The only time I was placed in the spotlight of religion was when I was at school and had to take a class on RE – Religious Education. Even then I would either play truant or mess about in class with friends.
So, having grown up with no experience of religion I had no frame of reference as to what was good or bad; I never had any time for religion itself as it never made sense to me and I always felt it wasn’t the truth. And then there was God, the man in the sky with the big white beard. What was he all about?
I could never understand how religion would say that God loves us but then there are all these rules that, if you don’t follow them, you will be punished.
As an example, one thing that stands out with Christianity that I could never get to grips with was that if you are a Christian you are supposed to be good, kind and benevolent.
What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.
Being religious and being good has no correlation as is evidenced by the fact that throughout history most wars have been fought in the name of ‘religion’. There has been a lot of bloodshed just because someone thought their God was better than someone else’s God.
Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have presented to me ‘The Way of the Livingness’ and have inspired me to know who God really is, and that true religion is not dogmatic or hypocritical.
For me, this is what true religion means:
- True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.
- True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.
- True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.
- True religion is being aware of what my body is feeling and honouring that by expressing that feeling.
- True religion is knowing that before I can truly love another, I have to love myself first.
I feel that every religion has an element of truth to it and that truth is ‘Love’. But in my experience what I have seen in many other religions is that there are too many rules and conditions, there is too much of “my religion is the best and only through my religion will you get to God.”
God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.
With ‘The Way of the Livingness’ I can say that I finally understand what true religion is.
Inspired by the work of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon
By Tim Bowyer, Age 51, London Bus Driver
This blog originated as a comment in response to: The Way of the Livingness – the Religion I’ve Always Known
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Religion runs like red blood through our veins and when we feel that, we are always connected and by so much more than the colour of our blood, it feels like being home, thus finding out that divinity is a part of our essence or inner-heart makes so much sense.
Do we need to have a ‘religious’ background to embrace religion? No. If anything, any ‘religious’ background does not help one tiny bit regarding true religion. The ‘religious’ ideals and beliefs we carry in the body are not particularly helpful to walk religiously in life.
True religion must by necessity be a superset of that which is true in science. Can it be true otherwise?
This is beautiful Tim. True religion is anything that helps to reconnect us to our innermost and once here we begin to access the tools that allow us to unfold the true godliness within us all.
And that is a great feeling and experience. Very true, Liane.
A fervent religious relative once said to me “Come back to Jesus!” And I said in my heart then but will say aloud today, “Jesus is in my heart. We hang out all the time.”
“What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” – Very true, Tim. Those traits are innate in us all from birth, and a religion that states that you need to be that way is the same as saying one needs to be human. It’s the fallacy that is sold by organised religions that says that people are born sinners or evil, and thus need to be told to be kind and good. A complete lie, indeed. Anyone looking into the eyes of a baby can tell you that.
It is absolutely a breath of fresh air to find a religion (The Way if The Livingness) that is true, one that encompasses all. With Love, understanding and acceptance being not just spoken words, but a way of living in the world.
“True religion is being aware of what my body is feeling and honouring that by expressing that feeling.”
This point can be deeply explored. Expression is not solely about speach, it is primarily about movement. So when I read this point I could feel that there is a feeling of grace inside, but does this show, in full, in how I move my body?
‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.’ yes! if we live being good and kind from a rule book outside of ourselves we are into judging people and actions from right and wrong. Truth isn’t available. What’s right doesn’t come with love so our actions are empty and can harm greatly. In the past when I was desperate for support I felt the falseness of the good on offer. The despair and anger I felt was great; I had no where true to turn. What Universal Medicine presented felt true. The reflections of those living this truth inspired me to reconnect with the inner wisdom we all share; that cannot be bound by doctrine but is lived from within.
It always puzzled me that people could hold and insist upon the truth of completely opposing and contradictory beliefs such as ‘God is Love’, but also someone to fear for he will punish you and send you to hell etc. I know we can argue about the truth of love, but to me there is no need for we all know what love is in our own hearts. And I also feel that we know in our hearts and our bodies that a truly loving father would never condemn his children to eternity in hell. Thank you for setting the record straight here Tim.
Tim you have exposed religion is not what it’s made out to be. I grew up thinking I wasn’t religious because I didn’t attend the temple regularly and then feeling judged and then caught in the cycle that I wasn’t good enough.
I loved this truth, ‘True religion is knowing that before I can truly love another, I have to love myself first’ – this was the battle I lived in and now this is unfolding and I don’t have to prove to anyone anything, I’m beginning to return to what feels the truth in religion.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All” And what unites us all is to Love all equally.
True religion is our ability to connect to the flow and simplicity of life and see the way we are interconnected with the all.
‘God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of The Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.’ For me, a huge part of the Way of The Livingness is about dropping the control I want to have over situations and surrendering to the Love that I know is holding me all the time. I have to do my bit as best I can which increases my responsibility and thus my confidence in myself and as my compassion for myself and others grows there is more love to be felt.
I tried being good and nice with the expectation that through that way of being I would come closer to God, especially was self sacrifice for the good of others hailed as the way to go. But none of that way ever took me towards God, all it left me with was a cold and empty heart, until The Way of the Livingness came into my life and presented to me a true way of living in connection to my inner heart, there to find God, developing a love for myself first and then to others, and a joy knowing that just as I am, I am worthy of God’s love and to be loved.
There is no truth in being good. Goodness and niceness are a false way of being that comes from a belief that is outside of ourselves which covers up and hides what is truly going on within ourselves. The more I am honest with myself and in that honesty willing to be transparent and open for all to see the more I am letting go of what it is to live being a good and nice woman.
“True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.” – Yes for me too this is an essential element of true religion – that it is a way of living that we develop and grow with in all areas of life, no one area any more or less important than another and never confining ‘being religious’ to a certain building or time.
Exposing the lies we have bought into about what religion is important as being good and benevolent is not honoring to our bodies in any way, shape or form. True religion is all around us and commences with our relationship with our bodies and realising we are always connected to something bigger and divine.
Having spent many years in the Catholic religion I always knew deep down that the God they spoke didn’t feel true to me, so it was a life changing moment being introduced to The Way of The Livingness and being re-connected back to the truth of God and to feel how expensive this true religion is in every way, shape and form.
I could never feel God in a church, or any other building made in the name of God but growing up with the Catholic faith I did adhere to the rules of the church and tried to fit them in into my life. Since I know true religion and feel my connection with God in my body, I discovered how these rules, which have never been true, were found in my body and thus in my movements. I have let go a lot of this imprisonment (that’s what it feels like) but with choosing to become more aware even more is there to expose and let go of.
Humanizing God does not do any good to us. We should stop trying to fit and shape God into our world and to our image and go the other way around.
Gorgeously shared Tim. We cannot escape that fact that we are always in a relationship with God and religion. As you have said God is pure love, and who we are is love, divine sparks of God, whether we realise it or not this truth remains unchanged. And so, our relationship with this truth is what determines the quality of our relationship with God and religion, living in connection to the truth of who we are through our everyday living. We all do know God and imagine if this sense was confirmed from a young age, that God is within us, not separate to us, and that we also reside within the body of God, and learned that life is about living in connection to our divinity through the lives we live. We then would surely be living who we truly are, as being religious is our natural way of being.
This is such a profound and practical expression of true religion. Thank you Tom.
“What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” So true, these are not qualities ‘owned by religion’, but ours to express freely.
What true religion is simply and clearly expressed.
“There has been a lot of bloodshed just because someone thought their God was better than someone else’s God.” This makes absolutely no sense when we are all the children of the one God, when God lives within each one of us, I have lived in the religious world with the separation that religions brings of the them and us, but now know the truth that God lives within the hearts of all people on this earth, making us equal sons of the one God.
I have heard the phrase “God lives inside of all of us” many times and in all honesty, I didn’t really know what it meant until today. It was on this site but on another blog that a lady wrote about how she found her connection to God that made it all click for me. I will quote her words here, as they really helped me to understand.
“For me, I am now learning the meaning of true and real religion and in this, that God is not separate from me, and in this, that there is always a connection, and it is only I who separate from this connection when I am not claiming who I truly am.”
My words to add to this are, God is found when I move and live in a way that is inline with the universe, the stars the trees and all that is love.
That’s just it you don’t need religion to make you something, that is already innate in you, and in fact in many cases religions abuse people’s goodness for their own ends and it’s not about the good of all but about the best for their own tribe as a way of ensuring their own power. It’s a classic patronage system, ‘look I look after you, so you give me your loyalty’ and I can use this to set up society to my own ends – most institutional religions in how they are run are little more than organised cons to enrich the few and control the many. As Tim notes here there are many elements of truth in many of them but they’ve long been subsumed by the control and greed of those running them.
Great point Monica. There clearly is a force running institutionalised religions that seem intent on keeping us from living in connection to our true power, to our Soul, where we and God are one. As in living in connection to our essence we are living religiously, guided by our inner-knowing of what is of God and what is not, without the need of rules and doctrines to tell us who we are, or what we need to do to be deemed as ‘good’ so we can be accepted by God.
Anyone who lives in connection to their soul – the deep love that is inside them is living in connection to God. You don’t need a religious group to teach that and this is not something that is exclusive to a religious group – everyone can live this.
In my experience, mainstream religion has been about making God separate to the rest of us – making Him a big deal that has way more importance and ability then we do. I could never relate to God in this way and always felt inferior. It makes sense for this to be the way that a God is represented because then it allows for people to be in power who claim to have a special relationship or understanding with Him – so it’s a power trip. Our true God is one for all and all in one. He does not discriminate, judge or think himself better. He communicates equal-ness in all ways, through nature, our relationships and our ability to read and feel life. This I can relate to, this I can have a relationship with.
There is such a purity and simplicity living connected to my soul, there are no rules or have-to’s needed as my body is my guidebook everyday as is my inner heart. I learn at my own pace and every choice is mine, a reflection of my power, my responsibility, and the free will which is part of the love we come from and are always held in.
True religion unites us all…. a fact that we should all take note of and honour instead of the divisions present because of the perceptions and misinterpretations we can have in our world today.
How can anyone’s religion be the best? When we talk about religion we are talking about personal truth. It’s kind of crazy that religions fight and compete in this way, surely if you know the truth inside you there’s no need to prove it to anyone, or convert anyone, or tell anyone that your religion is best.
I have learnt so much more about God and Religion in the last 8 years then ever before in my life. These two were both so confusing before and hence I would have said I didn’t know God and was not a part of any religion. Since simply bringing them back to a felt and personal understanding not only they but everything around me makes more sense. I was looking for these in all the wrong places and hence never found them, both truly reside within which is all the basis of any true religious teachings. No one owns God or Religion and no one can tell you where to find them, the reason we are here is to find them truly yourself and then live that ‘find’ in a deeper and deeper way.
Sometimes correcting our past mistakes and imperfections can feel like a punishment but it’s not, it’s just that learning to accept and be honest about how we got to where we are at can feel mighty uncomfortable.
The true way of understanding religion not only helps anybody to live a religious life but also understand how people are trapped in ways of talking and thinking about religion that lead nowhere.
A great explanation of a religion that feels completely true for me TIm. Until coming across The Way of The Livingness, I had absolutely no interest in religion other than to make every effort to have nothing to do with it. I was very opinionated about how religion made no sense and I couldn’t understand what it’s purpose was. Now, I get it, but I only get it because finally I’ve come across something that makes sense.
Love your blog Tim, returning to our own love first is really key, because how can we equally love all those around us if we don’t first love ourselves. The Way of The Livingness has truly shown me the importance of love, and how without it we are lost.
I love the simplicity with which you explain your relationship to God, especially that it needs to come from deeply loving yourself first and foremost, rather than a hollowness speaking when we try to make it about loving another without our own self love as a huge foundation.
Yep… I remember RE and I never liked the fact that RE was not only Religious Education but also my initials! I also remember in those lessons wanting God to prove himself to me, by preforming a miracle of some sort and then I would believe in him.
It’s a shame the real meaning of religion isn’t taught in RE, I remember RE being very bland and dry and there not being an ounce of truth or wisdom in there. I think I spent every lesson counting how many times the teacher said “and”….
Awesome blog Tim, thank you for exposing what is not true religion and what true religion is. For me true religion is The Way of The Livingness, a forever deepening relationship with God, People and everything around us, …’presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.’
What you describe as true religion here Tim rings absolutely true to me too. Much of what is presented as religion fosters division amongst us and within ourselves too, oftentimes quite insidiously so making it all the more damaging.
Beautiful Tim you bring such wisdom and simplicity to the word and knowing of true religion thank you and i agree too “With ‘The Way of The Livingness’ I can say that I finally understand what true religion is.” Absolutely.
‘True religion is knowing that before I can truly love another, I have to love myself first.’ This makes so much sense otherwise we give others an empty box, nothing in it, just a need to get love and or recognition from someone else. I grew up with the Christian faith and thus learned it the other way around when you love and care for someone else you will feel good about yourself and God will love you, I can say it never truly worked. I now know and feel I am love, I am a Son of God just like everybody else.
I will second that. The Way of The Livingness has been the only religion that has lived the teaching that the Kingdom of God is inside us. It was a confirmation for me of what I knew as a child and has been a process of unfeeling all the learnt fears around not being baptised/christened/confirmed/blessed/prayed for. “Love is who we are, where we are from and what we are made of” Thank you Serge Benhayon – simple and to the point.
Where ever there is divine love, there is God, wherever there is divine unity, God is, and whenever we are connected to our Soul through whatever we do God is present. Living in this way, in connection to our Soul and as such with God, is the religion of us all, a religion whereby we are undeniably united by the truth of who we are, by virtue of the fact that within us all lies our inner-heart, where the love of our Soul is our natural expression and way of being.
I love your explanation of True Religion and what it means to you Tim, especially this one ‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.’ Knowing we are all equal sons of God is sorely missing in most Religions today – if not all. That’s why when The Way of The Livingness comes along it is obvious this Religion is true for it is based on love, brotherhood, equality, connection, joy, sacredness, truth…it is endless what this true Religion offers humanity.
Thank you Tim for sharing your understanding of True Religion and what it means to you – it makes perfect sense. Shakespeare confirmed this with his quote “To thine own self be true”.
True religion is what humanity hungers for… always has and always will
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of The Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.” Beautifully stated Tim. Nothing to fear from this religion.
It’s sad that the word religion had been altered and bastardised to mean something you get put off by when the word is as precious as time itself.
Great blog what you say here really disbands the fear I once felt when I hear the word religion I love all that true religion represents the way we live and the relationships we have with humanity.
