Changing Paths Quotes

“I believe that the reason religions seek to control, limit, and even prevent sexual pleasure is because it is an independent means of accessing spiritual states such as a sense of oneness with the universe. They also fear the independence that these experiences bring because they give people direct access to the Divine. They fear women’s sexuality because it is held to be polymorphous and wild. Women are associated with the body, sometimes referred to as “the flesh.” This was the result of an ascetic and world-denying approach to spirituality and religion that arose in the early part of the Axial Age (the era when individual prophets founded several new religions).”
― Yvonne Aburrow, Changing Paths

“One of the ways to identify a “high control” group (one that wants to control all aspects of your life) is to look at whether it distinguishes between “sacred time” and “ordinary time.” Unethical religions never let you leave “sacred time”: You always have to be thinking the way they think, dressing the way they dress, using their language, focusing on their goals. Ethical religions have a clear boundary marking the end of a service or ritual, and a process to help you transition back into a normal mode of consciousness. The more intense the religious experience, the more important this transition is.”
― Yvonne Aburrow, Changing Paths

“People become disenchanted with a spiritual tradition or religious community when its values and beliefs and attitudes come into conflict with their own, when they perceive an internal inconsistency within those values or beliefs, or when their tradition fails them at an important juncture in life. When a religion preaches compassion and tolerance, but is intolerant and harsh towards a specific group of people, its lived values are in conflict with its professed values, and this often creates cognitive dissonance for its adherents.”
― Yvonne Aburrow, Changing Paths

“If religion or spirituality makes us more disconnected from other people, less compassionate, less rational, then it is harmful. If on the other hand, it enables us to feel more love and compassion for others, and be better able to cope with the sorrowful aspects of life, then it is helpful.”
― Yvonne Aburrow, Changing Paths