INTELLECTUALIZING THE SPIRITUALITY

When people try to intellectualize God, they often end up making assumptions. My motivation to write this comes from the injustice suffered by innocent individuals caught in the conflicts of their belonging groups. These individuals pay the ultimate price for being part of a group by birth, not by choice. This leaves them with no say in being labeled as part of these groups, even if they disagree with what their group stands for.

Every society has people with vast differences of opinion, but when conflicts arise, bombs fall on everyone regardless of guilt. This means that the politics of groups override individual rights, which I fundamentally disagree with. Where are the human rights we preach so passionately about? The loss of innocent lives and the suffering that follows drive me to complain and blame the world superpowers and even the United Nations. You should not be killed or suffer just because you belong to a certain group or have a certain skin color. I hear talks of carpet bombing or intensifying the killing of “bad” people, but do you really think everyone living in areas where bad groups reside is bad? This labeling mentality harks back to past civilizations when people fought with swords. I stand against the loss of innocent lives, whether from terrorist attacks or bombings. If I can’t stop world events, I can speak against what I believe is unjust.

Back to religious extremism and politics. When a religious person tries to enforce their religion on others, religion immediately turns into politics. The popularity of religions has been due to their spiritual component, and spirituality does not need to be enforced. If it is, then it becomes politics. Religions have been trying to intellectualize spirituality, but in the process, people have lost out to the politics of belonging. If a religion loses its spiritual content, it becomes nothing more than a political system. Spirituality is spirituality. The best way to intellectualize it is to let it help you, let go of judgments, and reap its benefits.

A belief system should help the individual, not harm them. When we try to intellectualize the unknown with our incomplete knowledge, we are bound to fall into assumptions. There’s nothing wrong with that until we start believing in these assumptions passionately, to the point of killing or dying over them. Then there are those who disregard religion and spirituality altogether, another version of passionately extreme intellectualization.

The real intellect is to live this temporary life with wisdom that reduces stress, not only for the individual but for their community as well. This way, we can add quality to our living years. If a belief system can help an individual live with hope, love, and contentment, why not? Who are we to dictate what is right for others when we don’t even know what is right for ourselves? The problem is not belief or disbelief; it is the ego, pride, and honor born out of the sense of belonging.

If you feel you are 100% right, think again and look into history. We have been killing each other over right and wrong since we became aware, and before that, it was just for domination. Could it be that we have illusions of being intellectual beings? If that’s not the case, then why can’t we rid ourselves of social ills? Our animalistic nature still rules; it is a shame because we still kill and dominate each other, especially when religions promote killings and wars passionately. We have been trying to kill our animalistic urges for thousands of years, but domination still goes on. The nature of the beast has not changed despite our intellect. It hasn’t worked because we have denied understanding our nature. We go from one extreme to another, just to go in circles.

Understanding starts with accepting our nature. If we learn more about our animal side, we can actually find inner peace as individuals. If the individual is at peace from within, they can spread that peace all around.

Whether God exists or not, who is right, who is wrong, are we going to hell or heaven? These are fundamental questions, and an evolving organism does not yet have the capacity to understand the whole picture. Thus, no one should choose extremes, especially if our definitions of right and wrong have been changing. We should not assume we are right or wrong. Sure, we need to live with some kind of law and order, but our law and order should be subject to change as we evolve with higher understanding. Our daily living requires intellectual approaches, and God and spirituality should be part of it, even if we can’t understand everything to intellectualize them. As individuals, we can still benefit from being spiritual.

Whether you are an atheist or religious, regardless, you need spirituality because you are part of humanity. When it comes to conflicts, who is right or wrong? You both are wrong because you both assume you are right. All you need is a little spirituality to put things in perspective. If you learn new things every day, your knowledge is still incomplete. If you are arguing, fighting, or killing each other, your assumptions and ego are ruling your life. You need to accept a little spirituality in your heart so you can understand yourself better.

If you are religious and an extremist, always remember your fundamental religious teachings. Universally, the spiritual side of every religion teaches compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love. If you are an atheist, remember that humanity needs your input. You can help others just as well as the religious individual. It’s all about spirituality, and spirituality is not bound by any one ideology. It’s a universal connection, just like the internet; you get what you put into it. It’s not about hell, heaven, or the afterlife; it’s about this life on earth while you are alive and reciprocating. This is not a written exam; it’s practical. How you live your life is going to be judged, not by any external entity, but by you because you are connected with God and humanity as a whole. So it does matter how you live this life. Abiding by the law of the land is not enough; there is an internal order we don’t really understand yet. Making a counter-assumption against an assumption may be driven by a sense of belonging or retaliation, which breeds ego and pride with passion.

You have to learn to be a CEO to create balance, not only in everyday life but in important matters like spirituality and science. Balancing science and spirituality becomes easier if religious extremism and politics are removed. If God consists of us, then anything that helps humanity becomes spirituality. Whether it be spiritual help for the individual or saving a life through science, it’s all spiritual. But a well-established religious leader can label science as the work of the Devil because it comes from a scientist who proudly claims to be an atheist. It has been very easy and convenient to take oneself out of the equation and blame God or the Devil. So be honest with yourself and take responsibility because you have been using your free will for everything else. Why not in this area? Be nice and blame whoever is responsible; don’t hide behind God or the Devil.