Love has no rules and no punishments so there can be no religious persecution.
Thank you for expressing your understanding of true religion and how it all comes back to Love. If humanity focused on this simple fact it would dissolve all the unnecessary barriers that are created by all religions to separate their followers from the rest, which has led to so much bloodshed over the centuries.
I’m so glad you wrote this, Tim. It’s awesome. And I’m grateful that Serge Benhayon has brought back the real, the true definition of religion. I look forward to continuing to embody the word and not holding back what I know is true.
Well said. Yes let’s live it and then walk that for others to see so the fear goes away and the connection re-ignites. It is never about imposing, it is about being love with ourselves and with each other. That in itself is revolutionary as a ‘normal’ way of living.
I have no doubt that God loves us, but do we love ourselves enough to be able to let the enormity of that blessing into our everyday lives?
I was always very interested in God, and read widely around the many different religions when I was younger. The thing I always found difficult was putting a lot of it into practice, and at the same time how the temporal life would distract me from exploring it further. The Way of The Livingness has provided the perfect balance of making life about the divine, by contemplating that relationship in the everyday.
‘God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.’ And everyday I am learning more about what it is to live as a Son of God.
Its true – there is this massive discrepancy between what God ‘should’ be, and then what actually happens in his name. The old Testament was all hell and brimstone, judgement and slaughter. The same has been meted out in his name throughout the ages. How are we supposed to reconcile that with the gorgeous feeling of our own divinity?
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.” Powerfully expressed Tim. The Way of The Livingness is nothing more and nothing less than a reconnection to God and true love by connecting to love in our inner-heart.
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.” This makes sense and has always felt true to me also.
True love is within everyone and everything equally so. I know love inside out and I know how to be and live in true love. I don’t need to go to any institutionalised religion to tell me how to be and live with rules that I know before attempting I cannot live up to. But to be love and to live love I have to let go of beliefs, ideals, and that which is not who I am, and live true love listening to my inner heart and not in that which lies outside of me.
The Way of The Livingness represents true religion in its entirety for me too Tim, no pockets of hypocrisy just pure love.
Tim, beautifully expressed, how can anything that excludes another be love and yet all our currently established religions do this. As you so clearly ask ‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? ‘ – exactly; these are all qualities in us and not something religions bring us, for that’s the biggest lie of all our established religions that we are missing something they bring to us, we’re not, it’s all in, ready and waiting to be lived and that’s what I love about the Way of The Livingness, that simply states that it’s about living from the inside out, living the love we already innately are.
I feel the truth in that religion is how I live my life and starts with a divine connection to myself. It is such a relief to throw out the rule book ingrained in me since childhood but now I am living more responsibly, not perfectly, but with a greater personal awareness.
I grew up with the Catholic religion and when I was young I loved the bible stories that we where told, but when I grew older more demands came on how to behave, think and be in order, to be a ‘good’ member of this community. Later on I begun to question why I was baptised as a baby and that I did not have any say in making that choice. I also found that there where many more religions on this earth that were all standing for their truth but non of them really lived that what they were saying. So I was left in devastation, believing that as of birth I was part of a religion that had taken a hold on me, that I was not able to abandon. But after finding The Way of The Livingness I have restored the true meaning of religion to me and that is my connection with myself in relation with Love and with God and with that I do not need to be a member of any institutionalised religion whatsoever, and the true religion lives in me and nowhere else.
From young I found myself struggling with and rejecting religions for they appeared deeply hypocritical with many of their representatives or followers repeatedly in the news for abuse of power, financial gain, violence, paedophilia, murder, genocide, separation it causes worldwide etc, etc. If any had the answers and the connection to the magnificence of God or divinity, they certainly did not act as such as a whole. It is only now that I find myself through The Way of the Livingness for the reasons you have shared, able to let religion and God into my life and heal the beliefs I had about them, supported deeply by truly witnessing people deeply living and expressing without hypocracy and abuse, the connection, love and divinity they have found within themselves.
In my experience many religions contain elements of truth as you say Tim but the whole package they come with just doesn’t make sense; there are glaring anomalies that serve as signs that something is amiss. But with The Way of The Livingness is simply 100% consistency about unity, love and connection and makes true religion a very real thing.
I am religious. My religion is The Way of the Livingness. For me to express that is huge – I ran a mile from religion as I grew up to know it (similar to Tim).
It’s an interesting subject, as you point out every Religion thinks that their Religion is the one true way, the answer, the return, the savior but would it not seem from the outside looking in that your claims about The Way of the Livingness being ‘the truth’ are much the same as everyone else’s claims of a true Religion, or are they?
Well, to answer my own question, it may indeed sound the same and even look the same but if you study this Religion and or study the bodies of those that commit to it in full, you will discover just how different the declarations of The Way of the Livingness are. You will find a Religion that does not ask you to read a book or visit a building, but simply reconnect with yourself, a Religion that does not believe that if you don’t follow it that you will burn or perish, or you will not return to God’s light, or the light of the soul. In fact, the teachings are that everyone returns in their own time, by their own free will, and that is why door knocking and conversion are not practiced or condoned. You will find a body that is vital, can work and love endlessly, yes a body that gets tired but not exhausted. A person that is steady enough to support anyone in need, with no hidden agenda, just love. You will find a group that wants to look deeply at what they bring to this world and not what the world has done to them, a person that knows that if something is unhealed in them then they cannot assist another with that particular issue. An open door with no strings attached, and an open heart that does not hold people as less, through sympathy.
Well said, Tim. I think rules are made by humans and are not from any soulful source as when we are living impulsed by our soul we know the truth and we do not need rules to guide us.
To me, the way society has viewed God is like the way we view love – emotional, drama-full, vengeful, spiteful and passionate. We do many gross things in the name of love and even worse most inhumane acts in the name of God. But, we are only using these words to validate the separation we actually feel from the true essence of Love and God within. Our perspectives and needs of these words are to relieve us of the inner tension we feel since separating from our true and divine essence. True religion, as I have learnt from The Way of the Livingness is a reconnection back to that which is true and forever present within, our essence and grace with God.
My neighbour was asking me yesterday what had changed for me to inspire the way I am choosing to live. My answer was that I started to say Yes to who I truly am, meaning that I am saying YES to being and living as a Son of God – and in that, I am beginning to choose equality with everyone, everything and even God.
Rachael, that is awesome. I felt it as much as I understood what you wrote.
There has been more misery and devastation spread in the name of God than love. How can this be? As long as we are claiming to live in the untruth of right and wrong we will never live truth and therefore live the divinity we already are.
Just love your five statements about Religion… it makes the whole mess so simple, yet so comprehensive. Why would it be defined by anyone outside of us, and how is it remotely possible that ‘religion’ divides us. Over the years I’ve heard so many people at dinner parties, or talking amongst themselves question these imposters plainly looking for an alternative. The answers lie within each and every one of us, and Universal Medicine has been a beacon in lighting up the path home.
I love them as well, Simon. Sounds like Tim’s discovered the new, True 5 Commandments!
Like you, religion wasn’t a particularly foreground element of my upbringing. But my feeling is that it is so deeply imbedded in the consciousness of society, almost every single step is influenced, even if the words are never actually said. It is truly omnipresent. So even for those like you and I Tim, for which the actual key words may not have been used that much, I still feel that we are getting served up a ‘version’ of religion, a version of what God is in the way everyone relates, moves and chooses. I feel like I am only just beginning to comprehend the scale of the devastation that organised religion has caused the whole of humanity. One day (not that far from now?) the whole house of cards may come tumbling down, once a number of people start to open their eyes to the illusion that we have all chosen to buy in to and support. Organised religion is the ultimate choice in lack of self-responsibility. For as long as there is some kind of higher power OUTSIDE of ourselves, then we can continue to mess around and be less. When you do the math, it excuses everything.
Reading your blog says it all! Nothing else needed. Zillions and zillions of books, hours, lives, debates, wars, arguments….all wasted – when your blog says it all!
Rather like you Tim – I could never understand why a God who is Love would have children and give them free-will – only to punish them for using it. Doesn’t make sense to me and does not feel like Love to me either.
As I read this blog I can feel how so very many people from all kinds of religions are saying the same thing. God is Love and Love is the foundation for living truly harmonious lives together. There is a longing and a call for a unifying religion that cuts through the semantics that divide people and embraces the commonality that we all know. God is Love, Love is the way. Let us be Love and live Love in this world and we will find that way.
I love that true religion is actually something very simple, even though it is not necessarily easy to live in the day to day happenings in our lives. It’s a case of committing ourselves to living from an awareness of our bodies and that each and everything that we do affects not only ourselves, but every one around us. We don’t have to jump through any hoops or follow any rules to prove our devotion. Instead we are asked to take responsibility for all our choices to the best of our ability and basically get on with living harmoniously with others.
Hi Tim I love your blog particularly the point you make . . “So, having grown up with no experience of religion I had no frame of reference as to what was good or bad; I never had any time for religion itself as it never made sense to me and I always felt it wasn’t the truth.” . . .So different from my upbringing where religion ruled and everything was categorized as being either good or bad and as a young child there was such a fear of God drummed into me that I was terrified to go to sleep at night for I felt so insignificant and unworthy that God would not bother to wake me up in the morning! As I grew a little older though I saw straight through the lovelessness of institutionalized religion and refused to go to church much to my mother’s distress at the time.
‘True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.’ I love this Tim, because what you share here is that we are responsible for the choices that we make, we are not trying to hide behind any rules, we are actually bringing truth into the way we live.
Spot on Sally, The Way of The Livingness is not about gaining knowledge or a set of rules, it is a way to live with greater awareness, truth and love.
“What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” A great point Tim and one that I’m sure very few people would even consider.
No wonder people get turned off from the word ‘religion’ and ‘God’ from young we are bombarded with false versions and entrapping/imposing beliefs about what God and Religion is. All of this falseness makes people mistrust! God is simple!
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions” Many times I have heard this or read it but not until now do I feel what it truly means, it is beyond amazing, it is deeply healing.
When I first came to the Way of the Livingness, I thought that I understood what religion meant, after all I had studied it at Masters level in University, therefore I must know the truth – right? Wrong. At no point in my studies did we explore the true meaning of the word religion. never did we investigate what true livingness looks like. not once did we consider the equality amongst all people. The university study was purely a mind-only based intellectual pursuit that left me with very little genuine understanding of myself and of everyone. Whereas the Way of the Livingness shows more and more to me each day, it has become the greatest school I have ever attended and I have not had to go anywhere, because it is the school of life that I am learning in.
Great sharing Shami. University study is very limited because it is only based on the mind! Love what you share about how the livingness or how it is lived is what it is about in the Way of The Livingness, and it’s a far bigger picture than the limitations of all religions.
I so agree….. Reading everything you say is so true
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions”.
Such a divine, true and simple guide to live our lives by; led and inspired by The Way of the Livingness Religion. Thank you Tim for your expression of love.
Agree! very well written – you can’t argue with truth.
‘true religion is not dogmatic or hypocritical.’ This is the bottom line. How many of us have been left stunned at the hypocrisy of what happens before us in the name of religion?
True Elodie – many of us have been left stunned by the hypocrisy of many religions but we also need to ask, how many of us have stood up and questioned this and how many of us have stood by in silence, allowing this hypocrisy to continue even when we know it is not right?
‘I never had any time for religion itself as it never made sense to me and I always felt it wasn’t the truth’. I could not have explained my experience any better myself.
Love how you dispel the myth about religion and ‘being good’ being joined at the hip. Current day evidence reveals the continued intolerance of other religions in favour of one’s own which continues to lead towards behaviours that are anything but ‘being good’.
‘True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis’
After spending most of my life under the rules and regulations of one particular religion I now know for sure that what you have shared here, Tim, is true for me and my religion is how I connect to my inner heart , how this is reflected to others and how I live on a daily basis. I am guided by my inner heart not by rules and regulations.
It is an interesting point to consider that how much religious institutions are about control of the people who choose to be there.
Thank you Tim for a very clear explain nation of what true religion really is, I once believed that religion was about being good, kind and benevolent, and that God was to be obeyed. So far from the truth of who we really are Love and that God lives within each and everyone of us.
I can relate very much to what you’ve shared here Tim, about the ‘rules’ that we are taught through religion about how to live. As a kid I was often really confused and a bit disillusioned when adults who were our religious teachers would tell us all of the conditions we had to meet to be considered worthy of God’s love, and yet these same adults lived in a way that was clearly not love at all.
I remembered wondering, how can it be that I do not have access to God unless I do certain things and yet those who are telling me the rules don’t also have to do the same things?
Now I too can feel that my relationship with God is about none of these rules and behaviors, and that every one of us has the same access to God no matter our race, religious beliefs, or our lifestyle choices.
‘ True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.’ I love this Tim. Religion as something that unites us because it reconnects us to who we truly are.
It is so simple: How I live my life is my religion. In that sense there are no not-religious people. The question is: What is my religion? Is it re-connecting me to something outside of me or is it re-connecting me to myself? A simple choice from moment to moment.
“True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.”
This is something I puzzled over a lot as a child because I knew already that God was already inside and with and around me, in nature and in people, just always ‘there’ like a constant friend. I couldn’t understand the complication and division people created within the various religions I was exposed to as a child, let alone someone telling me “God says you must. . .”
How does a child innately know the truth? Because they feel everything and God is in everything, and anything that is not loving stands out and that is felt too.
So true samanthaengland, Tim has clearly described what people have been searching for and fighting about ever since we lost touch with it/ourselves.
This is the first and only description of religion that has ever made sense or felt true to me.
Truth is so simple and will always be available as it lives inside every one of us, just like the information (DNA) of the entire body is found in each and every one of our cells… This is worth considering. Is this nature showing us ‘the way it is’?
Its great to finally have a true meaning for religion. I felt that a ‘religion’ was important but none of the religions made any sense to me. Thank you Tim and thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine
‘True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.’ This need you are talking about Tim has allowed so much irresponsibility of how to live our lives, completely giving our power away to something outside of us is evil and made people into followers without any consideration that we all are Sons of God equally so, no need to follow something else than our inner heart.
I have found The Way of The Livingness to be truly the most beautiful way to live religiously in connection with self and with God.
True religion unites all equally and does not divide. This is at the heart of The Way of The Livingness. From my experience, most religions rule from the head. There is a lot of intellectual instruction and the body is disregarded. I can understand how, when someone thinks they know the way and what is right, that they want to share it, but this rarely comes with any sense of equalness or respect for the truth that is within all of us. When we come from within our hearts, with the knowing that we are all equal and that we all equally have the love and the knowing within us, that changes everything. We just need to be the amazing example of love in the world to remind everyone to be the love that they are.
