Know Your Own Church, Religion, and Beliefs – for real.
I may have a different idea about things like churches and religion than most, I imagine.
It came to me this morning that I probably never laid these out.
A “church” by definition is a group. Mostly of people with a common belief-system, usually religious or spiritual at least. It’s really nothing to do with any building. It should be helping you find Freedom, Happiness, and Peace of Mind. And if you aren’t getting these, you’ve got a right to look elsewhere. Not just the promise of them, but the actual life-qualities themselves.
Now the problem with religions in general is that mostly they’ve forgotten where they came from and are more pomp and circumstance than the original salvation they were intended to be. Most have gone straight off the road into getting into peoples’ actual way when they are trying to find their own road out. Because they are part and parcel of keeping them in the dark – because they get more money, or support, or power, or what-have-you.
Of course, I’m saying “most” so you have an out with your own church. But if it fits you, then wear it.
My idea on these is a bit loose. You’re here for some reason you set out for yourself. And if you really want to achieve it, you will. But if you just want to mess around and take forever, then you’ll do that, too. Because you can only get what you want, not what someone else wants. That’s the way this place is set up. No one else can “make” you do anything. If you’re a victim, it’s your own damned fault.
The trick is wising up. That’s the whole reason I wrote all the “Go Thunk Yourself” series, re-published their referenced works, and also my latest, “Get Your Self Scam Free.” Because you deserve it.
Now, I’ve been having a hole in my line-up as regards Huna. But I just found that a couple of Max Freedom Long’s classics had fallen into the public domain. And interestingly, they actually tie a lot of what Napoleon Hill, Charles Haanel, and Thomas Troward were talking about. And also earlier authors such as Emile Coue. ( Of course if you like Long, you’ll also like Claude Bristol’s “Magic of Believing.”) So you’ve got a fair bit of study to do if you’re going down this line.
But my idea is that churches are support groups. It doesn’t particularly matter which one you belong to, as long as they don’t make you swallow that silly notion that they are the one and only way of redemption/salvation/enlightenment. That’s where they went off the cliff a long time ago. And became a spiritual dead-end.
But check out this stuff from Long about religions (while I’m busy editing this book into shape). I figure that there used to be a great deal of “magic” available to the early churches – only theymay have called them “miracles”. Levenson and Alan Watts cover this a great deal – both that this is something that gets easier as you get more spiritual and less worldly, and also that it’s nothing to pay attention to particularly as it can quickly become some sort of occult sideshow.
Here’s Max Freedom Long:
All we can take with us at the time of death is knowledge, and it should be the first duty of each of us to accumulate the correct “take-withable” knowledge by a careful study of the psycho-religions and the discarding of beliefs which cannot be substantiated.
It should be held in mind that no two inspired or revealed religions agree, and that teachings obtained from the departed through mediums show a similar disagreement. There may be one correct revealed religion and one correct teaching from a spirit or a spirit group, or there may be a partial truth in all such sources of information.
At present we have before us only one basic and practical criterion by which to measure such material, and that is Huna. I say this, because Huna work[s].
(from THE SECRET SCIENCE BEHIND MIRACLES)
…
The “Secret,” or body of information handed down from one magician to another, was what may be called applied psychology for the most part. The element of religion was very small, especially if we accept the technical definitions of religion in the best modern sense.
Dr. Paul Tillich, Professor of Philosophical Theology at Union Theological Seminary writes, “Magic is a special kind of interrelation between finite powers; religion is the human relation to the infinite power and value.… Magic is the exercise of imminent power, religion is the subjection to the transcendent power.”
All religions are mixed with magic. Prayer is magic. Everything we do to gain benefits for ourselves in this life or the next is a part of magic. Magic is getting something from supernormal sources. Religion is worship of a Supreme Being and an acceptance of whatever It gives us, whether pleasant or unpleasant.
(from SELF-SUGGESTION AND THE NEW HUNA THEORY OF MESMERISM AND HYPNOSIS)
Both are part of a soon-to-be-released book at Go Thunk Yourself Self Help Bookstore…
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