Mankind has long been in search of its roots, its origin. When humanity became conscious of itself it became less and less conscious of where and what it was before. It had lost itself in its own perception and became confused by its illusory seperateness, but always was still searching for what it once was, what it instinctually knew but could not quite understand now. Through its devices and its society it has grown in many ways and also grown further still from its instinctual knowledge, clouded by the information overload of its individuated mind and endless calculation. Its quest however was never swayed and through its society it took many forms . The cultures and social ideas that were predominant in any region were an obvious influence on the nature and ideals of humanity's search.

This is the basic difference between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is an inborn, instinctual yearning and searching for the essence of our origins, the place from where we all eminate and where our perceptions of seperateness no longer exist. Religion is a man made construct. As is anything made by us in this creation , it is a reflection of a higher ideal. Religion is societies creation. It is inundated with the cultural influences and social conditions in which it was created. It is learned bahavior .Something passed down from generation to generation until it becomes just a custom of the culture, a fixture that is no longer questioned about its relevance or its veracity.The time in which it was created is also a major component to its relevance. Understanding the point of view of the people who spurred it helps to understand the nature of its teachings, from a modern perspective the ideas and imagery contained within take on slightly different meanings, not to mention the meaning which becomes twisted in the translation between two or sometimes even more languages. These institutions are looked on as 'holy', the very word itself carries with it enough weight to create a stigma, and as such are sacred and untouchable, the same could be said for the united states' bill of rights, or any country's founding documents, any institutions founding bylaws and rules. They were what was once the state of being for those involved, the cornerstone of the foundation, but taken out of context they may not necessarily hold the same value. Anything that refuses to change or be flexible to the  fluid dynamics of life is bound to crumble under the weight of change, religions are no exception, although their ideals may be relevant, their dogma and social reflection,which inevitably they all are at their root, are relics of a  by gone era.

These books were written in metaphor and many in a coded script, but invariably the message is in between the lines. The language and imagery they used were to figuratively describe an experience that they had . These words are not to be taken as literal descritpitons of historical  events. In any case these books are written descriptions of someone's experience of spirituality. They are not YOUR experience of sprituality. They can only ever be a description of someone else's descritpion of an experience. This is where religion fails the people. It fails to deliver into the hands of its people anything that is concrete and understood, it only offers idealism. Its this vague nature that feuls humanity's confusion and also serves to wrestle the power away from the people and into the hands of the zealot, the ones in power who have lost touch with the world around them and with the ideals on which their foundations are built. They are human also, just like you and me, and are also subject to the same inner struggles that we all face, the ego is not absent from their minds. They are a fixture in the established society and thus have a position to uphold and carry with them all of the weight and dogma that is associated with their positions, in many ways they lose touch with their own being and become merely servitors for their institution, being defined by their position's parameters and age old rules and regulations.

Over time religion has become an enormous juggernaut of power influencing every corner of the globe and every government within. Power, as we all know is a corruptive influence. The very idea that religion can have an impact on the governing body of a country is prepopsterous, the greasy palms that line their own pockets with money loose sight of the purity of its cause and are then merely concerned with expanding its own influence, its power base. I cite christianity as the major offender because it is the largest of the organized religions and one that has for  the most part always been involved in the interplay between church and state. There is no division in this in the united states as they would have us beleive.

Christianity is hopelessly intertwined with capitalism and the bigger is better mentality of the united states. I should also say that every religion holds some amount of truth, but none hold all, and that any organization, religion or person who says they are the one and only way to do ANYthing is only serving to empower itself and be in the dominant , controlling position. After all if you held the one and only key to salvation you would be a pretty hot commodity .