True religion is so far from what is presented through Religious Education classes at school or sunday school. Religion in truth is nothing to do with subjugating yourself before God in the hope that he will show you mercy in your journey through life. True religion is a relationship with your self and your choices on your path of returning to living who you truly are.
Brilliant blog Tim, sharing your experience of True Religion. I especially love and resonate with – ‘True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and everyone of us.’ I always knew that this was true BUT The Way of the Livingness has allowed me to FEEL that within me. We are ALL the Sons of God EQUALLY SO and nothing can change that FACT!
Thanks Tim for clearing stating what true religion is and why so many people have been turned off by the various organisations claiming they are the one. These institutions aren’t that dissimilar to most businesses who require customers to keep the entity going and invest heavily in promoting and creating their own propoganda, rarely putting people first. Thanks to Universal Medicine and its religious arm The Way of the Livingness we can once again see we can put people first, plus sustain and be an amazing business model for our future. This organisation shows us also that religion, science and philosophy all have their place equally in providing mankind with an understanding of who they truly are, where they came from, and that it is possible to live it right now.
This is a great blog Tim Bowyer and on a re-read it all still makes total sense.
I like your list about what True Religion means and I know many would agree as it has no restrictions and the Responsibility for your choices is within you. There is no one to blame and no one to confess to for your sins or anything like that. No dogma and no ‘rules and conditions’ as you say.
There is simplicity in the Way of The Livingness and the Truth can be felt through your words. This religion unites us ALL equally and this to me is what true religion is about.
I now claim that I am a deeply religious person simply because I LIVE a self-connecting life and I know that God is inside me. I do not have to visit any special building to have that connection.
Wow Tim I fully agree, ‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.’ Absolutely!
Having grown up in a deeply catholic family I lived my life being frightened of God`s punishments, but all the beliefs never felt good to me. When I moved away from my parents I stopped going to church but I was always sure that God exists. I was always searching for answers and in the Way of the Livingness I finally found these answers and they feel so amazing and true to me. Understanding and living true religion changes my whole life and frees me from deep inside.
Thank you Tim, great description of “The Way of the Livingness” this is true religion with no rules or conditions but pure equality for all as we connect to the essence that we are.
Thank you Tim for your wonderful sharing of the way of the livingness and god. I too can say, that I have found the true religion with the way of the livingness, as I have always felt it has to be there, but didn’t find it until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Than I knew deep inside, that I now have come home.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All … ”
I feel a sorrow that humanity does not ‘get’ this line, as yet, but some instead use the name of their god and religion as the excuse to ‘better’ themselves over the people of their culture and the world by controlling and imposing using violence, all to have power over others and thus ‘prove’ they are ‘superior’. When in fact it is so simple – that we are all beautiful brothers equally here on Earth to make our way back to God and ourselves.
From the little I know about religions they all look to the outside for something outside of themselves and thus miss out on the true and stupendous religion that comes from connecting within. I have found the Way of the Livingness to be truly the most beautiful way to live religiously in connection with self and with God.
That’s been the key for me Samantha. I grew up raised in a traditional religion and God was presented as all mighty and powerful but at the same time outside of us and / or something to look up to. There were many things that didn’t quite make sense or that felt wrong, but anything that couldn’t be explained were simply explained by “its God’s plan for us”. What I realised now is that by taking God outside or ourselves, we also get to avoid taking full responsibility for our choices because God becomes the fallback. The Way of The Livingness is the only religion that makes absolute sense for me and that presents that we are responsible for our choices, that in our essence we are all naturally from and of love, and that connecting to God is about connecting within.
Could it be that we have reinvented and bastardised true religion to suit ourselves? Pretending live a holy life while holding others as separate to us. I feel that separation is taking us further from god, and like Tim says many wars are fought in the name of religion. A true religion would unite us all as humanity, and we shall return to God together.
I was blessed be free like you too Tim, very little by way of religious education. There was a sprinkling at school, but no one took it very seriously and it only last for one year. My grandmother always told me that God was in my heart and not in any building, a teaching I now appreciate.
What struck me reading your blog is the fact that conventional religion is a bit like a bunch of people who have put up a gate in a grassy field, telling people that the only way to the field is through their gate…oh and there are all of these rules and compliances before you can pass through…..but there is no fence and you can freely access the field anytime you so choose. I can see a line of people stretched to the far horizon queuing at gates that mean nothing, all unable to pass….meanwhile the field, our true birthright, is there awaiting us all to come and play.
In this image there are a few people frolicking on the field. They have seen with the eyes of their heart and understood that there is only one gateway, that of our inner heart. The day will come when everyone in a queue will discover they too are free to join them.
I like your analogy Rachel, all that is needed is for us to open up and connect to our inner hearts and we will realise there is need to queue as we all have had access to the grassy knoll all along.
A lovely and clear analogy of how we choose to be dictated to, often without realising.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God” Absolutely Tim, true religion is brotherhood. Its an ever deepening unfolding of of the true love and connection, the spark of God within ourselves and each other, the growing awareness that we are all one. In the ‘light’ of this growing awareness it is impossible to harm or treat another as separate or less.
I fully agree here Barbara, and our light and our connection with ourselves is invaluable. Giving myself the space to work on my connection with myself and everyone else in this world is a truly supportive step to returning to who I naturally am and hence for now is all that really matters.
The 5 points you have highlighted for; this is what true religion means to me, feel so true and wise Tim.
All that you have written really resonated with me and I enjoyed pondering and dallying over each point.
Tim this a deeply beautiful piece that reflects the quality of true religion. That connecting to our divine love within, the oneness that we all are from in essence, can only be unifying. The Way of the Livingness is my religion as it had inspired my return to Soul and celebrates of the glory of this ever-deepening divine love that we all equally are and encompasses all aspects of living.
Love your comment, Carola. Through the Way of the Livingness I came to feel the ever-deepening and all encompassing divine love for the very first time in my life and it just opens my heart so amazingly wide and fills me with true joy!
Yes Angela and Carola; the key for me is also “unifying”, for how could Love or God want anything to do with any belief system which creates and fosters conflict between us?
Here is the defining element between all the ‘man made interpretations’ of religion and the real thing… the real thing being a commitment to re connect to the innate truth and love that we all possess inside equally so.
I didn’t know much about religion. Growing up, the word made me shut down, it was something that just seemed to cause conflict between people with their authoritarian and hypocritical views.
True religion as presented by Serge Benhayon on the other hand ‘The Way of the Livingness’ is simple and supports us to return to our pure essence.
Isn’t it interesting how religion is supposed to be about unity in humanity and yet there could not be more separation between the different organisations. Hypocrisy at it’s finest.
I remember always getting in trouble in church as a child growing up. My mother would not want to make a scene so would pinch me subtly. I remember hearing the priest say things that just did not make sense to me – everything was ‘out there’ and felt unreachable so I just played quietly knowing something more precious was inside and that one day, somewhere and somehow religion would once again make sense – which it has with The Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon. It’s like finding me all over again.
It is so beautiful to feel deep down that I am in fact very religious, yet this has nothing to do with a church, a priest, a choir, a rule, a book or a man with a beard sitting on a cloud. In fact, it has nothing to do with anything outside of myself. Yet, it has to do with me and my own connection, knowing that I am love and just as divine as everybody around me.
Tim, thank you for this simple yet powerful piece on true religion. I too was not raised religiously and the only experience I had was mucking around a few times in Religions Studies. I half listened in these classes but it seemed unfeasible to me that God would be revengeful. Later I thought of false do gooders as “god lovers”. I did not want to be associated to that as it felt so unreal, it felt like they were hiding behind the word Jesus and God but living in a way that seem to completely contradict any true connection with something greater than self. I recently discovered I still carry issue with saying I am religious, born out of fear of somebody interrupting or associating that I belonged to the current institutions that we all know as Church. This blog is a game changer for me on this subject, you express so simply without justifications your experience of religion without any judgement and in a way that I encompasses all and is universally accessible.
I love coming back to this blog! It presents so simply and clear what true religion is and without any judgment presents that “true religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. If this was the foundation of any religion we would have a united world based on love.
Great points you raise in your blog Tim. What I love about the Way of the Livingness is that it is the first religion I have encountered that said I was already whole and complete, all knowing and that I was love. I just need to connect to this innate love and be led by it. Nothing to fix, no trying to be better, just noticing if I am connected to the innate me or not. If disconnected, then choose to connect. So exquisitely simple. Of course my mind likes to make it hard and complicated by making up stories, but it always comes back to the simplicity of connecting to my innerheart where truth is known.
As you say Anne, “. . . it always comes back to the simplicity of connecting to my innerheart where truth is known” and living from that truth and love. No institutionalised religion or external body is needed here. All that is required is for each one of us to connect to our own innate truth and know that we are love.
I have travelled all over the world and experienced many different cultures and religions and I remember one thing that really stood out for me on my travels was that every human being I met had an understanding of being good, kind and benevolent no matter which religion they were from or even whether they were religious or not. The other interesting thing was that when I asked them what they wanted most in the world, most of them expressed that they would like humanity to be more unified, harmonious and loving towards each other. We all know the truth of life within us, we don’t need to be told how to live by any religious doctrine.
Yes Tim. I whole heartedly agree. I went to a catholic school and my fury at the lack of living I saw in what they taught, the utter hypocrisy in the most part, was demonstrated in my fail at my final RE exam. I went on to study all religions and found that at the core of them all… is love. Not doctrines or rules but LOVE. So where did they get bastardized? Enter re-interpretation by man. I could have stayed angry and despondent and shut my heart to love and God because of religion. Yet I felt something different and you have captured it in the dot points you shared. That is my religion and if that is called The Way of the Livingness then that is mine.
‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God.’ No matter what, we can never deny we are Sons of God and this unites us, and true religion will never divide us. The Way of the Livingness is true religion in any way!
Nice one Tim I’m totally with on this one. I had the opposite though, I was made to attend church every week, and more, with loads of crass stuff being drummed into me. None of which made any sense when you saw a lot of the church goers behaving quite differently when they weren’t in church, therefore there was no livingness of the good and benevolent, it was just a show for Sundays.
I too remember my RE classes at school and faced with the ultimatum, that we go to hell if we don’t believe: I quickly chose to continue not believing anything and would run the supposed gauntlet, according to the teacher. I saw this ultimatum, as clearly as it’s written here, as nothing but a divisive trick, untrue and a recruiting mechanism. If religion relates to relationship with ourselves, how can it be that this type of relationship serves anyone at all – being guilt tripped into it? The Way of the Livingness is about establishing that relationship on our own, for and with ourselves and therefore God.
‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God.’ Yes, we are all Sons of God and thus from the same source, hence we can only be but the same and equally so.
Tim, I loved all your bullet points you shared on True Religion – a beautiful reminder for us all.
I think the reason I struggle with the word ‘god’ is because of how it has been presented to me throughout my life. Tim, this line; ‘God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions.’, redfines the meaning of god and could possibly help restore my strong aversion to the word. Thank you.
Awesome Tim, your understanding of true religion makes sense on every level, and while every ‘religion’ I have so far studied, has elements of truth, this presents what may be underlying truths that have been lost in all – which is why we now have so many separative institutionalised religions in conflict with one another, even amongst themselves.
Well said Annie, thats what makes it so insidious the little truths that get dangled in front of us.
Yes, I agree Annie and Luke. Little pockets of truth sprinkled to hook one into ‘their’ religion, not unifying in the slightest.
I have to agree with your bullet points of what true religion means for you Tim.
What a breath of fresh air Tim. God is pure love, we all know this, and we all know that religions are not pure love, something definitely went wrong within them. Serge Benhayon has presented what I already felt about God, and this has allowed me to begin to feel my own relationship with God, developing my way of being love in every day and every moment.
From a very young age I knew implicitly that I could commune with God anywhere, anytime because he was in and with me. I strayed away from that deep and exquisite communion with God in my twenties and thirties but as soon as I attended Universal Medicine presentations, bingo, there it was again and now it’s here to stay, forever. I love love. It is everything.
Fantastically powerful blog Tim. God is pure love and resides in us all equally so and I simply love that.
I can relate to religion being love.The rules and restrictions and “my god is better that your god” type of thinking does not belong to the truth of our relationship with God.
Great blog Tim, I went through a phase of searching all of the religions, going to different churches to find God and the answers to life. After years and years of this, along with experimenting with the new age modalities I finally gave up and told myself firmly none of this was true and that if there was more to life than this, let it show itself. So I waited and observed life and two years later Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine came along and I knew instantly that I had found something real. Here was a man who was saying things I had never heard others say, without any emotional drama or need to convert.
The relationship I had with God was looking on the outside wanting the answers to life but all along God has been inside me and the answers are there to be felt.
The problem I have always had with mainstream religion is that it leaves so much up to the mystery of God, or some unreachable point of enlightenment. Western religion always considers God to be outside of you, whilst eastern religion always asks you to look inwardly but never seems to include community and practical life. True religion should consider all of life equally so.
With ‘The Way of the Livingness’ I can say that I finally understand what true religion is.” This is for me too Tim. I never really understood religion before, it seemed like make believe, and only for those who chose to go to Church. I always knew there was a God so that for me was never the question, mine was, if there is a God, that I could relate to then why doesn’t he show himself to me? Knowing God is within me makes sense, and why I could never find him by looking out and searching for him.
It is utterly ridiculous to go to war in the name of God and yet we have done so for centuries and continue to do so. It simply does not make sense.
I love the simplicity and power of this blog, true religion is simply a way of living in connection with the all .
Tim I absolutely love your definition of what true religion is.
Well done Tim. This is a superb, clear, simple and direct description of true religion. thank you.
Hear, hear! The Way of the Livingness IS definitely true religion. It is everything I knew religion to be as a kid, yet was not presented in many of the religions that were presented in ‘Relgious Education’.
It is so true what you write here Tim that the way of the livingness presents a simple way for us to return to the love we are from. I too am remembering through The Way of the Livingness what the meaning of true religion is.
Religion is no longer a scary cold concept, to me it is now a simple connection with myself. Thank you Tim for sharing.
“What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” I completely agree Tim. I have always found the suggestion, assertion by some, that the world would be lawless or without morals if we didn’t have religion a little unnerving. It does not make sense to me that the only reason people aren’t killing each other is through fear of God punishing them. We all innately know what is right and wrong and we all have a connection with god if we choose to feel this. Thank you for sharing this Tim.
