The Habit and Routine of Religion; Breaking Free

For a majority of mankind, religion is a habit, or more precisely, tradition is their religion. Though it seems strange, I think that the first step to moral perfection is your liberation from the religion in which you were raised. Not a single person has come to perfection except by following this way.

Henry David Thoreau Cited in Calendar of Wisdom

Thoreau recommends a healthy skepticism about what is passed down to you as being “your religion.”  A necessary part, as both Thoreau and I believe, is the willingness to challenge those beliefs and have the courageous willingness to go out and explore what beliefs, values, religious statements, and theological assertions feel right and true for yourself! 

In the latest research, the current generations of Millennials and Z, are quite disposed to dropping their early religious or family affiliations, and then to go out and explore more… It could take them on many explorations, and they will arrive at many diverse conclusions. One of the approaches that is rising in their generational popularity is becoming an agnostic or to list themselves as being a member of  “none of the above.”

Our childhood religions, especially for those of us who are over 50, were a bitter blend of rules and obligations; Most often not very well explained, but piously observed! There was a pressure to conform, as well as an expectation to be obeyed. The religious hierarchy was firmly in place, and there was little debate or freedom to question the answers we were given in religious instruction. Looking back on it, it was Christendom at its best, and Christianity at its worst!

I was a pioneer and early adventurer into the realms of interfaith points of view… The more popular ways of adolescent rebellion were more social and secular. Mine was to become an intellectual and spiritual adventurer! Maybe it was because formal education was not necessarily prized, or easily to obtain within my working class immigrant family. It was quite appropriate for them to focus on material needs, daily labors, and trying to fit into an WASP post-war American culture. 

Accordingly, my family books were Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, and a few miscellaneous books on history, geography, Italian culture (in Italian!) and some manuals on policing and law enforcement by way of my father’s job… 

Thankfully, my father understood that I was not like others in his whole family– I had a desire to know much more about the world, and my seemingly endless curiosity and incessant questioning could be troublesome! He found his way, in installments, to buy me the series of encyclopedias called The Book of Knowledge! My best classroom was sitting in an overstuffed chair, with a bright lamp on, reading through the world from A-Z! The best part was the new volume each year that updated everything from inventions to sports!

By age 16, I have begun to discover a much larger world than my intense ethnic village could have provided for me… I discovered psychology from the school book sales, and took classes in the martial arts, and then was introduced to supportive Eastern philosophies that quickly replaced any Bible reading I had done. (In general, Catholics did not read the Bible often or well… they relied on the priest and the catechism for all the necessary answers for faith!) As a part of that early exposure to Japanese thought, I stumbled into and out of a Japanese chanting sect in college– My family was astonished, and the family priest was not amused!

Now, I could go on down a longer list in my religious and philosophical explorations, through my journey into esoteric and occult ideas, but I think you get the idea! By age 32, having been a psychotherapist for 8 years, after having religious excursions into Anthroposophy and Christian Science, having joined and participated in a transpersonal Mystery School for many years, now I was ready to take on a seminary education!

Once I had entered into my ministry education program, I found quickly that when I asked about spirituality, meditative practices, mystical experiences etc., it was often better for me to remain silent in class for most of those 3 years! 

There is a popular saying that goes;

”[ Religion is for those who fear Hell; Spirituality is for those who have been there and came back!]” Not that my seminary experience was hellish, it was an excellent graduate school of religion! However, I attended very naively, thinking that it would be a training school for mystics, and hoping that it would be a place of spiritual formation and transformation… 

That disappointment was quite unexpected, but it is what you get when your lifelong religious role models were either saints, mystics, or religious misfits!