Religion vs God

It is interesting the amount of religious higher education that is available nowadays.
I guess it's a function of the underground growth in evangelism and of course the big business that higher education now is.

But in reality religious learning is learning about religion - not about God or how to connect with the divine...

True healing, total health and freedom truly comes from the connection to the divine (that which is greater than us) and can only come about through action and more so in actions leading to surrender.

The entire point of religion is to provide a conduit for a direct connection to source. All else is moot; and when we get hung up on the dogma and ritual, or the opinions of various religious scholars as the 'word of god' we (to paraphrase the old Buddhist parable) can only see the finger pointing to the moon and not the moon itself...

Any of the world religions has at it's core connection with the divine. The nuances of each are merely semantics; expressions of the cultural, religio-social morphology that historical events forged. Whichever religion one feels a connection with; that one is able to align with, is true and just, and if it allows a direct experience of universal love and energy (the superconscious/divine) that binds us all, then it has served it's purpose.

The problem arises when religion becomes not a tool, but the goal itself; when it becomes self serving.
The only reason this occurs is through ego driven and self serving actions of greed - which are the antithesis of connection and this in turn drives the fanaticism and and dogmatism that is anathema to spirituality and spiritual health.

God, or the divine is too great to understand entirely within the frames that we as human animals have developed. It is akin to the individual cells within our bodies being able to independently conceive of what we are as a human being with a multifaceted and complex personality, identity and ego.
The difference between the cell and the organism from the 'cells eye view' is unfathomable!

IF the imprecise and imperfect frames that we create around the concept of 'God' (be they the frames of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism or other) allow us to connect more to the divine (and to one another and the world around us) then they are ALL valuable and beautiful.

To suggest that one is better than another is spiritually immature and to neglect them in entirety may be throwing out the baby with the bath water...

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Timely Article on the Risks of Statins

Following on from my last post about the scary prospect of using pharmaceuticals as preventative measures based on genetic testing, and a researchers use of Statin medications based on his supposed genetic proclivity to heart disease - comes this article on the BBC website about the dangers of Statin medications.

As I previously mentioned genetic proclivity is only one part of the complex puzzle of disease and disorder in the body.
Pharmaceutical medications can improve quality of life and quantity of life...but should be a last resort as there are many (and serious) side effects from virtually all medications. If we need to use them in order to survive then of course we should...but prophylactic use? To me that is simply absurd!

And I am not saying this from a standpoint of either genetic or health privilege. Remember that I have recovered from the effects of Crohn's Disease - without surgery, and without pharmaceuticals.

Life and health are synonymous. Life is complex - ergo health is complex...and there is no magic bullet that will 'cure' anyone of anything. 'Self' responsibility and self accountability are needed to make the first major decision, and that is the decision to change, and change in the knowledge that it is our bodies that are becoming dysfunctional - not being attacked by some 'boogey man' pathogen. That is not to say that we develop a victim mentality but that instead we take responsibility for our health and take the steps...and make the hard decisions to improve ourselves and live the lives we have always wanted to live - lives of rugged health and joyous happiness!

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Genome Testing & Preventative Drug Therapy - a Scary Proposition....

A good friend of mine sent me this article in the New Zealand Herald about a Genome scientist who has been prescribed statin medication despite his relative youth and good health because of genetic tendencies to cardiomyopathy that were revealed during genetic testing.

Quite frankly this worries me. In the medical field we know that a genetic tendency does not determine whether you will get an illness. It just provides a proclivity towards it. Any illness is multifactorial - and nutrition, lifestyle, environment and of course stress all play a major role in whether someone will express their tendency towards an illness.

So why on earth would someone in good health put themselves at risk of the side effects of medication?

Statins certainly are not innocuous, with side effects that can include; myalgias, muscle cramps and various gastrointestinal symptoms. They also may not be effective at reducing the incidence of cardiac illnesses.

We need to move away from this idea that the body is simply a machine that can be 'fixed'. Life is more complex than that....we are more complex than that...and WE are much, much more complex than that. The ghost in the machine doesn't exist...the ghost IS the machine and the machine is the ghost.

Sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy to me....

~ Cliff

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