Magic Forums

(let me know your opinions on this)

A soul, aura, karma, spirit, essence, power, life-blood, the holy spirit,luck..etc.
These are a few terms for some type of ?energy? or ?force? that supposedly resides in one way or another within every human being (and/or creature, depending on who you ask).

What if all of these energies (lets use energies for simplicity's sake) were in fact the same thing?
But if they?re all the same then why do we use different names? Well, that is a matter of perception..

For the sake of argument let?s say that this energy is real and there is indeed only one. One natural energy that is within everything would have a natural effect on people. Provide a sense of curiosity, a primal need to explain things in search of some type of higher power. Cultures feel this need and provides an answer based on surroundings and societal beliefs.

Examples:
-- Indigenous religions often have spiritual beliefs revolving around nature and/or natural spirits. Their way of religion revolves around their way of life.

Although religions stem from different beginnings they all seem to have factors and traits that appear throughout cultures.

A few of the main religions of the world and their origins:

Judaism- Israel, when the prophet Abraham formed a covenant with Yahweh (god)

Christianity-Jerusalem, the introduction of jesus christ and other minor alterations to the jewish faith

Islam- Mecca, Formed by a message from god through Muhammad, the last prophet in a line of them that included Moses and Jesus. Another step from the initial jewish ideology

Hinduism- India, the synthesis of various indian cultures and beliefs that took form as one.

Buddhism- nepal/asia more of a spiritual path than a theistic religion. Siddhartha Gautama a.k.a Buddha (?the enlightened one?) set out to cure human suffering by giving up the vices of the world.

Confucianism- China. Another way of life rather than theistic belief. Founded by confucius a chinese philosopher. Based on rational thinking.

Taoism-China, A religion with no exact founder, it grew out of multiple beliefs. Based on the idea of living in harmony and balance between opposing forces (Ying and Yang, dark and light, push and pull etc?)

Wicca- Founded by Gerald Gardner Is known as the father of modern Wicca, A Religion focused solely on nature and the dual gods. Their god and goddess.

These beliefs as well as various other faiths all have similar ideals on universal love and acceptance (although there are those of these beliefs that do not practice what is preached)




Common themes among these religions/beliefs include
-not killing
-respecting life
-not stealing
-be fair/honest
-be truthful
-not be sexually immoral (although sexual immorality is culturally relative)
-love one another


How is it that religions from different cultures can have principle similarities yet continue to call themselves different? There are many attempted explanations for this but none quite seem to fit the answer the we are looking for. None ,that is, except the theory I am proposing. you see if every energy that various religions believe in are the same thing and the energy comes in one way or another from the deity of specified belief; Then it would be fair to assume that all of the deities in question are in fact the same entity. But what if this entity is in fact just an energy in itself? Taking the form of our will. Arthur Schopenhauer wrote a book called ?The world as will and idea?. In this book he presents the idea that will is a universal thought and not just something that belongs to each individual person. The Schopenhauer method is also presented, the idea that if you will something to be or to happen with enough belief or intent, it will happen a.k.a mind over matter/faith/prayer/magic/rituals. Keeping the idea of universal will in mind while thinking about a universal energy/deity brings to light an interesting point. Perception of a god is all about culture and society as well as individual needs, so what if the deity of ?universal will? took the form and power of how you perceive it or ?will it? to be? If this were true then that would prove every religion in the world correct while simultaneously not denying any of them?.


An expanded thought and side note:
With this theory in mind, what if when we die our (lets just use souls) are brought into this energy and our designated belief took over to present our spiritual minds with the preset notion of death based on belief? i.e, if you believe in heaven you go to your heaven, if you believe your corpse just rots in a hole than your spiritual consciousness is erased from existence, and if you believe in reincarnation than you flip through the cycle,etc..