First off, let me state in the name of full disclosure that I personally feel that one's personal level of spirituality has little to do with their activity level in an organized religion. It is the quiet inner peace that is sought after, which is most often found while one is alone and meditating. Having said that, I feel that there is a definite connection between people, culture, civilization, and religion that is desirable and even necessary.
Historically, religion consisted of certain rites, rituals, celebrations, ceremonies, and stories that were designed to instill a sense of awe and reverence, teach young people relative to cultural norms and traditions, and to appease the Higher Power. It was assumed that, for whatever reason people could influence this Higher Power to intervene on their behalf in an effort to ameliorate unfavorable conditions. As people's minds were free to meditate on the great mysteries, increasingly elaborate and intricate models were utilized to placate increasingly complex gods and relationships with gods. Sacrifices were instigated to placate the gods and demonstrate the proper obeisance for and to the divine.
Now we are much more enlightened. Our religions often do not require any kind of sacrifice at all. Currently all that may be required is an acknowledgement of the presence of God in one's life.
I think that there is more that is necessary. Our current society is seeing the result of increasing secular emphasis - including a falling away of people from hope, faith, and moral and cultural norms. People without this moral compass may find themselves listening to ethical arguments and being steered to find things acceptable that otherwise might be repugnant or offensive. People are losing the discipline that stems from sacrifice, service, and altruism. There is a dynamic that comes from sympathetic harmonies that can only be achieved in concert with others who are like minded and motivated to the betterment of society.
Further, Joseph Smith taught that the religion that does not require the sacrifice of ALL things has not the power to salvation. What power! What freedom! What liberation! For when you realize that it is the sacrifice of material things, even one's own life if necessary, that is required, you begin to understand that therein lies salvation. What is it that we need to be saved from anyway? Isn't it the frailties of the flesh? Weakness in temptation? Succumbing to the will of God and His divine power leads to empowerment, dignity, and peace. It is the frailties of our lives that must be overcome. Let's be honest, there is nothing that doesn't belong to God anyway - we live or die, prosper or fail, at His will alone. So what is there left to give Him but our attitudes, our time, talents, and our own subjection to His will?
These teachings and opportunities for selflessness are only found in a society. For many years the religious folks who wished to be "extra" spiritual separated themselves from society in monasteries. There the light of knowledge and faith was carefully guarded against the evils extant in the world. But monastic living is ultimately self-serving - the monk has no interaction with the mundane. This line of thinking is like the physician who refuses to visit the sick or the professor who refuses to teach.
So talk with me! Let's talk. Let's find ways to teach, serve, and lift each other. That's the role of religion in our modern society: a vehicle for service and altruism, a bastion of teaching and morality, and a place where people may come together to strengthen one another.
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