Mere scholasticism or mere sacerdotalism will never create a living faith. Religion requires something inwardly propelling, energizing and capable of doing work. The intellect is useful in its place, but when it tries to cover the whole field of religion it dries up the source of life.
D.T Suzuki wrote those thoughts in his 1949 book Essays In Zen Buddhism. Suzuki believed that religion is fundamentally based on the life force called Zen. Early Chinese philosophers also identified this subjective power. They called it Chi. Confucius wrote about Chi, and the works Lao-tzu express the value of Chi in all physical thoughts and actions. When Chinese artists and thinkers are unable to assign a quality to a particular phenomenon, they simply paint two wavy lines. Those lines are the original characters used to express Chi. The names we use to identify this life force doesn’t matter. It is firmly rooted in our consciousness, but our religious beliefs change how we perceive this life force.
Thought is energy. Thought creates and alters beliefs. Beliefs are the product of religious thought; they are road maps for our experiences. They help us perceive our reality. We live in a religious based reality. That reality has been in motion for thousands of years. Beliefs produce chemical and electrical actions within the body, and they also create a harmonic resonance between our molecules, cells and organs. It’s no wonder we react differently to the same information. Our beliefs color the cells in our brains, and our perception of reality is tainted by the associations within those beliefs.
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