The way you’ve expressed what The Way of the Livingness is Tim, is so simple and easy for anyone to connect to and live everyday…hmmm, this could be bad for big religion’s business!
‘True religion is being aware of what my body is feeling and honouring that by expressing that feeling.” – wow, if every person lived this one line as their truth the world would be a very different place.
‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.’ This sentence rings so much truth. How come that we are relying on an institution what to do and not to do although we do know deep inside the answers. We have been fooled for a long time thinking that we need somebody to tell us what is true or not. It is time that we all own up to the fact that we all have a pool of wisdom within us, innately so, and that relying on somebody telling us what to do is simply not taking the responsibility over our own lives.
Absolutely Esther, how I was taught religion it was weak and dependent on something outside of us and it didn’t make sense to me at all. It took me a while to understand what religion really means and that it is all about taking responsibility for my own life and claiming the Son of God in myself.
The world is set up in a way that disempowers us from claiming our true power and divinity and The Way of the Livingness is the only true religious way that brings us back to the one unified love we are, as Tim beautifully said, by knowing that before we can truly love another, we have to love ourselves first.
You are spot on Esther, deep down we all know the answers and we all know the truth but it takes responsibility to live our lives that way and having a ‘religion’ to dictate how we should live our lives can be so dis-empowering.
Thanks Tim a great read and I love your bullet points of what true religion means ,well said .
Children are told to be good, but what does this mean? In what I experienced myself as a child and what I have noticed with a lot of families is that children do not know what being good is but come to the conclusion that it must be doing what the parents or teachers want. Being bad is not complying. This message leads to all sorts of problems later on. You have given us much here to support us, in your expression of what true religion is, to change this good/bad trap we might otherwise find ourselves in.
‘God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions.’ If we were allowed to trust the purity of this love we know when we are first born, the world would be a very different place.
I totally agree with you Lee, hell, fire and brimstone is about control, not at all about love.
Yes, a foundation of trust in this love, rather than the constant eroding of it to which we are exposed as children, would indeed change the world around, Lee: Hugely!
You mean to say God doesn’t sit on his throne and look down on us and wait for us to make mistakes so he can send us to hell when we die?
Religion is sounding better already!!!
The former is certainly what has been insinuated many times over to varying effects through my upbringing and I never believed it, it just did not make sense that we would be punished for making mistakes or not following certain, what felt like crazy, rules.
It’s such crazy nonsense what we are taught about God as children…like you Elodie, I couldn’t make any sense of it all as a child, so turned my back on religion. But never God, not truly, just the fabricated religious dogma.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God” is so true Tim and by this measure, as you so clearly describe in this blog, the only true religion has always been and continues to be, the religion based on the ancient Wisdom Teachings and which in this era is known as the Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon.
I love this Blog Tim – thank you! You have made it so very clear how simple and beautiful true religion is. No rules and regulations and making yourself less than God, but a way of living that begins with love and responsibility for self.
For as long as religion in its current meaning is governed by self interest and hollow pride we will continue to have war and divisiveness as the cornerstone of religosity. What you describe Tim is a religion that doesn’t need to conquer and rule over another, in fact this true way of looking at religion could never possibly do that as in essence we are not really made for war and separation, we are innately made to be united.
Totally agree Stephen. This is what makes The Way of the Livingness religion so unique. It allows others to follow whatever path they so choose without fear of judgment or reprisal. With that tenet, war or divisiveness can never happen.
This is one of my favourite ones – ‘True religion is knowing that before I can truly love another, I have to love myself first. – and I have come to really understand a way of Loving myself since attending Universal Medicine courses/workshops and presentations. I now know that this love for myself is forever deepening and expanding the more I accept the glorious love that I am as a son of God.
What you have written here makes perfect sense to me and feels so right in my body – the religion I was involved in as a child never felt right or made any sense. Thank you for putting it so simply.
There have been such atrocities done in the name of religion, and the word itself has been so corrupted. In this, have we lost the true meaning of what it is to be religious and in relationship with God, in all his expressions? I am naturally a deeply religious person, like you Tim my religion is one of Love, one where we can all meet equally in essence.
This sentence exposes much Tim, I agree.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.” This is one religion I am at one with. The Way of the Livingness.
Beautifully expressed Victoria, I am with you, ‘This is one religion I am at one with’. The Way of the Livingness feels like coming home. . .
You are right Anne, it does feel like coming home. The Way of the Livingness feels like something that is being remembered as it feels very natural and innate.
Yes, I love this expression too: a religion that unifies and holds us all as equals: that’s my kind of religion too!
Every point you have made Tim deserves it’s own page and space to ponder, for what you are sharing is revelatory in the sense of what it fully means in its depth.
“True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.” This point alone suggests and confirms to me that true religion is about everything.. and everything.
Tim Bowyer, this is the most beautiful and honest piece of writing that cuts through all the ideals and beliefs around religion being something outside of ourselves, as something we need to find or as dictated by another. I love what you are expressing around true religion being nothing that could separate or divide us but that includes us all equally.
I absolutely love this highlighted paragraph “God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.” My body just melts with the truth of it. It is so awful the way that the meaning of God has been so bastardised into a judgmental God as much of traditional religion has done. God is love and we, as Sons of God, are also that same LOVE in our essence. The Way of the Livingness is our simple way back to who we really are, LOVE.
Beverly what you have expressed here is so exquisite. “God is love and we, as Sons of God, are also that same LOVE in our essence.” Thank you
I know what you mean Beverley I loved that sentence too, very powerful.
I agree Beverley, God has been turned into a word to use as some sort of weapon to get people to do what others want. The Way of the Livingness presents a truth-full and pure picture of who God is and what he represents.
When my kids were little and I happened to park the car near a church they were all keen to run in to see God. This was a concept they had picked up from school. They ran straight back out to tell me God wasn’t home.
I agree . . .”With ‘The Way of the Livingness’ I can say that I finally understand what true religion is”. . . and so do all my four children.
The honesty of children….they see and feel so much and just naturally express the truth of what they see. It’s an indictment on the current churches when children can’t find God in a church.
This is an awesome example of children being taught what God is and not raised to feel God for themselves. For when we feel God, we know we are with him in every moment because he is in our connection with ourselves and there is a spaciousness that comes with this feeling, confirming we are held in his warmth at all times. The question I ask is, why is it that we teach our children but not truly teach them that they know all and naturally connect to all?
Yes Jennifer and even as adults we know this to be true as it just doesn’t make sense that God is out there as a separate entity and not deep within us. What other than God or the Source or whatever you want to name it, ignites our innermost essence, sustains life and never dies? Anyone that sees a dead body can testify that the essence of the person has left and the body is but a discarded shell.
Jennifer what you have shared is so beautiful. Children have such a natural way of being with themselves, with nature and with God.
I love this kathleenbaldwin, your kids telling you that God was not home. Very simple and straightforward. If we only listened to our children more we would be much wiser.
How beautiful kathleenbaldwin; I used to love churches, because I wanted to get closer to God. Now, thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have ‘The Way of the Livingness’. This is how I feel God everywhere and in everything. No church needed.
“True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.” – this feels very true for me Tim as I allow myself to know that God has a hand in everything in my life, and provides the best support I could ever have.
Beautifully said Sandra. We all do know who and what God feels like – deep within and the Way of the Livingness really supports us to know God through opening our hearts for ourselves and all others. The Way of the Livingness allows a very loving way of living life to develop where we become much more considerate and aware of our needs and how to take care of ourselves also in the awareness of what will also heal mankind.
Wow what a simple and clear explanation of the true meaning of the word religion. Thank you Tim for sharing.
Thanks Tim, what you write here is timeless and a testament to a true religious way. Thank you for clearing much of what has been given to me under the title of religion. I love the religion you present and can see clearly it’s just like me.
This article is pure gold, I would call it essential reading for anyone who really wants to get closer to god. For god does not reside in some religious text but in the heart and the bodies of us all. It is a simple step to acknowledge that and live with that feeling, and it doesn’t have to be weird or otherworldly as god is in our real everyday life, and how we can live with a real love and commitment to humanity.
I have just reread your blog Tim and am again struck by what true religion means to you.
I particularly love the truth that true religion unites us
What if all people in our world were united and lived in harmony
How divine would that be!
Agree Shirl. The truth that religion unites us exposes the untruth of most institutionalised religions which promote separation if you don’t subscribe to their rules.
Belonging to an institutionalised religion divides and differentiates us from others while God and the ‘Way of the Livingness’ unite us all as the sons of God.
Tim thank you for your writing, I too was very much confused about religion until I found The way of the Livingness. Now I also know True Religion and live it everyday. Its my re-binding to back to God, to truly live again with Gods glory, magic and forever deepening love. This is the True Religion that I choose.
“True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.” So if being loving with myself and others, and being responsible for everything I do, say or even think means I am a religious person, then, I’m ok with that and I can let go of more of the aversion I carry about saying that I am religious.
Religion is starting to feel, to me, like it isn’t a thing at all, that it is being connected to the amazing energy of the universe. It feels like it is the choice to connect and stay connected, that is religion. And what a beautiful energy it is to be religious with.
For the first time, I have come to my own understanding of what god is. To me – god is the guide to help us come back to who we truly are.
God is the universe, god is nature, and god supports us to be all of who we are all of the time. Through little signs and offerings – if we choose to see them.
Absolute magic.
. . . and Hannah, the most miraculous of all – God in within each and every one of us.
Hannah and Anne so very beautiful to read your words.
Today I will appreciate and bring more awareness this – god supports us to be all of who we are all of the time. Through little signs and offerings. Amazing reminder of the support that is there every moment of our days, and that we are all equally the sons of GOD.
True Anne – that is love and equality
‘The Way of the Livingness’ is the truth I could feel all my life behind the religions. I always felt there was some foundation in what all religions shared but that it had been changed and covered by allot of things that just did not feel right or true. In finding ‘The Way of the Livingness’, religion finally has become true to me and what I felt and looked for as a child I have now found.
I can feel the truth in what you have shared here Tim, religion is rather simple if we keep it about LOVE and not the rules and conditions so many institutionalised religions talk about. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Tim; the love comes through your every word. And I dare say you knew of religion, the true meaning of the word, all along!
“I could never understand how religion would say that God loves us but then there are all these rules that, if you don’t follow them, you will be punished.” – ditto Tim, I turned my back on religion because of this, as all I could see was hypocrisy. Now I know that religion isn’t about following anyone’s rules, it is about me and my connection to myself, others and all of life…as you say Tim, it unites us, it doesn’t divide us.
Same here Sandra. It felt so very controlling like there was a truth I felt “God Loves Us” but then all the other parts that made no sense and made me uncomfortable. Yet if we reject “you get punished” we are told we reject being loved by God. It’s all quite confusing really, so even knowing Gods love as the warmth of the sun on my face meant it was better to deny God than accept the rules and punishment. What I have now re-discovered is the truth – the absolute beholding love of God – for that I am deeply gratefull to Universal Medicine.
Totally agree Sandra and Tim, it has taken a lot of healing for me to clear the punishing consciousness of religion, and still today I can get caught in moments of the self punishment. Its is so ingrained not only in religion but in every area of our society and I know just how much I have punished myself with my punishing thoughts and actions. Its insidious and toxic. For we are all loving beings by divine design – so punishing ourselves in anyway is totally not us.
Thanks to Universal Medicine resurrecting the true meaning of religion, I can now state that ‘I am a deeply religious woman’ 💖
I keep getting drawn to this blog – to re-read and re-read it. Today what stood out for me is you sharing that these qualities of being good & kind are somehow now ‘owned’ by religion but as you rightly say they “come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way”. It is not up to ‘religion’ to tell us to be a way that we naturally are. And my feeling is that when they do that, it comes as a pressure to be that person as opposed to connecting to what you naturally are. True religion connects us to that. And amen to that!
Thank you for summing up amazingly what true religion means!! Awesome piece of truth.
“God is already inside each and every one of us”….gosh that it is a beautiful statement. Indeed he is, thank you Tim for sharing this.
‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious?’ – You posed a very awesome question Tim.
Lovely how you have shared yourself here Tim. I feel the openness, love and honesty with which you write. It is very refreshing, as is the Way of the Livingness. Thank you.
I have become more comfortable with using the word religion and even stating to myself that my religion is The Way of the Livingness. Growing up, I observed how people associated with the big religious institutions had been anything but love, that it turned me off from wanting anything to do with religion…until now. Until being met with truth and love from Serge Benhayon and what he presents, and how religion is something personal to me and is reflected in how I live each day.
Sandra, what you have written here is beautiful and inspiring. It brought tears to my eyes as I have avoided the word religion. Like yourself I too have witnessed people associated with Christianity not coming from a place of love and it turned me away from religion. I appreciate your comment as there is much for me to ponder on here – thank you.
Thanks Tim, you say very clearly… ‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way’.
You are exposing the very illusion of the Christian-based religions here. Those qualities can come from a true place within us, something inherent in us all as you say, they are natural to us and hence nothing to do with institutionalised religion, however can equally come from a manufactured place where we conform to what’s expected in order to be seen to be good, kind and benevolent. Your blog highlights the very clear difference thank you.
I can feel how The Way of the Livingness is definitely your Way and you write about it beautifully.
Totally agree with your words Sally.
The Way of The Livingness, the re-imprinting of religion for all equally.
I love your comment Nicole. Your clarity and detail expose something I hadn’t really felt before. A carrot or a stick story. Your Mum was brought up to be afraid of God, he was the stick that would strike her down if she was bad and she imposed the same stick on you. Good on you for not passing that on to your children.
I was always given the responsibility to be good and rewarded with the carrot and naturally I passed that on to my children. There comes a time when they go out into the world and you just have to have confidence that they have taken in all that you have taught them and that they know how to behave .
So much to love here….I loved the line “And then there was God, the man in the sky with the big white beard. What was he all about?”. And then I loved how wisely, philosophically and amazingly you wrote about what true religion is and then signed it from Tim the London bus driver. God is everywhere – within us especially – and gorgeously driving buses around in a big metropolis. Gosh how lucky we are (and the commuters of London).
