Dear Yuyutsu,

Some form of religion has existed in every society.
Religious beliefs and practices
are so ancient - they can be traced into prehistory.
Even the primitive Neanderthal people of that time, it
seems, had some concept of a supernatural realm that
lay beyond everyday reality. Among the fossilised
remains of these cave dwellers, anthropologists have
found evidence of funeral ceremonies in the form of
flowers and artifacts that were buried with the dead,
presumably to accompany them on the journey to an
afterlife.

I can fully understand why someone
would choose not to be a part of any organised religion.
Many people don't like what organised religion has done
to the world.

I have come to see that true religion is internal, not
external. The spirit within us cannot be blamed for the
blasphemies carried out in its name. What some have
done in the name of religion, projecting their neuroses,
even perpetrating evil on the world, does not make
religion as a mystical phenomenon invalid.

Secularised organised religions have become, in many
cases, as calcified as other institutions that form the
structure of our modern world. That's why they are
rejected by some. Our religious institutions have
far too often become handmaidens of the status quo,
while the genuine religious experience is anything but
that.

I did turn away from religion - but I found that life
without a conscious awareness of God was difficult and I
came back to religion because that is, theoretically where
to find Him. I believe that organisaed religion will
have to step up to bat, religiously, or it may wither
away. I believe that organised relgiious institutions
will have to transform for the simple reason that people
have become genuinely religious in spite of them.

Of course relgious institutions, as such, are not the
only arbiters of religious experience. They don't
own the Truth, for Truth cannot be owned. Nor should they
think they hold some franchise on our spiritual life.

They are consultants and frameworks, but they are not
God Himself. We should not confuse the path with the
destination.

Dear Foxy,

Thank you. I couldn't say it better.

You wrote that "Some form of religion has existed in every society" and I would like to add that some form of religion exited even well before society, before humans and before biological life, that inherent in everything is the drive to become self-aware, that not a single elementary particle is devoid of this drive to be re-united with God.

Yuyustu, what is your definition of the word "god"?

Dear Yuyutsu,

I value your opinion so your kind
words are deeply appreciated.
Thank You.

Dear May,

<<Yuyustu, what is your definition of the word "god"?>>

Because God is not something or someone, it is impossible to define Him positively, but it is possible to use a negative definition:

God is not anything, so you can fill in that space with whatever you like (including "existing"): "God is not _______".

However, there is nothing but God - so whatever is, is God, including you and me and whatever you see or hear or know or think or eat or drink, space or time, etc.

While most of us are under an illusion of being limited human bodies and/or minds, what we truly are is God. This painful illusion is caused by our attachments to "our" body-minds. What religion does is to loosen and eventually remove those barriers that stop us from directly experiencing who we really are - which is God.

Thanks for that Yuyutsu. Your answer leads me directly to my next 3 questions.

Are you claiming that your definition of god is accurate?

If the answer is "yes", how do you KNOW other, different definitions are not accurate?

Also, how do you KNOW you're definition of god is accurate?