The core of religions

We are not suggesting that all religions have equal access to the truth, or that their core teachings are the same, or even that each religion has a particular core truth of its own. And we are not claiming that we know what the truth is. The importance of the ‘Core of Religions’ is its approach. We want to stand up for the universal applicability of every truth in every religion. We want to focus on the beautiful truth at the core. Religion doesn’t have to be divisive, exclusive, elitist, or obscure.

If we want to address moral and personal mediocrity, we have to gain access to the religious mind. In this sterile, busy world, the gentle, humble part of ourselves is unnourished by culture. A great psychic numbing has spread over our arts, schools, stores, and government. We are cut off from access to the sacred center, to a way of perceiving and acting upon what is of ultimate significance.

We need the help of religion, which could be a source of spiritual vitality. Religion is our birthright, our heritage. It is the stream into which our ancestors poured their insights. But we are cut off from this stream. Today’s religions are powerless to address the challenges of our culture. The wisdom traditions have been sugar-coated, petrified, buried, hidden, blinkered, damaged. They have been encrusted with irrelevancy and superstition, and weighted down with prejudice. They are set against each other. This failure has opened the way for the irreligious to deny the very existence of the holy and the moral.

What is not the core?

We stand on crutches, afraid to take a single step on our own. The truth pours into us, but it is quickly diluted, and frozen. We do not need these crutches. We can view the whole panorama: the trivial and the harmful, the bigoted and the violent. Unencumbered, with direct access to reality, we can perceive things as they are.

Authority is the providing of ideas for others to accept. The idea may be true, but this makes no difference. Far from helping, this act of submission depresses the active, probing mind. Truth stands entirely on its own, validated with its own meaning and insight.
Tradition is the repetition of experiences and ideas. Ritual and ceremony is the re-enactment of things previously done. It feels good, it establishes community, it provides something to do. It may provide a reminder, but it is not the thing itself.
Leaders are at the top. They speak, and others listen. They order, and others follow. They have the knowledge, they know the truth, they have a special authority. Priests, rabbis, gurus – masters of any kind. It is a desecration of human potential for understanding. Understanding is direct. There are no intercessors.
Idolatry is devotion to the transitory and secondary. Although this may be the embodiment of certain truths, by worshipping the form and the instrument the inner quality is diminished. It is the denial of that which is ultimate and primary.
Exclusivity is the narrowing of one’s focus to those with whom one agrees or is comfortable. It excludes all others.
Intellectuality is the top-heavy attempt to resolve problems with mind alone. Sentimentality is content with the feeling of the thing, rather than the thing itself . The excessive use of reason, and the dwelling in feeling, are both fragments. We must engage all our faculties, in active interpenetrating work that produces total understanding.
Rewards introduce irrelevant selfish motives. They make it impossible to bring authentic motivation, and they divert attention from understanding.

The core of religion contains no authority, tradition, ritual, leaders, idolatry, exclusivity, or rewards. It is the opposite of all these. It is possible to disavow all of these dogmatic elements, without rejecting the central truths which we can find in an existing religion. By fearlessly renouncing all of these inessential and sometimes divisive beliefs, we reach the starting point of understanding. Understanding begins with humility.