​​​​​In the following post, I’ll be discussing the realization that most of the world's religions ​have outlived their usefulness. I'll offer proof. We have reached a moment in time for religion to be abandoned in favor of a different and more powerful, practical, and useful approach; one that helps us understand ourselves, our lives, and how we're all connected.​

Although it never is my intent to offend or insult anyone, I ​realize that some who read this ​will be​. Please Note: To be insulted by this, or anything else is a dynamic illustration of the Ego self in ​action, an indication of inner discord, and is a learning opportunity.

Active Spirituality™ is a remedy for this conundrum.

​Religion Can Be A Waste of Time

Here’s what everyone needs to know: You are God.

This, I know, will be hard for some to believe. Nonetheless, it is true. Everyone alive today is God or, at least, an equal part of the ‘Greater God’.

Most people don’t know this and, ​even more importantly, don’t want to believe it. That's because this level of awareness and knowledge automatically brings with it a greater responsibility to oneself, to our neighbors, and to our planet, including all its living creatures.

Most don’t want this responsibility. After all, it is easier to go through life filtered through the lens of deniability: ‘It’s not my fault, or I didn’t know.’

Religion offers a justification for this and that’s a big problem. Rather than teach the ‘how to’s’ – how to recognize and actively interact with the inner God self – they freely substitute their version of morality and ‘decency’ as definitions for God.

Deniability

That’s the benefit of deniability. Ignoring or denying this reality ​– that you are God ​– offers a tacit, yet false nod of approval for our actions. It ​makes it easier for us to justify bad choices and behaviors and enables us to ignore the affects our actions have on others.

Deniability provides an excuse for a lack of personal responsibility.

This deniability of our true nature – that We all are God; that You are God – gives us ‘permission’ to mindlessly act and choose; to do things we’d never have done had we simply known better before we acted.

This includes the things we do to sabotage our own lives, our own happiness, as well as the things we do to get in the way of or hurt others.

This knowing, however, is deep inside each one of us, often hidden beneath the cloak of deniability. This cloak is an artificial garment created by the Ego self.

We all have desires. We want to experience new and various things. This is life. This is the way of the universe. It’s how consciousness grows – expands. It’s a good thing.

Problems arise, however, when we believe that others are in our way. We don’t want this. We’re afraid of this, and we’ll do everything we can to get around this, even if these ‘others’ are negatively affected by our actions.

Often, we use our minds to justify the choices we make, even when these choices have negative affects on others or our world.

This is an illustration of the Ego self in action. It wants what it wants, and damned be the consequences. The mind can be a slave of the Ego self and together they construct all sorts of justifications.

These become a ‘blanket of deniability’.

This blanket of deniability offers ‘cover’ – an excuse – enabling us to proceed with our plans even when they are, in the most extreme cases, unspeakable acts of physical violence against others.

​Want to Be Spiritual? Be Aware: Examples of Deniability

We have seen the power of deniability in action many times with businesses.

In recent years, it has become more common to learn about corporations which created and sold products that harm. After these harms were discovered and became public knowledge, we then learn that these corporations not only profited handsomely from these products but were found to have known about the harm they were doing.

But they continued their harmful ways. Money was worshipped, not the guidance from the God within.

This in an illustration of Deniability.

Another example of this sort of behavior can be found in real estate development projects. There are developers who are willing to destroy the environment in favor of their need for profits.

They care not about how this can negatively impact people, plants and especially animals, who also have the right to exist and to not become extinct due to man’s lack of forethought, responsibility, and accountability.

Our world is rapidly becoming uninhabitable. That’s a problem and it is made possible by Deniability.

What is Spirituality? You Are God!

In fact, many people who’ve heard this notion before and who believe it – the notion that we all are God – even many of them don’t fully appreciate what this actually means, or what, (if anything), to do with this information.

That’s a problem and religion has made it worse.

Long ago, when the first ‘religion’ was unintentionally created and introduced by the Essenes, this information was taught. It was shared with all. (Incidentally, the Essenes were the people who raised and taught the individual known as Jesus.)

But that was over 2,000 years ago. During that lengthy passage of time, many things have worked to change these teachings. It’s just like the game of ‘telephone’ we were shown back in school in 1^st or 2^nd grade to illustrate how a message gets garbled and changed as it is shared between people.

The game worked like this: the teacher whispers a message in the ear of the first person in a line of about 20 people. That person then whispers into the ear of the second person, and so on.

By the time the message reaches the last person in the line, the 20th person, the message has changed completely. It has an entirely new meaning.

And, just like in that game of telephone, the information about the reality of who we are was changed, long ago forgotten, even by religions.

