There is need for people to unlearn this way of thinking and to relearn to adhere to both "external compliance with the law [of god] and inner devotion" because in the moment of subjugating one to the other, religion is born.
I have had a rebellious streak, and have been anti-westernisation ever since I could make sense of it (which is not so long ago). I have always had the sense that there is something unnatural about it. Human beings, no matter how atheist they may claim to be, have been created with an innate ability to experience God. The western mind attempts to organise everything into systematic structures, therefore "the Godhead must be tightly defined and structured" (Knowles, p. 4). The external world (earth) is a manifestation of thought, a manifestation of what is within. There are so many beautifully complex things in creation that we cannot begin to explain, yet we want to have a power point understanding of the Creator.
One the basic thoughts that this western mind is based on, is the idea of the 'spiritual' or the 'supernatural' being external to human beings. That we can engage in it as we please, and walk away from it as we please. Man was created in the image of God, in the realm of God. The fall brought about a spiritual separation between God and man but did not change his form, no where in the bible does it say, "because they sinned, they will no longer be as God had created them". The Hellenisation of the world did wonders in restructuring how man understands the relation between God and himself. From this came an understanding of God being (in the sky) far away from man.
People can understand themselves by looking at what defines them. Our history defines us, and we do not know our history. We have been separated from our truth, our knowledge, our light, and therefore subjected to being content with false KNOWLEDGE because we do not know how to DO.
I choose not to partake in the fruit of western ideals.
