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All of us reading these words have been born free, and in Truth are free, from the constraints of a particular form of religion. However, as we grow and learn the language and traditions of the culture into which we have been born, as our vAsanAs (tendencies) emerge, we may take on some form of religion. These forms are like safety nets to protect but they also may entangle us if the practitioners lose contact with the changeless, vibrating source; their everlasting spring of being. It is through direct experience of that source that our practices or rituals remain enlivened and fulfilling. As the river flows inevitably to the sea it wends its way between mountains; these mountains are the formalised religions, giving wonderful views but they are inevitably static and are being eroded. The river of Spirit flows between and beneath them to the unity in the sea. Does religion veil or reveal? In the West the dominant habit has been to separate religion from philosophy while in India a theo-philosophy emerged. This meant, in the West, that any who used the mind in a spiritually rational way were outcast from the core tradition and found themselves in the field of philosophy which increasingly became mesmerised by the increasing dominance of science and its systems of analysis. It is the theo-philosophy of India that has recently attracted Western seekers and re-awakened interest in our own similar traditions through the works of those once regarded as unconventional: Plotinus, Meister Eckhart, Ruysbroeck or the anonymous author of 'The Cloud of Unknowing' among many examples. With this stirring up of interest in various traditions comes the danger of the loss of purity in any one tradition as it embraces the insights of other faiths or systems of thought. If we are not careful we soon move into a mix-and-match approach to religion that allows us to 'be comfortable' with our choices. We lose the opportunity to deepen our understanding of one tradition through Interfaith dialogue as we 'cherry-pick' our favourite parts of each. In order not to lose that purity we need to ask the question, 'What is religion?' This question is commonly being asked in the West so that an allied question may be understood, 'What is spirituality?' We each need to find the answer in our own personal, individual experience but the following is one individual's approach, mine, to such questions. It is the function of the mind to 'see' two, duality. In the outward thrust this produces diversity. In the return process the duality presents us with a paradox, a state in which that seen is a veil which denies our usual understanding of the function of a veil, for this veil conceals in order to reveal. Without the veil there is no revelation. By seeing two we become aware of an underlying, unstated unity. This double function of the mind leads to its destruction in unity whichever way it goes: Proceeding outwards into name and form it becomes enclosed in a single expression while proceeding inwards it dissolves in a flash of insight. Finding somewhere to stand And so as we grow and necessarily find ourselves caught up in the flow of the culture we are in, we learn to name ourselves: "Who are you?" "I am Ken, I am English, my religion is Anglican." How many forms do we fill in with such information!!!!! It is written to satisfy the bureaucracy of an ordered society but I know that these statements are not true. Insight has said otherwise but in order to be known I accept these names. Now, in that sentence there is a key phrase: 'in order to be known' because if we observe our lives in the outward impulse we find ourselves trying to merge, contact, link in with our environment 'in order to be known'. Not in some ego-trip way but to find a way to play our part, to serve society, to take our place. And in this is a clue, for we are seeking to unite what we see as the lesser…ourselves…with the greater….society or social group. However, because of our forgetting, we have turned away from that which is the greatest of all, the well-spring of our being. This ever expanding process of uniting with a larger group: individual with a social peer group, peer group with society, society with a nation, nation with all mankind, all mankind with all creatures, is but a reflection, and superimposition, of a prior impulse which is beautifully summed up in a Hadith from the Islamic tradition: 'I was a hidden treasure but wanted to be known, so I created creation in order to be known.' These English words are feeble but the inner vibration of meaning is there for those with eyes and ears to see and hear.
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