When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own, you’re told what to believe. This doesn’t accelerate your spiritual growth; on the contrary it puts the brakes on your continued conscious development. Religion is the off-switch of the human mind.
Leave the mythology behind, and learn to think for yourself. Your intellect is a better instrument of spiritual growth than any religious teachings.
One of the
worst mistakes you can make in life is to attach your identity to any
particular religion or philosophy, such as by saying “I am a Christian” or “I
am a Buddhist.” This forces your mind into a fixed perspective, robbing you of
spiritual depth perception and savagely curtailing your ability to perceive
reality accurately. Religions are authoritarian
hierarchies designed to dominate your free will.
1. The “old is gone and the new has come”-mentality can be used as permission to not squarely confront, face, and address the painful or unresolved issues of your past that continue to impact your present life and relationships.
2. The premise that people are inherently bad, born “sinners,” and rejected by God can greatly diminish one’s worth and value, and relationship with self.
3. The tendency to focus on externals, appearances, and change as behavior modification/morality can distract a person from digging deep enough into the layers of who they are, which is necessary for growth and transformation.
4. Seeking/expecting God’s “intervention” in one’s life can cause a kind of passivity where a person doesn’t take responsibility or action in ways they are necessary for growth and transformation.
5. Meeting-based and surface-level relationships, which sometimes characterize institutional church, can often lack the depth, honesty, authenticity and vulnerability that we need in our relationships to support our growth and transformation.
6. The separatist mentality of religious sub-culture can cut people off from connection and relationship with others outside that sub-culture, which significantly limits the people who could contributing to our journey of growth and transformation.
The doctrine
of a loving and all-merciful God professed by Christianity or Islam has not
prevented either one from preaching and practicing the duty to hate and
persecute those who do not believe. It has not prevented fierce wars
between diverse sects of these religions. In fact, most of the war between humans is based on religion. That right there should wake people up.
Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious propaganda. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential, you own worth and the good in others. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.