What is Religion? (Part Twelve)
‘Ask and you shall receive’ is a common theme across the ages – in The Secret they express it a little more clearly, saying that what we get is what we see as being real or a part of our lives. So if all we see is violence and rage, depravity and the use and abuse of people by others, if all we know comes from greed and a lack of self-awareness, how can the average person find a world of wonder, a place filled with hope and the possibility of greatness?
Religion in its purest form attempts to address these issues by showing us a way to find a better place, to give us the information and techniques we need to achieve the greatness within us. But there is the problem that the same techniques used to bring us up out of darkness and into Light can also be used to bring us to other places.
During a long ago war in Korea, the Chinese interrogators used what came to be known as ‘The Chinese Water Torture’ to break down their captives. This involves isolating the victim, as far as possible, from external stimuli (blocking ears, blindfold, wrapping them in soft cloth etc.) and then dripping water onto their foreheads. Eventually this would ‘drive them mad’ and disorient them to the point where they would be unable to withhold information needed by the interrogators.
The problem here is the same technique, or very similar, can be used to ‘drive them sane’ – it seems to depend on what the victim thinks it will do to them. Many people are into trying the isolation path to self-improvement, using repetition within an isolated environment to take them through trauma and unsanity so they can emerge as better human beings.
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