Religion and views of life
The 12 basic needs
Religion or any view of life is a basic need of every human being. Of course the content is spiritual, but in the division of labour we are consumers where we ask a priest, an imam or a guru to help us to find our way “up”.
Introduction
The allround basis for our quality of life is of course our motivation! WHY are we living now and here? What’s the meaning of life itself? Where do we come from and where and how will we go on? If we don’t try to find the answers on those questions in one way or another everything else will always be a cycle of question after question. So we should have to think about religion as the first “daily need” very thoroughly before thinking about all the other needs!
A fast-forward answer is that there has to be reincarnation after reincarnation as an eternal ongoing life not as a cycle but as a developing process to ever higher degrees of being. Otherwise life itself should only be a time-filling holiday or a struggle-for-life which always ends in a bodybag and a coffin or some other way of vanishing from this playing ground. Although everybody has to think about the meaning of life him/herself to get the answers, we could imagine that the human being is on its way to become a free and self creative copy, clone, child or descendant of its Creator and has now just become mature in this 21st century! Then and only then the human being and its role as consumer becomes as clear and understandable as possible!
Religion as reality
All religions around the world are speaking about a spiritual world which is as real as the material world. Since the 20st century more and more people are talking about experiences by meditation, praying, or even drugs, almost-dead situations in crashes, hospitals or during climbing in the alps. Reinhold Messner the greatest climber of this century who reached all the 8000-summits alone and without oxygen said on German tv in 2005: “Yes – I experienced that spiritual world where we came from and where we go to, even three times when falling during my mountaineering expeditions – for me that spiritual world is a reality – what’s your next question?”
Also more and more scientists in nucleair research after Fridjof Capra (see his bestselling books Tao of Physics and The Turning Point) became aware of the treshold between light and matter. Where the wisdom of the Kaballa centuries ago already said that when light comes via an inward spiral into a circular move – it becomes matter – as we can see in the structure of every atom. In this 21st century these things will get clearer and clearer and give way to understand the world and the cosmos in space and time as a composition instead of the big bang theory of a chaotic warehouse of probabilities ….. The development of mankind becomes more and more visible as a more-than-one lifelong learning proces.
Religion as development
When we look more intensely to all religions in a time-line everything becomes more and more clear being a developing process in the history of mankind. Then we can recognise religions as different directions of believing, but also as a coherent system of “schools” in educating the human being in a systematic order towards a self-creative individual-citizen-consumer.
Therefore we can stop writing our text here on this page in the same way that all information from the Cheops Pyramid, Nostradamus and others stop around this time. All religions are from now on more and more working towards the future, in oecumene, meeting of cultures, and renewing religion in itself as a developing process of working together with the spiritual world in a mature way! Especially in the opening of all esoteric schools we can find the answers that all religions are related to each other. The 21st century is only the beginning of Religion 2.0 as to say it in modern words! A (more than one) lifelong learning process!
Religions in a time-line
- 3000 Natural beliefs (Living with the gods)
- 0900 Hinduism (Remembering the spiritual world)
- 0700 Zoroaster (From remembering to searching)
- 0600 Budhism (In search for the spirital world)
- 0030 Christianity (The first link … )
- 0732 Islam (Connecting the -scientifical- dots between heaven and earth ….)
- 1500 Atheism / Materialism / Natural sciences (Freedom in individual thinking)
- 1900 Esoterical schools open up / New Age (“Re-Orient-ation” …..translation of old knowledge in today’s words)
- 2001 Maturity: the human being reached the age of maturity (21st century)
Religion and globalization
In fact all family-trees go back to Adam and Eve and our Creator (or the Big Bang). Especially since the 9/11 experience more and more of us worldwide feel that they are part of one big family in the global “village”. Plus realizing that we have to manage a better way of living together between us all and with nature as a whole. And with the cosmos and the spiritual worlds!
So we have to continue that lifelong learning proces not only to find ourself but also to understand each other. The world of economy can give us the best opportunities to learn, because especially as producers and consumers! we ARE interrelated!
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01 202501 January 2025
This famous image of Beuys was originally used on a poster for a Beuys exhibition held in Naples in 1971 – hence the Italian title of the work. In the late 1960s and early 1970s revolution was in the air, particularly among students. There were demands to change society and the means of production. Beuys does not deny that society needs to change, but stresses first and foremost that people must change before true revolution can take place. In this work Beuys sets himself up as a Christ-like figure striding confidently into the future, encouraging us to do the same.
01 202401 January 2024
01 202006 June 2020
This is the Moment to Change the World
This is the text on the frontpage of Time Magazine last month and the main article written by the historian and writer Rutger Bregman. His fifth book Humankind – A Hopeful History is now translated in English and was already a bestseller in the Netherlands. Big changes mostly begin in the middle of great crisis (note: the chinese character for crisis is also the character for the possibility of change). During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the Second World War and the Great Recession of 2008 the whole world became significant “Upgraded” in international relations, culture and economy. Now in the middle of the Corona crisis we can see again many new initiatives of cultural, social and economic relations worldwide! After every human illness or crisis we can often see the person or organization getting better – better than before! That is what we call the essence of development.
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01 200906 June 2009
Dalai Lama in Amsterdam:
About the Power of Compassion in Turbulent Times
His Holiness said that man is a social animal, with a need for interaction with others. The economic crisis and environmental problems affects us all and creates interdependence and the need for a compassionate society. His Holiness said that he speaks as just one human among six billion and gains a personal benefit from a peaceful world. A more self-centered attitude is unrealistic in a modern, connected society.
His Holiness explained that although the health of the world in the early years of the new century was poor, he viewed the overall development as positive. The Berlin Wall was removed through a popular movement rather than violent upheaval and in general there were signs that the world had the capacity to grow closer together. He acknowledged that while not enough was being done to address environmental problems, the awareness of the problems was, in itself, a positive sign since this was a relatively recent phenomenon.
However, to end global violence there must be an end to violence at the local and individual level. Many people may feel that the idea of ‘world peace’ was too big for anyone to effect. His Holiness felt that the practical approach is to start with the inner peace of the individual, progressing through the family to the community and beyond.
Far beyond our expectations his speech developed into a historical and situational 360-degrees overview, directed to all of us as consumers or producers, as citizens or as politicians. He suggested how to work harder towards a better world and thus, motivated by our compassion for all of our fellow human beings, help solve all existing problems.
01 200905 May 2009
News in the making… UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue
There’s a lot of news in the making worldwide! While everybody is doing now his/her “homework” we may hope for interesting plans when schools start again in september!
The UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue DIID 2011-2020 or the coordination in the research about the vanishing of the bees, or consumereducation starting in september by Consumers International and Unesco, or the restructuring of finance and banking, or even the end of materialism let’s call it “Darwin and beyond”, or what about Europe where citizens can learn to become worldcitizens ….. !
Life is an interesting challenge Hemingway would say!