I inherited a western spiritual practice. When I look back on my life and the way that my behavior was controlled I begin to realize that the way the western world approaches religion is all wrong. In fact, it is destructive.
I always sensed this. From a young age I remember setting up an altar with candles or sitting in front of the fireplace and staring into the flames. I always found that looking at water flow in a river or creek mesmerized me and spending hours on the beach listening and watching the rolling of the waves seemed to calm my mind. The times sailing when your dependency on the wind forced you to wait and be patient or laying down on the earth looking up at a star filled sky opening the mind to asking questions and seek wisdom. Peace of mind is what I always sought and at the time I didn't even realize that was what I wanted.
Today, at the age of 65, there is one thing that I wished I had learned throughout my life and it is what I want for the young people of today. I wished I had been trained in the practice of meditation and the disciplines related to it such as Yoga, Tai chi, Kung Fu, and Judo. The connection between peace of mind and the ability to incorporate the body with that psychology I believe makes us confident, strong, and unafraid. It teaches you to not take the bait of what your brain is telling you and to focus on what is really important in life no matter what situation you are in. Peace. Inner peace, outer understanding, and wisdom are so important to being able to achieve anything in life. But, this isn't about success. It is about being a full, rich, and deep human being.
In Western Religions the way they teach us to do the right thing is because "God" is judging us. We don't do things out of a desire for peace, we just do them out of a desire not to be punished for whatever it is we do. This carrot and stick method of control is possibly the worst way to raise children. Punishment and reward are external centers of behavioral control. What ends up happening is that everyone is running around trying to see what they can get away with without God seeing them. Then, you have to go to God to seek forgiveness, otherwise you go to hell. What a circus that is.
In the western world we grow up in an environment of punishment and reward. We are told that if you see someone doing something wrong that you have to punish them and that will solve their behavior. Well, how well does that work? Not very. We think that if we reward people enough that they will do 'the right thing'. There are not enough toys in Walmart to reward a child to positive behavior, yet kids today need storage to house their bounty of toys. At some point, reward means nothing. True reward comes from inside not from Daddy or Mommy giving you an ice cream cone if you clean up your room. It will NEVER be enough...why? Because it can't. It is empty.
In addition to this insanity, we have now developed into a society where financial gain is an excuse for bad behavior. As long as you make enough money you can basically do whatever you want and not only get away with it but also be lauded for it. Add to this the thirst for power and the selling out to greed and influence and we have the ultimate recipe for a depraved existence all while a large portion of the so-called religious community praises it as being ordained by God.
What I realize is that life is a Zen teacher. I think a lot of the reason why I love music so much is because it is a practice. It teaches you to listen, to repeat, to wait, to get better and to grow inside as well as physically.
When I watch sports today I get sick to my stomach. It is wrought with WWF conquering marauder behavioral style. It isn't enough to beat someone, you have to push their nose into it. You have to gloat and pound your chest. I'll admit it feels good to do it and it is some of the reason people watch it. It is like watching Gladiators kill. There is a fascination to it. It is like watching a train wreck. Well, how sick is that? Very.
There is no reward for good behavior and there is no punishment for bad behavior that does not come from within. Nobody can make us right. We have to do that ourself. We can't depend on Jesus to save us or God to defeat our enemies. We can't rationalize our behaviors through all of the psychological tests and philosophies when our inner self is avoiding the real issue. We are all sufferers of the same condition: a highly developed brain that produces millions of thoughts and it believes in every one of them. The only way to true peace is from within and nothing is more difficult than that because it means you have to sacrifice your ego for the higher being to live in you.
We are going through an intensely insane period on earth. With all of the technical advances and the advent of Artificial Intelligence, humans still choose to kill each other, destroy the environment, and place their fellow humans into impossible conditions all because of the sick minds of powerful people who only care about what they can never get enough of, money and power. Some just don't care, some don't know it exists, some are just lost. And the masses go along with it? For what? It's nuts.
I cannot change the world. I can only improve myself and right now I am not who I want to be. Going to Tai chi class shows me one thing...I am impatient, inflexible, out of control and this doesn't bode well for the rest of my life. I'm not sure how to do this. But, it must get done.
But, as great as I think Jesus is, I don't see the western religions as the way forward for the world. Unless every single person makes it a goal to become whole inside there is little else any religion can give you. It is the entire game. The only sacrifice that counts is the sacrifice of ones own ego. Without that, we're lost and will never be found.