Do you Prefer Reading the Script or Watching the Movie?
The chasm between religion and spirituality is overstated.
Recently, a friend shared that he was spiritual but not religious. I don’t understand why people make a big deal of the chasm between religion and spirituality.
Where I am in my life, I am able to merge bhakti and spirituality effortlessly without believing in any theology. Why would you believe in believing when you can inquire and find out?
In fact, the deeper you go into spirituality, you start to see the mechanics behind why the story was constructed in a certain way.
It’s like what happens in movies.
At first, we are smitten.
Slowly we understand how editing patterns work. How Sound Design Works. How Actors have internalized. How Cinematography has played out. Soon, you start to see that there is an underlying script everyone is playing.
That’s exactly the case with Religion (Movie) and Spirituality (Script).
Understanding the script lets you see how the movie is played out and how people create their delusions in their heads and make their lives miserable.
Do you dismiss the script because the movie turned out to be a bad experience for someone?
Or do you say that movies are illusions that happen inside your head and only the script is real?
The point is you can never enjoy the true magic of a well made movie when you are conscious of the the script and other elements playing out. While appreciating technicalities provides some fun, it is a different thing altogether
So if you are being led by a good director / religious guru and till the point you don't have an irresistible urge to seek, there is no harm in watching the movie and forgetting the script.
This works best for the mass market. Besides, suspending judgement (script analysis) works best for Bakthi marga (movies)
For those who are interested in script, it is already available and movie just becomes a kind of performance with primary interest on reviewing how well things get played out.
A good novel could induce you to watch the movie based on it or a good movie could generate interest in reading the book. So it doesn't have to be one or either. Depending on inclination and suitability either or both or none can be equally valid choices.