Gorgeously written Sarah and ‘the man in the sky with the big white beard’ was definitely my favorite part 😀
I love your blog, Tim! It is simple and in that, 100% true. I remember asking the question about the catholic religion with which I grew up “Why, if god loves me and all, am I titled GUILTY when being born? For what? Why?” That is for me the main reason why religion was and is misused away from it’s true meaning. It seems there was always someone needing to be accused for the things that people were not willing to take responsibility for. And in that it feels like they were not able to live the love that they are – which to me is the true meaning of religion. Just as you’ve shared, Tim. Thank you for a wonderful blog*
“Being religious and being good has no correlation as is evidenced by the fact that throughout history most wars have been fought in the name of ‘religion’.” This goes to the core of the things that turned me off ‘religion’ when I was young, and in fact, right up until I met Universal Medicine and began to learn what true religion is. Good blog, Tim!
“What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious?” Great question, it has nothing to do with it. Being seen to be good doesn’t make us a better person as we would like to think.
Susan, I love this question too and the answer ‘Those qualities come from inside a person and shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.’ To me this answer is so obvious and yet so many (myself included) have fallen for it.
I really like this article Tim, it just shows how simple true religion actually is. Your comment ‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.’ touches me. Being no better or lesser that anyone else is easy to say, but for me the reality of living this does present a challenge that exposes the judgments that I place on myself and others. Having the Way of the Livingness as my religion helps me break down these old mental constructs and connect with the loving essence that I truly am; and of course connect with the loving essence in all those I connect with.
My religion is the way of the Livingness. That is the only religion that makes sense to me and is all inclusive. Thank you for sharing, Tim.
Tim I absolutely love this, everything you have written about religion is so true how many wars have happened, how much blood as been spilt in the name of so called religion. What you have shared with us and the bullet points on what religion means to you is pure gold. True religion is in fact in all off us equally so, no need for anything outside of us. The sacredness of the universe is there inside just waiting for us to say yes.
Tim I simply love the way you wrote this amazingly beautiful blog. It just shows that you are a living your loving commitment to yourself .
That blog is very opening to me of being more of me and living that in what I do. That is how I feel to live religion. Thankyou Tim
It seems to me that most, if not all religions, have started off with simple and loving truths. But after a generation or two, interpretation, personalities and power/control issues start to pollute the love and the truth. The Way of the Livingness may be subjected to these challenges as time unfolds also and will need a solid foundation from which to grow and flourish lovingly and truthfully.
Religion is such a funny topic to discuss ~ There is so much detail and so many different ways of looking at all the different teachings. I too, like you, absolutely solidly relate to ‘The Way of the Livingness’, as a religion, because I can feel their teachings. Which gives me a personal relationship with the teachings .. It’s a very powerful and lovely thing to have a personal relationship with and really with god himself.
Natasha, like you, there are many who solidly relate to ‘The Way of the Livingness’ as a religion. It is the only religion I have encountered which, when you feel into the teachings, you know without a shadow of doubt that you have a personal relationship with god. It is the only religion that has ever felt true in my body and already known on a deeper level.
Anne, I so love what you write and you write it so gracefully too. I have never had an experience like I have with Universal Medicine where I have felt the true depth of love from all practitioners and the teachings of the ageless wisdom presented by Serge Benhayon. He is a true focal light when it comes to expressing soulfully and in that my body and my whole being totally resonates. You can’t fault it either or convince me otherwise because it is a knowingness within my body. And when there is a knowing as opposed to just a thought about something being right or good, it’s a totally different experience.
Religion classes at school were always a joke. I went to a public high school and 4 times a year we had a religious education teacher come to our school to teach us about religion – some sort of token gesture by our school to provide a well rounded ‘education’. Even back then it was like the whole class knew how false it all was. If we had have been taught the truth about religion and our connection to God it would have been my favorite subject.
What a great blog Tim, I feel exactly the way you do, truth everywhere. Thank you
Spot on Tim. It seems to me that the simpler we each keep our understanding of ‘religion’ the more authentic our understanding is.
Thank you Tim, I absolutely agree that religion as it is presented is a farce. The Way of The Livingness on the other hand presents a religion that is in all our hearts equally so! I have so much appreciation to Serge Benhayon for inspiring me to return to a religious way of life. True religion is true brotherhood and thus true community!
The way I feel about the Way of the Livingness is very different from any other way of life I have ever experienced, it makes complete sense as true religion.
Religion felt contrived and made up when I was sitting learning about it in the classroom as a young girl and so I didn’t pay much attention. It felt full of doctrines and rules that didn’t make any sense to me. The only religion that does make sense to me now is The Way of the Livingness.
Thank you Tim. Yes! Finally a religion that makes sense and actually feels true. I remember being taught from the bible once, this person was telling me that homosexuality was a sin and that people could be ‘healed’ of it. Every fibre in my being knew this person had been fed a lie and that to believe that they must be so lost. True religion is void of judgement but also asks of us to take personal responsibility as we are an important part of a whole. Now this makes sense!
The way of the Livingness is good medicine, based on being love, knowing that we are all equal sons of God, and acting with integrity in everything we do. No other religion talks about this level of responsibility to oneself and others. No other religion has given me the practical tools to live with true freedom, or presented the choices we have regarding the quality of energy that we bring to each action. Thank you Tim for your great definition of religion.
Great point about freedom Bernadette. The Way of the Livingness does not control, its supports us all to be love.
Beautiful, Tim. You have exposed so much about what we think religion is, and offered a way for us to see what it can truly be.
The Way of the Livingness is the only religion I have ever been able to connect with. It is so real and so accessible for everyone.
The Way of the Livingness is absolutely true as it lives in side of us. When it is felt there is no doubt what so ever. As you say Vicki totally accessible for everyone equally.
So true Vicky, for me it is because it relates to how I live. Not ideals and beliefs that are taught, but have no day to day application that support me consistently, from sleeping, eating, exercise, self awareness and so much more. My living way is my religion!
I totally agree Vicky; The Way of the Livingness is for me also the only religion I have ever, and will ever connect with. It supports every aspect of my life perfectly. It actually totally makes sense.
Yes, it is absolutely real and simply makes sense.
Your points on what true religion is for you are points that I so strongly agree with – I like to say that I have a religion too, and this is the religion of myself! My religion is ME.
Hi Tim, ‘God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions’ Absolutely totally 100% agree! Love the blog.
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge” thank you Tim for defining true religion.
‘Judgement’, that is quite a horrible thing for humans to do to each other, so to imagine that God judges us feels pretty awful, very far away from love.
Tim I love your definition of religion, the oxford dictionary should publish it…
I agree Toni. A great blog Tim, thank you.
Tonisteenson wow what a great idea, I think the world would change quite dramatically with that single definition being out there. No longer is religion about the controlling levels of domination I grew up with, a situation where you have to “go through” people to be religious but something that we all can naturally have and live as we develop our own connection with God.
Yes it would be so powerful for children to grow up with this understanding, as a normal everyday truth. Children already feel this but as we grow up we loose sight of this truth as it gets replaced with what we are taught. If children were honoured in the definition they already know to be true imagine the power and strength that would come from this. When adults found themselves struggling and read this definition the knowing to look within would be reignited. So much could come from the true definition being published.
I agree, and this blows all the dogma with other religions out of the water.
And it is so simply expressed too Sandra! I love it!!
Right on there Sandra, this definition of religion comes straight from heart with no dogma attached whatsoever. Being at the point of evolution where a new (or in fact, not so new) religion is being brought to the fore is awesome, and I am immensely proud to be part of that. It may take some time for this definition of religion to be fully accepted in the world but one day it will, as it is really what everyone has been looking for, a true definition of the word religion, one that comes from love, compassion and understanding, and of course truth.
Thank you Tim I love your blog
I agree with you Toni it is a true expression and definition of religion; it would be great if it was published by the Oxford Dictionary
Totally Toni 🙂
I absolutely agree, Tonisteenson. Won’t it be great when sometime in the future, dictionaries will publish the true meaning of so many words.
I love this! Thank you so much for sharing. I felt the same confusion about religion as a child, and universal medicine has now cleared that confusion for me.
I too have a much better understanding of what True Religion is… the simplicity of The Way of the Livingness really opens up a continual, equal, loving relationship with God. Connecting and being with God in all that I do – and when I do it feels amazing and I am so supported.
God is already inside every single one of us. So how can we not be equal and how can we fight about who has got more kudos with God? And why on earth would we go outside for the key answers about life if the connection to God is inside us. I too have found that ‘The Way of the Livingness’ has finally offered me a relationship with religion that makes sense.
I was brought up in one religion and through marriage came into contact with another. Both are equally dogmatic, so in the end I decided to leave religion out of my life. The Way of the Livingness has open my eyes to what true religion is. Thank you Tim for your blog.
I love what you say true religion means for you, I can relate to it all. The only way I have come back to a connection with something that is bigger than just me, which allows the bigger picture into my life is through, trusting and learning to develop my relationship with my body. I did not trust anything from outside to tell me what this connection was, it had to come form within. Serge Benhayon and The Way of the Livingness, share this with the world, in my words he he has shared “discern for yourself” it is precious and empowering.
You’re so right – God does not have rules or conditions – simply the what is and the what is not. The ‘what is’ is that we are all naturally and divinely love, the ‘what is not’ is anything outside of that. So beautiful and simple.
Dear Tim thank you for your beautiful sharing of what True Religion is for you. These words:
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.”
resonate deeply with me. I did not grow up in a religious household but did the long search myself for true meaning and as many others have found The Way of The Livingness to be the true religion I have been looking for; very simply, the joy and love of God lives equally inside all of us.
Thank you Tim for clearly and simply expressing what true religion is .
What you write definitely resonates deeply with me as truth. But it has taken me a long time to feel the truth. Growing up being catholic, attending a catholic school, going to church every Sunday etc I learnt by rules of how I needed to be to be loved and accepted by God. I gave my power away to the church and others in the name of being a good catholic girl. I feared God if I did something wrong feeling that I would be banished and go to hell when I died. So much fear I held in my body in the name of religion. A set up?
Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I was introduced to what true religion was really about- Love, and a relationship with love, with ourselves first and then with others. Nature reflects this beauty of God that is within us all, waiting for us to embrace it and express it .
Beautifully expressed Tim and I now know too that God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions and that ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE. Thank you for this real sharing.
A Religion of Living Love. It’s so simple and so true.
The Way of the Livingness is my Way; And it is an absolute joy to live each and every day in true relationship with myself and God as one.
After decades of despising religion and all that it stands for, hating the dogma, the arrogance, the hypocrisy and the lies, it is an honour to now be able to say I have found The Way of the Livingness to be true, ever developing, loving of all equally regardless of race or creed, and immensely practical for living in today’s society. This is true religion.
Can you imagine how powerful that is, if God does not judge us the we can also stop judging ourselves!
Religion…a word with such a consciousness of missery, dogma and worthlessness of humans to it. Of course this has nothing to do with the true meaning of religion, but the consciousness around Religion is surely showing how lost we are as a race, unaware of our Divine Nature and our equalness to God.
When I was growing up I always felt that there was a divine order, something bigger at play, but that I would say that I didn’t believe in “the god with a white beard in the sky”. The Way of the Livingness has confirmed the feeling of the grandness that we are all an equal part of, which includes all of humanity bar none, no matter what religion, nationality, culture or creed, as we are all the equal sons of god. It has brought religion back into my life too, and completely returned the meaning of the word back to its true origins. My Religion today is about living a way of life that it is deeply caring and loving of myself, and all others equally. It is to live a dedicated life that honours the opportunity that I have to live within the flow and rhythm of nature and the interconnectedness that we are all a part of, or not. To have religion in my life again is greatly freeing and feels as though I have reconnected to something that was there all along, that I knew intimately as a child, but I had lost and let go of along the way. Thank you Tim, for expressing your lived experience of what it means to be truly religious so simply and clearly for all to read.
Absolutely Jonathan and Tim, your expressions of your lived experience of connection to the all is something I too can feel and relate to as truly religious.
I love that I am able to use the word religion now for something that resonates deeply with me, The way of the Livingness. I used to qualify that I was spiritual but not religious and that I believe there is a GOD but now I have a relationship with GOD. There is something really grounding in being able to really claim that I live a religious way of life, in that everything I do has the potential to be an expression of my relationship with GOD and as I master myself in this relationship my life takes on an even more religious expression.
I agree Rebecca it does feel very confirming to use the word religion and to be able to say I am religious from a ‘knowingness’ that comes from the way I have been living my life rather that believing something I have been told by someone else.
Thank you Tim for your beautiful expression of what true religion is. I love the way you related it to a way of living which stems from the connection to the true intelligence and love residing in your own body. How could it be more simple and more profound than that? The points you expressed summarise the very essence of true religion and they are a testimony of what it truly means to live The Way of the Livingness.
The word religion has been so bastardised indeed. I can now feel that The Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon is true religion. It is so simple, it makes sense, it is about love,truth, brotherhood and evolution. Our essence is love, we are love – all of us equally.
Religion is about connecting to ourselves and through that feeling connected to god. Personally for me that is through staying present in my body and not going into nervousness, stress or into my thoughts. This is a wonderful daily practice of staying present and connected to my body whilst training my mind to be with that action and not thinking about what I’m going to have for dinner etc.!
Thank you Tim for you writing about true religion, and what religion is not.
This is a very simple yet profound and powerfull blog Tim and I can feel what you are saying.
“Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have presented to me ‘The Way of the Livingness’ and have inspired me to know who God really is, and that true religion is not dogmatic or hypocritical”.
That word you say – ‘hypocritical’ is significant for me having trotted around from one religion to the next hoping to find that something. It was all conflicting and had no solid consistent thread of Truth in the dogma or teachings and above all, I never ever met anyone who truly inspired me to feel that there is another way.
The Way of the Livingness feels real and its about Equality and Unity so we are not separate or divided and that just makes sense to me. Something I have always known and felt and now I have the opportunity to Live this way and inspire others.
I so love that you have written this Tim. It is as though you have reached into my heart and life and drawn forth my own words and experiences.
I used to wonder…
How could God, creator of the extraordinariness that is all around us, have come up with a set of petulant little rules that makes a mean, petty bureaucrat look positively open hearted and loving?
And…
Why ever would God need for us to not only “believe in him” but to do it in a certain prescribed way?
And wait for it…how could this magnificent being be so calculating as to reject us when we make one little transgression.
None of this made sense.
Yet there were words and lines in books and prayers, moments of pure beauty, when I felt in my body…”ah yes, this is religion”.
Thank you Tim for writing this and reminding me of the truth I knew, but did not have the courage to live until now.
Yes Sue, God is unconditional love as are we when we are in our essence. AS sons of God, it begs the question – why do we continually judge each other?
So true Shirley Anne. So many religious people look to God to forgive them, but God is unconditional love, and as you say, doesn’t judge, so how can he/she judge?
