Religion happens, Morality needs effort
If we were to thoroughly understand the famous teaching of Christ, and grasp the essence and spirit of his message, we have to prepare the grounds for it, before we even start to discuss it here. First things first, we need to review the differences between a religion and morality. The dictionary definitions are available on Wikipedia and you can read them by simply clicking on the links above.
In simple words:
Religion is something that signifies life, and morality is the dead corpse that is left behind when the religion dies.
Morality is what used to be the religion, when it was not dead. Religion over time, always, without any exception, deteriorates, and turns into morality. I am talking in terms of a society here, over long periods of time, and not necessarily in terms of a single person. And even if we have to talk in terms of a single person, the same would be true, but this almost never happens. As you read on, you will start getting the picture of what I am trying to relay here.
When I am talking about religion, I am not talking about the Church, the priest, the rituals, the traditions, and definitely not the religious morality. In fact, there is no such thing as religious morality. One can either be religious, or of great morality. Morality and religion, they both look the similar, but religion expresses life, compassion, freshness, joy, simplicity, love, happiness and peace; whereas morality signifying nothing but hypocrisy, selfishness, prejudice, and hate.
A religious person does not need to worry about morals, and the great morals follow him around just like a shadow. When we are walking about, we don’t have to worry about our shadow, as we know that it not going anywhere without us, similarly, morals follow a religious man like a shadow and he does not have to worry about them. A religious man does not have to, and in fact he does not live his life revolving around the morals. Good morals are simply a by-product of him being religious.
A religious person has eyes to see, the eyes of awareness. When one can see with his eyes, he does not have to think or worry about the right path. With awareness, the actions are naturally good. One does not have to somehow manage them to be good. They just simply are good. When the eyes (awareness) are not there, then one has to think many time, stumble and fiddle around, and then simply guess which was is the right path. Now one can manage to be good, but that goodness is not real, it’s fake and superficial. It’s hypocrisy, and it’s about the traditions and “what others will think or say”. Religion is awareness, and morality is blind. When religion is present, morals are automatic, when religion dies, morality is what is left behind.
A religious man’s goodness is natural and spontaneous; just like the sky is naturally blue and the oceans are naturally salty. He may not even be aware of his morality, or his goodness, and of his good deeds, but he definitely is aware of himself. And out of this self awareness comes the good deeds, the right acts, on their own. No need to be cultivated, practiced, or managed. Here the morality is beautiful, and alive; but it is not morality anymore, it is simply moral. This is the religious way of living.
But what happens when the religion is dead? Now one has to really think about right and wrong. The eyes of awareness are not there anymore to see it for you, the heart of goodness is not there to feel it for you. You don’t have the goodness happening naturally anymore. Goodness is just going be a talk that has to be managed somehow from now. Traditions will come to the assistance now. Not your own mind, the naturally flowing acts of goodness, but the external help and guidance of the traditions.
Tradition is a word derived from the same source as traitor and trade. Rules of trade are, in general and basic terms, pretty standard and universal, and have been the same for thousands of years, passed down from generation to generation. This is tradition. It may be dull, dead, heavy, cruel, ugly, boring and inhuman, but it is still accepted as it is a tradition. And if one moves away form something that is a tradition, it falls under the category of traitor.
I mentioned earlier, religion is life; it is also born anew. In Jesus, religion was born again, fresh and full of life. It was definitely not the religion of Moses. It did not come from Moses, and in fact had nothing to do with Moses. Just like a new rose on a rose bush does not have anything to do with the roses that were there in the past. When religion was born to Moses, it was fresh as well. And when it happens to anyone else, it is still fresh, and is always born anew, and always discontinued from the past.
When and if religion happens to me, or you, it still will be fresh. It will make our lives bloom, and spread kindness, love and forgives all around. But when we die, it will die with us as well. It is not something that can be transferable. It can be felt, and expressed, and experienced, but not transferred. It is contagious, so it can lead to new born religion in others around us as well, but it can not be given, borrowed or inherited. Religion is not a thing. It can be leaned and taught, if one so desires, but can not be written down in books. Just like we end up humming a song sometimes, not consciously, just in simple bliss, similar are the qualities of religion.
