Openness to God and Openness to Deities, Gods, and Saints

The foundational text for my study is a fragment of an essay by Mr. Stanisław Tokarski titled “Religious Maturity – Characteristics (Phenomena)”:

“…Based on the above reflections, it can be stated that essential characteristics of religiosity are:
The desire to actualize the natural ‘openness’ to Thou (God) in the process of becoming a religious being.
The desire to know the Absolute, establish contact with Him, dialogue with Him, and enter into relationship with Him, mainly through knowledge and love (religious engagement).
The personal character of the relationship between man and God (the personal dimension of religiosity).
The dynamic (developmental) character of human religiosity – mainly through continually acquiring information about God (knowing Him) and deepening love for Him.
The importance (significance) of religious content – it concerns the meaning and purpose of human existence, and determines such a way of life that it is filled with meaning and its purpose is achieved (system of values and morality).”

Let us see how the meaning of the text changes after replacing the word God with the words Jesus, St. Dionysius, Mary, Buddha, etc.

“…Based on the above reflections, it can be stated that essential characteristics of religiosity are:
The desire to actualize the natural ‘openness’ toward Jesus, toward Mary and all saints in the process of becoming a religious being.
The desire to know and personally connect with Jesus, Mary, and the saints, to establish contact with them, dialogue with them, and enter into relationship with them, mainly through knowledge and love (religious engagement).
The personal character of the relationship between man and Jesus, Mary (the personal dimension of religiosity).
The dynamic (developmental) character of human religiosity – mainly through continually acquiring information about Mary and Jesus (knowing them) and deepening love toward them, promoting their cult.
The importance (significance) of religious content – it concerns the meaning and purpose of human existence, and determines such a way of life that it is filled with meaning and its purpose is achieved (system of values and morality).”

Religiosity therefore does not necessarily mean the worship of God; these are not equivalent terms. In not every religion does religiosity refer to seeking God or asking God about the smallest details, but it may instead mean the worship of any material figure, including animals (India), or any other person who declared themselves a deity or who was declared one.

Thus, after a slight correction, the original text referring to God rather than religiosity could take the following form:

“…Based on the above reflections, it can be stated that essential characteristics of the worship of God are:
The desire to actualize natural ‘openness’ and move to a Thou-relationship with God in the process of becoming a being fulfilling His salvific plan.
The desire for personal knowledge of God, establishing contact with Him, dialogue with Him, and entering into relationship with Him, mainly through knowledge and love (engagement in fulfilling God’s plan).
The personal and direct character of the relationship between man and God (the dimension of direct mutual communication).
The dynamic (developmental) character of human aspirations – mainly through continually acquiring information about God (knowing Him) and deepening love for Him, promoting God as He truly is.
The importance (significance) of God’s plan concerning, among other things, the meaning and purpose of human existence, and determining actions and aspirations in such a way that they are filled with love and that their purpose is achieved.”

Opublikowano: 16/05/2026
Autor: Sławomir Majda
Kateogrie: God

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