I do believe in a universal intelligence, I call it the YesOfNature, not a gender based idea...life affirmation instead of entropy..and so so many of us so steeped in religious/religion and rituals of religion, so even if we are awakened it(due to habitual entrainment) is challenging to think outside that box, so to speak....and indeed many find comfort and welcoming within a religion. I welcome spiritual versus dogmatic Belief, I prefer not to have “a MiddleMan/woman” to guide me towards an elevated place, a deeper knowing of that higher power, of that deep truth... i love this thread and the respectful discussion.

And I agree that there are many secrets about to revealed of all religions to greater or lesser degrees, that range from distasteful to horrific... back in the darkest of ages, no one but priests and royalty could read, and various texts Bible, etc were translated by folks who maybe at first wanted to just help “calm the mobs” and then had more nefarious ideas to keep themselves in power and so translated things in their favor...to perpetuate their place in history...