DIVINITY OR DOGMA?

By John Maerz BA LMT

     Throughout the centuries religion has been an avenue to experience the spirit of our God(s). Yet the intentions of those who experience deity are often different from those who construct the rules. See if you can determine where you fit.

     Those who actually do the experiencing are usually not interested in forming a religion but instead wanting to repeat and share the joy of the experience. They are usually at a loss to impart their experience to others. Why? To start with, the experience occurs on more than one modality or level. It occurs in differing combinations of levels simultaneously through many modalities such as sound, sight, smell, feeling and intuition that contribute to the overall unity of the experience. The knowingness that this evokes not only serves to confuse the ability to describe it but greatly enhances the experience itself. How do you explain the oneness in meditation to the novice? There are too many things happening on too many levels at once to explain it one dimensionally through communication. So the experiencer almost always has to look back at what they were doing when the experience occurred assuming that repeating the activity will repeat the experience.

     This brings us to the people who establish the religion (code of behavior). These are the seekers. There are two types. Either they seek the experience or power over those who seek.

     The first seekers adopt the behaviors that lead to the original experience. These become the rules for behavior in order to, again, invoke the experience in the seeker. The state of mind is the most important ingredient. Why? It is always the intention that opens the door. The activity or ritual only serves in making it easier to propel the consciousness into the experience. These individuals are those of us who attempt to UNFOLD our spiritual connections. So where does the dogma originate?

     The second set of seekers isn’t interested in the experience or humanitarian work at all. They're much more interested in power and control over those who seek. They support the code of behavior because it gives them a stable group of people to dominate and herd back INTO THE FOLD. They are pushy, righteous and arrogant, blame everyone else for what they do themselves and insist that you must follow the letter of the law...theirs! They usually berate anyone who is doing anything new, constructive or independent. These are the individuals who must hold on to what they know for fear of being out of control or left behind and feel that they must keep you staying the same. Old behaviors make them feel secure especially if everyone else is stuck in the same pattern.

     Are you a “Dogmatic” seeker who holds on to past patterns for control and security or are you a “Divinity” seeker who is growing into a potentially broader future by living outside the envelope and allowing new experience? Consider this…the only security there is is knowing that there is none! Think about it!