RELIGION. Holy or Not? by Rocio Solaire Roca 

I believe I am a  spiritual being experiencing a short physical reality. This is my belief. I base this belief on my own experience with the spiritual realm a couple of years ago. 

After  I  experienced this out of body trance, my perspective on how I view the world and humanity completely changed. It was through this experience that I was able to understand creation and that although we all come from one original source, we each have a unique purpose. During my near death experience, one of the things I  kept being directed towards was balance and duality. It is how I came to the conclusion that in order to live a blissful life, we must balance our MindBodySoul.

This brings me to my newfound  perspective on  RELIGION.

The Watchtower (pictured above) was a longtime Brooklyn landmark which was visible from the Brooklyn Bridge until 2013, when it was sold to Kushner Developers which then turned the building into an office retail complex.

I must clarify I have nothing against religions. In fact, I have always taken an interest in the study of different religions. I was born and raised in New York which is the melting pot of the world! Raised in a city that embraces diversity, I was exposed to many different religions and cultures. My religious journey began at the age of 2 when my Godparents convinced my parents to baptize me in the Catholic church.  My parents were not very religious but I grew up going to church with my grandmother who was pentecostal while my mother’s best friend was a Seventh Day Adventist and we would often participate in her church activities. Meanwhile, my dad (a self-proclaimed atheist back then) worked for a predominantly Jewish company and we were often invited to Shabbat dinners.  Also, my dad’s best friend was Muslim. 

Later on in life,  when I was about 10 years old, my  mother and I  started taking bible classes with the Jehovah Witnesses. As a young girl I remember visiting the Watchtower in Brooklyn which was the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I enjoyed the times spent in this congregation but I could never wrap my head around why they refuse blood transfusions. That was the dealbreaker for me.

Once I entered High School, my two best friends were two Indian sisters and their family practiced Hinduism. I remember visiting their home and being exposed to lots of their religious traditions. Today, my dad practices Buddhism and my mom belongs to Rosa Crusis, which is a secret society, named after the emblems of the rose and the cross, which were taken to be symbols of Jesus’s resurrection and redemption. With all this being said, I think it’s safe to say I have been exposed to many faiths throughout my life! I am so grateful for being exposed to so many options because it finally led me to the one faith that finally resonated with my own soul-Kabbalah. I believe religion can be a great spiritual tool but only when practiced in a healthy way. 

One of my issues with religion is that people forget that religions are all man made. Because they are all man made whether it’s the Bible, Torah or the Koran, these books were written by MEN. The content of these books of faith was written through the perception of their authors. Can you imagine how these scriptures written thousands of years ago have been corrupted? 

Now, I am not saying the Bible or the Koran are entirely wrong. What I AM saying is that because these scriptures have been translated so much throughout history, I believe the truth has been distorted. 

Think of a rumor. A rumor starts. You tell your friend about this rumor. Your friend tells her other friend but she changes it a bit and adds to it. That friend tells a coworker and she also changes it and adds/deletes it. By the time the rumor gets to the 15th person, the story is almost completely manufactured. So doesn’t it make sense then that lot of the stories in these scriptures have been a bit corrupted? 

Based on my own encounter with the other side, I believe each religion holds bits and pieces of the truth. While I own and study several holy scriptures such as the Bible, The Koran and the Zohar, I don’t subscribe to any one belief entirely. Because just as I was shown just a tiny piece of the entire truth, I believe these authors experienced a similar enlightenment where they were drawn to write and speak about their own version of the “truth”.  So, if we believe we live in the 1%, which I do, then isn’t it safe to assume that maybe I was only revealed 5% of the rest of the truth? As were these other authors?

People also misuse religion as a tool to hide behind it because they are not ready to face reality. Sometimes when people experience a traumatic event, or when they are the ones who performed a heinous act, they turn to religion.  In this case, religion is being used as a cover up. The individual is not ready to face the truth, because the truth is unbearable. So they turn to religion to mask the pain or the shame. 

But my biggest issue with religion is when people become fanatics! Everything in excess is unhealthy. I know people that won’t go to a concert, won’t sip a glass of wine and if you don’t share their same beliefs, will outcast you and tell you, you will end up in hell! (BTW, hell is not what most of us think it is. Neither is the devil) These types of people lose the whole meaning behind their faith and use their religion to cover up their own deepest, darkest secrets and sins. What better way to justify your wrongdoings than hiding behind the fact that no matter what your sins will still be forgiven. 

Another issue with religion is that it distorts us from the TRUTH. Religion divides. Religion goes against our basic human principle which is love one another as you love yourself. Think about it. If you love everyone as yourself then you will never kill, steal, rape, cheat, insult.  And you will never judge another just because they sin or pray differently than you.

So the mystery that was revealed to me when I was under this trance, is that we must find alignment with our MindBodySoul. If we are spiritual beings living a physical reality then doesn’t it make sense that we nurture both the spiritual and the physical? The rich man who is not in tune with his inner self (the soul) will never be fulfilled so he will continue to pursue financial abundance.  But the more he attains the more he will feel the void and he will become more unfulfilled and less and less empathic.  On the other hand, the religious fanatic who spends hours of the day reading the bible and goes to church every other day is so ashamed of pursuing financial success because his belief is that “money’s the root of all evil”. So the rich man is poor in spirit but the “holy” man lacks financial prosperity. Neither one is truly prosperous. And I promise you they should and can  both co-exist. 

My own experience led me to believe that this creator, light, Jehovah, Hashem, Allah, God, Universe, this being wants us all to live a full life. If we are living in a physical world then doesn’t it make sense that we should desire physical things? We need money to pay bills, to eat, to travel and to fund our kids’ education.  The trick is to find the balance between the two realms by merging our spirituality with physical and mental wellness and to pursue financial success in a healthy way.  

The positive side of religion is that it can be a cover up to control the masses. This can be an inconvenience at times when a struggling family is coerced into believing that they must “tithe” in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven. But we live in a world that is so out of control at times, that I thank God we do have religions! Unfortunately so many people lack basic empathy and the only thing they respect is fear. Sometimes the fear of this God that according to all religions punishes people, sometimes this is the only thing that keeps evil works in check and stands in the way of anarchy.

I believe that religion is just one of many tools available for us to use so we can  balance MindBodySoul and that we all should all search for the spiritual path that is in alignment with our own souls so that we can all manifest the blissful life we all desire.

Until we meet again…

With Love, Solaire Love