Guilt + Holidays = Religion

"All religions are the same: Religion is basically guilt with different holidays."

-- Cathy Ladmann

Original sin, karma, not doing the will of God -- call it what you want, all religions are laying a trip on you! The trip, so to speak, is external standards. Instead of helping you get in touch with your innate internal wisdom, exoteric religion lays down the rules and tells you to play by them. The problem is that each religion's rules are different, and each set of rules is completely arbitrary.

Contrast this with what Aldous Huxley called "the perennial philosophy." In a book of that title, Huxley provides quotations from teachers and philosophers of every great spiritual tradition to show that in their heart of hearts, in their essence all religions say essentially the same thing. Get rid of the dogma, the myths, the beliefs in the supernatural, and the weird rites and rituals, and you'll find that the adepts of every religion are purporting the same handful of truths. And they have nothing to do with guilt. Or even holidays.

The best, the most impeccable behavior is not motivated by an attempt to adhere to external standards. Instead the behavior of saints, wise persons, and enlightened beings of all traditions springs from a place deep within. What they find, what you, too, can find, is that the deeper you go within, the more universal you become. When you operate from your own center, you're operating from the center of the Universe. You don't need the Ten Commandments, the Koran, or the Eightfold Path to tell you what to do. Your behavior is spontaneous, appropriate and perfect. You a live, breathing, holographic slice of The Divine. Who could ask for anything more?