by Rosie Bason, Mullumbimby, NSW

I don’t know about you, but for me, up until recently, whenever I heard the word religion I wasn’t really comfortable with it.

I grew up with no religion as such, although my mother was brought up in a catholic family, so that way of living was still brought to me on many levels.

Having grown up sailing around the world I had the opportunity to experience first hand a lot of different types of religions and having learnt to speak a few different languages, I can see that when you do not have the correct translation or definition of a word, then you can really get the wrong idea about something.

From my experience the word religion meant that you were part of a group, separate to the rest of the world or the others who had another group – which was also separate. And each of these groups had their own beliefs about how you should live.

To fit into each of these groups you would have to live and act in a certain way, tick the boxes, go to church on certain days and pray to god, or go to the mosque and pray to Allah and there didn’t seem to be any room to be yourself.  In fact, if you didn’t obey the rules there were serious consequences. You could not be part of one group and also be part of another – you had to choose one and couldn’t be part of it all.

Recently at a Universal Medicine event with Serge Benhayon and another presenter, I was given a different translation to the word religion. I was so amazed that the word I had in mind was so different to its apparent true meaning – it appears to be from the Latin word ‘religare’ which means ‘to bind or bring together’.

For the first time in a long time, I was able to experience how it felt to be in true religion last week at the Universal Medicine retreat held at Lennox Head. There was brotherhood – and this feeling brought me to tears on a few occasions because deep down inside I know it and have been missing it for so long, yet couldn’t find it anywhere.  What was so lovely was the fact that there was a large group of people (over 300) from varied walks of life, and everyone was open with each other, accepting, not judging, allowing each person to be who they are without needing to impress or fit into another’s ideals or beliefs of how they should be.  To me the feeling of harmony in the room was palpable.

The Way of the Livingness (as Universal Medicine presents) is now my religion. It allows you to be you and accepts everyone else as they are; there are no rules or regulations – you will not go to hell if you make a mistake.  You can come and go as you like, you do not have to DO anything to impress, you just have to BE YOU. There is no one to follow, no one to be like.

It is for me just a way of living that allows me to be responsible for me and to be part of the whole. I know for me, that being part of the whole means I take responsibility for everything I do because I accept the fact that it affects everyone and all beings in nature equally.