Does Religion Serve a Purpose?

Looking for balance,
originally uploaded by Untitled blue.Many years ago, when I was still a very young man, I came to the conclusion (like most of my peers) that the Bible was to be taken with a grain of salt. I'd heard it said, and completely agreed, that if a human father were to treat his children the way the God of the Hebrew Bible treated His children, we'd want him arrested and locked up. This hardly seemed like the sort of fellow whose opinions on morality and appropriate behavior needed to be taken seriously. The ethics of the New Testament were admittedly less horrific, but they seemed rather trite and unrealistic. Anyway, the more I learned about science and history, the more irrelevant the whole thing became. Later on, when the conditions and influences of my life aroused a latent interest in spiritual matters, this interest took the form of meditation, yoga, vegetarianism, and a general focus on eastern religions – for these, it seemed to me, were still in touch with 'real' spirituality. So as literature the Bible was mildly interesting, but it was not very consequential to my life.

A few years ago all of this changed. I was working on a book in which I was exploring historical ideas, and at a certain point it seemed appropriate to include a chapter on the ancient Israelites and to say something about their influence on the history of philosophy. So I began reading a bit of Genesis, with the intention of writing a simple short chapter and then moving on to more important matters.

Several years later I finally stopped writing about all the wonders I was finding in western Scripture! What happened was that I discovered a whole new way in which the stories spoke to me. It wasn't the history that interested me, or the teachings about morality and social justice. It certainly wasn't the fantastic claims that defied all scientific logic. What interested me was the symbolism: the symbols, images and metaphors that tell an inner psychological story – not about the journey of a nation, but about the journey of a human soul.

Let me share one such story, to show you what I mean:

After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, we are told that "Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim." So Moses told Joshua to put together an army and go into battle with Amalek and his people. The Amalekites had a deep-rooted hatred toward Israel. They attacked whenever possible and with no provocation. They would sneak up behind the Israelites and attack the weak, the elderly, the stragglers. Later, during Moses' teachings by the Jordan River in Deuteronomy, he says that God will be at war with Amalek forever, and he transmits this divine command to his followers: "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!"

Taken literally, this appears to be one of many examples of a God who approves of murder and slaughter, and wants us to show our love for Him by killing certain other people. In fact, this particular story has sometimes been used to justify a need for Israelis to kill Arabs. But this degrading excuse for violence and inhumanity takes literalism to the extreme and completely misses the point.

The name 'Amalek' has the root 'malak', a word that means 'cutting at the neck' – that is, severing the Mind from the Body. In addition, according to the Kabbalah the name 'Amalek' signifies Doubt. Thus, whenever one is considering an appropriate positive act, 'Amalek' introduces doubt into one's thoughts, and cuts off our mind (our wisdom, intelligence and better judgment) from our actions.

Now, doubt can be intelligent and rational, making sure we don't jump to foolish conclusions, that we search for accuracy and truth. But there is also an irrational, automatic kind of doubt, the kind that mocks our Reason, belittles any argument without even listening, and reacts to the most inspiring moments with nothing but a cynical shrug. Amalek is that ugly inner voice that sneaks up and attacks goodness and truth, that laughs at decency and sincerity, that scoffs at kindness and altruism.

This out-of-control hatred of everything noble and good cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be persuaded by rational argument. Symbolically, then, there is no room for acts of diplomacy with Amalek: he must simply be annihilated! From this comes the injunction in Deuteronomy that we must "blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

But in actual fact, the only form of slaughter that is being justified in this story is the slaughter of our own cynicism and doubt.

So as you see, even though the stories themselves may not be literally true, the meaning that is revealed by the stories is true. Among contemporary educated people, myths are typically dismissed as childish fantasies or the unscientific gropings of primitive minds. But the mythological view of the world has always been, and still remains, an important way of understanding and appreciating our world. This is not because myths explain natural phenomena. It is because by pondering their inner meaning we come face to face with our deepest psychological and spiritual truths.

And in western Scripture, as in all great mythology, they do even more. Through allegory and symbol they provide psychological instructions for a soul that has descended into material life and must now find its way 'home' again. This journey of transformation, from inner slavery to spiritual awakening and enlightenment, has been called 'The Return to the Promised Land', 'The Quest for the Holy Grail', 'Muhammad's Journey to the Seven Heavens', and many other symbolic names. The different ways that this universal story is told by different cultures attests to the marvelous range of the human imagination, but the commonality of method and purpose that links these stories together is infinitely more striking than any of the differences.

When this common purpose is understood, the stunning underlying Unity of all our Traditions is revealed, and the major motivation for religious hatred and war disappears.