Find Your Bodhi Tree

I’m more than a bit disheartened as I watch the Christian church and other religions tear themselves down from the inside out. It’s nothing new. The process began as soon as man began to claim extreme knowledge of God and made himself up to be worthy to translate and edit and amend and append the religious texts according to his belief of what other men needed to know. It began as soon as humans began to consider themselves to be ‘anointed’ and ‘divine’ and began to behave as though they were infallible. And if you are a Christian, or a Jew or a Hindu or a Muslim and don’t see that as the truth, you are a part of the problem. You are complicit in the many atrocities the church has committed in the name of God or Allah or whatever is the cultural term you use to address the divine.

We revere men and women who call themselves spiritual leaders. We allow them to have power over our the health, well-being and sanctity of our souls. We accommodate their abhorrent behaviour while condemning others who do the same things. And in so doing, we tell the others that if they speak the name of God and claim to be doing His work, they can steal,and rape, and break commandments and their followers will put on sack cloth and ashes and beg for leniency for them. The same followers who deride and despise homosexuals. The same followers who ostracise ‘fornicators’ (please go find out the real origin of that word and have several seats) and adulterers. The same ones who will verbally and emotionally and spiritually rip other sinners limb from limb seemingly forgetting that forgiveness is a thing. These are the people who blame everyone and everything but the perpetrator for his actions. You are the destruction of the church, of religion and of faith. You facilitated the birth of daesh and the current U.S. administration. Misogyny, racism and all other forms of discrimination spring from your ignorance. You are complicit in the theft of the innocence of our children.

We forget that we were encouraged to seek God for ourselves. We forget the significance of Jesus’ solo wilderness journey, of Guatama Buddha’s quest, of even the timing of Mohammed’s revelations. We forget that when Jesus prayed, He prayed alone. We forget that enlightenment does not require a middle man. And so I watch as the church, the mosque, the temple, the synagogue come tumbling down. As we fill these places with divisiveness and judgement and hate. As more persons seek alternative religious and spiritual teachings. And I encourage you, go find your Bodhi tree. Go seek your enlightenment for yourself. Go speak to your creator and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Not through another human being’s understanding or interpretation of Him, but a knowledge and awareness brought about by who you are, what you have experienced and what your purpose is. Go and seek your enlightenment for yourself and then live it. Not to convince anyone to live as you do or even believe as you do, but to encourage others to seek theirs as well… Namaste