says,

"There is nothing superior to Me. Everything existing is connected to Me like pearls on a thread. I am the sweetness of flavor in water; the radiant luster of the sun and the moon; the primordial root syllable Om within all the Vedas; the subsonic element of sound in ether and the ability in man. I am the original fragrance in the Earth, the brilliance in blazing fire and the vitality of all beings; I am tolerance in those who perform austerities." (7:7-9)

Later on he says,

"Whichever demigod a particular devotee desires with faith to worship, I surely sustain firmly that faith in him. Endowed with that firm faith the devotee executes worship of this demigod and sanctioned by Me solely obtains that which he desired from that demigod." (7:21-22)

I was deeply moved by this. It was a concept I had never really considered until then. Could it be that even though I might worship a certain deity I am in fact worshipping something superior to that without being aware of it? I didn't understand that thought fully yet then, but I harbored it in my heart. I soon realized that whereas Lord Krishna had my deepest admiration I could not handle his worshippers whose policies I rejected. But I held him there and I kept looking.

Jesus. I admired him for what he means to the world now, regardless of what he might have been in reality. A very trivial reason for manifesting my belief in him was the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Up till then I thought I didn't really believe in Jesus. It was long before I even started looking beyond what I was taught. I thought there can only be God and nobody else. No virgin, no saints. A human son made no sense.

Then I started listening to the words of this musical and I began to understand Jesus. What a fighter he was, how troubled he was by the people suddenly starting to see him as the Messiah, following him. How he hated his destiny and didn't understand why he of all people had been chosen to fulfil it. He didn't understand his own significance, was scared and insecure. And I felt sympathy for Judas who only wanted to change things and felt betrayed and abandoned as Jesus began to matter more than all the things he said. Judas was jealous of the people who got Jesus' attention now and it led him to betray the man he loved the most.

All these things I understood now, and I understood the concept of incarnation as well. The concept of Divine Energy. After all these years of reading and searching I finally understood. God isn't one person. God is a Supreme Being, a force superior to everything and everyone. God is merely a word of convenience for this Supreme Being. No one can say they don't believe in God, because no matter what they believe in it is this Supreme Being and it takes the form of whatever makes you most comfortable with. All the Gods I loved and worshipped, they all were there and they all were okay. There is monotheism, but there's also polytheism. There's every single deity ever in existence. This Superior Being is Krishna and Apollo and the Christian God and Thor and Allah and Jesus and the Archangels and Osiris and everyone else. I stopped looking now, stopped trying to find the ultimate religion. I realized it all was good and it all was true.

After this long digression I return to my original thought which was that my belief reflects my personality. I think this long and winding road to what I believe now had a fundamental part in my development as a person. I see in my own example that the thing parents need to give to their children is a sense of spirituality. Raising a child without the concept of religion will inevitably lead to a general lack of receptivity and understanding when it comes to such things. I'm glad my mother at least tried to make me Protestant, because this gave me an invaluable basis to grow and progress the way I did. I have a basic set of morals developed through a sense of right and wrong that I earned by reading so many different teachings. I'm very grateful for that.

Comments

[minette.livejournal.com]

I'm a lapsed Catholic, and a very bitter one. All the hypocrises of my religion infuriate me and I've found that I just cannot bring myself to practice my faith anymore. I don't go to church, I don't pray, and if I did go, I don't take Communion. I wish it weren't so, but I'm too cynical about my religion to have faith anymore.

I've always believed in the concept of God, but the execution leaves a little something to be desired. I don't follow any kind of organized religion because I think once you make spirituality into a bureaucracy, you're going to run into major problems.

And yet, I am glad that I was taught the principles and rules of Catholicism. It's a good moral guideline for how to live your life, at least if you follow the basic tenets of love thy neighbor, good will towards men, and so forth. I'm also glad that my mother was the kind of woman who let me ask questions about Catholicism instead of letting me blindly believe.

I wish I could believe again, like I did when I was a kid, but I don't think I will.

[nortylak.livejournal.com]

I have so much respect for you because of everything you've just said here. Some people believe what they are told and never question it, and you always do, and I think that's amazing. And I think it's wonderful that you have so much knowledge about different religions.

[kribban.livejournal.com]

There you go. You realised that this journey and this search had been necessary to bring you where you are today. It was all meant to be. It´s also very healthy that you can separate between religion and its followers. I too was raised in a tolerant lutheran home. My mother worked in the church and I spent most days after school in church with her. Because of the church being such a major element in my life God was always there for me as a protector, a friend to talk to. It also taught me about community and ethics, and to embrace the good things in life. People always assume that because of this I've been mistreated or suffered in some way, esp. people who know I am gay. They say "but, you didn´t have a choice". Well, no I didn´t. But my parents always believed in dialogue, I always asked questions and was never told "you´ll burn in hell if you question the almighty God!!". It gave me a foundation to reach the stars from. If you give a child that, from there they can find their own way, maybe to another religion, who knows, but then at least that child has a spiritual basis in life.

[mercuriosity.livejournal.com]

Then I started listening to the words of this musical and I began to understand Jesus.

I know exactly what you mean. JCS was more than just a musical for me; it inspired thoughts about Jesus and Christianity that I'd never had before. I still don't subscribe to the religion, but JCS made me think that maybe I could remove the man from the religion and respect him. It offered such a different perspective on the story I already knew and shed light on a few things.

And I've never even seen the musical/film. I got this new understanding just from listening to the music. There was a period when I would listen to the CDs almost constantly. I was that fascinated.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

I still don't subscribe to the religion, but JCS made me think that maybe I could remove the man from the religion and respect him.

*nods* Exactly! I think the man Jesus is so fascinating and then I go into a church and see him hanging there on a crucifix, all bloody and injured, and I think "... No, that's not him."

I've never seen the musical on stage! I've never seen it at all until last year or so when I bought the DVD with the New York cast (or was it London?). Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out that DVD! It's awesome! Really! ^_^ But like you I've learnt all this just by listening to the words of the musical...

Can you believe that the church tried to prevent the staging of this musical and absolutely abhors it? Actually, yes I can believe it, because they're stupid. >_< Personally, I'm glad that I got to listen to it, because it sure made my life richer.

If you're interested, I've put up a couple of pics of the DVD on my website!

http://jcs.glasscases.net/

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

i think that whatever people choose to worship is all eventually related back to one thing/Supreme Being whatever.

and whatever you believe will happen to you after you die will happen.