Religion on a personal level uses our God-given talents while overcoming our defects, all within the guidance of fate. We are endowed with talents so that we can use them for God's purposes.
Organized religion is for community worship. As such, it emphasizes rituals and organizational bureaucracies to provide social cohesion and control.
Some of us, such as yours truly, are not comfortable in the environments generated by these groups. We like to go our own ways. In fact, I believe God wants us to. Does this mean that we are not able to have a religion? No. It merely means that we have to practice our own personal religions. We certainly can belong to religious groups, but we cannot get too bogged down with them.
My personal religion is based on three components: talents, defects, and fate.
TALENTS. Talents are abilities that we were blessed with. Of all our abilities, talents are the ones which are way above average, the ones at which we excel. Many people seem to have no talents, which figures because most people are, by definition, average. Or, if they do have talents, they do not display them. They may even suppress them, out of fear of ridicule or abuse. Exercising your talents can make your companions jealous, even contemptuous and vengeful. Society punishes showoffs, except when they become successful; then they are merely envied. Most successful people, especially in show business, came up the hard way, by overcoming rejections.
DEFECTS. Defects are disabilities that we were cursed with. These are the ones that distract us from or interfere with the development of our talents. The most obvious defects are physical, but they can also be mental. Some people are crippled. Some are psychotic. Some are highly emotional. Some people with great talent are also saddled with devastating defects.
FATE. Fate is how God communicates with us on a personal level. The holy books and holy persons of organized religions tend to intrude between us and God. Fate manifests itself in mysterious ways, sometimes jarring and painful, other times exhilarating and joyous. Everyone experiences fate. It is best recognized, and appreciated, when it saves us from horrible events. Somehow, we come out unscathed. However, sometimes we do suffer from terrible calamities. Sometimes we react by asking, "Why me?" Then again, sometimes fate is so benign that we hardly notice it.
Fate does not nullify free will. If we choose to do something stupid, it is our own fault when we suffer the consequences. Fate is usually expressed as improbable coincidences, such as being in the right place at the right time, or its opposite, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fate is very mysterious, but as I review my own long life, I can see how it has shaped me into what I am today.
I tried very hard to be a success. In fact, I am still trying. But every time I come close, something untoward happens to knock me off course. However, when ever I get very discouraged to the point of giving up, something positive happens to inspire me to keep striving. It is as if my life has been an eight-decades long channel in which I bounce between almost success and almost failure. I consider this channelization to be my religious struggle. I have been trying to push my talents and overcome my defects within the bounds that fate has allowed.
Practicing such a personal religion is not for everyone, only for those of us who believe that we really are talented, even if we have been presented with plenty of evidence that we are not. We have a fire-in-the-belly motivation, and I assume that it has been bestowed on us by God to give us the perseverance to move forward.
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