What kinds of ideas and practices should we call religion? Is it merely acting good, or thinking good thoughts, but remaining in the limited field of the mind and ego? Is it converting others to our idea of the good, making others think, act and perceive the world in the same pattern that we do, which may destroy other cultures and ways of thought different than our own? Is religion an external action like going to a church or temple. Is it a change of our beliefs, or a total revolution in consciousness? Is promoting a belief or performing some form of worship enough or does religion require spiritual practices like Yoga and meditation?

What is the universal element in religion, which like the universal element in art can reveal its essence? Can the essence of religion be found in the churches, holy books, or the priests? Does it lie in religious controversies, conflicts and holy wars? Or does it reside in the intimate yearning of our deepest heart which no single group can own or dispense? Is the Truth of religion unique to one religion or is it present to some extent in all religions? Or does it perhaps exist beyond all of them?

Has our religious urge existed because of or in spite of what society has institutionalized and enforced as religion? Is religion as we commonly think of it a formulation of spiritual aspiration, or a deformation and perversion of it? What is the basis for a real spirituality and can it be found within the confines of organized religion? Is spirituality nurtured or suppressed by the religions we have in the world today?

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