Faith � and Knowledge
The foundation of faith is our trust in what we heard or read. This concerns the religious subjects as well.
As for knowledge, it is acquired, first of all, through one�s own practical experience.
There are many different kinds of religious faith.
On the contrary, religious knowledge is one and universal, although there are different levels, more or less profound, of this knowledge, and there can be errors of particular spiritual seekers.
The personal cognition of oneself and of God is what allows an intellectually developed person to obtain the high and highest spiritual achievements.
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Faith is needed for many people on the early stages of their spiritual development, because it lays down the foundations for their aspiration to the cognition.
Church ritualism is the most common socially-established form that helps to acquire and strengthen faith. The religious rituals can be more or less reasonable and effective. Some rituals can help one feel the presence of God. Others, on the contrary, can be regarded as felonious; such are, for example, those related to the bloody sacrifices or aimed at harming other people (the rituals of black magic).
Besides, one should take into account that on the background of ritualism, some kind of ideology, peculiar to this religious movement, is always offered to the believers. This ideology can vary from the true Teachings of God to a hatred towards humankind, robed in a religious form.
But even in the case of the best religious rituals, at some stage of self-development, one begins to understand that God has never taught people ritualism! It is people who invented rituals and imparted them to the next generations!
Moreover, God does not need our rituals! He needs from us something completely different: He needs that we develop ourselves (as souls)! And the �daily bread� that Jesus suggested to ask from God-the-Father is not the food for our bodies but the higher spiritual knowledge and spiritual guidance from the Creator!
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Let every reasonable person think and ask himself or herself the following questions: What does God want from me? What does He want me to be?
Jesus said: �Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect!� (Matt 5:48).
He also said: �I have cognized the Father� (John 17:25). �As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father� (John 10:15). �I and the Father are One� (John 10:30). So, �Learn (this) from Me!� (Matt 11:29).
What does the Perfection of the Creator consist in?
In order to find the answer to this question, it is necessary, first of all, to understand that God-the-Father is not an old man riding a cloud, as He is depicted sometimes. He is the infinite Ocean of the subtlest Consciousness abiding in the multidimensional depth of the universe.
He is also the absolute Love, Wisdom, and Power.
It is what we should learn from Him! And we should ask Him to help us, first and foremost, with the fulfillment of this task!
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One should begin this process of learning from God by studying the ethical principles suggested by Him in order to change oneself in accordance with His Will.
It is also important to understand what God, man, the meaning of human life on the Earth, and the principles of its realization are.
After this, one can use the methods for cleansing the body and its energy structures from energy contamination and begin to work on the �opening� and further development of the spiritual heart. The last one allows worthy spiritual seekers to fulfill the above-mentioned commandments of Jesus Christ.
