Opening the Pandora's Box of Religion

?Opening Pandora?s Box? is an essay inspired by the horrible deeds of terrorists on 9/11 2001. It is a personal investigation into the nature of the world?s great religions, their positive and negative traits. The author?s conclusion is that of the three or four most influential spiritual geniuses of the last four thousand years would include Krishna, Moses, Buddha, and Jesus?those that had spiritually developed adherents, especially in meditation, urged their students to become like them, rather than simply follow a belief system. These teachers gave their students, at whatever level of development, exercises to lessen and evaporate their ego consciousness and eventually to become ?one? with the universe or God?or any word you wish to apply. I think Jesus did teach this also, but early Christianity turned away from it to become an ?institution? and to seek converts. Unquestionably, an institution can do great spiritual good in regards to outreach, but mystical developments must come from a one-on-one teacher basis. The farther away from this ?oneness? goal, the more likely to be mistaken about it since the larger the ego, the more self-oriented it will be and the more likely it will be wrong?not only about the goal itself, but also about the process. Being simply a student, I am talking about these things as a student and urge my readers to investigate all this for themselves. Anthony Joseph