PERSONAL RELIGION — THE GREAT SOLUTION

by Jim Cleveland (www.jimclevelandauthor.com)

from the forthcoming book, “Ascending Armageddon”

From the opening pages of this volume, we have explored the legacy of evolutionary religion and found it historically flawed, though often well-intentioned. Let’s create something productive to society today.

It’s time to cut the umbilical cord on all the religions humankind has created over hundreds of generations of bloody history. Collectively they have ironically been the greatest force of evil ever suffered by humanity. Billions of humans have suffered and died by their hand.

Yes, one says, but they have reformed today. No more wars and genocides. No more divisive racism. No, they haven’t. Evil lingers on.

Christians, Jews and Muslims remain largely intolerant of one another and openly condemn the earth religions as ungodly and heathen. Their intolerance is anathema to true spirituality — which is always personal. Violence between religions abides worldwide. None have ever asked for forgiveness for their past corruptions. Some lie right past them today.

The Religion view generally regards gay people, individuals of fluid gender, as evil and perverted. Personal matters and people’s biology the way God made them are none of the business of these religionists. Their unwarranted judgmental condemnations have put targets on the backs of millions of humans.

Their outdated mythology about smoking the cannabis herb is way out of line. They insult users as immoral degenerates and have been a major force in causing cannabis medicine oppression. Religions don’t know anything about herbs and have an insane and irrational fear of euphoria.

They generally condemn sexual intimacy unless they’ve stamped their approval on it, and collected a fee. Humans loving one another is actually close to Nirvana and there must be nothing in their selfish doctrines to accommodate such a thing. They condemn what they call “lust” and invent derogatory words like “fornication.”

Religions rarely support any positive action. Their solution is always to pray, let God do it, and give us tithes so we can invest in fancy architecture and continued indoctrination and control in the name of service. We shouldn’t pass the buck back to God for plainly are our responsibilities.

Their worst fault is presenting truth dogma for people and never encouraging their free thought about issues that are vital to humankind. Don’t think; we’re next to God and can advise you on all life issues, they say. We’ve read all the speculative books that we ourselves wrote, but they’re not for the common mind.

Believe. And by all means have faith in your beliefs that we instill, and not in your own mind. They disdain the great Gift of Mind. They fear and disdain the Gift of Loving Intimacy.

Some of them brand all of humanity as inflicted with an “original sin,” The Saint Augustine should have tried to stop judging people based on his own troubled mind. That guilt trip led to the Apostle Paul’s illogical atonement theories, all anchored in the Jew’s primitive practice of sacrifice — even one’s own offspring in primitive times.

Why would God want you to sacrifice what has been freely provided, especially a living being? Why should a worthy God need some kind of ritual sacrifice that brings death? God is Life.

Why should God need constant adoration and lifelong repetitions of rote worship? God is imminent and well-advised of it. Go about your life and live it to good purpose. Consider dogma with a God-centered mind.

Our true God, a Universal Father, would get to know you personally, and proviee advice that is specific and tailor-made to your personality, not likely in an institiution.

And, yes, each of us is worthy of communicating with God’s presence inside, and no one in any church is more worthy or connected to spirit than you are. In fact, you may likely have an open mind and the organized religions may well be bogged by scripture.

Religions generally do not believe in a life of pleasure, as did the philosopher Spinoza. They stress humble acceptance of a supposedly sin-swept miserable world, which exists mostly in their twisted imaginations and unworldly mindset. Life is supposed to be a joy, not a burden.

Christians, Muslims and Jews generally don’t respect or care about their fellow man unless he’s part of their fiefdoms. To some, women don’t matter. Primitive Muslims still oppress women and make them sex and child-bearing slaves to macho brutes, bar them from education and careers in a horrendous lack of respect.

Certainly, we are pleased about any progress shown by religions over the generations. The Vatican has a Pope with honor today.

Religious wars have largely morphed into battles for real estate; many religious wars over history have actually been religious in name only. The Visigoths cited their Norse Gods when they sacked Rome and destroyed the empire, sending the world into the dark ages. But I don’t really think it was about religion or gods at all.

Many despots have claimed that God was on their side. When they transition, they’ll like need some rehabilitation for that.

Today we need Personal Religion. It is real. It is the time spent with God, your heavenly father. Your indwelling spirit is the connection and always available when you slow down and settle into a little peaceful, quite conversation.

In your Stillness time, there is no dogma. There aren’t billions of humans who have been massacred in the name of human religions in there. There is only you, the child, and God, the Universal Father of all humans, all races, in all mental states. Take comfort, take peace and bury past evils in the sea of blood they created. The Stillness is pure and unencumbered communications with a loving Father.

It is always one of the pleasures of life.

Don’t hold grudges for past evils. Get over it. Evolution rolls on. Forgiveness is good. There are as many paths to God as there are souls to walk them and we must learn to walk in peace.

Religions have done too much to divide mankind. They need to clean up their acts or fade away into history. If their religion doesn’t show unconditional love for God’s children it needs to be reformed. If they can’t do it, I would hope they would disband.

They won’t, of course. But as they fail at unconditional love, they are likely to fail period. An enlightened future beckons to all of God’s children and we must reach for it.