New Way of practicing Old Beliefs

[Leonardo17]

Belaqua:
 

“On the other hand: a good teacher knows things we don't. And for spiritual practices, I think a large part of the teacher's role is to force us to question the things we thought we knew before. Spiritual traditions are often very much in opposition to the norms of everyday modern life.”

 
- If we are talking spirituality: A Course in Miracles defines the Holy Spirit as this button designed to take us back to our True Nature whenever we are ready. So technically, if a spiritual teacher is presenting himself / herself, it has probably got a lot to do with the changes we are already experiencing within ourselves.

- A Course and Miracle says that the thinking of this world is 180 degree different from the thinking of God.
   So this is a theme the seeker has to study and find answers for himself / herself.
 

“
So the danger is that when learning a new (to us) spiritual tradition, we will judge it according to the values we already have, which means that this new tradition will end up being only a new way of formulating what we already believe.
 
It seems to me that when learning a new spiritual system it is very likely to seem counterintuitive, or even downright wrong, at first. The parts that seem the most wrong are likely to end up being the most valuable. But I suspect this is really hard if you're doing it on your own. A person can judge "this new practice is really making me feel good," when what they mean is "this new practice is really massaging and confirming my prior beliefs."
 
This is why it's so important to study the ancient traditions seriously, and take the time to get past a superficial evaluation based on modern mores.”

 
- Which is why I am not totally antagonistic toward “classical” spiritual systems. I think that they provide us with some of the basic materials (when we are younger) that we can study more deeply as adults. But as Alan V is pointing out: Not all of us (unfortunately) get to a point where we can study this deep spiritual wisdom.

But still: There is so much material in book-stores and libraries + so much material in places like you tube etc. There are Yoga / meditation classes in most college campuses across the world. So even if both our parents were practicing atheists, curious people are nowadays able to get to very useful teachings quite easily (without getting into the trap of numerous new-age charlatan gurus etc. that are unfortunatelly very abundant too).

As I said: there is this inner button. The Course calls it “The Holy Spirit”. And in fact it already doing 90% of the work for us. So there is no need for any type of worry on that front either
 
“Surely that's a bit of a false dichotomy there, I think you'll agree.
 
People don't only follow old-fashioned spiritual practices 1) out of fear of hell, or 2) in the hope of bodily pleasure. Some do, no doubt, but there are a lot of other reasons.”
 
- This has to do with the realities of the previous ages. Hindus call it “The Kali Yuga”. Kali Yuga people cannot understand spiritual realities or perceive things like “energy”. In summary they were less intellectually able than us. So this was the only way forward for religious authorities in those days.
 
Today, each and every one of us is already some sort of spiritual teacher of his/her own. So the carrot and stick approach is no longer necessary. Our way is the way of studying and understanding deeper philosophical and spiritual concepts with a goal of personal growth or benefit.
 
So it’s the same thing, with a better / more modern approach.
 

“Agreed. It's common for older practices to become habitual, to the point where people practice them superficially. And I agree that working on oneself is more important than evangelizing to others.
 
"Based on observation" is tricky, because of course all observation is interpretation. And, again, deciding that it is "useful" may simply be deciding that it conforms to the values you held before. For example, usefulness is very much a modern capitalist value. In some older traditions, usefulness is a thing to be wary of -- a path to be used and discarded, and any really good thing is useless.”

 
- Agreed: I also have to add that actually I don’t know that much. All that I am saying is that all spiritual people need to demonstrate at least some of the dynamics that I have been trying to describe here. It does not matter if they are old school or new school or that they belong to this religious denomination or that religious denomination. One thing that turns me immediately away from anyone in an instant if it’s not present for instance is if they are not humble.

    That’s a major issue. Philosophers are usually humble (Because they know that they do not know) so how can a person who claims to be a theist of any kind be self-confident enough to start to claim that his way is the best and only possible way?
 
- Again: This is a huge contradiction: Atheists understand these issues fully. Theists on the other hand are more likely to fall into these traps and end up in a much more ego-centered position than most atheists.
 
One thing that Mr. Scott Peck says in one of his books is that “The Devil hates scientific and rational approaches”. The Devil likes speculation, the holding on on unproven issues and an unfounded trust that is placed into the hands of religious or other authority figures.
 
So one book I can suggest you to read is “The Devils of Loudin” by Aldous Huexley. The book describes how all these religious figures and authorities and great scientists (of their time) ended up turning a place of worship into some kind of human circus with a dozen of 16th century nuns being exorcised (on a daily basis) from the possession of (completely imaginary) demons and one Jesuit priest being condemned because he was accused of causing the whole thing by conjuring those demons in the first place.
 
So for me and before anything else, true spirituality has to be this space of honesty toward yourself. And therefore, it’s an individual issue that has to be kept separate from more worldly things like politics etc.