RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

What exactly is religion?  Why do religions exist?  What needs do they fill for us?  What constitutes a religious experience?  The answers to these questions are varied, but important.  They set the stage for all the other material in this book.  We won’t answer those questions here.  As the French poet wrote, “live the questions, the answers will come”.  Nothing addresses the questions better than a story.  Here is one my father told me:

The old wise one (Maybe a monk, or a rabbi, a guru, or a bodhisattva), is close to death.  So all of the disciples and every day folks gather round to learn the ultimate truth from the wisest of the wise.  His -- or her -- closest aide whispers softly in the ear saying, “Oh Wise One, tell us, please, what is the meaning of life?  The wise one thinks for a minute and says, “Life?  Life is like a river.”  This great insight flows down through the crowds “life is like a river, life is like a river..." It reaches the last and youngest seeker on the fringes of the group who thinks for a minute before s/he says, “Life is like a river?  What does this mean life is like a river?”  This question begins to surge back to the middle because, after thinking about it, no one else knows what it means either!  Finally, the disciple closest to the wise one ever so politely asks, “Tell us, oh wise one, what does that mean, ‘Life is like a river’?”  There is loud silence as everyone leans forward to catch the answer.  “So --” says the wise one, “maybe it’s not like a river!”

            Perhaps wisdom comes from just this, being able to think about the really important questions in life, reconsider other possibilities (even if they come from the young folks on the fringes) and live with ambiguous and contradictory answers. 

            We do know that religion has been part of the human experience before humans!  Neanderthal graves show that they were buried with objects and flowers indicating some belief in an afterlife. And perhaps that is the source of religion: the awesome wonder of the world around us and the concern for what will happen after this life.  What will become of us?  Where will go?  Why are we here anyway?  What does this all mean?

            The word "religion" comes from the Latin, meaning "to reconnect."  That is to reconnect ourselves to the world around us, to the people around us and to the creative source of all life, whatever we might call that.  When we make those connections and go beyond our self-centeredness, we change ourselves in the process.  We become larger than we were.

The connections take place in a number of ways.  Sometimes they occur formally through community events, rituals, shared stories, meditations or prayers. Sometimes they happen informally through "aha!" moments when the connection just happens spontaneously.  Sometimes it is through the practices, language or shared values of a tradition that we find we connect. Neuroscientists are beginning to study how the practice of religion, through ritual and meditation, affects the connection in our brain and our outlook. 

I find it can be helpful to distinguish between religion with a small "r" and religion with a capital "R".  The small "r" religion represents those experiential moments – often serendipitous -- that connect us to something else.  Religion with a capital "R" is the institutionalized, formal expression of religion.  One hopes that this type of capital "R" Religion, is nurtured by the experience of religion with a small "r".  But there are times, unfortunately, when the formal type seems devoid of immediate or personal experience.  When that happens, Religion becomes dull and rote literally lifeless.

There are some people who blame religion for being destructive because it causes so many wars and so much hatred.  But religions are like any human enterprise -- the study of chemistry or the practice of politics for example.  They can be used for good or evil.  It depends, ultimately, on people. 

Often someone might say about their religion: “it's not a religion, it’s a way of life.”  But any religion that is real must, by definition, be a way of life.  It grows out of and into our life experiences as humans.

            We began with questions.  Maybe that’s where all religions begin as well.  Maybe religions are the answers we give to life’s questions.  And then again, maybe they’re not.