Chris Renzo, Contributing Writer
Waking Times

Given the current state of the world it is clear we face a spiritual problem of epic proportion.  If we are going to heal the ills of the world and create equality between peoples we must start to observe our belief structures and question whether or not they are serving society as a whole.  If peace and equality is our goal it would bode well to question and make aware any belief structure that blocks us from fulfilling compassion and tolerance between all beings. This is a spiritual dilemma becuase it is a call to our conscience.

Belief shapes how we experience life. 

Our belief structures have become so static and exclusive that we have created a world of equal stagnation and separation. We have become intolerant of our differing philosophical and religious views. In our collective stubbornness we remain unaware of how our belief structures underlay the brutality we see within our civilization.  All of this becuase we claim that “our way is the right way.”

We are rushing around trying to fix the symptoms, rather than the cause, of our worldwide problems. We are addressing everything but our most basic beliefs. The problems we see within our political and economic systems ultimately arise becuase we do not live by a spiritual ethic that unites all people and sentient beings. It seems to me that it would serve us to understand and refine our individual and collective relationship with God if we are going to transcend our destructive ways.

It was hoped that organized religion would bring people closer to each other, producing a sense of community and integration.  But our collective society has experienced exactly the opposite.  In some cases organized religion preaches against community integration, claiming that God never intended people of varying races, cultures, and nationalities to intermix, much less marry and procreate.  It was hoped that religion would bring our world a greater sense of joy and freedom, but in too many cases it has only restricted the human spirit by presenting long lists of how one should live.

Each respective religion, or most of them, teach that their scripture is infallible.  Each religion is incapable of being wrong.  Thus the infallibility of differing religious doctrine is what breeds intolerance.  This intolerance, which sustains fear and hate, has condoned war, brutality, and the exploitation of fellow humans for thousands of years.  Remember of the crusades (1095 – 1291) where an estimated 1 – 5 million people were brutally murdered in the name of Christ?  Or how about the Holocaust where 6 million Jews were tortured and killed due to a perverse intolerance.  Or the modern hell on Earth that we see today in Palestine and Israel.  All of this death and stoic barbarism over the word of God?!  No longer can our differences condone any sort of murder.

Creating a New Perspective Requires Understanding Old Ones

We compound our spiritual crisis when we bestow supreme authority of the interpretation of our scriptures to individuals. We elect religious professionals to interpret the “word of god” and in doing so we unconsciously declare that we are not as close to god as a few righteous others.  Albeit we are looking for guidance and inspiration, but I suggest that when we are taught to adopt the interpretations from the “more holy among us” we lose a critical sense of intellectual and spiritual autonomy.  We become “less than” and further away from God than others.  Herein lies one of the central pillars of the power that organized religion has over people.

To interpret the words of the scriptures literally, rather than to seek to understand the underlying principle that they reveal has lead, at the very least to misunderstanding, and in the worst case, to a loss of oriningal wisdom in which religion was grounded.  Our religious leaders claim their are “laws of God” and that they “should not be abandoned.”  We may be banned to ever lasting punishment in hell if we disobey the Lord.  Do not question!  But why would God, the creator of all, be so judgmental and demanding of “his” creations.  Furthermore why would God give us free will just so that God could take it away from us by declaring we must worship “her” in the way that the scripture demands?  Why do we interpret God to be so petty, egotistical, and wrathful?

Those who attempt to control the “word of God” attempt to hold power.  And it is this psychological and spiritual power that has controlled people into certain modes of thinking for thousands of years.  I will take a stand here, not to offend, but to offer an alternative perspective.  I see that most scriptures of organized religions are based in fear.  Fear is what holds the hierarchy in place.  Fear is what makes us interpret god to be a judgmental being.  And it is this fear, of which that has become so normal, that has us fearing, judging, and killing each other.  Even if just in our minds…

The bible would state that we were created in the image and likeness of god, but it seems we have depicted a god in the image and likeness of what we have become: judgmental, intolerant, vengeful, and full of wrath. 

