The subject is very wide. If we start studying this subject in scientific terms we could write something as wide as a university thesis on this.
In more practical terms, I like having little statuettes around me. I see no harm in that because they are rather positive elements and I do not worship them. I know people who use crystals more extensively. And I know there is a whole science to it. Crystals are believed to store energies and promote spiritual and physical well-being. In India they have Dyalinga’s. That is, huge stones that are believed to be charged with positive energy which are believed to have positive effects on anyone who enters the temple.
Now back to our subject: In ancient Egypt they believed that the Kha or life force of a deceased person could enter some of the statues. And there was a Muslim mystical person who warned me on that kind of thing. In his view, a small statuette of Apollo that I may have bought in some tourist avenue was absolutely harmless. Still, if the statue was dedicated (as in the Egyptian example above), this would mean that it has the potential to intervene with my own energies and therefore be harmful to me. I am not an expert on such issues but I tend to believe these things when they come from someone I see as “knowledgeable”.
But you cannot compare that to a statue of the Virgin or a Christ dying on the cross. Of course, we as Muslims are technically not allowed to pray to this icons. Although many of us do not see a problem with offering a prayer (in our own way) inside Christian holy sites. And this isn’t a very big issue either.
What I am talking about here is different. In exodus 20:5 it says: “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”
In fact there is a whole set of deeper meaning to that which are beyond the subject of this topic. But the very simple way in which I understand this is “Do not take something of this world and start to see it as the Ultimate Reality”
So this includes dogmas in the first place. Or all the superficial / most noticeable elements of any religion. A huge problem that we have in developing countries in which education systems are non-universal and often a privilege of the better-off classes is this: People are starting to misplace religion. Religion starts to be used as an education device, as a political ideology, as a substitute for reason, a substitute for medicine, a way to demonstrate stuff to other people, basically religion turns into everything except religion itself.
So limited minds are creating idols, fetishes, totems everywhere. The Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is a totem for instance. You may check is in Wikipedia. It was built some 1500 years ago by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It’s a great monument which is very important in historical terms. But the Political Islamic-minded government had to turn the Museum back into a mosque. And you can extend this to the over-implication with the female body, the consumption of a set of food and beverages, your showing up to the Friday prayer (so everybody can see you), a restaurant closing its doors during the holy month of Ramadan so everybody sees how pious they are…
So I don’t know if there are parallels in more developed countries. But I tend to see very similar things in India for instance.
In my culture in general, people will not always adhere to this, but they will still repeat on a mind level that objects, superficial / visible elements or idols do not really matter and therefore cannot be our standard in evaluating anybody’s faith or devotion. So that’s what I’m trying to explain here.
And in spiritual terms: Exodus 20:5 is a very powerful allegory. Let me explain my own understanding of this image before I wrap this up: To me Sex is not a bad thing. It is a part of our nature I do not and have never seen “sin” in a bodily function as simple as sex. Still: If you take sex and hedonism and turn it into your source of happiness or the primary object or goal of your life you may end up being disappointed. Because you may end up discovering that it is a limited thing that cannot fulfill your inner search for something greater. And this works for money, cars, art or even science and philosophy. You can “hang out” with the various elements of this world (that is your right) but you cannot expect anything of this world to give you full and entire satisfaction because as a spiritual being you are not of this earth.
So I know this last paragraph is a little “deep”. But I want you to see the depth of our issues as spiritual men and women. That’s how serious we are and that’s the sort of thing we are dealing with within ourselves. Therefore it’s perfectly safe to say that someone who is involved with “other” aspects of religion is either deceiving you or is being deceived in their own way.
I personally do not mind about that either. But Abrahamic books (including the Quran) are very violent against people who are deceiving others and are being deceived in that way. Look at the second part of Exodus 20:5
“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”
This is but one example. The Quran is also full of such affirmation. I had an atheist friend who once told me “There is simply too much violence in the Quran”.
Well, My theory: Maybe the message here is to be very vigilant (I mean for us believers) on such issues. Maybe God is very serious on this and does not want people to be “deceived with God”. Maybe that’s the meaning of the Jews being punished for having built this “Golden Bull”.
As I said, real religion is all about deeper meanings. You have to take the time and be involved and ask the right questions etc. You can’t just take a “magic book”, put it in your arm-pit and go out in the street and start telling people “Thou shalt do that, Thou shalt not do that” etc. like a 5 year old kid dressed like superman who things no one else can be any better than him.
As spiritual people, we are supposed to observe such people and to see how the ego has its way of doing things, thinking it’s in perfect control, while being a total deception to itself and others.
