The Garden of Self-Attention is wonderful. This is the place where there is nothing to prove, no judgement to fear, just a self to love.
And in this lovely setting, we’re going to ponder a great religious question which isn’t very religious at all.
For the great religious question is not ‘What do you believe?’ But rather, ‘Who is it who believes it?’ Who is the person carrying these beliefs? Because the truth of you is what makes the difference.
Religion has long made it the most important question: ‘What do you believe?’ That’s what determines whether you are saved, whether you are one of us. Whether the Inquisition, ancient or modern, will take a look.
And there’s a long creed you must say to make sure. For many, what you believe is the difference between heaven and hell.
High stakes.
In truth, though, the great religious question is not ‘What do you believe?’ But rather, ‘Who is it who believes it?’
Religion has struggled with this. It has tended to offer a doctrinal system telling you what to believe and a moral system telling what you should and shouldn’t do.
But it doesn’t offer a system to help believers towards the subtle truth of themselves. It offers belief imperatives and moral imperatives. But help for, and understanding of, the person who carries these imperatives is limited. The mysterious truth of you is not really on the church’s agenda.
And almost everything I’ve said about religion is also true of political allegiance. It is what you believe that matters. The quality of the believer is not much considered in party affairs, until the press gets hold of a story.
So, in the Garden of Self-Attention today, we ponder the lives beneath our beliefs, whatever they may be. We are not defined by our beliefs; they are an add-on and quite changeable. We and our psyche are the deep and enduring story.
So, the great religious and political question is not ‘What do you believe?’ But rather, ‘Who is it believes who it?’
Who is the person holding whatever creed we choose for ourselves, whether political, social or religious? Who is the person carrying this weight of expectation or obligation? In short, who are you?
As Julia Cameron noted: ‘As we lose our vagueness about our self, our values and our life situation, we become more available to the moment.’
As we live the question, we shall treat ourselves with great compassion and honour. We carry a lot.
We might like to put some of it down.
