Understanding Religion: Origins, Purpose, and Misconceptions

Religion unites humanity through shared beliefs, but often becomes divisive due to interpretations and dogmas.

### Understanding Religion: Origins, Interpretations, and Unity
* 🌍 Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening to everyone, as we gather to discuss the systems and structures of Capricorn in society, particularly focusing on the **crown chakra** and the topic of **religion**.
* 🧠 The speaker shares their personal experience of growing up in a non-religious environment, emphasizing that their **lack of dogma allows for a more open discussion about religion** without personal bias.
* 📜 They explain that the term 'religion' derives from the Latin roots meaning "**to tie back**," highlighting the original purpose of religion as a means to **unite individuals**.
* ⏳ The history of religion is traced back to early humans who, in their search for sustenance, discovered **hope and faith** as they sought out the metaphorical "**Tree of Life**," which symbolizes the **quest for knowledge and connection**.
* 🌳 As communities evolved and dispersed, different interpretations of the divine emerged based on **geographical and environmental contexts**, leading to **diverse religious practices and beliefs**.
* 🔄 The speaker warns against judging past actions from a contemporary perspective, stressing that **understanding and forgiveness are crucial for healing and moving forward**.
* 💬 They conclude by inviting listeners to **reflect on their personal beliefs and the foundations of their own "religion,"** encouraging a **deeper understanding of spirituality beyond cultural norms**.
* 💨 The session wraps up with a meditation focused on breathing, reinforcing the **connection between breath and spirituality**, and inviting everyone to **recognize their divine essence**.

Hello everyone, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. I'm not in the boat yet because, um, for the reason that there is no tourism, um, the slides are being canceled, so they just put us all in a new flight tomorrow.

New times. So, I welcome all of you to this beginning of the physical week of Capricorn. Today we start and um, we are going to speak about the systems, the structure systems from the point of view of Capricorn in society.

So, we are going to talk today related to the crown chakra, which is the topic of religion as we usually say with family in a meal, family meal. We don't speak about religion, about um, politics or economics. Well, we are gonna talk about all of it

together. So, first of all, um, we like to say that talking about me, you have your own story. By talking about me, for example, I am, I don't have, I never had a religion. I don't have a religion, um, I don't have a political idea. Uh, I

don't have these concepts in my life. I share a little bit of everything, um, so because of this, sometimes can be easier for me, for people like like me that doesn't have this specific dogma, uh, to um, to think or to speak about all these things

in a in a way that is um, how do you say, that is not um, related to straight, directly to to me. Um, so what I would say is that, uh, for many people that maybe will listen to this or or whatever, for many people maybe it's difficult to

to talk about these issues, but not because they believe in a religion, but because they have a culture, uh, inside and I'm a preconception of what things are okay. So just, just for you to, to have this idea, to have this concept, um, try to be open to see a different

perception, okay, to see a different option. So I would like to share, first of all, the idea, my, my own idea of religion. I was born in a, in a context of a country that is Catholic, okay? So, so I was born in an environment that

people were mainly Catholic, so I recognized the religions through the Catholicism of course, but my home, my family was not religious. My grandfather was agnostic, my, my entire environment in the family was no religion at all. So, so we were kind of these things far away is better

It's like, it's better not to, to speak about this, these things, or we don't want to talk about religions. And I am pointing this out because sometimes when we start to talk about the topic of religions, we might say religions are a bad thing because most

of the people were inside a religion and they want to go out from it, and, and the people that lived in a religion, they say I don't want this anymore. So they have this pre-concept of a religion because of this, we have this preconceptions of religions like

something bad, but, but for example, in my own case, during my whole life, I was not related to religion and I had a pre-concept of religions from the point of view of being superior to religion, people, religious people because it was like they are still attached to one idea

but sometimes that belief is also a religion because we are we are connected um we have a bond with a concept of being superior because you don't have a religion so it's important also to understand that when we are not religious at all also um we can also be attached to dogmas or

or misconceptions about what a religion is and I guess it's important to point this because usually when we speak about these topics we used to criticize religion like trying to say that it's not good but this is not the point for today's topic so the topic for today is about

from where the religions came from why they are important in our process and um where they started to get lost in the distortion of reality so first of all to understand religion what it means religion religions religion comes from the word that means to re is to come back to

and ligare means to tie to tie something connect something with another thing okay to tie so the concept is to tie again to tie it back another time okay so now let's go to the history of religion how it started because a religion didn't start it just in the

concept that we have of religion from 3000 or 5000 5 000 years ago when human history started to be registered okay um um the human history is way much longer so we should not stay attached to the concept that we have of the things from our point of

view of how they were created in history we have to go deeper and even more behind all the things to understand uh the basis if we want to create something different so important to know when we are trying to build something new in the future related to love related to evolution uh

to compassion as I said in Rome in 2014, we should not build something in the future speaking against the things of the past, like if something in the past was wrong and we are the good ones and saying that if we erase this part of

the past, we are going to heal the future. No, it's not like this. It's through forgiveness that you heal the future, and forgiveness means that you have to understand the past. Hmm, we have to understand the reasons of the past in order to heal the future.

