20 Feb 2010
The Mystery of Happiness- How to live a soulful and spiritual life. by T. Byram Karasu, M.D.
Out of these distortions and compromises, spirituality, the very purpose of religious divinity, has suffered. Every religion has an element of ritual piety. The original meaning of ritual (ritus in Latin) is correct action - not compulsion. If practiced in their intended purpose, they will prevent people from the immediacy of religious experience. In extreme determination, discipline makes one obsessed, not spiritual.
Making the analogy to a ship at sea, John Gribbin says that a compass needle on a ship always points to the north magnetic pole, but that doesn't mean the ship is always sailing north. Devotional discipline can be a symptom of legalism, work righteousness, obsessive-compulsive neurosis or, worse, moralism.
Robert J. Ringer, in Looking Out for Number One, describes "the Absolute Moralist" as looking deceptively like any ordinary human being, who spends his life deciding what is right for you. If he gives to charity, he'll try to shame you into "understanding" that it's your moral duty to give to charity too (usually the charity of his choice). If he believes in Christ, he's certain that it's his moral duty to help you "see the light." In the most extreme case, he may even feel morally obliged to kill you in order to "save" you.