A religious individual can judge the scientist as a Devil’s follower, but might be alive themselves because of insulin. The actions of judging and condemning are unspiritual. If there is no complete knowledge about both sides, both sides are under the influence of a strong sense of belonging or the sub-levels of it like ego, pride, and honor.

The pride religious people feel in being followers of any one particular organized religion comes from the education of that belonging religion. Just like some people can have a social drink, but some can become alcoholics, some people can listen to music and say, “Oh, that is a good melody,” but some get up and start to dance depending upon their level of liking. The question is, why do people have different ways of expressing themselves? You can enjoy a smoke or a drink, or you can become addicted to substances. Either way, you have to know your tolerance to avoid harm to yourself and others around you. If you can see or feel that your religion has the same effects on you, you need to become a CEO to protect yourself and others from your out-of-control behaviors.

How, when, and where did the rules of prayers and sacrifices come from? Whenever there is a call for gathering, I gather it is coming from the political side of the group. Whether it’s Sunday or Friday prayers, these are the orders of organized religions. They have nothing to do with spirituality and everything to do with politics, especially if there is a call for donations and contributions to help manage the large enterprises. Just look around at the majestic buildings of all religions; they will tell you where the money went.

If the money is collected for the hungry, weak, and vulnerable, but used for majestic architectural monuments, that is downright against ethics and spirituality. The start of religions was supposed to bring spiritual medicine to the needy. Instead, they turn to recruiting to gain more manpower, thus becoming political entities and sometimes war machines, which has not stopped yet.

Imperialists did it, religions did it, and now modern-day governments are doing it. They all make decisions to play the same game. People like me migrate for personal and individual reasons: some to run for their lives, some to escape poverty, and some to find a peaceful place to raise families. Missionary workers travel to help the poor in far lands, but the politics of recruiting still goes on.

Man needs, gives, and practices spirituality as an individual regardless of any denomination or religion, but the politics of religions go on, and spirituality takes a back seat. Yet it should be the other way around.

We have lots of holidays or, I should say, holy days to celebrate. Yet the need for holy days should be to eradicate poverty, hunger, and disease from the world. The real spirituality is to do something clean and pure, free of the politics of any government, ideology, or religion. These days, with the help of the internet and becoming a CEO, you can help humanity and God, so God can be healthy and strong. A strong man makes God stronger, but the insecurities related to the politics of man and his belonging group keep God weak and sick with autoimmune disorders like arthritis. We, being the cells of God, kill each other, causing pain to God.

Just like human cells innately work for the body, we are all programmed to work for humanity. That is Spirituality 101, which we bring along as we come to experience life on earth. This is where I end up assuming that there is something before life and after death.

Deep inside, we all innately know we are connected to God. This is why we try to help others in need and find real happiness. For instance, you might put yourself in a dangerous situation to save someone’s life, give money to charity, feed the poor, or volunteer to help out. We see our survival and the continuum of humanity just like our cells are aware of the survival connection between the body and its cells.

Live this life as if you are in heaven because living in constant sacrifice mode creates the desire and expectation of a perfect life, even if it is promised in the afterlife. Most religions want the individual to be subservient so they can be controlled. The promised perfect life after death has never been, is not, and will never be clear in the individual’s living life. So the politics of control behind the promise of a perfect life should be recognized by the individual. Just think from another angle: if you are forever young, and can eat and drink whatever you want, it would be perfect if that is what you consider perfection. As an individual, our satisfaction is never the same. If you are looking for perfection all your life, you have lived your life in the future or on the horizon. That means your life will always lack contentment. If you seek a perfect life and think God will provide a perfectly satisfying life after you are dead, aren’t you worried that God will ask you about the value and reason for the free will and the real gift of this life you were blessed with? If you choose to live as perfectly as you can, finding satisfaction in all kinds of circumstances, you create heaven in both lives.

Living this life as in heaven requires some basic understanding:

Accept Your Mortality: Form a habit of living in the moment.

Reduce the Importance of the Future and the Past: You can’t change the past, and the future is not a reality yet and may not be for you.

Compare Yourself with Both Sides: Look at those better than yourself to work harder to improve, and those worse off than you to appreciate your life as it is.

Have a Belief System That Provides Spirituality and Hope: This helps you think positively regardless of hardships or circumstances.

Avoid Self-Pity: Feeling sorry for yourself indicates a spiritual flaw because you aren’t able to compare with someone worse off than you.

Being alive should be appreciated. Ask anyone who has survived a near-death experience; they can tell you that they appreciate and look at life differently. We forget our fragility and mortality because of our attachments and occupations in this life. For instance, you want to have control so you can live your life according to your plan.

Life can be fulfilling if it’s lived as a gift. If you are provided with the opportunity to live at a higher level and choose not to, it is because of your education, which creates insecurities. So you save and hoard, sacrificing your present for unknown fears of the future, and these fears are created by religious people for a reason. There is a business aspect hiding behind their spirituality. You have to put things in perspective. Know that if you help others, you actually feel good about yourself. But giving money to build monumental architectural wonders for God is not necessary. If you seek the real God, God does not live there. God literally lives in people’s hearts as a soul, yet we seek all over.