Religion and spirituality are like peanut butter and honey. They have been sandwiched together for so long than most people don’t recognize they are two separate and distinct flavors. Religion is the peanut butter while spirituality is the honey. The flavor of some peanut butters can be so overwhelming that the honey is next to impossible to find, as was the religion I was raised with.
So many of us have been sold on the belief that there is only one right way to God. I was raised, as many were, with the belief that God is judgmental. That we have to earn the right to be in presence of God and God’s love is conditional. That God is a sexist and a racist, and only recognizes those who follow the right creed. My religion taught that our way was the one and only true religion of God and all others were mere mockery. In my childhood religion followers were taught that in order to prove themselves worthy to be in the presence of God they must sacrifice worldly happiness and they must live polygamy. Anything else will lead to an eternity of servitude to those who did earn the right to God.
The belief that there is only one right way to God is the dogma that controls the minds, hearts, souls, bodies and money of humanity and prevents people from finding their true connection to Spirit and their own divinity. It is the overpowering goo that keeps many from finding their own inner truth. Is this to say that all religion is wrong? Of course not. At the core of every religion there are spiritual truths; some religious teachings are simply more difficult to navigate through than others.
Those religions that fundamentally prevent people from accessing real spirituality are losing their control. There are masses of people who are walking away from the archaic beliefs about who God expects them to be. They are walking away from the fear based beliefs that have kept them from real connection to Spirit. They are recognizing the greed, control, abuse and deception that permeates much of religion. But many have not yet learned how to separate spirituality from religion, believing they are one and the same. They are floundering in the space between religion and spirituality hoping to find a deeper meaning for their existence. Many feel a sense of guilt for not believing in the God and religion they have were told to believe in, even when deep within themselves those beliefs don’t resonate with their soul.
It is my intent to teach people how to find the sweetness of spirituality without the overpowering control of religion. To separate the peanut butter from the honey. To gently open them up and guide them inward where God has always been and does not need to be earned or proven worthy of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIaoC9liMj8&feature=youtu.be
The Polygamist's Daughter 