Whose Rules? Whose Sin?

Religions do not work. Even with the best intentions, as long as there are people leading the religion there will be errors.

Man-made religions fail because they are made by men and ultimately mankind's ego gets in the way and leads down the wrong path at odds with the beliefs and at odds with salvation of the soul.

Even Buddhism has its flaws as long as there is someone in charge who has not rid himself of ego leading to rules that are at odds with Siddhartha Gautam's teachings after he became Buddha, the enlightened one because followers, being human, worship the man instead of following Buddha's example.

The same is true of all man-made religions. Followers worship the man and not only the teachings. The man, or leader, is a spokesman and not god or the Creator. He is simply a mouthpiece who speaks for the Creator. Worshiping the mouthpiece is the same thing as worshiping a loudspeaker, a tool meant so the man can make his voice loud enough to be heard by all who are willing to listen.

If you look at the roots of every man-made religion, you will find similarities and contradictions, many of which are changed by whichever spokesman is standing at the front and speaking. Some men speak only the truth and many men - far too many men - speak what they want people to hear and interpret the words in whichever way benefits them the most, furthering their own agenda to add prestige to themselves, stroke their own ego, or make it possible to prey on listeners, especially those listening who will bow to their personal agenda.

I remember a minister in my youth who preached from the Bible and used his position as leader of the church to prey on women who went to church to learn from him the right way to live. Not so surprising as men in power have often used their position to prey on those who looked up to him, something he did in secret while publicly effecting a moral stance consonant with his Christian preaching and totally at odds with the morals he taught as minister.

The same is true of every minister and preacher of man-made religions who seeks to add power to his position and use that power to prey on others. The prey run the gamut of children, adolescents, and adults of every age and stage of life. Consider Roman Catholic priests who prey on teenage girls, pre-adolescent girls, and even women close to -- or older than themselves -- as long as it ends adding to their power and ego. Men of the cloth (clergy) are still men. They pay for sex with whichever woman catches their fancy or, in the words of the time in which I grew up, make their socks go up and down. In cruder terminology, make their dicks hard.

Such excesses are not solely the property of the Roman Catholic Church, although they have been at it since the Roman Catholic Church began. There are predators among the Jews and the Buddhists and Muslims because the one thing they have in common is leaders who are men.

Man-made religions are unreliable, whatever their origins, because they are spread and taught or preached by men. Man-made religions are false.

Mankind does not need a saviour to point the way to salvation and do not need rules and morality codified by men. That is the same thing as setting up wolves to guard the sheep. Depending on how strong or faithful, in the end the wolf will revert to its nature and the sheep will die a violent and bloody death, becoming breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on the wolf's hunger.

Just like the wolf, he will be partial to lambs or mutton. It's all a matter of taste. There are also wolves that will beg for scraps or fight the leader to take over the pack so that wolf will get the first taste of the prey and share the scraps with whichever wolf is next in line. If there are enough sheep, everyone is fed. If not, food will be shared out depending on which wolf is strongest and the winner of the fights.

Consider followers like sheep and leaders like wolves. The comparison is apt and describes exactly what happens throughout the world along the lines of religious beliefs.

Buddhism in its original form, the same eight fold path taught by Buddha, formerly Siddhartha Gautam, and preached during his lifetime. Basically it all boils down to nonviolence and being kind to others. I would say serving others without ego and without agenda. The whole point is doing good to others without expectation of reward or punishment.

There are no rules outside of being kind and caring for others. There are no rewards or punishments except those we find if we live our life caring for others and being kind to all. Meditation is something we do for ourselves, finding within us what has always been there -- the nature of our souls, the same soul that brings this body to life, the same soul that led us to the choice of where and how to incarnate in this existence when and where you are at this point. Whatever you choose to learn informs the path you take this life around. You will make mistakes and you will learn. There are times when you must repeat the same type of life because you didn't learn or refused to learn, getting caught up in the same errors and refusing to learn whatever lesson you chose this lifetime around. Your punishment is not hell, unless it is the Hell of realizing what you did wrong and knowing you must come back and learn the lesson once again. You choose the life. You choose the circumstances. You either learn or you do not. It is up to you.

Be mindful. Absorb every moment of every day. Appreciate the beauty of the world around you. Be thankful for the gifts you are given and the people you meet. Give up anger, wrath, violence, being a know-it-all, step down off your high horse, give up your high moral ground, love everyone without exception. Do not mistake lust for love, not the love of one human for another that does not expect to have your lustful feelings returned or fulfilled. Love is simply love, caring for the people around you, caring about the people around you, being kind and generous with the people around you. Lust is not part of that kind of love and has no place in loving one another as one human being loves another, cares for the other, is generous with others, and has no selfish, ego-driven agenda, and no desire for control and power over others. There is no reward to be earned, except the reward of looking out for others, being kind to others, generously smoothing the road for others, and letting others find their own way down the path to nirvana -- the ultimate salvation and release from unending rounds of reincarnation when we have not learned the first and only basic lesson we have chosen to learn -- be kind to all people, care for others without expecting reward, and loving others without building up points to rise to a heaven that does not exist or falling to a fiery hell that also does not exist.

You will learn to be the best person you can be, help others, and love everyone without respect for their physical appearance. Loving without expectation of reward is the same as following rules to achieve the big reward and avoid the fiery hell that waits to gobble you up and torture you for eternity.

Learn to meditate. Look inward. Strive to be the kindest, most generous, and loving being you can and you will achieve nirvana. You will achieve ultimate salvation. No one needs to teach you because you have the answer inside you. You were born knowing the answer. Listen to what your soul tells you or chain yourself to the wheel of fortune by ignoring your soul and your connection to the Creator of all.

Ignore the man-made written rules that say you must believe a certain way, prey on others, or follow man-made rituals. The only salvation is within you. Meditate, connect with your soul, and live the life you know in your soul you should live. Keep love in your heart, care for others without expecting reward, and know yourself. That is all you need to discover the ultimate salvation. Everything else you have learned or been taught is false. Follow no leader. Harm no one. Love everyone. Care for everyone.

That is all. Disperse.