In order to maintain a true balance in my quest for spiritual wisdom, I’ve decided to take a while to investigate the counter-argument. Thus, today I started reading: Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. So far I am finding that Russell presents very good arguments against the formalized dogma and religious hierarchy, such as that in the Catholic church, or Tibetan Buddhism.
That said, his arguments don’t seem to hold up against less dogmatic spirituality as presented in Buddhism by Tich Naht Hanh (in my brief exposure to him) Eckhart Tolle and Quakerism, that focus on an individual connection with “the infinite” be it God, the Tao or whatever you’d like to call it.
Still, I think there is a lot Russell and his spiritual adversaries can agree on. This quote struck me as such a case:
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
Although many spiritual teachers I have read seem to reject knowledge as part of “enlightenment”, reading deeper, they do see knowledge as a valued asset for one’s day to day life.
Russell brings up the point that religions tend to open up and become more mild in free, open societies. What he may not realize is that perhaps that openness is part of the human race’s spiritual argument. Yes, Dogmatic, closed, judgemental religion probably isn’t good for society. It perpetuates situations like Europe saw in the Middle Ages, and what parts of the middle east are experiencing today. On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all spiritual beliefs are useless.