If we start to judge things for the things that happen now, it's a lost battle because we are wasting time because we are not understanding why they are happening, so we don't, we are not being able to heal it for it not to happen. So I, I invite you to do this

exercise of the idea, um, that imagine, um, we used to speak about the past about thousands of years ago, but um, what would happen if we try to think as someone in 1,000 years ahead in the future? So if they see backwards to us, they will

see like we are a religion, that we are like a sect, like a cult, and that everything that we are just speaking right now here is just the concept of people believing that they are aware and working with consciousness. So they thought they were superior to

others because they were working with the world in consciousness. They would think about this. They would also maybe say they thought they were doing good things, but they weren't doing anything, they were doing um, bad things for example, because from the point of view of the

In the future, maybe we're doing everything wrong. For sure, because everything is about evolving in the future. So it's important to understand that when we try to get an idea of what happened in the past, we shouldn't judge things from the eyes of the future.

Because maybe the people doing things wrong today, the things they were trying to do, they were doing their best in the beginning, but they had no idea how, so they ended up doing it wrong. So, um, I would invite you not to lose time trying to go against all systems.

Because here come the questions: 'Yes, but the Vatican does this, or these people do that, and whatever.' Yes, of course, but why? Because they are the last part of a system that was created for hundreds of years, and now it's our time. Now we have to

think about our future, in our new time. So if we waste our time trying to blame what happened or what they did in the past, we're not going to kill the past. The only way you can heal the past is by forgiving the past because they gave us

the tools to understand, 'Oh, look at this, that was wrong. So I had no idea that I would be wrong. So now I know that is wrong, so I will do it better. Thank you, system from the ancient times, for teaching me what is wrong so I can do it

better in the future.' That's the way you go into the future, and not losing time in the past. Um, so this is why here we are not going to criticize the religions. We're going to give them a meaning. So I invite you to read the blog, but I

I'll try to make a summary of the blog. So remember that in this past month, I guess it was in Sagittarius during the trip that we did, from the history, uh, everything for us began in the moment when we, as animals in the beginning of our

history as humans, we were living in the forest in Africa, in the trees, and we were eating the fruits of the trees. And there was one day that there was no fruit on the tree, so we said, 'Where can we find more food?' And some of them commented

in their language, kind of, they said, 'I heard that beyond there is more trees with much more food.' So one of them left the forest with faith in that tree to find something beyond. So we being these animals before we became like from the human kingdom,

we started to look out for that tree every day with faith, and we were hoping to find it. So we were having hope, that's how we discover hope. So from the first moment of this path, this path created our intelligence that tried to find that tree in which I

put my faith in, and I had the hope to find it. From that moment, every hominid that came from Africa looking for this food started to have faith in to find that big tree of food that was called the Tree of Life. From that moment on, every religion

has a holy tree, a secret tree, what it's going to... hmm. So these cultures from the very past, they started to follow the trees, they started to follow and try to understand where is this tree. And as much as they were traveling, expecting to find this tree,

the tree was even bigger because they started to make the idea of the tree being like so huge so big that oh this tree should be like I know animals must must grow from this tree uh different fruits must must grow from this tree should be so so big that you cannot see

the horizon I don't know that detaches the sky it's so so big so every day was so difficult to find this huge tree that they started to get comfortable with the trees that they found and I was making a comparison with our cultures today for example for all of us Disney

has done a very good job making us believe that there is the prince or the princess that we have to find in our life the perfect person that we have to find and all will be good and will be the perfect person and so on so we were

we are our whole lives expecting for that person that is the perfect person that is our soulmate our twin flame um but always the prince the the most beautiful person or the most beautiful woman and until you find that person you start to find like many frogs in the

middle okay so you start to find many other people and some of the of them are good some of them are bad I don't know but you will start to find other people and get comfortable with other people and you never find the prince or the or the princess

and why is that why you don't find the best person ever because as much as you look for it your imagination starts to design this person in a way that it doesn't exist is impossible for for someone so perfect to exist okay so that's why uh we start to

to create this idea and that's why we never find it. So the same thing happened with a tree. The tree was so, so, um, so big in the head of the people as they were trying to look for it that they couldn't understand it. They

couldn't understand uh that that tree didn't exist. So, um, so they said, okay, this this tree should be so so big and so incredible that it must be big as the sky. So suddenly they said, oh, maybe the tree is the sky, so the branches are all over the sky and

the stars are the fruits of this tree, and that's how they created the idea of the tree of knowledge, the tree of the Divine. Suddenly these three were so big and they were observing it every night that suddenly they understood the skies and how they move.

