Why Does Religion Always Go Bad? – Modern Koans
Ouch. To those of us who are religiously inclined, this is a pretty biting question. But I don’t think that anyone should be surprised by it. Religion looks ridiculous from a lot of angles. Scientology looks crazy to Christians, Mormons sound nuts to Jews, and Islam sounds evil to Hindus.
The question is open to a particularly Buddhist line of questioning. Given that expectations are the root of suffering, what reasons do we have to believe in the purity and longevity of religions? Is it timeless or time bound? Is it reasonable to expect a religion to remain unchanged or even last for more than a few centuries (or weeks)?
Religion is more of a process than anything else. It is a reconnecting with the divine and process is change. If we take on spiritual practice, it starts from our particular point of view and inspires us to broaden it.
Our response to the process varies by person. Different people close the gap to the sacred in different ways. Like people, religions each take their own approach. For example Islam, Buddhism, and Shintoism all have different objects of worship, rules, rituals, and sacred texts.
For the person seeking a connection to the divine, religious practice is a very fluid and personal process. Both in terms of our choice of religion and the practice we undertake.
Institutions on the other hand are the antithesis of fluidity. To persist, they must define and adhere to an identity. As a result, there is a calcification of doctrine in time. This produces something like spiritual rigor mortis. Traditional religions become museums containing both wonderful spiritual insight and archaic misogyny.
For me personally, I have a love/hate relationship with religion. At best I am loosely affiliated with a Pure Land Buddhist lineage. At worst, I can be found railing against some form of absurd dogma.
I look at it this way. We are all seeking. Religion is a platform from which we might fulfill that search. Religion is a means to an end. Seeking is the unchanging and lasting quality of life. While religion is like an apple, for a brief time it can be nourishing and flavorful, but it soon spoils and becomes fertilizer for the tree.
Yes, religions go bad. Like anything else, they are subject to impermanence. To believe the contrary is equivalent to what Buddhists describe as the delusion of self. Clinging to the purity and immutability of religion is just another recipe for suffering.
In your opinion, what is important about religion? Do the pros outweigh the cons?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.
The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton
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The post Why Does Religion Always Go Bad? – Modern Koans written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
