Power in the People

The recent passing of the Pope got me thinking about religion and how the energies of the new Aquarian era will now, and in the future, reshape its expression.

I have a deep love for the church but I also understand the harm caused by some of the teachings that have been pressed onto humanity for hundreds of years.

I’m hoping the new era and its energetic expression inspires to flip the script on certain religious narratives that have resulted in unintended psychological harm to the human psyche. I believe religion as a whole has a responsibility to correct some of its misguided rhetoric.

Religion has a long history of teaching the masses that we are sinners and often defile God with our human behavior, our imperfections, selfishness and our lack of understanding. Humans are not good enough for God, and all we can do is pray for forgiveness and pray that we get saved.

Unfortunately, if we don’t behave well enough to be saved (and no one knows what that is), we are lost or go to a very unpleasant place after we pass away. In my opinion, this is a losing paradox with no way to win. We aren’t good enough for God, so how can we convince Him to save us?

I can understand the motivation for religious leadership promoting the ideals of repentance and no second chances thousands of years ago because things were pretty cray-cray back then.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that for thousands of years many religions have contributed to a deep-seated belief that humanity as a collective, lacks something very important.  We lack value or worth in the eyes of God. We are born that way and we can’t fix it. We have to be saved.

This judgment against ourselves exists within the fabric of our collective human consciousness, regardless of any religious preference. There’s no way out, we all have it. It is an illness created by the misuse of our thinking mind because we believe this is indeed true. Unfortunately, this self-judgment or in some cases self-condemnation, affects our thinking and behavior whether we know it or not. It undermines our ability to be confident in ourselves.

I feel strongly that religious organizations have a great potential to stop the destructive ‘born a sinner’ model and replace it with the fact that we are all ‘born winners’ and don’t need saving.

In my opinion, God makes winners, not losers and we are all winners. If you don’t believe me, just take a look around the solar system. Do you see any people out there? No, you don’t. We are freaking miracles.

Sure, we could use a little guidance on living a meaningful or constructive life and there are many great stories in religious texts that attempt to do just that. Telling humans that they need saving isn’t helping them be better people, at least not anymore. Every person on the planet deserves to feel and believe that they have substantial power, worth and value as a human being.

I recall in catechism classes as a child, the stories of when Christ healed people and told them it wasn’t He who healed them, it was their faith that healed them.

As an adult, I wonder if the strength and healing faith referred to was faith in ourselves. To believe that we are capable and have the power to do and be more than we think we can.

In my study of esoteric teachings, the Christ is known as the World Teacher, not just a Christian Teacher.

When Christ was last on the planet, His message to the world was to love (or accept) one another. It’s something we’re still working on for sure.

The Christ is also expected to guide humanity forward into this new era with a new teaching, which is understood as Right Relating.

It’s believed that Right Relating is humanity’s new homework. Our goal is learning to relate to ourselves, others and all living beings on the planet in healthy and constructive ways where everyone benefits through a little something called cooperation. Yay!

I believe all religions are in the process of being energetically reorganized to help express this concept, but each of us can get a head start by redefining who we believe we are and letting go of old morals or ideals that diminish our sense of value and self-worth.

It is the responsibility of every person on the planet to create betterment and we can’t do that if we lack the belief that we can. If we buy into the idea that we don’t have what it takes, we can’t be trusted, we don’t have the power or lack the support of higher consciousness, we won’t be able to get the job done.

The first step on this journey is to establish faith in ourselves, that we are a divine consciousness and are here for a reason.