* The two religions

YT

I say there are only two religions.  Of works and of grace.  But there is only one, of works. Visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and stay unpolluted from the world. Live up to a standard, whatsoever.  When I was hungry you fed me; I was thirsty, you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked, you clothed me; sick and you cared for me; I was in prison and you came to me.

The things you do, whatever they are, and the way you treat people. That's what religion is, the discipline of those things.  

It's a word from the Latin, religion -- from either relegere, "to go through again", as in repeated thoughts, or re-reading -- like ritual repetitions, rosary and set prayer times.  Or, from Latin, religare, "to bind", like LIGament, LIGature. You are bound by obligation to a practice. ObLIGation.

True religion is doing these things, caring for the sick etc.  What then is false, or at least not-true, religion?  Selfishness?  Empty rituals?   It's me-first, self-advancement -- including meditation unto enlightenment, unto the very abnegation of self.  False religion, me me me. These are certainly not "visiting the sick".  

But either way, true or false, religion is about works. TRUE, doing good for others. FALSE, doing things for yourself.  Monks sequestered in a life of contemplation. Selfish.  Cell fish.

The other religion, NOT about true- or false-works?  Grace.  You didn't earn it, don't deserve it.  It's the religion that is not a religion.  It has nothing to do with psychology, psuche, soul, enlightenment, nirvana.

Again, I say there are two religions, but there's really only one: things you do for the advancement of the soul -- psuche, animus, nephesh, prana, chi.  These are not exact cognates, but they all refer to that perfectible essence that concerns mystic and ascetics, monks, religionists. 

By this meaning, of working, of works for your soul -- there are, again, true and false religions, in that some methods (works) advance and some inhibit soulish growth.  Religion as an edification to the world, or as a means of power and selfishness, self advancement.  Inward or outward, selfish or selfless.  It's still all pretty much the same -- all about gaining advantage in the world.  Moslem and Hindu and Buddhist -- well, fill in the list.  Shinto. Christian. Orthodox/ Roman Catholic/ Protestant.  Calvinism.  Methodism.   Just ways of acting or thinking that affect the soul.  Methods and beliefs that are personal to the individual, and which differ only in efficaciousness.

Then, again, there's the religion that is not a religion, because it is not about the advancement of the soul.  It's the only one that is not about works and goals, and self. It has nothing to do with the world.  It is entirely about a relationship with God, which is the only means of transcending, extending out of the universe.  That relationship is spiritual, not soulish.  Soulish enlightenment may come with the relationship, but it may not.  In any case, it's grace, not works

Enlightenment -- a process, a goal, a relationship with the world -- is not the point; rather, reviving a dead spirit -- that's salvation, as Jesus taught it.  Saved not from a benighted soul, false ideas, an excess of desire, bad breathing habits.  Saved from a cut-off, a dead spirit.  Separated not from the timeless sea of nonbeing, the eternal cloud of unknowing, but from the transcendent source of life, rather than the natural physics of life. Separated not from the grand, wholistic oneness of the universe, but from the God who made the universe.  

So, there are only two religions, of soul and the universe, and of spirit and God.  Soul is about works and experience in the universe -- a process, and all religions are true, in that they depend on what you do.  

Spirit is not about anything -- it's a relationship that reaches God, by grace.  No one saves themselves by believing and keeping the laws of Moses, the Pillars of Islam, the Paths of Buddhism, the credos of Christendom.  There is no way to save yourself.  You are saved the way a drowning man is pulled from the water.  Because someone is gracious enough to do it. 

 Christianity has three salvations: justification, sanctification, and glorification.  You're justified the moment you are born again -- that opening of your heart to grace, forgiveness.  The price is paid -- your debt is wiped clean.  Thank you. 

Sanctification -- that's the rest of your life, doing good works, spreading grace, being kind and righteous.  Of course we fail.  Do you think God expects otherwise?  But we are pleasing in our effort, as small children are pleasing.

Then there's glorification, and that's resurrection and rewards and paradise and all of that stuff that isn't really our business right now, not really the point, even if it is the destination. 

I didn't mean to go on like this.  The upshot is, again, two religions, of saving yourself, somehow, how ever, whatever works -- or of not being able to save yourself -- being saved. 

J