Religion Sucks

An argument at home with a friend

By Antraeus de Herschia

7 July 2013

I had an argument with my Muslim friend this evening. We have had them before, mainly a little while after we met. After that there appeared to be an unspoken agreement not to discuss the subject of religion in future. Recently, however, she has reignited the debate. The reason for this, it seems, is that I have told her twice in the past week or two that I have been feeling a bit depressed because I overspent and slunk down into my overdraft and I am struggling to get by. Consequently, she figures that my spiritual understanding and practises can’t be right or aren’t working for me. Whereas, of course, her religion is! She said it is evidently not possible to benefit from meditating each day, like going to church once a week (a Catholic one by the way!).

Planetary ascension cannot be happening because, as with karma, she doesn’t believe in it! Yet, she loves the truth too, she claims. No, I feel that she prefers power. She raises her voice in a futile attempt to drown out any potential information that does not fit into her box. And one reason for this, I suspect, is that she belongs to a patriarchal faith machine which extends beyond the earth plane. In other words, she channels the Borg, aka Muslim Brotherhood and she gets off on the male energy, the concentrated will and power that she may even believe to b the power of God directly. It is a form of bullying, basically. There is power in numbers but it takes more courage to go it alone, stand in one’s own truth and face one’s demons alone. The rewards for this enterprise may be greater but the not knowing is part of the initiation; and demonstrating as I just did that no one can dissuade me from what I know to be true.

She had evidently noticed that I was biting my fingers like the last time she came round and seemed similarly subdued, although I had already explained that something quite serious was bothering me. But it felt quite predatory, as though she regarded me as being in a weak position and she might succeed in persuading me that Islam is the only path to truth. Ramadhan starts tomorrow evening and she has hayfever and a cold. So why put herself through that ordeal for 30 days (this year she has only between three and four hours late at night when she is permitted to eat some food)?

Other things I have confided in her lately, like only being able to find a balance when the sun is shining (which is the only thing that inspires me to go out) and needing to practise teach chi and meditation earlier in the day than I often do, were apparently employed as ammo to rubbish my understanding of life just as I rubbish all religions. It kind of feels like she gets frustrated and likes to challenge me periodically to see if I am ready to concede and admit that there might be something for me in her religion! Because, fundamentally, whatever she says, she believes that it is the best thing for everyone. She seems to derive power from it which complements her own natural love and wisdom as an individual. And she perhaps feels that I could use some of that power too! But, no, even though she professes to love truth, I could never sacrifice the bulk of what I know for a simplistic patriarchal control mechanism. I’m more committed to watching more people’s hearts opening and these props falling away. They are NOT the future for sure!

What started the argument was her telling me that she met four of her male friends because they had converted to Islam even though they were English and white. I said I found that bizarre and she reacted with annoyance.

She said that she has been all around the world and she has never encountered anyone with the same beliefs as me. Furthermore, no one living around here seems to agree with me! The implication being that I was somehow making it all up or deluded. I just smiled. I said that millions of people around the world are turning into this same information on the Internet and that it is a quiet revolution that is taking place within rather than being rooted in the outside world and its patriarchal institutions which are all history as far as I’m concerned. And I was obliged to explain that the vehicle for that higher source of information, which is derived from a much broader perspective than the earthbound type, is messages that have been channelled through human portals.

I agreed that we each have our individual path but that, by freedom of choice, we know only what we want to know, or are ready to know. But collective beliefs just hold us back.

She tried to persuade me that Islam (which, she said, means ‘Surrendering to the higher will’ – and I argued that it is largely about indulging in the lower ‘satanic’ will) is the truth because it remains true to the original spirit of, well, of conformity, limitation, self-hatred, prohibition from drinking alcohol, obedience and fear. And this is exactly what the world needs: a return to archaic standards. She condemned Western women for revealing their bodies instead of covering their heads as in the glorious days of the Victorian period and convents (Catholicism again, which I explained is essentially Satanism in disguise). I said that it is a good thing the West has restored some sense of freedom and explained that I know where the world is heading and it is not more fear and control but more freedom and awareness and therefore more truth and happiness. Consequently, this is a precious incubation period. I was told that I know nothing about Islam and base all my criticism on a few Bengali cab drivers with whom I once worked! So she wished to enlighten me. But I kept repeating that I had zero interest in religion as it has no value for me.

