These questions are in response to a post on Brave New Traveler, asking readers to chronicle their current spiritual beliefs.

1. Why is there poverty and suffering in the world?

There is poverty and suffering because it serves as a catalyst for people to learn and grow. Buddhists would say it exists because of karmic debts that need to be repaid.

2. What is the relationship between science and religion?

Science is a secular religion that confirms much of what tradition already knows. The “knowing” gives meaning to human existence and our place in the world. The terms may be new, but the wisdom is old.

3. Why are so many people depressed?

People are depressed because they search for fulfillment in the wrong places. They are continually told, through media/society/peers to look somewhere other than themselves. They are distracted by external stimuli, rather than finding peace within.

4. What are we all so afraid of?

Being inconsequential. We’re terrified of dying and not leaving a mark on the world – which is an idea implanted by the same media/society/peers that keep us unhappy. When you realize inner peace, it’s no longer a question worth pondering.

5. When is war justifiable?

In universal terms, it is never justified. But in reality, it is justifiable to stop a direct threat to a person’s existence.

6. How would God want us to respond to aggression and terrorism?

God would want us to respond by examining what role each of us play in fanning the flames of terror and aggression. We all contribute to a climate of terror, and we can all choose not to perpetuate it.

7. How does one obtain true peace?

By realizing they don’t need anything to obtain it. All the elements already exist within.

8. What does it mean to live in the present moment?

It means to immerse yourself fully in every activity, no matter if it’s good or bad. By focusing on the experience, you bring your awareness and presence, which alters the present (and hence, the future).

9. What is our greatest distraction?

Trying to obtain external trappings of success. Being consumed by our own delusions of ego. Televison.

10. Is current religion serving its purpose?

Religion in many ways has become a means of indoctrination, rather than salvation. The gatekeepers for the religion are more concerned with money, control, and power, rather than actually promoting human understanding.

11. What happens to you after you die?

I don’t know. I suspect the experience is like passing into unconsciousness. Spiritually speaking, it would be nice to believe your “soul” joins back with the one-ness of the universe while maintaining some kind of individuality – an imprint of all your experiences in that incarnation.

12. Describe heaven and how to get there.

Heaven is simply a way of being in the present moment. Everyday becomes an exercise in creativity and beauty.

13. What is the meaning of life?

To help the universe know itself. That means each incarnation must grow and learn more about itself through achieving their full potential (enlightenment).

14. Describe God.

God is everything. It is the underlying presence that makes up all things. To glimpse God is to feel the interconnectedness of all things, which manifests as the emotion called Love.

15. What is the greatest quality humans possess?

The ability to apply conscious energy to create. We take matter and bend it to our will, for both good and evil.

16. What is it that prevents people from living to their full potential?

Fear, in all its forms.

17. Noverbally, by motion or gesture only, act out what you believe to be the current condition of the world.

18. What is your one wish for the world?

That everyone uses their lives to move one step closer to waking up (enlightenment). That they don’t waste this incarnation.

19. What is wisdom and how do we gain it?

Wisdom is the deep understanding that usually comes from direct experience. But we can also gain wisdom by listening to the direct experience of others, and applying that wisdom to our daily lives.

20. Are we all one?

We are all here for the same reason: to realize our full potential. We are all made from the same matter. It is our ignorance (personal and collective) that prevents us from seeing reality as it really is: that we are all one.

If you’d like to share your answers, read the BNT post here.

Aside from the colourful costumes and legions of dancers, I couldn’t help but notice a little booklet that kept appearing. The book was called El Camino de la Felicidad (The Way To Happiness).

I couldn’t read the book itself (since it was in Spanish) but something about it seemed…odd. It definitely had the air of a religious text, that much was clear. But even more bizarre was when I realized the books were being handed out to the crowd by the soldiers.

Why would the theoretically neutral army agree to hand out religious texts at the Carnaval?

I asked a Spanish speaking friend to call one of the soldiers aside and ask why he was handing them out. He said they were told to. My friend asked if he knew what the book was about. He shook his head, though said “Something about how to live better?”

A large truck drove by, loaded to the brim with boxes upon boxes of this handbook. Children clutched the book in their fingers as their moms flipped through the pages of their own copy.

A group of performers walked up to the barricade near me and offered me the book. I held up the copy I was already studying – they nodded and continued on.

I had to get to the bottom of this mystery. I searched the book for any more clues as to the origin.

Finally, on the copyright page, one name struck me: L. Ron Hubbard Publications.

I couldn’t believe it. It was Scientology. Somehow, they’d managed to convince the Colombian army to hand out their “non-religious” booklets as if it were an official document, sanctioned by the state.

On the last page, a website was listed: The Way To Happiness.