So very simply said: Don’t be impressed. Not anyone who is dressed like a pastor is truly a pator (Fr. L’habit ne fait pas le moine)
In more practical terms, I like having little statuettes around me. I see no harm in that because they are rather positive elements and I do not worship them. I know people who use crystals more extensively. And I know there is a whole science to it. Crystals are believed to store energies and promote spiritual and physical well-being. In India they have Dyalinga’s. That is, huge stones that are believed to be charged with positive energy which are believed to have positive effects on anyone who enters the temple.
Now back to our subject: In ancient Egypt they believed that the Kha or life force of a deceased person could enter some of the statues. And there was a Muslim mystical person who warned me on that kind of thing. In his view, a small statuette of Apollo that I may have bought in some tourist avenue was absolutely harmless. Still, if the statue was dedicated (as in the Egyptian example above), this would mean that it has the potential to intervene with my own energies and therefore be harmful to me. I am not an expert on such issues but I tend to believe these things when they come from someone I see as “knowledgeable”.
But you cannot compare that to a statue of the Virgin or a Christ dying on the cross. Of course, we as Muslims are technically not allowed to pray to this icons. Although many of us do not see a problem with offering a prayer (in our own way) inside Christian holy sites. And this isn’t a very big issue either.
What I am talking about here is different. In exodus 20:5 it says: “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”
In fact there is a whole set of deeper meaning to that which are beyond the subject of this topic. But the very simple way in which I understand this is “Do not take something of this world and start to see it as the Ultimate Reality”
So this includes dogmas in the first place. Or all the superficial / most noticeable elements of any religion. A huge problem that we have in developing countries in which education systems are non-universal and often a privilege of the better-off classes is this: People are starting to misplace religion. Religion starts to be used as an education device, as a political ideology, as a substitute for reason, a substitute for medicine, a way to demonstrate stuff to other people, basically religion turns into everything except religion itself.
So limited minds are creating idols, fetishes, totems everywhere. The Church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is a totem for instance. You may check is in Wikipedia. It was built some 1500 years ago by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It’s a great monument which is very important in historical terms. But the Political Islamic-minded government had to turn the Museum back into a mosque. And you can extend this to the over-implication with the female body, the consumption of a set of food and beverages, your showing up to the Friday prayer (so everybody can see you), a restaurant closing its doors during the holy month of Ramadan so everybody sees how pious they are…
So I don’t know if there are parallels in more developed countries. But I tend to see very similar things in India for instance.
In my culture in general, people will not always adhere to this, but they will still repeat on a mind level that objects, superficial / visible elements or idols do not really matter and therefore cannot be our standard in evaluating anybody’s faith or devotion. So that’s what I’m trying to explain here.
And in spiritual terms: Exodus 20:5 is a very powerful allegory. Let me explain my own understanding of this image before I wrap this up: To me Sex is not a bad thing. It is a part of our nature I do not and have never seen “sin” in a bodily function as simple as sex. Still: If you take sex and hedonism and turn it into your source of happiness or the primary object or goal of your life you may end up being disappointed. Because you may end up discovering that it is a limited thing that cannot fulfill your inner search for something greater. And this works for money, cars, art or even science and philosophy. You can “hang out” with the various elements of this world (that is your right) but you cannot expect anything of this world to give you full and entire satisfaction because as a spiritual being you are not of this earth.
So I know this last paragraph is a little “deep”. But I want you to see the depth of our issues as spiritual men and women. That’s how serious we are and that’s the sort of thing we are dealing with within ourselves. Therefore it’s perfectly safe to say that someone who is involved with “other” aspects of religion is either deceiving you or is being deceived in their own way.
I personally do not mind about that either. But Abrahamic books (including the Quran) are very violent against people who are deceiving others and are being deceived in that way. Look at the second part of Exodus 20:5
“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”
This is but one example. The Quran is also full of such affirmation. I had an atheist friend who once told me “There is simply too much violence in the Quran”.
Well, My theory: Maybe the message here is to be very vigilant (I mean for us believers) on such issues. Maybe God is very serious on this and does not want people to be “deceived with God”. Maybe that’s the meaning of the Jews being punished for having built this “Golden Bull”.
As I said, real religion is all about deeper meanings. You have to take the time and be involved and ask the right questions etc. You can’t just take a “magic book”, put it in your arm-pit and go out in the street and start telling people “Thou shalt do that, Thou shalt not do that” etc. like a 5 year old kid dressed like superman who things no one else can be any better than him.
As spiritual people, we are supposed to observe such people and to see how the ego has its way of doing things, thinking it’s in perfect control, while being a total deception to itself and others.
So very simply said: Don’t be impressed. Not anyone who is dressed like a pastor is truly a pator (Fr. L’habit ne fait pas le moine)
![[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/51/bc/7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg)