In the initial stages of this ‘confusion’, this vital teaching was simply omitted, as those doing the teaching didn’t think the students were ‘ready’ to hear it. (I disagree with the notion that information should be kept hidden, even from those ‘not ready’.)

Then, as those doing the teaching realized the real power this information held, they began to deliberately withhold it, as they believed it gave them an advantage. This advantage: the illusion of power.

This brings us to today. For almost everyone alive today, the reality of our very existence, that each one of us is an equal part of God, has been lost.

Religion vs Spirituality – The Religious Folly

Each day, we see and hear so called ‘religious leaders’, particularly those affiliated with the 3 major ‘western religions’, talking around God. Saying that God says this or, my favorite: God wants that.

These leaders then proceed to advise and admonish the entire world, often preaching that God will punish those who ‘offend’ ‘him’; punish those who don’t accede to God’s directives. This is contrary to universal law, which gives us all Free Will.

One does not have Free Will if forced to do what another wants us to do.

These folks, many religious leaders, preach that you must not do this, or believe that. Even worse, they try to dictate the direction of the world by preaching how you must live and vote.

They tell you to ignore your inner guidance and vote for the person they have decided is best for you and your situation, without ever walking in your shoes, experiencing your life.

They feel a need to maintain their perceived power. They work to evade discovery of reality, like the Hans Christian Anderson story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. It’s not their fault. And they’re not necessarily bad people, although some clearly are.

They just lack an understanding about the subject they’re actually supposed to be teaching – that You are God.

Since they don’t really understand what God is, or how God works, they just don’t know what to say about this subject – even though they claim to be experts. So, they invent things to speak about.

Or they talk about the Bible. Much of the Bible is no longer relevant. (Perhaps, it never was.)

Proof

Now, I am certain that many reading this will want proof. I will attempt to offer this proof, though this is not easy and for some, I am certain it will not be enough.

But I will try.

Sometimes, the evidence we need can be right in front of us. And yet, we still miss it. This is the case with religion and its fundamental flaws; its lack of validity, practicality, and viability.

Here’s a question which captures the essence of the reality about religions: How long have the religions of the world, especially the 3 western religions, controlled the world’s narrative, controlled the storyline about reality, the universe, and about God?

Answer: Thousands of years.

And yet, what do we see every day? What do we have to show for this continual dominance of our social and Spiritual discourse?

We see a world in complete chaos and turmoil. And, it is only getting worse.

Sure, there have been advancements. But in the bigger picture, things are getting worse.

Now… I’m not talking about your particular world, necessarily – your homelife, your city, your country, or even your continent. You might be doing wonderfully and that’s great!

I am talking about the world in its entirety. It is getting worse and is rapidly moving toward self-destruction. We need to change things quickly or we’ll likely witness our own demise.

In fact, for all our advances, our world has been in a deep descent for thousands of years, even as man has continued to evolve.

And, man has evolved.

But, despite man’s continuing evolution to higher consciousness, it has been the existence and influence of religion and its mostly innocent misunderstanding about God, reality, and our collective human nature which has maintained its hold on the psyche of humanity. All the while, the world has been drawn to greater depths of despair.

I’ll not list all the examples of the deepening crisis we face. The evidence is there for all to see. One need only look through eyes untainted by the desires and fears of the Ego self and everything comes quickly into focus. It’s actually quite obvious.

Meanwhile, religions continue on the same path they’ve always walked, unchanging and unyielding. As Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results…” That is religion.

Religion is not the answer.

More Proof

Let’s look at just one overt and obvious issue, one that all can see: population. Or, to be a little more precise: overpopulation.

There are some religions which directly created this problem by refusing to re-evaluate their long-held and destructively dogmatic beliefs.

These institutions continue to disseminate an incorrect assessment about breeding – about having children – and about using a thoughtful approach to family and family size, and even about sex in general.

As a result, the world is now very overextended; overpopulated. It can no longer support all the people living here.

Yet, some religions refuse to acknowledge this and exhort their followers to have more babies, to not use birth control, and attempt to stop others from being able to choose what to do with their body’s, even as the rate of population growth is very obviously unsustainable.

These particular religions teach that God will take care of this overpopulation problem. This might be true, but not in the way they preach. Their preaching on this, the way they believe God works and will fix this is a childlike fantasy.

They actually believe that some grand individual will suddenly wave a magic wand and this problem, as well as others, will miraculously disappear; that some omnipotent being will instantly fix everything.

This is not realistic thinking. In fact, it is juvenile thinking. It is a denial of the reality that You are God – that We all are God – and we act together to help create change.

If, however, you accept that You are God, and you understand that you have the power and responsibility to contribute, as does everyone else, things are seen in a different light.

