Can there be New Ways of Understanding and Practicing Ancient Religious Teachings?

[Leonardo17]

BrianSoddingBoru:
 
I am only saying that the main themes of spirituality are very ancient and universal. If you go to the core of things there is this universal teaching that is designed to do some good rather than turn human masses into obedient brainless flocks of people.
 
 
Grand Nudger:
 
No. Quite the opposite. I am trying to say that the old ways are mostly too obsolete to keep doing in the same way in this era because
 

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1) No one is even interested. Here was documentary that I saw few months ago. Priest schools in Germany that were built for several hundreds of students in the 1960’s are now getting only a dozen of priest candidates every year now. And in the Islamic world fundamentalists are trying to maintain some of the “old ways” through artificial means by (as they do in Iran) trying to raise “a pious generation” who usually end up hating religion more than their parent’s generation. Simply because their energy levels are higher than their parent’s generation.
 
2) People are searching something new. In West-European countries there is this memory of what the Church did in the old days. So people are very lucid about the amount of evil religion is able to do on an individual or social level. People are not about to forget for instance the silencing of scientists or the forced confessions during inquisition and other realities on the dark aspects of religion.
 
   At the same time: There is this spiritual search within us. Religion is too obsolete or backward minded to even try to respond to this need. Have you ever felt like you are like a complete alien in this planet? – That’s because we are complete aliens on this planet. And therefore there is this need in us (at least in some of us) that needs to be fulfilled. And that’s the new approach I am talking about.
 
    You can go to you synagogue or Stupa or whatever and hear stories of endless reincarnation or levels of enlightenment you can reach after this many hours of deep meditation. Without a more lucid approach it’s just a waste of money + time. It’s not enough for someone of our generation. For us it’s too superficial / to simplistic. No one will even adhere to that without social pressure, brainwashing at an early age or being forced into it in some way.
 

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But that’s not the right way of doing things anyway. As I said, there are (and has always been) better approaches that will produce results in the individual level. And these are the real forms of spirituality.