Worship?

[Diana]

Am I summing up your argument fairly, Diana, that a bunch of people have tainted the word "worship" over the years and this has sullied it for you?  If so, I find that understandable....and irrelevant.

To be honest, I find this assessment of what I was trying to get across a bit dismissive if not...insulting. That is, if I could be insulted, which, is not something that happens to me. 

I am honest enough to admit that I have a bias. I feel I am being compelled to explain further which leads this discussion even farther down the rabbit hole of what religious beliefs and their "sacred" texts have, and continue to, inflict on this planet, the people on it, and the other life forms. For example, many Christians believe animals and all else in this universe are here for their use, because everything is a backdrop for humans. Some Christians and other monotheistic practitioners pray for the end of this world—rapture—which to me takes no responsibility for the existence they are currently in. My concern is not just for me; in fact nothing to do with me (other than my personal feelings about harm through ignorance by which I mean lack of awareness). My concern is for this world and all the life on it. It is bigger than a word being sullied for me. 

Perhaps it is another weakness of mine that I try to make myself understood.

That said, it really isn't my intention to continue riffing on religion, being that it is a road without any productive end at this point. Which is I think what you are in part trying to get at. 

Bear with me please.

I say "irrelevant" because I view the act or experience of worship as--using Q'uo's jargon--"purified emotions" vibrating in tune with the Creatrix to a greater degree than we normally find.  In that sense it's a wondrously beautiful thing, regardless of the unfortunate history of this or that word.

What can irk me about complaints regarding historical religion is that I often see this used as a means to avoid discussion of the more relevant aspects of a person's own spiritual seeking.  That is, how does the topic at hand relate to one's own aversion to Divinity or to one's attraction to it or to what special places the experience of worship can lead the seeker in their meanderings?  Asking how the pursuit of one's own purified emotions serves the Creatrix is a far more relevant topic (relevant to seeking) than how humans have screwed things up over time, in my view.  Another example would be discussing, let's just say, your preference for using "OIC" compared to mine for using "Creatrix."  Each term has little relevance to the experience of seeking compared with the experience we have of it and how that experience may enhance our being.

Regarding the term Creatrix or OIC. There is relevance for me in terms. I only use the term OIC because it is the language spoken here and I wish to communicate with respect and as clearly as I can within the context. I feel "Creator/Creatrix and OIC are too human-like, or personalized, or anthropomorphized to line up with my working theories. My view of this mystery of life in a fathomless universe is more of an indifferent (not to be confused with unaware or unintelligent, but more akin to free will) force or consciousness. That is only what I currently think. And I have no problem discussing this infinite intelligence in the language of the channeled material from Ra.

Another thing is that while I get some good stuff from the various Q'uo channelings, I do not resonate with some of it. I feel it is definitely filtered by the specific channeler. Nothing wrong with that. 

This is really going to sound contrary, but I don't serve the Creator. And here I will say that even if I had NO feelings at all about religions, I would still have an aversion to adulation and worship because it implies hierarchy. Many here have made really good arguments about the hierarchical nature of this existence, but I just don't line up with that idea. I see all things as equal. I am not sure how to articulate what I mean. Do I imagine that a Creator is more important than me? No, because if there is one Creator and I am a part of that Creator, how is the part less important than the whole? It's nonsensical to me. 

Service to others is not servitude, to me, which is how it sounds to me when I hear "serve the Creator." This is all sounding like semantics, but there is so much more to it than that.

All of that said, I would like to try and wrap my head around what you are trying to explain and get at.

My point is that worship (and the purified emotions) can be a very profound element in the experience of a seeker, and this fact far outweighs the others.....in my personal estimation.

I don't know about outweighing other considerations, but I think I comprehend your meaning here.

Just the process of honing in on a one-pointed focus with a heart-centered emotion—I can agree is purifying. It happens when one is caught up in the ravishing details of a flower, or a sunset strewn with fiery clouds, or some transcendent beauty or wonder that is so captivating all else just falls away for the moment.

So as I understand this, an individual who engages in "worship" out of love of a thing, such as the Creatrix, benefits from this momentary (or prolonged) emotional purification, which can aid in connection with intelligent energy due to its proximity of signatures?
I'm probably making this too complicated.