This means that neither the electron nor any other atomic “object” has any intrinsic properties independent of its environment.
I understand spirituality as essentially a process of relationships -how we relate to our world and each other. Many religions primarily emphasize a relationship with God, where God is a separate entity from the world and us. Separating God from creation opens our thinking to a wide range of self-serving misconceptions. Religious ideas presented with the greatest certainty tend to be those that serve the self interests of their leaders. The leader is seen as an intermediary between humans and God who delineates a path to God that must be rigidly followed.
Relationships do not grow or deepen by following a fixed path defined by someone else. Establishing a meaning relationship with another requires that one must be seen by the other, or at least that one desires to see and be seen by the other. Placing an intermediary between one and the other creates a screen or filter that darkens and distorts one's ability to see and be seen.
A true and effective spiritual leader describes what can be seen from her perspective in a way that fits within the frame of the seeker. The risk of false teaching increases to the extent that she fails to acknowledge the limitations of her perspective or claims that her way of understanding and experiencing God is somehow the correct way.
If we imagine God as creator, we can best get to know God through our relationship with creation. Creation is an all-encompassing whole. We diminish our relationship with God to the extent that we disregard our relationship with any part of creation we come in contact with.
Brain pathways form the process, content, and limitations of our thinking and understanding. They are formed and reinforced through experience. Pathways that are most often reinforced determine and limit our view of reality. Fear draws our focus to survival, which makes us more self-centered. Pathways that reinforce self-serving behavior restrict our ability to see others clearly and therefore limit our capacity for healthy relationships. (That is why "do not fear" is an oft repeated statement in scripture).
Fear and self-centeredness undermine relationships. They lead to a desire for control and limit our ability to see others clearly. It's like focusing on our own reflection in a window rather than seeing the other through the window. One of the first steps of true spirituality is to transcend fear. Religion based on fear turns us toward isolation and exclusion, which blocks our capacity to establish healthy relationships to our world and each other.