The establishment fears that if people understood full-freedom they would astray from the path that organized religions offer.  The fact that an overwhelming majority of people are good “god fearing people” enables the establishment to sustain their power and its dominant influence as to how we view ourselves, each other, and the workings of life.

In our believed “inherent” separation from “God,” we live without a strong sense of internal guidance for we seek outside of ourselves for answers.  Because we live primarily from the mind we do not truly listen to the callings of our heart.  In doing so we live “out of ouch” and destructive lives.  We fear each other and the Earth herself.

Moving Forward in the Awareness of Our Unity

To bring peace to the world we need to change our visions, our ethics, and our beliefs.

The Golden Age could be upon us, but we need to work for it.  Understanding life and God is not something that happens by accepting ideas without discernment.  We need to start relying on our own God given internal systems of divine intelligence.  I am not asking you to completely throw away your ideology.  I am asking you to think for yourself and go into your heart space.  See if you can make larger and expand your religious beliefs to be more empowering, unifying, and compassionate between the all that is.

Ask yourself, “can I sustain my connection to my religious beliefs while learning to have compassion for others even though their belief structure is different”?  “Can I see all other people as my equal?” “Can I accept the belief that there are multiple ways to God?”

I would love to sit and talk with a cardinal priest or some high religious authority figure so I could ask them a few questions.  I would ask, “what do you think about the idea that Jesus is equal to Budda, to Muhhammed, and to every messenger this planet has ever seen?  I would ask if he believed there to be an inherent equality between all living things?  Are we not elements of the same consciousness…

Think about the consequences if the Pope announced that all religions are “ways to God,” and that all spiritual paths are equal…

Our perception of God as an entity outside of us is the belief that is at the root of all of our troubles.  This idea separates the observer [you and I] from the essence of creation herself.  This adopted belief diminishes our creative power to make manifest our ideals and hopes.  We ignore an aspect of our personal autonomy becuase we deny what we inherently are.

Reconstructing a New Relationship with God

There is no one true religion.  There are no “chosen people.”  No prophet is the greatest prophet.  YOU are the prophet of your life.  You are the chosen one for YOUR journey. 

God has been communicating with, and through, ALL people since the beginning of time.  This connection fuels our intuition, our sense of profound humility, and the knowingness that we are all apart of the “god matrix” living in oneness.  If we want world peace we need to be brave and reassess our relationship with God.

It is time to listen to all of each other, feel each other, and realize that we are one collective organism, one collective culture of peoples.  Our differences become illusory and petty in comparison to the profound realization of our likeness.  If we can open our heart and tolerate others while respecting the fact that their belief is divine to them and it brings them a sense of their own self worth we have made larger our belief structures.  This sense of acceptance and tolerance is of ultimate importance if we are to create a more peaceful society.

It does not matter whether you have a “religious” out look or an “atheistic” one, we all believe in something.  And if we want harmony we must be humble and ask ourselves “Is my vision of reality really better than anyone else’s vision?”  In response to the question we are given the opportunity to observe how influential our ego has become in the experience of our life.  But more importantly, we are given the opportunity to heal ourselves through our humbling and awesome awareness.  Recalibrating ourselves to the vibrations of Earth awareness, communal sensitivity, and compassion for all, brings us in touch with the godliness that is within each one of us.

Creating the new age requires radically changing our way of life.  I say we start by observing our beliefs.

About the Author

Christopher Renzo is a life coach and writer who specializes in helping others get in touch with their source of inner power and confidence to create a more harmonious life. He has been working with clients in a professional manner since 2009 and has been helping people with his intuitive gifts ever since he was a teenager. He holds the notion that once people understand the root of their troubles from a psychological and spiritual perspective, they can break free from the conditions that bound them to a life of discontent. Born and raised in the New York Metropolitan area, Christopher now resides in Berkeley, California. Please visit his excellent blog, Keen Awareness.

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