Group think

I know little or nothing about Zen and I'm happy to reveal that I don't care. I think of Zen as equivalent to words such as "calm", "present", "intense". I use the word Zen in my blog simply to get me to be in my writing consciously.

Fact of the matter - I'm ignorant of most religions. I don't believe in any of them. This leaves a gap I must admit in my spiritual practice. I don't really have one. I don't pray (except at crisis moments and near death experiences). I go to the forest near my home to be spiritual. In nature, I am entirely happy.

I think that is really the way we are meant to be in a spiritual practice = happy. I don't believe religion should be a rules and regulations business. Religion should be something we explore to make our own life, authentically ours. It should not be a superimposed set of values and rules to ensure we make our lives according to a preset prototype.

Most of the established religions of this world have a source code book such as the bible or the Koran which provides guidance for living life according to the guidance of a divine being. These books and their associated book handlers disseminate information to greater and greater numbers of the faithful who are all indoctrinated in the creed. Individual thinking, questioning and evolution becomes secondary to group think. We are all to some extent managed by the group think influences of established religions. Even individuals like myself who do not subscribe to one such coda are limited in our ability to openly admit our atheism. The group is strong in defending its predominant belief web and in punishing those members of society who do not subscribe to group think.

But no matter. All of these group think mechanisms operate in the same way, create the same types of conformity in individuals and repress creative thought. I will not have any barter with any of them. I used Zen in my blog title. I could have used Christian or Moslem or Hindu or even Cat Beginner Writing Practice. It is all the same. But Zen, to me at least represents an important practice for writers - giving up on the extraneous noise and centering into oneself and writing from the present. Being present to whatever is here now. Being Zen. And that is why I used Zen in my title.