The Butterfly Effect
No religion on this planet, or anywhere else for that matter, can free one from one's self. We are definitely bound and gagged to the best of our abilities. And we like it that way. So when a new interest comes along, we fervently dive head first into it's experiential glory, reaping all that there is to reap. What fun!
But the fun comes with a price. By losing ourselves in another condition of life we just continue to map out our long, long road out. It's true that religion as a whole can provide a spark in which the fire of intelligence can ignite itself but like all other man-made things, it will only take you so far. It will only rise to the zenith of man's power and there it will stay never going above and beyond into that wonderful world we call spirituality.
You see, as we study and learn all there is to know, nothing will fill the void we so solemnly carry within us. That void is the emptiness, the lack of our own spirituality the ignorance of our spiritual nature. All processes and procedures, while being quite helpful in themselves, will never touch the moment when an individual becomes a spiritual being. Breaking through the complexity of man and letting it all go down the drain is not for the faint of heart. It requires a monumental amount of courage to go where no man has gone before.
Since each one of us must do this on our own terms, there is no path, no route which will ensure our success. Man cannot give the gift of spirituality but can only feebly point in the direction. For those of great courage, this is more than enough.
When man metamorphoses into spirituality he comes face to face with all that is. No longer trapped in a shell, eternity comes to be known in a very personal way. And so this is the reason that no religion, no methodology, no theology can create a state of spiritual being. It's all in the doing.
If we do not take action we are but left with one choice, the cycle of birth and death. The cycle of life experience and life effect. When we do nothing we have no one to blame but our own laziness and ineptitude.
So stop fumbling around in the dark and take that single small step of lighting your own candle. The way always becomes clear when we can see where we are going. And if it takes someone's well laid out plan to help you along, then take it and run. Run like mad, like you have never run before. Make it a personal, firmly held truth that you WILL break the shell of physical reality and take no prisoners.
No weekend trips to the mall, no Monday night football, no daily death and destruction reports from the newspaper - just leave it all to those who are in need. Be on the fast track of spiritual freedom by giving it your all. If you don't, if your heart just isn't completely into it, then at least be honest with your self and recognize that you are in a physical reality and love every part of it, that you love every high and low, every pleasure and pain that there is. So be it.
But for those who are other-bound, for those who are willing to do what it takes, a spiritual reality doesn't just exist - it is all there is.
Indeed, it is all there is.