In this regard we must
reexamine the Eastern idea of religion - which is not religion as
commonly known in the West - but a way of truth and natural law,
dharma. Dharma is religion or the pursuit of enlightenment by how we
live, not merely by what we may say or believe. It is religion as a
striving to attune ourselves with cosmic law, not the imposition of
a belief or ideology made up by human beings or by the God we have
created in our image. The time of belief-oriented religions is
coming to an end but the age of dharma is beginning.
Religion in the coming
age will be very different than what it is today. The predominant
world religions will break down into smaller groups wherein a
particular religious identity is no longer important or will even be
regarded as regressive. People all over the world will begin to
experiment with different religions just as we now do with different
forms of art or science.
Asia, Africa and South
America will experience a revival in the coming century applying
modern technology but along with their own cultural, religious and
spiritual bases. This may present the Western world with a
scientifically and economically more advanced third world following
older non-Western spiritual traditions. This will be accompanied by
a greater adaptation of Asian meditational traditions in the Western
world. Then the whole barrier of East and West will disappear.
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