They understood the seasons, the cycles of the Moon, they understood the constellations, the the calendar, Solstice, equinoxes. So they knew how when to to sow, when to harvest. They understood from the sky how to handle the matter in the Earth, and the sky started to give to the

humans a gift, which is rain, so they could sow and harvest. So they started to get enlightened by the water. This is the way in which the nomads discover that they can also sow the plants and the trees. They don't have to look for it.

So they become sedentary. So this is how the sedentary people start to protect the fields, the seeds, and they understood that if they are all together they can survive. If one of them goes away they can be lost, so they need to get all

together United so the way in which they started to hold these people together was the person that saw the skies interpreted the sky and brought the idea to the people as an advice and that was the priest the chairman so this priest that understood the concepts of the sky

put everyone together by advice in the specific moments of the year because he understood or she understood everything so in the solstice the equinoxes in the phases of the Moon every 28 days um in the new years in the constellations the the houses of

the constellations they called everyone to put to come together to share and to receive the blessing for this new stage coming so they got United once and again once and again every season and every change of the sky and how do we call to get United again and again and again

in ceremonies we call that re ligare religion this is how our religion starts following This Kiss of the sky to put together all the individuals of the family for them to survive Through Time isn't this beautiful the system the religion beautiful the natural religion is beautiful the origin of

everything is just to pay attention to the skies in order to know how to live in order to know how to move so that's what we all do in specific moments of the time of the of the calendar we get together all all the family yet together to celebrate

something to share food mainly and it's perfect it's so beautiful so now what happened a lot of people start to be born so many people a lot of people so they start to separate to create many other villages so they go to the north they go to the

desert they go to the rainforest and the chairman starts to interpret, start to interpret the environment, the Divine according to their environment, the geography and the weather. So whoever went to the north, for example, where it's too cold and you have a winter, a very long winter with three

months of night, there's no way for them to survive with plants, so they needed to hunt. So that's why their religion was related to the blood. For the people of the desert, it was related to the wells of water, the wells inside the ground.

So the water was holding for the people in the rainforest, it was all about the animals and the sacred plants. For the people like in Tibet, they had not much oxygen, so they need to talk slowly for them not to die because of a hard talk because they

don't have oxygen. So what they had to do was to sit and meditate to take a deep breath. So from that moment on what happens is that there is no manipulation in the mind, there are only chairmans trying to interpret the Divine through the geography where they live in.

So in this way starts to grow many interpretations of the Divinity according to the geography and the weather. So what happened in the past, in the past that there is so much people in the world that they start to migrate and suddenly they migrate from one branch and then

with a lot of people, they find again in another moment and they kind of look similar, but they have so many different ways to interpret the similar. So if these ones went to the rainforest and this went to the mountain, when they find again each other, will be different the interpretation of

the Divine so what happened in that moment is that one of the chairmans said let's try to protect our people so hey remember that Our Truth in the rainforest is better and is the truth for us so that's the only truth that you can survive

with don't believe the people from the mountain because they don't know how to make you live in the rainforest so the chairmans and the priests top with interpreting and with the will to interpret the skies and they start to put all their energies

in protecting the Earth so when I say protect the earth I am saying to protect their own vision the people so what he's what they started to do is to try to convince the rest of the people that their truth their speech was the best this is the moment when religion stopped

being something that unites us and starts to become something that divides us and ties people to other people and this is what makes a system of belief a system a spiritual system become to become a system of Faith which is faith to trust to trust in the other speech the other opinion

and that is a Dogma we say Dogma in Greek to opinion so the question would be how many of us are here trying to convince the others with our opinion on things and how many of us are here trying to share that opinion to whoever needs it

the problem are not religions religions are not bad religions are A system that helps us to be United the problem here is not religion is the people that is a threat to lose control as the higher self said today a garden cannot have only one flower

the only way we can download the light is with diversity and that's why we are here to try to open our lotus flower to find our Inner Light is 21 21 of the day 21 year 21. Take a deep breath and we'll begin with the alignment

The vibration for today is the the statement for today is I am the Divine. The sentence, the code for today is oxygen. This is the third basic element of creation and the most important one for life in our world. This means that this means the most present in the

atmosphere. The chemical process performed by the vegetal world during the photosynthesis discards oxygen, which is used by the rest of the living beings for breathing and circulation, turning nutrients into energy. Relating this way the element air, the one that connects us all

on a unique connection. Remember that breathing, uh, breathing in, in Latin is spirare, which is the origin of the word spiritual. The ability to breathe is spiritual. So we are connected today with the element, the chemical element oxygen, that is related to our spiritual world.

