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Religion And Spirit Research Paper

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One thing that puts a lot of secular and rationalistic thinking people off of spiritual disciplines is the requirement to follow certain religious traditions or revere certain historical figures that any rational person cannot in good faith do. Even the word spirituality can be problematic as it implies belief in non-corporeal substances that cannot be observed by today’s scientific methodologies. It is interesting to note that the word spirit actually comes from the Latin, spiritus, which means breath. The word spirit has over time been adopted by religions and faith schools to be used as this catch-all term to describe anything wispy and undefined. Anything that is separate from the material body that we cannot observe. It is a shame that …show more content…

We also see on a daily basis that religious approaches to human rights and tolerance are often stuck in the time of their conception. This doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. A lot of religions, when the politics, cultural and racial contexts of the time of their conception is removed are in the end an attempt to make the human being look beyond it self and aim for something greater.

As I discussed in a previous blog post, Christianity teaches at its core the sacrifice of self through the lessons of the cross. But to get there we need to look past the intolerances towards certain groups and unscientific claims that it makes. Islam teaches complete submission to the will of Allah. This again teaches the disregarding of self and of personal desires and submitting to a divine being. It is a shame that the submission is made to a creator that promotes violence against non-believers and promises paradise to believers who kill themselves in his …show more content…

When you notice that you are caught in thought and no longer on the breath, without frustration on annoyance bring yourself back to the breath.

6. Do this for as long as you like, it can be 5 minutes or 1 hour. It’s up to you.

Mindfulness meditation is one of the easiest methods one can begin to use and at the same time one of the most difficult methods to do correctly and sustain it over a period of time. When doing this method of awareness practice you will very quickly begin to see the reactive nature of your mind and how quickly it attaches to every stimulus that it is given.

This exercise is just a tool and like all tools it has it’s strengths and weaknesses. Just like press ups or sit-ups are done to help strengthen certain muscle groups. This exercise is done to help strengthen your non-attaching awareness and concentration. Don’t attach to this exercise or any exercise.

I have heard recently critics of meditation saying things like true personal growth is about helping others and trying to reduce the problems in the world and not sitting meditating on ones own mind. I think this criticism highlights the lack of understanding most people have with how problems and suffering arises in the world and how best to deal with them. I will leave you with this quote from the great Burmese – Indian meditation teacher, Satya Narayan

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