What Religion Actually Means. by C J Lewis

I have done this exercise as an understanding and explanation of a quote my Father once expressed.

These terms of what religion is has been taken from the words explaining religion in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (4th edition). The words in (brackets) I have added and are not shown in the dictionary definitions except for (the Christian, Mohammedan etc) shown in the explanation of the word Religion that is in the dictionary definitions.

DOGMA – Principle tenet, doctrinal system especially as laid down by authority of church; arrogant declaration of opinion.

DOGMATISM – based on priori (monastic/monastery) principles and rules with such an order of a monastery, church etc.

RELIGION – is a:

1) Monastic condition of order and rules;
2) Practice of sacred rites by monastic order; a belief of how things should work in such an order;
3) One of the prevalent systems of faith and worship (the Christian, Mohammedan etc.) The established religion of an established church; natural, revealed religion; all religions are the same to him.
4) Human recognition of superhuman controlling power and especially of a personal God that is entitled to obedience, the effect of such recognition on conduct and mental attitudes (ie: to get religion is to be converted to the tenets/principles/beliefs of the chosen monastic order; denomination, church, or to one’s own beliefs).
5) An action that one is bound to do. (ie: make a religion of doing daily exercises, walking the dog, showering everyday etc)

RELIGIONER – A member of a monastic order; a person zealous for religion.

My Father (and to a degree, my mother) was a very observant, loving and peaceful man who liked nothing more than peace in his home and life. He knew what genuine love meant and lived by it. He was somewhat like John The Baptist in the respect that his name was John and he was a Baptist although not one who went to a building called a Church. His church was his beliefs within himself, which were his religion and his rights to have such beliefs through his God given freedom of choice. The quote my Father expressed was:

‘ It’s a dog eat dog world’

Based on the understanding of what the word religion means is therefore to understand what my Father meant, which would be:

There are so many dogmas (tenets/principles/beliefs) that religioner’s are contesting (fighting) each other over like dogs (wild animals that fight) in a yard (this world) is it any wonder there is not much peace in this world.

And I have to ask – FOR WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING?

The arrogance of who is right and who is wrong in a battle of principles where people
kill each other for a belief of what is the right or wrong dogma?

Surely that is insanity based around chaos (confusion) due to a lack of understanding what religion actually is and means. Everyone has a religion as the word means and is purely: the understanding of his or her (individual) beliefs.

Religion is merely a tenet, a principle, a belief that people set up for themselves to live within the boundaries of his or her life; -

OR:

Those principles taken on that were created by a monastic order such as a denomination of his or her choice.

Individual ‘true’ religion is based on the Truths one has learnt throughout their life from their personal experiences. Such individuals set up their own religion based on their tenets and live within those principles through the understanding of their personal beliefs.

Such people are usually those who look more deeply into life for its true meaning overlooking, to a degree, the material temptations of this world and as a result grow more spiritually out of the microcosm of their personal life into the ever greater macrocosm, the larger world, which can then lead them to not only to see how this world functions from the infrastructure set up by those that society allows to be in the position of power of running this world but can also take them further a field to explore, and come to understand, the functioning of the Universe, which can take years, even centuries or millennia to come to such a point of viewing such a vast function.

Generally such people have a scientific mindset in that they will also look for validation of the lessons learnt from their experiences and test the waters, so to say, by using themselves as the guineas pigs to test their beliefs, as well as seeking out verification, usually in the form of reading material, from others who have had similar experiences from spiritual growth.

So, yes, I have to agree with my Father, this is a dog eats dog world and believe it’s time for the dogs to wake up and grow up by realising they are humans who should be able to recognize the commitment and responsibility they have not only unto themselves but also to the younger generations of this world who look up to the bigger children (the elders, parents, adults) for guidance, which should be how to function in an amicable genuine loving way in this life.

It would be wonderful for the bigger children to guide the little ones as to how to live with genuine love and peace instead of dominance, murder and destruction which has been going on for centuries and has become somewhat boring to those with a spiritual view.

It has to be realised by those in political power that no building of a one world order or paving the roads in gold with towers reaching into the firmament, the sky, will create a Heaven on Earth without the mindsets of the population of this world being together as one in thought of genuine love and peace for without such there will only be a continuation of the loop of dominance, murder and destruction as has been the case for what seems like millennia.

I pray and dream of such a time believing it will come to be because then and only then will there be Heaven on Earth.

CJ