Established Christian so called spiritual practices, both in Catholicism and Orthodoxy, do not really show you path to enlightenment, path to liberation.
After many years in both Catholic and Orthodox church I understood, that the system is set up in such a way that you mainly go there in circles, from Easter to Easter, or from Christmas to Christmas, but the system, rites and dogmas, do not give you any instrument for inner development and growth. It is very difficult to realize that when you are fully immersed into these surroundings. You’ve probably heard it before, the fish does not know it is in water, until it jumps out of water. Same valid here, you have to jump out of waters of your religious tradition, no matter how scary it seems be, in order to see it from the outside.
“Do you really achieve liberation and harmony in Christian tradition? Does it have any instrument for inner growth and self-development?”
You will see that the Church always speaks about “salvation” from the “sin”, usually in very abstract terms that are very distant from you everyday life. If you try to understand the concept of “sin” and “salvation” and how to apply it to you personally, it you will become even more confused.
Practical way of such liberation from the “sin” that is offered by the Christian tradition is even more confusing. You go to a special building on a given day of the week, watch and probably partially participate in a standard rite, sometimes maybe read an old book, and imagine hell for the sinners and paradise for righteous, and of course you want rather come into the paradise, but no guarantee, since God is rather unpredictable. He loves those who serve and praise him, but if you are let’s say gay, or non-believer, or cheater, not going to Mass on Sundays and so on, then thing comes much more unclear. (You can find vast variety of “mortal sins” in Christianity on the internet, fits any taste). So, you have to be a good person, and satisfy Gods criteria for paradise, otherwise you will go to eternal fear and rejection in the hell.
I do not understand, how, living such stressful life, fighting against your “dirty” mind and “sinful” body you are supposed to achieve “salvation”, whatever it means. All you achieve is depression, uncertainty, non-acceptance of self, and neurosis.
I wonder, how many people has actually reached enlightenment, harmony and contentment attending regularly church and following all rites and procedures? Do you know one? I’ve never met any. Many nice, kind, self-sacrificing, humble people, but not one who achieved spiritual maturity, self-contentment, harmony and peace.
Yes, you get a strong emotional relief and comfort in church. Nice chanting or music calms you down, interaction with other people in the same community gives you sense of belonging. Strong words spoken during the Mass will give an impression of power and something majestic and important. But all in all, it is just a nice place to be. You can get similar emotions in a theater or some club of interest. If you seek emotional comfort and sense of belonging and an idea that somebody (imaginary) actually loves you, well, then the religion is most probably your path. However, if you are looking for a life changing experience, liberation and way to enlightenment, you have to look elsewhere, and not necessarily in Tibet:) or any other “sacred” place. Everything you need is already inside of you. The change comes from within. You do not need special rites, belong to a special society, read some sacred texts and so on, to achieve harmony, contentment and find your way to enlightenment. All you need is to go deep inside of you, find you real Self, get to know it, connect with it and base you life on it.
Every person has a divine sparkle, Logos (as stoic concept), nous (as Greeks it understood, f.ex, Anaxagoras), soul (as in Christianity). There is no common name for it, there is no science, studying that, and I hardly imagine, how you can study this using modern scientific methods and equipment. Some scientist tried to use concept of soul (i.e. C. Jung: “By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a “personality.”) Vast number of people experiencing so called Near-Death Experience (NDE) and having death-bed visions has intrigued some scientist to study these phenomena. You can find a lot of literature on these phenomena. I can name Dr. Sam Parnia (is director of the Human Consciousness Project), Dr Thomas Fleischmann (has been an emergency physician for over 30 years), Peter Fenwick (neuropsychologist) and many more. Make your own research, with a skeptical and critical eye, especially when you see testimonies including saints, popes, Jesus and angels with wings.
This your real Self (personality, soul, nous etc) is present in you, but buried under tons of emotions, fears, misunderstandings and misconceptions. Sometimes, the state in your head is so confusing or frustrating that you do not find any solution, you are just paralyzed, depressed. But these are only thoughts, unsystematic, irrational, self-contradictory, and of course, many of them are scary. As soon as you take responsibility and start to go towards your real Self, many of these thoughts will disappear, but many of them will fight with you and will try to scary you in different ways. This is a difficult path, long and scary, unpleasant, frustrating. But if you have enough resolution and persistence, and will you will for sure travel all you way and finally obtain peace and harmony, and who knows, maybe enlightenment. Do not expect quick results. There is no quick fix. You have been living unaware and mainly on autopilot during many years. Imagine, how much chaos, garbage, unsolved situations have accumulated in your head during many years. Do not expect to clean everything and tidy during some couple of weeks or even days. However, all your efforts are going to pay off when you find your real Self and build your life on this firm, stable and wise foundation.
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