These words “What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” really stuck out for me. I remember when I left a religion I had been brought up in in my early 20’s, I had a fear that I would no longer be ‘a good person’. That leaving the church made me ‘bad’. I even remember contemplating in the few years that followed that if I had children I would need to find a Sunday school to send them too so that they could learn good morals. Crazy! Those qualities do indeed come from inside a person – and the teachings of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have confirmed for me just how much ‘good’ there is in all of us!
I really love this blog. It is so precise and spot-on, stating why “true religion” is needed now more than ever before. Simply fantastic! Thank you Tim for writing this.
Absolutely agree Tim, so well said. Religion is still a word that makes me a bit squirmy from growing up in the presbyterian church and knowing it didn’t seem right that God was some man in the sky that I could ask for help. The common theme in religion is that God is love. For me, The Way of the Livingness takes it deeper and has helped me to come out of doing loving things for people to really understanding my own love, for myself and what that really means – on a very practical level, as you have described. This has formed a much stronger foundation in me to then be the love we talk about in religion rather than give it.
Gorgeous Kate; you are redefining the word ‘religion’ – back to its true meaning.
Well expressed Tim! True religion unites us all!
I agree Kathleen – True Religion unites us all so thats the end of ALL the wars that I know of in this world!
People are searching and people are asking.
I had a young guy speak to me yesterday about changing religion because he has a need for “belonging”. He told me about his childhood and having no parents to love and care for him and he went on the search and his words were – “I feel lost”.
So we may turn to religion from need but deep down we Know something is missing.
I know I did and I tried many religions and nothing changed other than my need to find another religion.
“God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions.” Neither does the pure love that is God have anything to do with all the divisions between all the religions. One day all the discrepencies that separate religious groups will have to be relinquished and the central core of Love that exists in most of them be accepted as the one true religion, the Way of Loving, the Way of the Livingness. It is so true, Tim, what you say about “the good, kind, and benevolent” having nothing to do with religion, that the love is there inside us, naturally so, and it is only because of the influences around us as we grow up, and the way we protect ourselves from feeling everything, that an evil force comes in and influences us to behave unkindly, unbenevolently, and badly. The Way of the Livingness is returning to that love inside that is always there, and the true meaning of religion.
What I love about The Way of The Livingness is that, unlike the other religions and cults I’ve had a look at so far, there is no judgment of where someone is at with their development of choice and self-awareness, no comparison of level of commitment, no pressure to be a member or to become a missionary for the religion, no tything, no guilt trips about what you have or haven’t done. Very refreshing, to have the freedom to be a student of yourself and explore and develop your own connection to God within, and to be equal with all others no matter where you are at. Instead of furthering the divisiveness the world is tired of, The Way of The Livingness is a new old religion that builds the foundation of uniting people, even those who are not participating in it, because humanity is all connected and is actually one.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.“ Yes indeed Tim.
Equalness is something that is so lacking in our world, the unequalness based on strange parameters seen around us will one day disappear, the day that we will all unite under the one and only true religion of our inner hearts.
Hi Tim, I was brought up with religion and it still didn’t make sense to me. Your points here of what religion is for you is so powerful and I totally agree with all of them.
‘True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.
True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.
True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.
True religion is being aware of what my body is feeling and honouring that by expressing that feeling.
True religion is knowing that before I can truly love another, I have to love myself first.
I feel that every religion has an element of truth to it and that truth is ‘Love’. But in my experience what I have seen in many other religions is that there are too many rules and conditions, there is too much of “my religion is the best and only through my religion will you get to God.”
God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions. What ‘The Way of the Livingness’ presents is a simple way to return to our natural essence… LOVE.
With ‘The Way of the Livingness’ I can say that I finally understand what true religion is.’
For me too, The Way of the Livingness is something that I finally and fully understand because it is me returning to the love that I am through my daily choices and connection with that which already lives with in me. No dictation, no rules- just love and an unfolding of that Love.
Tim, what a fabulous statement you are making here “What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.” Could it be that a lot of people are putting on an act and expecting something (mostly recognition) in return when they are being good, kind or benevolent? Indeed, what does this have to do with being religious?
I love the simplicity in which you have shared what true religion means to you – it is very relatable.
And then end up feeling rubbish because knowing that their kindness is an act, feeling unable to live up to the expectation of kindness, goodness etc, and hence become further and further away from knowing that love lives inside them, and there is no reason to fake goodness?
Hi Tim
I did grow up in a religion and agree when you say that the idea with it is that any christian is good, kind, benevolent. But what I knew growing up, and only realised in my mid to late teens is that the idea of what a christian is, is a long way from what a lot of christians are in reality.. I couldn’t go on being part of that and did a lot of different things to fill that gap I seemed to have with me.
I am now learning, with the support of Universal Medicine, that I am a son of God, like we all are God’s children. And that gap I was trying to fill? Im realising that that was another idea that was stuck in my head and not part of the reality of my life as reality shows me that I am all that I need.
Joost
I agree Tim, because when we look at religion as returning to a natural relationship with god, then what else is there to do but live with that connection all of the time?
I love the simplicity of True Religion, it resonates and I feel very inspired when I read this. Religion is often intellectualised with rules, ideals and beliefs and misses the simplicity of – God who is within each one of us which comes through when we connect with ourselves and others from our essence and we then naturally learn to know how to be . . . it’s magical and real.
Revisiting this article the stand out line for me was:
“There has been a lot of bloodshed just because someone thought their God was better than someone else’s God.”
To me, this really blows the lid off what we know religion to be. It shows the cracks in all the major religions, for each believe in 1 God. So how can there be 3 gods?
It is utterly ridiculous the amount of bloodshed caused throughout the ages in the name of God and religion. Why is it that we have not learnt that we are no different from each other and God lives in us all equally? Not more in Rome, Mecca or Jerusalem or anywhere else for that matter.
We are the living expression of God or true love, which resides equally in all of us. Making loving choices allows us to be in the livingness of this true love……. then we are LIVING religion.
‘The Way of the Livingness presents a simple way of returning to our natural essence……LOVE.’ Thank you Tim for expressing this so beautifully.
Yes, We are the LIVING religion- beautifully said Rosemary!
Dear Tim everything you say about true religion resonates with me. I grew up with RE classes and the Sunday school routine – what I felt about that was that we were always asked to prove ourselves in God’s eyes – get recognised for being good. Not for expressing truly. Working with Universal Medicine has allowed me to feel that God is part of me, he reflects the beauty I am back to me through nature; that once I feel me re-connected I have a responsibility to reflect that back to everyone else for God constantly chooses to reflect back the grandness we are with out fail in every single moment. Developing my relationship with God has been so very powerful.
So beautifully expressed Lee..God ‘reflects the beauty I am back to me..’ This unites us all as Tim shares because we are all part of nature. How did we ever disconnect from the power of this truth? We have been invited to reconnect to our true religion which is a priceless invitation not to be declined. I for one have accepted this invitation and my life is richer and has a depth to it, I never thought possible. Life is not a mystery anymore, it’s mine to embrace with full responsibility and how I live, makes a difference.
I love how you express the truth of religion so clearly and simply Tim. Universal Medicine has brought me back to the simplicity of religion. Simply connecting to our essence which is love. To me the simplicity of this demonstrates a true understanding of what religion is. Thank you for this wonderful article.
So true what you say here Tim that historically to date being religious, and being a decent human being have not always been the same thing and religion has been used many times as an excuse to get away with despicable acts in history.
This message is so simple Tim, and very refreshing. It is like a breath of fresh air in the world of religion. It’s so true that religion has been responsible for creating separation in this world. What is going on here? Surely the central message for all religions is Love? So where has it gone? Yes, true religion is one that unites us all.
Thank you Tim for expressing what is true religion, it is so beautiful to know and live the love that we all are naturally.
Your comments on true religion speak to every fibre of my body. They make sense and there is an acute understanding, awareness and knowingness that this is indeed what religion is, unlike what I had ever been told in my life until Universal Medicine and the presentations by Serge Benhayon. It is great to finally have confirmed for myself what I always felt to be true.
How great it is to finally be sure that God is pure love and has no rules and conditions.
Yes Jo, how liberating it is to finally discover that God is inside me, and no more searching is required on the outside, and that there are no rules and conditions, only the one’s I have placed on myself.
It is one of the most glorious feelings Jo, to have no rules and constrictions on how you can love god and how to get gods love.
Yes me too! I can finally understand what religion is now too, and it is so simple and uniting . Knowing the way of the livingness leaves everything else for dead.
“True religion … unites us All.” Point. Love it!
Absolutely Sandra – if the world were to see religion in this way – it would be a very different place!
Understanding the origin of the word ‘religion’ completely counters the modern accepted way the religion is sold and what it is today. It is clear how far we have deviated off the path of truth.
I agree Matthew. The sad part is that that deviation and reinterpretation that people have put on religion, has actually caused a lot of harm and mistrust in God. People actually want love and when this misinterpreted version is fed to people they either give their power away to that lie and potentially impose it on others thinking they are doing the right thing or they lose heart in God and religion because it feels wrong. I for one was brought up with Catholisism and laced with things like guilt, that I was lesser and God was mightier, I was a mere mortal, I had to confess sins, kneel on wooden pews,thinking I was a good girl by doing all this etc. All of this created an issue with the word religion for me, so when I was simply presented with the truth of religion is about returning to all we are, God/we are love, God is within and we just need to connect and live lovingly, we are all equal- I had to actually take responsibility for swallowing the lie I was fed, work through blocks, mistrust and barriers that the misinterpreted had laced me with. I never however had an issue with God, which is great- I knew deep within that God was Love and that it was never God that imposed this all, but man.
“True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us. ” Love this Tim – great blog – thankyou.
I agree Sue- It is a great blog, Tim has summed it up beautifully. It’s crazy that we have been sold the lie of ‘finding God’- how can we find that which is already in us and all it requires is a reconnection to that Love.
Great blog simply written for all to understand
Tim, I love it, your words are great. “God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions”. This is fantastic, no judegement, no rules, just pure love. When one connects to the inner self this love is felt.
Your words echo what I feel Amita and it is such a great blog Tim. We can so easily be put into a box of a certain religion, particularly when filling in forms yet the only relevant thing is to know is that when we connect within, we re-align and that for me is religion.
This is a lovely reminder of what true religion is for me at this stage, it’s so easy to get caught in trying to hard, or judging others for their choices so this just reminds me what true religion is actually about.
Yes for me too, it reminds me of the really important aspects of true religion. I love how there is no room for judgement here. It’s so freeing.
Just to be, its so beautiful.
One of the saddest things about these religions is that it teaches people to judge one another. One of the best things about understanding that true religion, love and God come from within us and that in our true essence, we are all the same, is, that all that other stuff falls away.
‘True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.’ So true, I am discovering God within myself and others more and more as opposed to the old way for me that saw the greatness and grandness of God as something outside that I had to attain or strive for. For me I feel this was very much a result of my catholic upbringing, however I understand now I have a choice and always have had. I just couldn’t see it for a long time. Great blog exposing the hidden evils in the Christian doctrines.
Theologists and academics please take note of what is possible when words are expressed simply and from conscious presence and a livingness. The simplicity of Tim’s statements of what a true religion is could be the foundation of a theology degree that would last for just one lesson, because then all the students would be told to do would be to go out into the world and live this way.
Well said cjames2012 I totally agree with you.
I feel that most kids start out thinking that the rules they tell you about god, Him loving you but punishing you if you don’t obey Him all sound pretty silly.
But somewhere along the line, as they (we) grew up, the lies were embraced to avoid potentially losing the love and favour of our parents, and we took on their beliefs in case they were to (it would seem) stop loving us.
This is a conversation so worth having as it affects us all. Thank you Tim for sparking this. As a child I always felt that the religious rule books got in the way of the truth, and that at every religion’s centre was the same thing: God. A lot of us struggle with this word now because of all our associations with the imposition and often unattainable goals set by these ‘rule’ books. The Way of the Livingness throws all that aside, stripping back to the truth about God and our purpose in, and relationship with, life. Super simply and practically the Way of the Livingness presents that we always have a choice, that we are responsible for the way we live and that we all carry the same spark inside, the same essence of God. The way forward with this understanding is working as one humanity…true unity.
I love the simplicity of your blog Tim and what i also find important is that The Way of the Livingness religion respects and accepts everyone where they are at, there is no recruiting, no threatening with doom or the end of the world, no imposition, simply a presentation of a way of living that is true to what is deep inside of us and nothing more then natural. Just as the true world teachers over the centuries (in stark contrast to the bastardised books and dogma’s that have been created in their name by those who lack the livingness of what was presented in origin) ageless wisdom is offered and it is up to each and every one if they accept it or not.
Agree Carolien, in my experience the ‘Way of the Livingness’ is the only religion where each and every one has a choice to accept it or not, with no judgment. As you say, ‘The Way of the Livingness religion respects and accepts everyone where they are at’ and is simply a presentation of a way of living that is true to what is deep inside of us.
Realising that God is always inside ourselves is a big step. It makes all this searching and aspiring to a certain goal unnecessary. It lets you feel that it is you who can make the choices that will influence how your life will feel for you – and no one else.
The responsibility that comes with it can be very confronting but, can also feel like a great gift we have been given if we allow ourselves to see it as a support to connect to love and start living love each and every day.
I really loved your blog, Tim. To me it is a comprehensive and very common sense explanation about what true religion really is. Especially with regard to the facts that God is within us all, we do not have to go and sit in a church to develop our relationship with him. That true religion unites rather than divides as we have seen through the ages and that true religion knows the importance of self love. True religion is “The Way of the Livingness” as presented to us by Serge Benhayon.
I agree Tim after meeting Serge Benhayon and beginning to try the simple principles of The Way of The Livingness, religion finally makes sense, with no exceptions and no contradictions.
I love this blog! So inspiring to write simply – ‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All ‘ – that is a world changer Tim.
‘What does being good, kind or benevolent have to do with being religious? Those qualities come from inside a person and we shouldn’t need a religion to tell us to be this way.’
Well exposed, Tim. I had never considered this before. Draws attention to the ‘performative’ aspect of Christianity, for instance – there is an emphasis on demonstrating that one is a good Christian by being ‘good, kind and benevolent’. But, as you say, the true expression of these qualities, and of Love, comes naturally from within us – never imposed upon us as an expectation of a way to be, nor done in in order to ‘appear’ to be these things.
