Oil wells and oil… religion and spirituality.
Much like a drilling platform set in the ocean exploring for oil, organized religion is the platform through which many seek to drill down in search of inner spirituality. For many of us then, religion is merely the surface manifestation of (as well as the means to develop) a transcendent inner life of the soul.
The oil derek is a means to an end in that it facilitates the search for oil and is the vehicle for bringing it out of the ground. When you see people working on an oil rig, you’re aware that they’re looking for oil. When you see people in church you assume that they’re there to seek their inner, core spirituality.
Religion can facilitate the search for the spirituality that lies deep within each of us… spirituality, the awareness and experience of that which is beyond words to describe and to which we owe our existence and purpose in life.
Just as we wouldn’t confuse the oil rig with the oil though, we shouldn’t confuse religion with spirituality.
The sincere practice of religion, any religion, can for many be an instrument, a means to attain the deep inner awareness, realization, and self actualization of ones role in this ongoing and unfolding act of creation.
For others religion acts merely as a distraction from that search, an end in itself rather than a means to inner spirituality.
The Buddhist Koan that we should not confuse the finger pointing at the moon with the moon itself may help us here: we should not confuse religion with spirituality.
If we limit our search for “god” to the various religious beliefs, scriptures and rituals we will likely be deceived disillusioned or disappointed. Developing a surface belief and reliance solely on the oil wells of religion will limit the growth of our inner far deeper spirituality.
We must drill down to the core of our being, the wellspring of our existence and that place to which we all yearn to go.
A belief system and ritual can be the surface supports that help us drill down to the reservoir of spirituality at the core of our existence; they should not however be a distraction from that exploration, that journey, and become an end in themselves.
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