One of the keys to our mutual success is building personal character. One of the the divisive things they tell you to avoid talking about when you’re trying to build relationships is religion and another is politics. This are critical issues that are both part of our problem and our solution. The Black Lion Society is “a-religious”. We respect religion as it defines beliefs and practices and respect our different religions up to the point that any of them are manipulated by man in order to go against our moral genetics or are used as weapons against us to make us easier to manage, dominate, and enslave. Being a-religious doesn’t mean that our members cannot be religious. It only means that the Black Lion Society does not have an official position on one religion vs. another.

Most religious systems are built around a human experience from the “flesh” or lower self, to the enlightenment of heaven, or the higher self. When you study and understand these religions you see the similarities. Different people may feel that their religion is superior but the way you show this is not by arguing with words but through the evidence of your actions. We say this because many religious people feel the need to convert others into their system of belief and it is inevitable that some will try to use the Black Lion Society as such an opportunity. Sometimes, this conversion is more about the person doing the converting and less about the person being converted.

Religions sometimes confuse us with words until we think that there is a magic pill that we can swallow to solve our problems. And no matter what happens, either way, it is someone elses will if we succeed or fail. When this happens we miss the point of the text and we don’t see the person who truly we are following. And in reality… its not the pill you’re swallowing, but the act of swallowing itself that saves you.

Divinity is something agreed by humanity to be a precious thing. One problem is how we put someone or something on a pedestal can separate that thing from ourselves or separate ourselves from others who are really no different from us. Some people use religion in the very same way that others use color. Deep down, if a person feels something about them may be inferior then this insecurity of inferiority provokes them down a path of looking for something to feel, not the same, but superior. This causes divisions and makes us the enemies of ourselves. What is religion about? Is it about you being superior? Or is it about something that should make you better than you were yesterday?

We all fear change. When we judge ourselves against ourselves we’re forced to change. When we judge ourselves against others we see others need to change but we don’t necessarily see or relate to the changes that we need to make. Regardless of what an individual believes true spirituality is about the person within and its development. The flesh just wants to be flesh and do fleshy things. The spirit does spiritual things. Based on which you do more of you can see whether or not you are imbalanced and if you are imbalanced there is a probability that your views, even of your religious text, is skewed to support your imbalance.

This is not about blame. This is about truth and acceptance. We cannot grow until we take responsibility. We all see the corruption in our churches but we cannot grow together spiritually until we take personal responsibility. It’s easy to say “That’s not my problem”, but when someone else’s problem affects the community… it’s our problem. In this American society we’re taught to be individuals and work for self interest. But when we don’t work for the community we get into a situation of being dependant upon someone else’s community because our own isn’t strong enough.

It starts with a firm foundation. Our religious texts refer to a solid rock because of its strength and stability. This like many other texts should be understood spiritually. How can we talk about religion and spirituality when we say we are “a-religious” and respect all faiths? It is by respecting what each faith should be and giving each a pure voice, not a version of each faith that may be corrupted. James said that true and pure religion was about showing love for other people. There seemed to be a conflict between James and Paul but James understood that if you were a true believer, it wasn’t your beliefs that would save you but the effect of those beliefs on your heart and mind. That’s why he said faith without works is dead. So how is it that we can have churches but not communities? How is it that the spirit that exists within these churches does not make it out? People go into a building to get ‘the spirit’ when they should bring the spirit in and take the spirit out because it should always be with them.

The rock was never a person. It was the spirit that was within the messiah. Following the messiah had nothing to do with going to a church. Following the messiah also didn’t mean that you did nothing for yourself or that you didn’t defend yourself. It didn’t mean you sat back and waited for someone else to do miracles on your behalf to help you through the challenges of life; challenges that are meant to make you stronger. The temptations of Ha Mashiach (The Messiah) is really about the temptations of the flesh; of humanity. When you accept him, you’re not accepting a man. You are accepting his ideals, his character, his convictions, his spirit or essence or energy. In short, the only way to truly follow the messiah is to walk in his spiritual footsteps.

Many concepts have been corrupted. The idea of “gods” in general is a concept that has been changed and corrupted over time.The concept of worship has also been changed and corrupted. Religious texts have been changed and corrupted. The concept of the devil, hell being a place of eternal suffering, repentance, spirituality itself etc have all been changed and corrupted so that corrupt people could gain control and so the spiritual message could be supplanted by a material one to get believers to trade their material wealth on earth for material wealth in the afterlife. You can try to fight against these corruptions which have a life of their own. However, the Black Lion Society is about a holistic approach to heal, which includes having the right spirit and developing a divine character so that we may all be called the children of God.