I said it did not matter anyway since all of those fears and limitations will fall away once the world dumps false beliefs and awakens collectively to the higher truths, as it will. And then religions would eventually cease to exist. She said, no, religion is our roots, especially Islam of course.

And, as for myself, I said that if she has not learned through her religion that old souls on the verge of awakening go through a deep crisis, then she is missing out. And wise people throughout the ages have known this. I mentioned that what I call ‘caterpillar psychologists’ seek to persuade people to return to normality, to search for truth and wellbeing in the outside world and settle for the status quo. I explained that, in fact, the most important aspect of planetary ascension is the release of blockages, fears and false beliefs that derive from past lives, going way back. She said not if she doesn’t believe in past lives. I said belief has nothing to do with it. Whether believes the truth or not, it continues to exist.

This is a process of self-transformation which resembles the chrysalis phase where darkness abounds. If someone is finding themselves being persecuted it is a sign that they are doing the work and they are on the right path contrary to what the patriarchal religions preach.

As she was leaving my friend said she hoped I was not offended by anything she had said I’m just true to myself. I said that it is impossible to offend me because I don’t identify with anything outside of myself, like a religion, whereas she is defending a religion and wants to prove that she is on the winning team and that I ought to join up myself. I agreed that simplicity is good but not that ignorance is preferable to knowing. She claimed that there is nothing more to know beyond what the Qur’an teaches and said that believing in past lives, karma and the like just leads to depression – myself being a good example of this!

She said I ought to respect other people’s ideas and I said I respect individual ideas but not collective beliefs. I do respect others’ limitations as each has the right to grow at their own pace, I explained. But I don’t value them or regard humans as worthwhile sources of information because they either don’t know shit, or they’re just too limited, or they complicate things and are still trying to work it all out, largely relying on their own finite brain, the ego mind. She said that she respects my ideas and I said that I couldn’t care less if she respected them or not because attacking the truth does not diminish its reality and it does not affect me personally either. I also reminded her that I listen to the angels and masters.

Anyway, I informed her that it is impossible to argue about religion with an English person because we hate it whether we are atheists or not. She told me that when English people criticise Islam it shows that the only religion they know is Christianity and they paint all religions with the same brush and react to them in the same way regardless of their differences. She said that religion is good and I laughed saying that one only needs to look at the state of the world today to see that that argument is flawed. Oh yeah, and we touched on fundamentalism and she agreed with me that the Illuminati fund extremist groups in order to advance their cause of creating chaos and controlling humanity. But I added that the way I see it, this is also a natural process of decay and transformation from the old order to a new one. I said that everything evolves, culminates and declines and that it did not rally matter what form the corruption took because death is a natural part of life. It is just not very wise to become attached to the old skin on the World Snake no matter what the immediate benefits appear to be. Creating the new world is definitely where it’s at for me, personally. I have zero interest in anything patriarchy – apart from its demise, of course!

I think she has this hope that one day England will become Islamic without comprehending that it would require an invasion by daleks or something! Oh, yes, and I did not respond to her flirtatiousness when she had first arrived I the afternoon prior to our walk in the woods and was not in the least bit interested! We are friends who regularly go for walks together. She moved up here (Yorkshire) a couple of weeks after me and I guess spirituality is another common ground that we share since she is also a Sufi. When she talks about the heart she is coming from a place that I truly appreciate. In my view, she is just a bit confused because the religious juggernaut is dragging the remnants of this Goddess wisdom around behind it so it is not allowed to flourish in its natural form.