We believe there are many paths to God because God is within each of us. As Carl Gustav Jung said: “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakens.”
| One God God is Everywhere The Existence of the Soul God is Inside Us Spiritual Knowledge is Available to Everyone |
God’s Name: “I AM” Compassion and Respect for Everyone Morals: Don’t Kill, Lie, Steal, Covet All of Humanity is United Peace and Nonviolence |
Centresa believes that the most important part of our religion is its ability to shape our lives and in turn the lives of our community. This is for the most part an inconvenient attribute – calling on us to do what is hard, to sacrifice our time and our treasure, to go into places and do things that we’d just as soon not be doing at all. It is not a manufactured justification (as is too often the case) for doing what is easy or what profits us individually. Taking care of the poor, the sick, the disadvantaged, is a moral issue. Justice and fair play for all is a moral issue. Restoring the earth is a moral issue. Regardless of the flavor of our religion, we wholeheartedly reject the notion perpetuated by the rightwing that religion is automatically conservative. In fact, we argue just the opposite – that religion is liberal and progress and charges us to sacrifice ourselves, our time and fortune, for the betterment of each other.
As Satchidananda (founder of Yogaville) puts it:
“The purpose of any religion is to educate us about spiritual unity … Some people make use of religion for their own benefit and literally divide humanity in the nature of that which is supposed to unite us. Real unity means accepting all the various approaches and that is what ecumenism means. Ultimately we all aim for the same truth while walking different paths. Essentially we are one appearing as many. We look different but we are one in spirit. Hello Brother, Hello Sister. Care and share, love and give. Apply it in your own life.”
Retreat Facilities
Part of the Religious Education aspects of CENTRESA includes a limited number of retreat cottages or rooms that are available for rent. These are simple, natural habitats that are removed from the busier sections of the Village (with accessibility to facilities, workshops, etc.).
Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Diesm, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Pantheism, Secularism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism (whew! A-to-Z) are all equal, inspired and flawed attempts by humanity to understand our place and meaning in different times, different places and different circumstances.