Thank you. Okay, let's go to the alignment. Sit comfortable and we focus on our breathing. [Music] Foreign. [Music] Take a deep breath and think, pay attention to all your body, to your feet, [Music] your legs, [Music] hip, waist,

your chest, hands, arms, shoulders, [Music] neck, face, and head until your hair. [Music] Take a deep breath and start to make a soft massage from your feet to your head, becoming aware of each part of it. [Music] Thank you. [Music]

[Applause] As I massage the body, take a deep breath and discharge the energy through the mouth by exhaling. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

[Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] I become aware from the inside of my body, the heartbeat of my heart, the blood in my arteries, how it goes to each one of the organs, muscles. [Music] Take a deep breath.

Fill in the air, the oxygen coming inside. [Music] Feeling it in your lungs, how it goes to the blood. [Music] Bringing this fresh air to the brain, relaxing the entire nervous system. [Music] Too much, remember. [Music] Each time that I breathe.

[Music] I activate this period within me, so I recognize that my body is a temple. [Music] I use my imagination to feel myself like this spirit that lives within me inside my heart and lungs, as I breathe and I use imagination to see

how this temple looks like from within. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Okay. [Music] And I recognize that beyond the forms, the shapes, the ways, all of them were looking for the same thing. They were looking for the essence.

The light. [Music] They were all looking for the only one in great spirit, so I invite them all to sit around me in my temple. [Music] As I see them around, I remind them that the great spirit lives within us and is called breathing.

[Music] I take a deep breath and invite them to do so, breathe in, hold, exhale [Music] [Applause] And in my breathing, I activate the vibration of my essence [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

[Music] essence. I am the Divine Essence. I am the Divine Essence. [Music] I am the tree of life and knowledge. [Music] I am the Consciousness. I am the universe. [Music] I am Delight. I am life. I am the path. 

[Music] I am the religion that unites Spirit, soul and body. [Music] I am God. [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] unfortunately [Music] Take a deep breath and each one at its own time come back

here and now, carries in all your body. [Music] Everything. [Music] [Music] The task for today, write down what are the basis of your own religion. I'm not saying about the religion you are in culturally. I am saying about your own religion.

What are the basis, the laws of your own Dogma. [Music] Thank you everybody for being there and see you tomorrow at the same time.

Day 171 RELIGION - Matias De Stefano - English Edit

Sudhama Yoga Studio Seaford

Introduction to Capricorn's Systems and Structures in Society

Begins the physical week of Capricorn, focusing on societal systems.

Discussion will cover religion, politics, and economics.

Speaker's personal lack of religious or political affiliation provides an objective perspective.

Acknowledges the difficulty some may have discussing these topics due to cultural preconceptions.

Speaker's personal background: raised in a Catholic country but with a non-religious family.

Explores the etymology of 'religion' and its historical context.

Etymology of 'religion': 're' (to come back) and 'ligare' (to tie/connect).

Challenges the limited historical perspective on religion, urging a deeper understanding.

Emphasizes forgiveness and understanding of the past to heal the future.

Suggests considering the past from a future perspective to avoid judgment.

The Tree of Life Metaphor and Religious Development

Summarizes a previous blog post about the origins of religion.

Early humans' search for food as the genesis of faith and hope.

The development of intelligence driven by the search for the 'Tree of Life'.

The concept of a 'holy tree' across various religions.

Compares the search for the 'Tree of Life' to the modern search for a perfect partner.

The Priest's Role and the Diversification of Religion

The emergence of sedentary societies and the role of the priest in uniting communities.

The natural religion's focus on observing the skies to guide life.

The diversification of religious interpretations based on geography and climate.

The shift from interpretation of the Divine to protection of specific beliefs.

Religion's transition from a unifying to a divisive force.

The importance of diversity in spiritual growth.

Daily affirmation, code, and element: 'I am the Divine,' 'oxygen'.

Oxygen as a symbol of connection and spirituality.

Guided meditation and body awareness exercise.

Daily task: identifying the basis of one's personal religion/belief system.