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When I first arrived at the Temple’s doors, I did not enthusiastically sprint forward to embrace membership. Being a natural-born sceptic, I was far more cautious than that. Was this a glorified role-playing game, I wondered, or was it just another religion with well-honed lines in unquestioning belief and dogma? Then I read this: “Test Everything, Believe Nothing.” How many religions encourage a person to do that - even insist on it? None that I had encountered. So I read through the public information pages, and that same night I experienced an awful nightmare which lingered all the next day, leaving a feeling of deep unease – and I’m not prone to such things. When I later read through the Temple’s public pages a second time, a very similar nightmare followed also. I could have turned away and declined the opportunity. However, I thought that if merely reading about the Temple could result in such a strong response then there had to be something powerful behind it! And so I cautiously entered the Temple doors…. Two years later (at the time of writing this), I can honestly say that my perspective on life has altered dramatically. Many of my old ideas and philosophies have flown out of the window, not due to memorising new dogma or to hearing clever rhetoric but simply because my own direct experiences, gained through Temple practices, have shown them to be false. In their place is not a gaping void, but a growing body of experience and genuine understanding – far from complete, of course, but most certainly real and measurable in practical ways. Practicality was one of the first things about the Teachings which caught my attention. One consequence of my applying the Teachings can be seen in my career, which is steadily flourishing. Instead of merely fantasising about ambitions in a highly competitive field, I am achieving them. Belief plays no part in these actual, tangible, measurable results which have developed purely as a consequence of applying the Temple Teachings.
-Rosa_Mundi |