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.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Simple, and beautiful, ‘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’.
Manmade religions cause separation, and wars, which is the opposite of our purpose here.
“…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.” This is the beauty of responsibility, it’s more than taking care of the physical aspects of life like working, paying bills, cleaning and mowing lawns, it’s also the energetic quality we bring in everything by the love we can live, which is truly supporting the all we are a part of.
The true meaning of the word ‘religion’ reconnects us to the true meaning of a way of living that is in loving connection to God.
I wonder – if religion is about our relationship, with God, everyone and everything, how can it ever be possible for anyone not to be in religion? Granted we accept this at different degrees and live accordingly – from total rejection to complete surrender – but the fact remains that none of us is a stand-alone unit that has zero relationship or inter-connectedness with something. It starts to feel as though this whole thing about religion, our reaction to the word and what that has represented through the ages, is just part of our self-acceptance process.
So True Rosie, adding to being me, we have to eliminate what is not us, or discard these age old patterns that would be tied up in the misuse of the True energetic meaning of words, and religion is a great example of a word being bastardised.
Religion is only challenging because we have bastardized it. It’s crazy how in today’s religions we state that we are all god’s children, yet they discriminate against those who don’t follow their teachings. We have different words for God and are certain that our word and our meaning is the correct one & when another person challenges what we have accepted as a true meaning, we react and can even become quite aggressive. It’s always a heated debate when it comes to religion because we are invested in our beliefs, we are attached to the way we see the world because it suits us that way, so when something comes to challenge that, we feel thrown off, and in need to defend that which we think is true.
One of the things that I’ve never seen until attending Universal Medicine events is a oneness between people. I’ve never seen that before in any other place. It is also a space where I’m met for who I am, in which no one imposes any rule or expectation towards me. I appreciate the respect, equality, openess and joy that is felt when we gather together with the purpose to return to who we really are… this makes me see what religion is truly about and why the Way of the Livingness makes sense to me.
Exquisitely shared Inma, “I appreciate the respect, equality, openess and joy that is felt when we gather together with the purpose to return to who we really are…” I feel the same, it’s truly an amazing experience to be a part of The Way of the Livingness, to observe and feel everyone returning to their soul and express from their true essence, as I am doing the same.
God imposes no rules or expectations, no condemnation or threats with punishments…just reveals Truth.
God is Love.
Powerful, religion is what we know it to be deep down inside. Here is where we need to seek for greater truth.
When we misunderstand the meaning of the word religion in its true essence, we all miss out on the potential that word offers us.
True religion is about the all, it is about everyone working together and taking responsibility for the way we live, it definitely doesn’t feel right for religion to be about a belief or an attendance or a tick in the box, or to be used as an implement to separate or segregate people because true religion is about love and unity.
The true meaning of the word religion is not commonly known, being tied up with thinking it is established religion with their differing interpretations of God and the way to God, which causes separation, where people can only belong to one. All claiming to belong to the true God. When the truth of the word religion means a rebinding a returning to a brotherhood where all are equal as one, with no separation at all.
If any man made religion is the segregation to the unity we are all from, that is anti-religion rather than religion.
Religion is a re-turn back to who we truly are. The simplicity of this truth exposes the many false ideals we have adopted about religion in place of living a life dedicated to this return.
That’s the way forward and what will unite us. In the end there has to be a one religion for us all, not many that separates us.
It allows us to feel and see that we are profound from the inside, there is where the wel of wisdom resides. Thank you for making religion on paper for what it is.
I’ve never understood the way institutionalised religion presents God, for me it’s so simple as it’s something that lives within me and is reflected through nature and the universe. It’s something we connect to within ourselves and then live from.
Turning religion into something we feel is pure beauty is not such an easy task. Many of us have to credit The Way of The Livingness for this.
I find it interesting how you point out that religions did not allow you to belong if you were already in another group, because The Way of The Livingness does not judge anybody for their beliefs, it is a religion for all, man, woman, young, old, black, white, there is no discrimination because deep inside WE ARE ALL THE SAME.
“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” – I guess that is the hardest part. We are so used to being told what to do and being either right or wrong; we spend life times trying to impress someone to feel our worth, and pretty much everything we do is so that we do not have to know or be who we are.
