 Religion is fundamentally an attitude to reality: a response of the whole of our being - mind, heart and soul - to the world in which we are placed. It is a sense of awe and wonder,  an apprehension of the mystery beyond the commonplace, that produces, if only in rare moments, a feeling of joy too deep to be communicated except perhaps in silence, prayer, music and the arts.  To be religious is to feel reverential respect for the cosmos and its Creator, for humanity and its individual members in the present, here and now, in this moment, the moment when alone we are alive  But, it doesn't stop there. It doesn't lose itself in mere contemplation.  It is also and active response to that which elicits reverence - for each according to his/herown religion, worldview, mindset, attitudes, values and leading ideals.  It is not merely a feeling of the heart  but a decison of the will and reason, a complete commitment to a new set of attitudes and values and a task, a total self-enrolment, involving the entire being of a person in a great, new and unending adventure exploration and finding.  Religion should not merely give us hours of devotion; our whole life should be filled with devotion. Everything we do should be executed as if it is a sacrament.  And religion does not set before us isolated tasks; every moment of our entire life should be our sacred task, for God speaks to us all the time, everywhere. Holiness is the manner, the attitude in which, we react to persons, objects, situations, places, events. We should have an ongoing commitment to Truth. Truth is broad and all-encompassing; we have to expand our minds all the time in order to embrace it. Lies, gossip, maliciousness bring out the narrowness within us and confinesusa nd restrict our wholeness. You shall love your God intellectually, emotionally and with all your thoughts, feelings and deeds. Whatever you love most in any of these ways - that is your idol, your real god.  Who, or rather How are holy beings? They are beloved, clear of mind courageous and whole/ness. Their will and God's are one. Raising their entire being, their feelings, minds, voices, all their actions in constant gratitude they marvel at every detail of life, in the present arising moment. When we listen for their sweet voices, we can hear the echo of them resound within our own souls.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |