The conglomerate called religion

Most religions claim that they are a divine revelation, either from God, from a master, a prophet, an angel or enlightened one. This is very nice and makes it easier for the followers to believe (and follow). But certainly this is a major simplification and reality is far away from this claim.

In fact all religions and most spiritual traditions are a conglomerate of different influences and aspects. So indeed we have truly divine teachings which are pure, perfect and absolute in their nature. These teachings come from real initiates either from this actual religion or from former religions or foreign influences. Then we have many human teachings about morals and life in society. These teachings have certainly the function to organize the main aspects of social life. Then we have teachings which origins in the tradition and culture of the people and which are just habits which have been maintained over a long time. And at last we have teachings which are derived from selfishness, from lower desires and the need to satisfy them. Here the question is “How can I justify the satisfaction of my selfish and worldly desires in the name of my religion?” These aspects are very interesting to examine as we find here wonders of hypocrisy.

All in all religions reflect very well all human aspects. The distribution of the different aspects fits also perfectly. So we have the divine teachings as the peak of the pyramid while the human aspects build the big fundament in the middle part is made by the representatives, the priests and their teachings.

However, most important for the understanding of religions and their followers is to differentiate these points, to separate the light from the darkness and also to see the grey tones. In best case a good follower only takes the best which his religion offers to him and maybe complements this if necessary, with good teachings from other religions.

Unfortunately we often see the worse or worst case where people take the bad aspects to justify their own bad character and selfish lifestyle.

Maybe when I am old and bored I will undergo the quest to pick out the divine pearls of beauty and wisdom from single religions and gather them in a book. Maybe, if I ever get into pension.