Religion does not start with questions. It begins with a passing glimpse of realization: the realization of es ness.
When an individual becomes aware of his own existence, the existence of the self proper begins a religion of Beingness .
When a realization of Extended Being occurs, a religion of Havingness is born .
And when one realizes the relationship between the Self and the Extended Being, a religion of Doingness takes place
From these three levels the three strata of religion are explained.
All religion begins as a philosophy. This is the spiritual part, the Beingness part; the state where the distinction between me and mineevaporates. This is the state of fundamental realization of & # 39; I am & # 39; where the Self and the Extended Being have merged, where the internal and the external are not different. The way one experiences at this level is beyond words. The only word that is close to this feeling, and yet miles away from reality, is MISTERIOUSNESS. This state of beingness is the field of all possibilities. This is the state that is the womb of creation, where everything is present in the form of nothing, a nothing of pure potentiality. This is consciousness in its purest and most innocent manifestation.
Although language cannot describe this state and its experiences in a precise and exact way, it tries to do so using metaphors. Since they are the different expressions of the same experience: some call it flourishing, some do not call it, some call it ascension, while others call it disagreement with the Divine. The fact is that, at the end of it all, it is simply an investigation through words. It is more of an attempt to standardize it so that it can be easily replicated. This is the point when philosophy becomes a science. This is done through an attempt to bring the experience to the level of understanding. This is where the labeling of the phenomenon begins. At this point there is an understanding of the natural phenomenon that creates a state closer to that of beingness.
Methods like meditation and surrender are further simplified by breaking them down into their component parts. A gradual scale for your achievement is established in a step-by-step manner that can be followed by each and every one. For example, the phenomenon of dhyana (meditation) is divided into asanas (postures in Yoga), Pranayama (Control over breathing) and yama-niyama(what it does not do is celibacy, truthfulness, not stealing, etc.) and a technology takes shape. These are basically encoded in the form of & # 39; duties & # 39; and & # 39; should-not that over a period of time assumes the dimension of & # 39; musts & # 39; and & # 39; essentials. This is the beginning of the rituals. What was initially a process of, for and with knowledge now becomes a mere set of mechanical actions. This is where initial fulfillment is lost, where being moves into oblivion and what remains is doing as a means of havingness. One loses consciousness to a considerable degree and what exists as consciousness is most of the Extended Being. The Self is present only as a not so necessary entity,
Whatever the level at which an individual exists, be it the level of philosophy, science or technology, each is correct and independent by right and respect. Each of these levels has its existence and is therefore its religion.
This journey from Spirituality to rituality (of the phenomenon of religion) can also be crossed in the other way, that is, from rituality to spirituality. Where one begins his discovery of the Self, whether in rituality or spirituality, is entirely a matter of his own choice.