Hi Tim, I enjoy your concise and really open blog. Only a few years ago, if someone even said the word ‘religion’, I’d have neon warning signs flashing on my forehead. I knew for myself the religions that others had tried to impose on me as I travelled around the world, weren’t true for one very simple reason – I felt nothing; they were trying to make me believe something I couldn’t feel. The Way of the Livingness can only be felt and as such, lived, there is nothing to believe.
I love the list of what religion means to you. How the world would be transformed if that was how we learned to live right from young.
Love this blog. I was sent to a catholic school, it was 8 years of living hell, being abused every day, and “teaching’ me about a God that will judge us and that heaven seemed like a place for the privileged. We wont be going to heaven as we are sinners. Gee’s the little sensitive girl could see and feel that what they were teaching was not a teaching from God. Thank goodness for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon presenting true religion.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.”
I love all the points you make Tim about what True Religion means but this quote above sticks out for me. The world religions today are doing a grand job in making sure we are divided and not united. It takes a world disaster and then they all come together in what I call ‘Brotherhood” and by that I mean they put their religion, nationality and everything else to one side and just go in to help and do what is needed.
Also that feeling of not being more or less than another wipes out all this class division and other stuff that goes with status, title and the rest. All of which is not needed as in Truth we are ALL the same and Equal.
I totally agree with you Bina. Most if not all religions create divisions throughout this world and it takes ‘natural disasters’ for humanity to become united again. May the day come soon when we no longer require these devastating events for the world to be totally one.
Awesome Tim.
I love returning to your list of true religion because it confirms my feelings exactly, Tim. It’s so great to be reminded that God is inside each and every one of us.
I totally agree with you Mathew. I can now clearly see that my resistance to the religious structure of the “church” did make me resistant to god. The Way of the Livingness has given me the true meaning of the word religion. This has allowed me to develop a relationship with myself that allows me to reawaken what has always been within me. The way I live with myself and others as a Son of God is my religion.
“I could never understand how religion would say that God loves us but then there are all these rules that, if you don’t follow them, you will be punished.”
Same, same, same! It just never made any sense because as a child I felt that I knew God but church, the priests and nuns felt awful and cold.
I love that you’ve brought the Truth back to Religion Tim. It has always been there for the taking, only has been harder to see and feel amongst all the rules and dogma.
After most of my life struggling with what was presented to me as religion and who or what God really is, I have finally come to a place of deeper understanding. Thanks to the introduction of the ‘The Way of the Livingness’, by Serge Benhayon, I can say that I finally understand what true religion is; it is the way we live with ourselves and others, and our world, and it is there for us all, equally so. No dogma, no do’s, no don’ts, no threats, no demands, no guilt; just a responsibility to be all I can be in every moment of every day and knowing that everything I do impacts on everything and everyone.
Although during my life I never gave religion much thought, like you Ingrid, I have also “come to a place of deeper understanding’ of religion, “thanks to the introduction of the ‘The Way of the Livingness’, by Serge Benhayon”. It has not only transformed my life, but it is so simple – just a loving way to be with self, others, the world in general and “a responsibility to be all I can be in every moment of every day and knowing that everything I do impacts on everything and everyone”. Now that is a true religion!
The word ‘religion’ is capable of making people anti-religious and therefore anti God. A clever yet misleading meaning to the word. One mention of the word religion and there can be instant resistance. It took me a little while to relearn what religion really was and discover the cover up that blinds society and that true religion is the way we live.
I agree with what you have said Matthew, but feel that the word ‘religion’ is only a word….. it’s what comes with it that harms – oh, the power behind a word. Once the true definition of the word ‘religion’ is realised then maybe things will start to change and the world will begin to live religiously in love with each other.
It is monumental that we are reclaiming that true religion is about the way we live and not what you are taught or told to believe.
I agree David, I never considered that a true religion was this way. It turns the world I knew upside down, yet makes complete sense.
The way of the Livingness is true religion with the emphasis of self love and care and equality for all mankind as all true sons of god equally.
The abuse by religion movements throughout history from both angles of political and personal gain – genocide, crusaders, holy war, pedophilia, trans-continental domination – has made many people understandably atheistic in their views, untrusting and intolerant at even the mention of the word ‘religion’.
It is as if the world has been suitably set up to not recognise the real meaning of the word should a group of people emerge presenting such a thing… And this is precisely what has happened with the Way of the Livingness… the real thing has arrived but how do people tell the difference after being hurt and lied to for so long?
For this reason the Way of the Livingness may not initially be well embraced by the many as there has been so much damage done to people through the corruption of religions of our time.
This however does not mean that the Way of the Livingness is untrue. In fact it is the opposite… it is ‘the way back to finding who you are’. But this phrase too will find great opposition as it has been misused for so many centuries.
I can recall the priest in bible studies at school being so condescending and thinking he was entitled to tell us how to live and what God wanted us to do and how to be. It was very damaging of my attitude towards religion. I can however see the point that Universal Medicine presents, that there is a true religion that lives inside us and we require no outside source to tell us what to do or how to be. It makes sense that something amazing lives within us when we can see such beauty in life, despite the tragedy that ideologies like man made religion have contributed to.
I can remember taking my two daughters out of Sunday school because they were being taught that if they did not believe in God they would not go to Heaven. Just how much damage is done to children god only knows (pun intended)! Love resides in us all, equally so, imagine if children were taught to acknowledge and feel this from a young age, the world would soon wake up to the truth – that we are all Sons of God.
Is it possible that there is a way to live that excludes no one, that has no ‘rule’ book of right or wrong, but that has at its essence a call for each individual to understand and take responsibility for themselves and the impact of their choices on others? The Way of the Livingness is just that and by the true definition of religion (returning to unity) presents a real opportunity for our future.
Every word here speaks so loud and clear as the truth: The Way of the Livingness/how I live on a daily basis, is the true meaning of religion. It makes such perfect sense, thank you Tim.
Beautiful blog Tim,
I too could never feel that any religion was whole and true, because I had always felt that there was a God and that God was not like anything that any religion was offering. I came to a point in my life, during my searching years, where I thought I would give church another go. The day I went the sermon held within it, there was so much criticism and judgement, that I never went back. It was not until I was inspired by Serge Benhayon and the Way of the Livingness, that I too found God living within me.
I agree with you Joel, that God has been made into something so complex, divisive and elusive and this is what confused me so much that I went in the opposite direction with full on spiritual, new age stuff. I replaced that three letter word with the word Universe, but it just didn’t sit right and after dabbling with my spiritual way for many many years, I came to a true Religion called The Way of the Livingness that unites us ALL EQUALLY.
I have just read this again Tim and I am so taken with your solid reasoning and common sense. I have to agree with all you say and particularly this: “True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.” This is something I have been looking at myself lately, the more I wake up to the responsibility I have the more love and understanding grows.
Great blog Tim. You have reclaimed the true meaning of religion here. A connection to God that can be equally felt and lived by all. No rules or doctrines needed, simply a connection to love, to God and each other.
I love that “Yes, I am religious person” straight up, no problem, just saying it how it is, for me this is such a leap as I am still caught in what religion has been bastardised to mean, instead of the beauty and simplicity it actually is!
The Way of the Livingness is True Religion.
I love this line – “true religion is how I live my life in a day to day basis”. This is very true as I have learnt with the support and wisdom of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon. It is so far from what I thought religion was as a child – a place you go to for sad events, a set of rules for control, feeling less than, being told I am not enough and so on. Like many I walked away from religion, or so I thought. I did walk away from the dogma, control and dare I say lies. Now I embrace a new, loving and true religion – “The Way of the Livingness”.
I love the line ‘True religion… unites us ALL’. ( May I even emphasize the All even more?)
As a child it never made any sense to me that anyone could be excluded from Heaven for eternity.
I totally agree with you David it does not make any sense what so ever that God would exclude any soul that he himself has created. All equally so we are held in Gods arms to be equal with all around us. The basis of Love, Brotherhood and ultimately the truest way that we can live on earth in Harmony.
I love it when we really consider the ALL. When I do it means every step I take is blessed with the joy of responsibility.
I love the simplicity of how you have presented Religion as a relationship we develop within, not a doctrine outside of ourselves – such ease, connection and self-discovery rather than struggle, condemnation and peril.
…”struggle, condemnation and peril”, I fear that the world will continue on this path until it gets to the point where they don’t know where else to turn except to acknowledge that maybe God DOES reside within, after all, we will have searched every avenue and not found it outside of ourselves. I never understood what the words truly meant when people told me that God is inside me, that is, until I found Universal Medicine, and then I FELT it. If we continue to expand our Livingness out into the world maybe THEY will feel it too, sooner rather than later, then we can truly say we have re-founded the Church of Love.
“True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All”
Never truer words Tim. Especially as some people in the world continue the centuries old illusion of using violence to gain what they want in the name of ‘religion’.
How awesome Tim, realising that the word Religion has been mis-used for a long time. That means it has been used not in it’s true meaning, so many people now have an issue with this word. I love how simply you explain what true Religion actually is. That feels so amazing and I can say Yes to it fully.
A-m-a-z-i-n-g blog Tim. When I was learning RE at school, I also felt that what they were saying didn’t quite add up to the way things were in the world if religion was supposed to be so great and all encompassing. From that experience I withdrew from being religious in any way and was proud of the fact that I wasn’t being “sucked in” by all the rules and beliefs of these religions. In doing that I missed out on feeling that God is there inside of us all the time. Now that I have been presented with the Way of the Livingness I can truly feel that we are ALL sons of God, equally so.
Thats so true Melissa, I also turned by back on religion as it didn’t feel right as it was being presented, but if god and our own religion is with us all the time then we are missing out by not connecting to that feeling.
I have been brought up catholic, but never could really relate to it. It felt like a play to me. All those people talking about how to be a good christian and that God loves everyone ,… , but in there daily lives – and even in church – there was such much comparison, envy and mistrust.
The Way of the Livingness instantly felt different for me and is what I had long been looking for – equality, responsibility and love.
I was having this same conversation yesterday that those qualities people attribute to religion come from inside a person and are evident across religion and with people not in a religion at all. It’s amazing that we continue to put the power in a body outside of ourself.
It shows how much we are not willing to acknowledge that divinity lives within. What would we do with that if we really felt this to be true…
The current religious climate of “my religion is the best religion” and the hypocrisy of even living the virtues of said religion puts so many people off having any sort of relationship with GOD. This is such a shame that religion is in the hands of the large dominant religious institutions and not in the hands of each and every person. It is a shame that religion and GOD are not open and normal words for people to develop their own relationship to but instead are owned by a dogma that you have to subscribe to . . . and in many cases if you don’t subscribe you are out.
Absolutely Rebecca, its massive how being religious and having a relationship with God has been twisted and bastardized to fit into an institutionalized form of religion that holds people small and dependent in the power of others. The true religious revolution is to claim it back in its simplicity and true meaning!
I love the expression “God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions.”
There is no major religion that I have found that represents this truth, so this made me ponder on whether we could actually live together this way, without judgement, rules or conditions and how would life be?
Without judgement, we would have to just allow others to be where they are in life and to develop an understanding of what is going on for them, otherwise frustration and resentment would reign.
Without rules, we would have to constantly feel every choice and make it a loving one for ourselves and for others, otherwise there would be harm everywhere.
And without conditions we would have to make harmony the marker for all that we do and express, otherwise there would be no way for people to agree on how to work together in a fair and loving way.
Not only does all of the above seem possible, it feels like this is exactly what we are here to learn to do – to develop this way of living as a religion – the Way of The Livingness.
An awesome revelation Rob of what love entails and a way forward for Humanity. Or could it be said that this is exactly where we are going as there is a part of us that knows what love is, for we are all from love and we are all making our way back to where we came from.
well said Andrew
I love your comment Rob. I certainly do feel that one day the world will live like this because it is our natural way of being, we are just returning back to it. The Way of the Livingness will show the world that it doesn’t have to suffer and it IS possible to return back to love and harmony.
Without judgement, we would have to just allow others to be where they are in life and to develop an understanding of what is going on for them, otherwise frustration and resentment would reign. Thankyou Rob that comment is just what I needed to read this morning.
I love your blog, Tim, and always come back to read it again. Its so beautiful and clear, written for everybody to understand and live the simplicity of it. Religion is how we live, as equal Sons of God, equally, from our body, taking responsibility for everything and loving ourselves first, awesome!!!
I agree it is wonderful to read again and again, anything that takes the mystery out of religion is a must read!
A lovely blog Tim. I especially like the words “God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions”. Unfortunately the other religions have all their rules, dogmas and beliefs, and all adherents have to believe what they are told they must believe. Those beliefs and rules etc. are what keeps us separate from one another. Whereas if you live by the Truth in your own inner heart, in which is the Kingdom of God, you know what is True. It is all about our relationship with ourselves and with God himself. This then is what connects us with all others.
This article opens up so much for us in terms of how we are governed by misinterpretations of the meaning of words. Tim has re-written the dictionary on religion and I know there are many other words out there that need similar attention: family, love, work…
As a child I was brought up in a religious way. I never understood how someone could preach something and then live another way. It seemed hypocritical. I turned my back on this when I was a teenager. Years later, after finding Universal Medicine, I realised that true religion is all about what is within us, that we all are Sons of God, all equal and all loved equally and that it is our Livingness that makes the difference.
Love your blog Tim! True religion is about my relationship with everything and everyone, including myself and God. None of the rules imposed by the outside world will ever work to control us to be a certain way – the way is known in the hearts of every man, woman and child. True religion delivered through the Way of the Livingness is about developing this fundamental connection. True religion when felt in the body is a joy-full way of living every day.
Well put Suzanne – I once saw religion as a very personal choice to conform to a certain way. But as you so beautifully put – it is about relationships with everything!
Yes well said Suzanne, I walked away from religion because I felt I had to conform to a set of rules that I did not entirely agree with. The core difference between The Way of the Livingness verses other religions is that this Way offers us tools that support us to connect to our inner heart, to cherish and honour who we truly are. Each person’s journey will be their own, no rules, no doctrine just studying the art of remaining connected in all we do, bringing love into every single aspect of our lives.
Every day – there are no ‘special days ‘ where we dress our best, observe certain traditions, and the spend the rest of our days behaving ‘normally’, and often against the teachings we have heard on that special day. The Way of the Livingness reminds us that every second of every day is about love, brotherhood and connection to ourselves and humanity. No judgement, no rules, no excuses, just following the impulse of our hearts to serve and do no harm. Living this way I am freed from the constrictions and limitations of how others see their lives.
