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Religion can be a mighty tool to perpetuate ignorance and disconnection. Those in religion or in other societal structures that do point to the truth will be crucified in some way, like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Today, one of the greatest road blocks to higher consciousness are the religious institutions. What is preached and perpetuated from the pulpit is quite literally insane sometimes. It really has no relation to reality.
Still a spirituality that is able to escape the fantasies and insanities of institutionalized religion offers a great and royal way to coming to terms with the truth of existence. This is an absolute necessity now because once a person is able to see the connections that make up the one life that is all of us then there is less feeling for the need for power. Rather there arises a feeling of appreciation for the others of life and a feeling of wanting only the best for those "others." In reality, the idea of a divorced and separate "other" is lost to the consciousness that has arisen from separation anxiety. Until we are able to appreciate not only our brothers and sisters across the globe but also the life that is found everywhere with us then we will not be able to move beyond this push for power. Instead this power consciousness motivated by a certain life view perpetuated by our institutions of control can be replaced by a consciousness of wholeness.
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung once wrote, Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other. When we come to the realization of the truth of our connectedness to all of life then we see that our survival and in fact our physical, mental, and spiritual health is related to the way we feel about and treat everything that exists with us.
Just realizing our connectedness with animals would help bring about less suffering. Not only would there be more respect for the natural habitats that are important for our own survival. But the barbaric practices of factory farming and the mass slaughter of animals would be relegated to a memory of a brutal past. There is little question that if human kind were to eat less animals then there would be greater improvement in health and a lessening of many of the diseases associated with modernity.
So if we were to really open our eyes and realize our connections to all of life then there will be a great movement toward peace and health for ourselves and our planet. This is the power of realizing our connectedness which means coming to terms with the truth of our existence.