Visiting the page for the first time now at home, I’m confronted with an extremely slick presentation of short video PSA’s illustrating the key concepts of this new “moral code.”

Here’s the dilemma.

The PSA’s are very good. The messages contained therein, as far as I can tell, are timely and important.

I have nothing personally against Scientology. I even took their guided tour while in LA last year. But the method of distribution for these booklets, under the facade of being “non-religious”, feels shady.

Then again, like anyone outside the Scientology, I’ve been jaded by Tom Cruise’s antics and Hubbard’s rumoured quote “The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion.”

So what’s more important: the message or the messenger?

A few years back, Scott Adams released a book that was quite different than the Dilbert cartoons which made him famous. The book was called God’s Debris, essentially a ‘thought experiment’ that challenged the reader to consider the meaning of life from an illusive mentor who seems to arise from “a wrinkle in time.”

I read it. It’s good. Go read it. Download it free here.

Adam’s wrote a follow up book that portrays a different perspective, called The Religion War. This time, the protagonist is on a mission to stop the world’s two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, from starting a nuclear holocaust.

The subject matter has obvious parallels with the political climate today, with the world seemingly a hair-trigger away from an epic religious conflict. Or is it?

Mike Wooldridge, writing for the BBC, asked “Can religion be blamed for war?” and his conclusion, citing a “War Audit”, is surprising:

Although armed conflicts may take on religious overtones, their genesis invariably lies in factors such as ethnicity, identity, power struggles, resources, inequality and oppression – and one factor is often exacerbated by another.

So why is religion a factor in war at all when all the main faiths have little time for violence and advocate peace? Because, it is suggested, leaders use differences over faith as a way of sowing hatred and mobilising support for political wars.

This mirrors Adam’s book, The Religion War, as the protagonist discovers the leaders in power remain so by claiming they’re both on the side of God. The discerning reader realizes that God cannot be for or against the same thing at the same time.

And so a logical flaw emerges.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Upon finishing Adam’s book, I happened to flip back to the dedication. Though I’d read it before, I’d promptly forgotten about it. Now its mystery intrigued me once again.

The dedication reads:

I scoured my mind for any obvious references to “seven pointers” but couldn’t come up with anything. So I turned to Google.

I typed in: “seven pointers”

Nothing.

I tried: “seven pointed” religion

Now we’re getting somewhere. The first link reveals that “seven pointer” could be a reference to a septogram – a seven pointed star.

The article says:

“The septagram, a continuously drawn figure having seven points, is far less common than the pentagram. It is however important in Western kabbalah, where it symbolizes the sphere of Netzach, the seven planets, the seven alchemical metals, and the seven days of the week. It is a sacred symbol to Wiccans who follow the “Faery” tradition, where it is called the Elven or Fairy star.”

Seven seems to be coming up a lot. Further links reveal its connection to Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, and a book The Secret Teachings Of The Ages.

But the last sentence in the article particularly caught my eye:

The seven pointed star is also an important part of the seal of the A.A., the inner order of Aleister Crowley’s OTO.

I decided to Google “OTO” and see what I could find.

The Plot Thickens

Turns out, OTO means “Ordo Templi Orientis” – and is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century.

Say’s the Wikipedia entry: “Similar to many secret societies, O.T.O. membership is based on an initiatory system with a series of degree ceremonies that use ritual drama to establish fraternal bonds and impart spiritual and philosophical teachings.”

Their US chapter website says they are “dedicated to the high purpose of securing the Liberty of the Individual and his or her advancement in Light, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, and Power through Beauty, Courage, and Wit, on the Foundation of Universal Brotherhood.”

Their central philosophy, called Thelema, is based on the principle Do what thou wilt.

This Law is not to be interpreted as a license to indulge every passing whim, but rather as the mandate to discover one’s True Will and accomplish it; leaving others to do the same in their own unique ways. “Every man and every woman is a star.” The Law of Thelema can ultimately be fulfilled only through the individual efforts of each person.

Back to The Religion War

Armed with my newfound knowledge about the OTO, I now return to Scott Adam’s book The Religion War with an altered perspective.

Here is a book about saving humanity from cataclysmic destruction at the hands of religious fundamentalists (on both sides). What does he believe will stop this madness? Nothing short of complete and utter intellectual freedom.

Most importantly, freedom from the tyranny of religion. After all, God can’t be on both sides.

Spoiler alert: in the book, ultimately the protagonist fails to stop the war. But humanity lives on, only through breaking down the censorship barriers they willingly allowed to be built around them.

This corresponds with the OTO’s stated mission: to cultivate the ideals of individual liberty, self-discipline, self-knowledge.

Verdict: I’d say it’s quite likely Scott Adams is a member of Ordo Templi Orientis.

But that leaves one more question left unanswered.

Who is the other seven-pointer?