Mindfulness and religion,What is the difference?

What is mindfulness and What is religion?

Mindfulness has its origin in Eastern philosophy. Someone might say it is in the core of the Buddhist practice. However it is different from a religion. And here in this article we discuss the fundamental difference. 

To understand this we need to look around first and then into ourselves. A religion is based on a belief. If we look at any religion in the world there is a component which goes beyond the human capabilities. I would say at the core of any religion there is a fundamental belief that there is some liberation. But this part Is very difficult to prove or disprove. Even if its written in books, even if we feel it like true how can we be sure about thigs we cannot see hear or feel? 

Atheism on the other hand does not believe in such unseen things. But is it not the opposite end of the same stick? Instead of believing in things, they believe in things which doesn't exist. Instead of believing in God, they believe in no God. Instead of believing in sins, they do believe in no sins. Although atheist tries to separate themselves from in believing things we can see, at the core of their argument, they themselves create mental imagery of the same things, and then "believe" they are not there. Something cannot be there unless that was there? And I would say this atheism is different from nothingness, as there is something in atheism. In fact atheism also a kind of religion. As it is also believing in things.

Lagoon: https://unsplash.com/@titouanc

Now let's look around. What do you see? I see the lagoon, the sky, the trees and people walking by. I hear the sounds of birds and crows. Now here is the thing. If believing is a religion, I would say I have a religion. Because I believe all these things happen around me. Ever since my parents taught me, that black noisy birds which makes untidy nests are crows. I believe in them. I believe they exist! Ever since from the seventh grade I learned about lagoons in geography, thanks to my teachers I believe in them, I believe lagoons do exist. Ever since I learned about sky and trees I believe in them. I believe they have roots deep in the ground, although I do not see them I believe. Can you see the similarity of our world to a religion?

Infact everything I see, hear or smell, comes under this belief system. If I do not believe in the ground is hard, I might even fear to take a step thinking I might sink deep down to earth. Can you see the problem. In fact it is not far different from blind faith in God. I have written so much details about lies in different believes of ourselves. In clouds, in mirage, in glass of water and in pens even in money. It is only when we see this in mindfulness we can see everything is a blind faith. Even mathematics and science. Greatest human creations.

If I tell you this jumble of believes extend beyond our imagination I would not be lying. Even happiness, even sadness is like a chimera of a fairy tale. And seeking comfort in these belief system is like trying to build a house using thin paper. It's fragile and helpless. But what is the alternative?

Chimeric: https://unsplash.com/@clevelandart

Difference between mindfulness and religion

The alternative is the mindfulness. As you can see mindfulness is not just being aware of a tree in front of you. It is the mental examination of identifying the truth about the tree which is the difference between mindfulness and religion, In mindfulness we keep our believes temporerily at halt. If you have some intution on what I am talking tight now you would understand, there would be truth in a tree as long as we believe. If we are mindful we will see the tree is just a relative truth. Now here is some interesting fact. If you have understood anything after reading this article, I can 100% guarantee that is not the truth either. Its just another lie. Can we go anywhere with this?

Infact, this is the true meaning of being aware. Let it be. No matter how much our teachers of mindfulness ask us to be aware and let it go, we cannot. How can we let go? We believe in everything. When we believe, there is no letting go. We are just grabbing, and this happens so fast that even we cry when things seems to do fall apart. But if we are mindful we just might see that things that we thought are there are just things we created in the first place. That is mindfulness.

Now you can turn into yourself and ask yourself the question. "How am I created in the first place?" Is it not the same way my mind created a tree? Do I exist? Or what? Let's be mindful today to understand.

Please leave a comment if this crap doesn't make sense at all, or difficult to understand.