the Path To Enlightenment. 


 By: Eleni Muller

[email protected]

 

Dear Mr. Sina: 

Your humanist insight is a real eye opener to the message of Islam.

When I read your page about "Why I am not a Muslim" it shocked me because I went through a similar experience.  I was bought up Greek Orthodox and have been questioning my mother about the hypocrisies that I would encounter in Church.  Naturally, she never answered them in a way that made any sense. I've been questioning since I was 10!  

My only criticism is your soft view on Christianity.   I realize that your page is geared more to Islam because that was what you experienced and grew up with.  But some focus should also be paid to other religions as well. 

We, as citizens of the Earth, will never have peace if we continue exercising blind faith in ANY RELIGION.  

Your Islamic readers need to recognize the falsity of the Judeo-Christian bible because the Koran has some of the same belief systems.  Some Moslems may feel that your words are not coming from wisdom but from a hatred of Islam.  Of course those of who are seeking knowledge understand where you are coming from.  You love humanity and want to bring everyone together.  Your site is  to enlighten.  Your arguments will become ever more thought provoking if you tie the Koran in with the bible. 

Here are some of the most heart-warming words of wisdom from Jesus that Moslems might not be aware of: 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17 (So, he does not condemn the acts of rape, murder and Genocide in the OT). 

think not that I am come to send peace on earth:  I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34 (Hmmm...isn't "Peace on Earth" written on multitudes of Christmas Cards?) 

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.    -Luke 14:26 (KJV) (what Christian can resist this loving devotion to family togetherness) 

These are just a FEW of the passages that led me out of the God Myth. The Old Testament is even worse.  How can anyone read the bible and believe that it inspires peace and love.  It's beyond my understanding how I did! 

My freedom came when I used logic.  If more Christians read the bible, they would have little choice but to see the lies. All Moslems need to read the bible in addition to the Koran.  

By the way, your article on EL and Yahweh was eye-opening about monotheism resulting from the merging of  two Gods.  It's funny how inaccurate translation can tear the bible to shreds.  

The insanity of Religion continues to this day.  Christianity is unfortunately still producing megalomaniacs and murderers. http://www.usafricaonline.com/rwandabishop.html  

Anyway, I would like to tell you a little of my experience with "enlightenment."  Many of my friends laugh when I tell them how I escaped Religion. The beginning might seem "hocus pocus" but please read it all the way through and you will see how our story relates.  However, I feel you may have had some of these similar occurrences to experience what you did.  

Please feel free to post this on your sight.  It is long...leaving out the details won't help anyone. Even if it is just one person, it will be well worth my effort!  

When I entered my twenties, I stopped attending church completely and started seeking out other religions.  However, everything sounded the same to me.  Everything was immersed in ritual, dogma, and dependence on a priest, guru, etc.  

My mother started attending this Sahaja Yoga group where they were practicing kuhndalini Yoga.  (for those not familiar, it is also known as chi).  I learned the techniques and quickly left the group because they worshipped their leader as a God (This leader actually had the audacity to claim that she alone could bring about this energy in people!)  

The power of this type of meditation is so strong that these Gurus get complete control of their subjects.  Countless cults exist that practice this same method.  My mother is so far gone in this group that I doubt she'll ever get out. This is what happens when we don't investigate other cultures and religions.  My mother never bothered to read that this type of meditation has been around for thousands of years!  

The experience with this group made me come to the conclusion that they were no different from Christians, Jews and Moslems.  All walking around blindly worshipping something, someone, something without ever looking to themselves to discover reality.  This discovery caused such despair in me that I almost gave up hope in living.  I came to a point where I didn't care whether I lived or died.  How can I live in a world based on empty faith?  

I started meditating on my own and attained some high mystical states, but they led me to more confusion.  What did they mean??   I had a feeling of being connected to everything, everywhere.  It was quite physical, I would literally feel vibrations throughout my body. When I would stop meditating, I would reflect on my experience and realize that I had no recognition of a personal God.  Please note that this was in the back of my mind.  I didn't let it become my reality for quite a few years. Now you can see why I was confused and full of despair!!  I now was more of a deist.  I believed in a creator but rejected the bible.  

I continued my meditating and it cured me of clinical depression which I have suffered with for many years. Other things started occurring as well.  I noticed that I became somewhat detached from misery, loathing, hatred and other aspects of human emotion.  This is not to say that I didn't feel, but I was not affected.   Sill, I did not understand why. My temper evened out, I contemplated more, I listened to opposing views with a feeling of calm.  Eventually, I started reading more and more about organized religion and my guilt turned to anger.  Why did I buy into this???  I felt that all my problems were caused by believing in God and Religion.  

My anger slowly led me to discover the same thing you did.  I call it God, but beyond human terms.  It is not a being, not a thing.  Exactly how you came to see it!!!  Such relief!  A million pounds of guilt and anger disappeared. Yes, there was no one watching me!  Yes, I am my own truth!  Yes, that is reality! True freedom from an invisible watcher!  

To my utter amazement, I later went on to read some Buddhist writings and realized that true Buddhism is not about ceremony and ritual.  It is SOLELY about this truth that you refer to as the "singularity principle.  However, to me, it is not a theory because I have SEEN it. But, you are 100%  right when you say that one must discover reality on one's own.  I can have a diamond in a closed fist and tell you that it is there.  You have to believe me, have faith in me.  But....once I open my hand and you see it.  AHA!  Now you SEE it!!  That's what happened to me!  I see it!  I enjoy living now.  No religion could grant me that. To really see what life is about one must experience  it for one self.  

What people must see is that ALL religion today is like a closed fist. Even worse, the American Government is fighting the war on terrorism using religious terms, "good versus evil."  "If your not with us, you're with them."  The problem with this black and white thinking is that it is not explaining why this is happening....belief.  That's it. See this sight:  http://www.nobeliefs.com/beliefs.htm Will we one day annihilate ourselves with weapons of mass destruction because of these beliefs?  

So, is it realistic to "believe" that belief will die anytime soon?  I fear not.  Think about philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.  Their cries for common sense made no difference in this Subjective Reality that we are a prisoner of.  Our only hope is to educate as many people as possible.  That is why your site touched me as much as it did. Because you didn't rely on any external sources to come to your conclusions. You used rational thinking which annihilated your doubt and eventually flourished into wisdom.  How lucky you are!  The experience of enlightenment cannot be put in words, although some of the pleasant side effects are  liberation from an imaginary watcher in the heavens and a knowledge that human nature is learned and not in fact reality! Wow, it's the exact opposite of what the priests and anthropologists have been telling us!  This is the liberation that all that read your words should aim to personally experience.  Enlightenment is not religion, it's just seeing. That's why it's the only truth.  A man living apart from society can come across this truth.  A man living apart from society cannot learn about Mohammed and Jesus.  What does that tell us about truth??  It told me everything.  

In some of your correspondence with visitors to your sight, I was shocked to read how some wanted you to guide them to this enlightenment, and how you patiently explained to them that it was up to them.  It sounds simple, but as you discovered, it isn't because the closed fist refuses to open for them.    They have to metaphorically become that man/woman living apart from society to discover true reality.

Unlearning what is learned is difficult.  You did it.  I did it. Countless others did it.  So...naturally, all can do it. 

Warmest of regards,

Eleni

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

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