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   %ENJOY TRUE PEACE TRANQUILITY ABSENCE THREAT JOY+930220
  %RELIGION DOCTRINE RITUAL RULE LAW CONTROL ADDICT+930220
   %EXPERIENCE DESCRIBE SHARE DIALOGUE CONVERSE JOY 930220

     So long as the focus of a religion is upon  religious
abstractions, doctrines, rituals, governance, rules, laws,
regulations,     injunctions,    prohibitions,     taboos,
judgments,   and the means  to control human  thoughts and
behaviors---to the exclusion  of  honestly sharing primary
personal  experiences;  so long will religious leaders  be
trapped   in  the  kinds  of  attitudes  and  patterns  of
perception   which  are  characteristic  of  addicts   and
codependents living their  collusive games of mutual  self
deception,  while fixated upon  technocratic  fixes.   The
codependent   religious  followers  will  support  and  be
trapped with such religious leaders,  and be threatened by
any  True Christ.  Even the least of those among us who is
honest  will  be  a threat to them  in  their  dishonesty.
Children will thus not be honored or respected.

     Personal  and communal integrity are rooted in  being
true  to  and about our own personal experiences.   If  we
cannot be true to and about our own personal  experiences;
then  we cannot be  true to any abstractions,   doctrines,
rituals,    governance,    rules,    laws,    regulations,
injunctions,  prohibitions,  taboos or judgments.   If our
short term survival depends upon being dishonest about our
own personal experiences;   then we cannot be honest about
anything, and we and our communities disintegrate.

     For abstractions,  doctrines,  rituals,   governance,
rules,   laws,   regulations,  injunctions,  prohibitions,
taboos and judgments to  make any sense and have any  true
meaning  for  us---they must be rooted in our own personal
experiences and  be honestly related to  our own  personal
experiences.    If  we  who  are  one  with  our  personal
experiences are required to be divorced from them, then we
disintegrate both personally and communally.

     In the absence of open and honest conversations about
true  personal  experiences all forms  of  conformity  are
futile;   and  no one form of dishonest conformity is  any
more   integrative  than  any  other  form  of   dishonest
conformity.   Only within  true intimate relationships and
communities which give us  the free gift of true  security
can we be free to know the truth,  and be free to be truly
ourselves  in both word and deed.   When we are trying  to
conform ourselves to external standards  of propriety,  we
are  bound  to  be  dishonest  about  ourselves  and   our
experiences---in  futile efforts  to conform successfully.
The greater are the threats of excommunication for failure
to  conform,   the greater  are  our  temptations  to  use
dishonesty as a manipulative and disintegrative tool.

     Salvation  thus  does  not  reside  in  any  form  of
conformity.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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