If you are part of God, you are part of the solution. When you act in denial of this reality, and from the inspiration of the Ego self, you are potentially part of the problem.

It is up to you. You are God so you must act to make the changes we need as that is how things actually work. When you are in touch with your inner God self, the messages telling us what to do, what is needed, are very clear.

To have children – simply because one physically can, physically has the ability, or because one ‘wants’ them – is not the best basis for making this very important choice.

So, what is the answer?

Religion is Obsolete

Clearly, religion is not the answer.

It’s not the answer on a personal level, as a way to improve your own life. And it’s not the answer in a global sense, to improve the lot of the world and benefit all beings who inhabit the planet.

The answer is: Active Spirituality.

And the first aspect of Active Spirituality is to recognize and accept that the life force within you, the life force in everyone and everything, including plants, animals, and even inanimate objects, is the same.

The energy and essence which keeps you alive; that which makes your heart beat and your lungs breathe, and which then extracts and attaches the oxygen molecules from that air onto the platelets in the bloodstream, sending it throughout the body to nourish the other cells… The essence and energy which does all this is the God essence within you.

You are God.

In fact, God is looking through your eyes right now. No kidding. This isn’t magic. It’s the truth.

God is hearing with your ears and tasting with your tongue and feeling with your fingers right now.

And, here’s the most hopeful thing to realize: You can access all this power to create the life experience you desire.

But doing this does take effort. For most, it doesn’t happen naturally. Why?

There are several reasons, including karma and the level of awareness you brought forward with you into this life, but the biggest reason is this:

In addition to the God essence inside you, there are several other elements there, too. These other elements are usually the source of much of our confusion and the world’s problems.

This is the foundation of the duality within.

The Wrong Approach

Religions teach the wrong approach. They want you to bow down before an imaginary and often angry and punishing God – one that truly does not exist – and then wait to be rewarded for the good things you have done.

Religions pretend to know how God thinks – if something is ‘good’ or something is ‘bad’.

Here’s a little tidbit that might make you feel a little better about yourself and about life: God doesn’t evaluate things this way. This is not how the universe works.

Good and bad, or judgement of any kind, are not part of Consciousness. God is Consciousness.

But what does that really mean?

Again, the answer is simple. In fact, it’s a message that even religions themselves try to teach but, in practice, seem unable to consistently apply: Thou shalt not judge.

This can be a very liberating aspect of reality: God does not judge. Good, bad, evil, angelic… God does not care. God does not judge.

Given this powerful reality, that God does not judge, does it make any sense to think that bowing down before this imaginary being – a being which is often seen as vengeful and angry – and doing things we think might appease him, will yield real and positive results in our lives?

Or, does this sort of thinking seem a little like forced captivity, of being forced to appease a powerful master to earn his favor?

(If you really want more in your life, live in the energy of gratitude. It doesn’t matter where this energy is directed. Just feel gratitude within.)

I am not saying that being good and doing good things to help others is bad. Clearly it is good, and there are reasons for this, too.

But I am saying that doing good things does not appease anyone other than yourself (the Ego self), and those whom you have helped. That’s as far as it goes.

Do good things simply for the purpose of doing good things, and feel gratitude for the help you give, and for the help you receive. That is ‘doing God’s work’.

We’re all God, so helping another get what they want, is part of the circle of life. In turn, others will help you get what you want. That’s the most basic nuts-and-bolts version of how God works.

We’re all part of the same greater good, even those of us who are ‘bad’. So, helping another get what they want is part of our duty: to participate in the circle of life.

When we do participate in this circle, the things we desire will come to us, too. What goes around, comes around. When we think about life in this way, perspective changes. This is the fuel that helps power the Law of Attraction.

What about Karma?

True, karma is real and it is a factor. But karma is not about punishing or denying. Karma is an avenue from which we can learn.

Karma is part of the circle of life. It is a method used by the universe – consciousness – to teach us.

The Right Approach

The most important thing one can do, then, is learn about the essence within. And to then learn how to access this essential and unlimited power and use it in appropriate ways; ways that will enhance your life experiences and the experiences and lives of those within your sphere of influence.

This is life. This is the best approach.

And, this is true regardless of your current level of consciousness, from the beginner to the advanced. Change is inevitable. Change is constant.

Taking an inward approach and recognizing your true nature will help you direct the course of the change in your life.

It is not necessary to reach the pinnacle of expression during this current lifetime. That doesn’t even have to be part of your goals.

You will have many more lifetimes to complete that process. There is no rush. Enlightenment is not a race to the finish and it is available to all.

But there is an urgency to reject old and worn out ways and to embrace a new path. This is a better way and, ultimately, this is how you can increase your level of happiness, success, and love.