Just have to be you, and live who you are in truth.
The Way of the Livingness has supported me to understand life, people, the Universe, relationships, brotherhood, true family… there is no stone unturned in this religion as it unify us all and offers amazing Universal love, wisdom and intelligence.
It is an amazing experience to feel the interconnectedness between people when we choose to live the love that we are, for it is then we live religion in every given way.
The concept of going to hell if we made a mistake could not be one based on love. True we have to face consequences and to learn to make wise choices, but a consequence where there is eternal damnation and no revoking is not aligned with the patience of love where there is always the opportunity to learn and deepen responsibility.
When I used to hear the word religion I used to think of having to conform, and it was only their way – it felt really constricting.
I loved your description of The Way of The Livingness being your religion it feels totally freeing, no rules, no impositions just you nothing but the real you. Great sharing.
As you so accurately say Rosie, religion is something that is felt and not dictated, it is a relationship with ourselves and all others, not the way the current organised religions dictate what it means.
The Way of The Livingness is a way of living that offers the freedom to be who you naturally are and not to conform to anyone else’s ideals and beliefs. A loving obedience to your inner-heart and to the love of God.
One of the beautiful truths from The Way of The Livingness is that not only are all people equal, but so too are we all equal with the great teachers and sages of history. We all have that same greatness within.
To not have, or honour this equality feels horrible for all concerned.
Well presented Rosie. It is so true that the standard accepted practice of religion is separative yet each professes to be love, yet how that could be when unless one abides by the rules of the religion one is excluded. That to me is a cult.
We do many things in or under the name of religion but have you ever seen it lived to this,”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.” We currently can have many forms or different meanings for things and at times when you see something or the meaning of something it just makes sense. I never saw a form under the name of religion that actually practically made sense to what I saw but now that has changed with The Way of The Livingness.
The word religion has had a bad rap for a long time mainly because religion has focused on reducing people and misrepresenting God, instead of confirming that we are all the Sons of God and can have a deeply loving relationship with God – that’s why The Way of The Livingness is a true religion in every way, shape and form.
Religion simply means, ‘In its true energetic meaning Religion simply is that which re-unites human beings with the Divinity they already are by Essence.
As such, true religion simply is a re-turn or a re-connection to something we already are, that is, to the Divine that is in all of us, equally so.’ Quoted from Unimed Living.com, Unimedpedia section.
Wow – for someone like me who has been so allergic to religion and god my whole life, I read this and think ‘yes!!! if there is a religion, this is it, this makes sense.’ I then can appreciate the fact that what I’ve been reacting to is not religion itself, but the way I have witnessed it being practiced before me which hasn’t felt true in any way. The concept of punishment for not following orders for example baffles me and is contradictory to what I hear being preached. That along with the hypocrisy of many who follow religious orders in public and then in the privacy of their own home will do the exact opposite.
Accepting and acknowledging that every choice we make has an effect on everyone is responsibility of the highest order. This makes sense to me!
Why is it that so many hear the word religion and get unsettled? This does not necessarily happen with any other words. We have to come to grips with the fact that the word religion is a special one; a word very dear to all of us because it touches our essence.
The harmful activity that goes on by some in religions is the same activity that goes on in the mafia – it’s simply criminal activity and it needs to be called that. We need to separate actions that are harmful and not call those part of religion if they don’t express what religion truly means.
There is freedom and a responsibility with the absoluteness of the power of your choices and how they do effect the all. Everything matters.
True religion is a relationship with the whole. A huge difference to the limiting institutionalised grouped religions. I like the way you have put it Rosie – to be the real you.
It is our natural way of being to be religious, to live in union with our body, being the universe and all that it encompasses, in equal-ness with all, who we are in essence, through which we realise that our relationship with God is eternal, ever-present and forever waiting to be explored. When we commit to bringing this loving connection to the life we live, we live a religious life, representing a way of living that is simply an externalisation and expression of this inner-quality through all that we do.
What a beautiful description of religion. This is true religion and not the warped, bastardised form we see in the world today.
The way you describe your experience with Universal Medicine, who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t want a loving environment to come together and learn more about yourself and the universe.