‘The way is known in the hearts of every man, woman and child’ With that knowledge and connection there is no need for laws or rules, because no one could ever do anything that would harm another and true brotherhood would be enjoyed
Beautiful Suzanne, I felt my whole body come alive with your words. ‘The way is known in the hearts of every man, woman and child’. It certainly is.
The opening paragraph made me laugh. At school I was in the “Sharing and Caring” class while everyone else went to their respective religion class. We watched Clockwork Orange and did art for rest homes. But then I was able to appreciate how I too have come to know what true religion is. I stopped and appreciated how far I have come with my view on religion – from dismissing it entirely for the same reasons as you Tim, to actually living it daily.
Great blog, I love the point you make about how some religions tell you how to be when these qualities are already naturally inside of us.
Thanks Tim. We have spent who knows how long ‘making’ a better religion, one that had nothing to do really with ourselves and what we feel. More it was a focus on improving how it looks and at the moment to make it more modern. My religion is age old and is always up with the times, my religion is me. The connection to myself, moment by moment, day by day. I don’t need to build anything or prove or preach, I just need to live everyday with that commitment to myself. No once a week gathering but a day by day check in with all those around me. So my religion is a way of living and not a way of doing or following, it is the Way of the Livingness.
Beautifully put Katrin. ‘We are all the equal sons of God’ All the dogma, all the religious books, all the trappings of bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes are insignificant beside the love expressed in that statement.
Awesome Tim.
What stands out for me with religion and my religious way – The Way of the Livingness – is equality. Having true understanding and feeling that we are equal to every other person on this planet, as we are all Divine in our essence.
Amelia, the way you highlight equality as fundamental to the Way of the Livingness is so pertinent. No intermediaries, no ranks of clergy, just loving equalness.
Growing up, the only time I felt religion was forced on to me was at Primary School. It wasn’t often, I would always wag it playing down by the creek, until the bell went then of I’d go to school – these classes just felt like torture. Come High School, it was more of a choice so I decided to try and understand the fuss about religion, why there were so many arguments and fighting and I was just thinking on the small scale, let alone the massive impact Religion had on the world. This I had no idea the of trail devastation and carnage left behind because of a word I didn’t understand until later… So in my attempt to find understanding I found out that:
A: Don’t ask questions
B: Never question why
C: Don’t compare religions to each other, people can get super cranky
D: Do as I say, not do as I do
What I love about the Way of the Livingness is, I am encouraged to ask questions, as many questions as I like and continue to ask them and I’m not condemned, see what works and what doesn’t. I’ve never ever been told what to do, but am inspired by a way of living that treats everyone with such a high regard, it is one of the most amazing things I have experienced.
This is what should be taught as RE not the tales that have been spun to spread division among our fellow brothers.
And it is my way too!
The moment we make religion something outside of and thus separate to us, our innermost, it is in truth no longer religious but indeed the opposite as it cuts the relationship with the divine instead of nurturing it.
Love your blog Tim, God is Love, pure and simple. Knowing that God lives inside us all and that by reconnecting to this inner knowing and learning to live from there has transformed my life. The Way of the Livingness is for me the only true religion, a religion that has no boundaries, no rules, no dogma no Popes or Priests or leaders, there are no followers or buildings to worship in, religion for me is based on true love, a love that is can be felt in every cell of my body.
YES! How can we stop the wars around us if we still have war inside? The Way of the Livingness supported me as well to come back to harmony.
Tim what an awesome blog, I agree with all you have shared. I have always know undoubtadley that there is a God, that there is something much more I have never ever thought that there wasn’t or questioned this in the sense of what happens to the world. But what I did question growing up was religion as that didn’t make sense, not religion itself as I love that word, but how it was presented to the world. In my teenage years I went to church with a partner, but this wasn’t true, there were far too many rules, things you could and could not do, which really ruffled my feathers as they were not true, what I could feel and see is how controlling these rules and beliefs were, and how limited an understanding on life and people they offered, there was a lot of judgement there – no love and definitely no acceptance of where another was at. I have to say the big thing that got me in the end was this belief that if you didn’t believe in their God you were going to hell. Simple not true and definitely not love – so that was that. Then I checked out Buddhism in my twenties and was intrigued by eastern religion, but yet again something was missing here, it felt empty as still looking for something, it didn’t seem as judgemental, but there was still an element of control there and all these ideals and beliefs, and sitting for hours chanting, mediating was not for me. My body clearly did not want to do that. One thing I also questioned about all religions I explored was how can people say and be one thing on this particular day when we meet, then in life this is not what you see or get, I questioned this constantly. Something clearly didn’t make sense. It was always a them against us kind of feeling. That was until I came to a Universal Medicine event and was presented with The Way of The Livingness – now this is a religion that is absolutely true to me in every single sense. There is not one ounce of doubt in my body and it joyfully confirms what I have known all along that God is inside of me, and that I love the fact that I have a relationship with him every single day.
How many other words or things do we shy away from because of previous experience, missing the opportunity to explore and learn? This is a wake up call for us as individuals (let’s remember who is in charge of our choices here) and our education system (what misinterpretations are we embedding in our children). Thank you, Tim.
I agree Tim, Religion has never made sense to me in the way that it has been taught and ultimately lived.
What I love about The Way of the Livingness religion, is that there are no rules only the self responsibility to feel what is true and live in a way that respects the truth you feel on the inside. This is a religious way to live in relation to self and all else, including the everything held by GOD.
Yes Rebecca, it was the same for me. Religion as it was presented to me as I was growing up never made sense. I always had an innate feeling that religion and God (whomever he / she was!) was much grander and all encompassing than anything one heard in Sunday school or church. Fortunately I only went to both for a very short while. Now that I have found The Way of the Livingness and have started to live this religious way in relation to self and others, it feels like ‘coming home’ – just a natural, loving way to be!
Tim I never used to like going to RE lessons either, I couldn’t see the point in them and I felt completely disconnected to what was being taught. I can see this was because we were not for one moment shown (taught) that love, God, is our essence and that we can experience this as who we are. It still takes it’s toll that we’re taught God is something outside of us, that’s like saying love is outside of us…is it no wonder growing up that we look outside for all the confirmation that we are good enough or loveable enough?
Well said Tom, and I would add that a true religion does not make you depend on it in any way – and in my experience with Universal Medicine, there is a strong emphasis on self empowerment, in other words, never is a dependency created. There is the support there as needed, but there is a fostering of our own abilities to connect to the love and God within and not having to seek for it outside of ourselves, not need to attend a church or building to feel God – just a simple breath to re-connect.
The biggest moment of understanding and re-connection to me was when I read in one Serge Benahyons Books that – God Lives inside everyone of us, and that we are all true sons of God, it felt completely true and resonated . As I had always wondered how the religions and churches had taken exclusivity to God ownership, or you could only get it here or through me ie the priest, holy man or church. As a child I saw through this immediately, the disconnection and lack of true love/joy. First of all at School scripture and not knowing what religion I was, so was thrown into the Presbyterian class and God fearing scriptures yelled at me, a very scary weird first remembered experience of religion. Then followed some annual church gatherings for Orthodox Easter with my Polish grandparents, to me it felt like a scary late night event a cross between Halloween or a party at the Adams family manor, not a lot of joy about. It was some years later I eventually declared to my parents over the dinner table that I wasn’t interested in religion at present, but may go looking for God later in life and due to my father not aligning was luckily let off the hook. It’s funny how much wisdom is there as a child, and how I always knew I was already complete, connected by feel and didn’t need the religious form of God.
I now re-feel that God is everywhere as I always knew, despite all sorts of confusing info given and myself disconnecting from that knowing when consumed by my hurts and life’s tough lessons through ill choices.
I am glad to have found true religion in my way of living and the God that always was is within.
Thanks Tim
Tim, would the world not be a different place if we all had a greater understanding of religion? As you say, ‘True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.’
Fiona. I fully agree with all you have written. We are all equal children of God.
Yes, well said Brendan, it’s certainly not working the way it is!
True religion- a loving, deep connection with self, others and nature.
I was very entrenched in the rules and regulations of what Christianity meant, growing up.
What a relief it was for me- ‘a coming home’ feeling, when I finally understood and felt that God lies deep within us all equally. We don’t have to go to church to feel God’s presence, as it is magically reflected to us daily in nature when we are connected to ourselves.
So many years of believing that God was outside of myself and the only sure way ‘to get to heaven’ was by being good.
Thanks to Serge Benhayon for he has presented a true religion – ‘The Way of the Livingness.’
I too was led to believe that ‘God’ was out there – unapproachable, unattainable – this was fed to me by the various churches that I attended during my life and like you Loretta I have found that this is indeed not the case and I like the way you refer to “a loving, deep connection with self, others and nature. On recently hearing again a presentation by Serge Benhayon at one of the Universal Medicine afternoons referring to The Way of the Livingness being a true religion, I was one of the many who flinched a little due to my mis-interpretation and misunderstanding of the root of the word Religion. How freeing and
real it is now to have received the wisdom of the truth of the word ‘Religion’ – it makes total sense to me now, thanks to Serge Benhayon.
Hear Hear.
It seems that your confusion around religion at the early stages of life is shared by many. Religion as it is commonly presented and experienced today just doesn’t make sense. We hold an innate ability to sense what is true. It is wonderful to learn to live by that. That is true religion.
When we fully accept that we are all the equal sons of God then the True Religion which you so clearly and simply describe makes complete sense… And in the Livingness of such, the absolute truth of it’s Way becomes irrefutable.
“True religion is how I live my life on a day-to-day basis and taking full responsibility for all my choices.”
This statement really resonated with me today as I reflected upon much needed change in the world for all that we do to each other in the name of ‘religion”.
I agree mmryan this statement stood out for me also, and the joy that can be felt in us all taking responsibility for our choices, not passing it onto someone else, or something else, that’s an easy escape.
Bina I love what you say, ‘The Way of the Livingness most definitely stopped the War inside myself.’ If I’m feeling a conflict within myself between what’s true and what’s not, I do know how to restore harmony: I choose to re-connect.
Wow. ‘the War inside myself’ really made me stop and look at my own life. Thanks Bina.
So true Bina and Karin, life does not have to be a battle, so why do many of us choose it? It’s like you say Karin, it’s just a simple choice to re-connect.
This blog is spot on. There is no need for a church or Sunday gatherings to make you worthy of connecting with God. God lives within each and every one of us, equally. This is an amazing fact to realise. It shows me that no one person is more special or loved by God, we are all equally embraced by His Love, it simply comes down to how much we allow this Love into our lives. This is where the choice is ours. Do we allow ourselves to feel the Grace of what is continually offered to us, without exception, or do we continue on in the belief that God is separate to us and we have to earn His Love? For me, I never connected to the idea that God was separate to me and I had to earn His Love, but it wasn’t until Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presented what true religion is that I was able to allow myself to feel the depth of what it meant to be truly religious. Now, I have communion with God every time I allow myself to feel the beauty of nature, or when I look into my daughters heavenly eyes, or when I feel the grace and delicateness of my dog or when I stop and feel the enormous power within me, because as I allow myself to feel and connect to all this I am having a relationship with God, and that is what true religion is.
I love this sharing of religion and claiming back the word and its true meaning, we are all so scarred by the mainstream religious institutions that to say I am in a religion feels wrong to me, but yet I am religious and want to be able to say that with out recoiling from what the world believes it to mean. But underneath that is just a lack of willingness to stand tall in love.
Thank you Tim you have spoken truth. All my life I have been seeking understanding of how do I live in a true way? You have so beautifully and simply described… True Religion is a way of life connecting to our essence of pure love and living from here. As we live from here more and more each day we are naturally and truly kind, good, responsible and care for all….and JOYFUL!!!!
Thank you Tim. The Way of The Livingness is there for everyone, no rules, no judgement no expectations just love … religion in it’s true sense, and it works for me.
I was christened into the ‘Church of England’ and in my childhood I loved the biblical stories. By the time I was 13 I realised that judgement was the main teaching in the Bible. So I turned my back on the ‘church’ and much later discovered that I could make up MUCH better stories than was presented in the Bible (all based on judgement)!
Universal Medicine suggests a way of living that is not based on judgement, cruelty and sin and for that I am truly grateful.
How many of us have been caught in the false religions of the world because we knew there was something true in them and we let that be it, dealing with or trying to ignore all the stuff that did not sit right. I stepped away from all the ‘man-made’ religions a while ago, never abandoning God, but knowing we were missing the mark. In Universal Medicine I have come home to that which I have always known and the simplicity of it is remarkable.
Dear Tim, this is absolutely music to my ears. True religion is all that you have shared. I have always known there was God, yet all the religions I was presented with and tried growing up did not make sense, they left me feeling nope there is more than this, (and so much more), yes there were elements of truth but none that truly were about Love, there was always some form of separation, judgement or comparison to others in the world. And this did not feel true to me at all. Now as a student of the Livingness and having realised what I have know all along, God is within me, I can truly say that without a doubt – there is not one ounce of comparison, judgement or separation in God or religion in it’s true sense, just love.
you say…”I could never understand how religion would say that God loves us, but then there are all these rules that, if you don’t follow them, you will be punished.”… Having grown up in the Jewish religion this statement rings true for me too… there were so many prayers that told us to fear god and his vengeance, it just never really made sense.
I love the simplicity of what you write in that the way of the livingness places responsibility on us, that true religion is living from love (of self first), not judgement and seeing all as equal. God is within, part of who we are, not an outside force that influences us. This is true religion.
So beautifully expressed – religion has always been a word I avoided and in a way I was anti religion (coming from a catholic background) and so I avoided it. That is, until Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon presented the Way of the Livingness and the true meaning of the work religion and it just made sense.
Religion never made sense to me either as I couldn’t understand how there were so many religions all claiming to be the truth and all seeming to know a different God. I decided from an early age that I would find my own truth and my own God, not from outside in but from inside out. Finally, The Way of Livingness resonates Truth, that God is within us all, and “presents a simple way to return to our natural essence…Love.” Thanks Tim for this blog.
Thank you Tim, this is amazing. I love how you have shared what true religion is. I could feel that in my body as I was reading it.
I felt my connection with God as a child but I still went searching outside of myself to belong to a church. My parents did not belong to any church so I tagged along with other families, trying out every religion in our town until I finally settled on catholocism at age fourteen. Since attending Universal Medicine and listening to Serge Benhayon speak I have realised that religion means “connection” , which is what I felt as a small child before I was introduced to religions. The so-called religions offer comfort along with their rules and judgement but it is self-responsibility and self -love that connects us to God and true religion.
Hi Irene, thanks for your comment. I too went to all the local Sunday Schools with my various friends of different denominations. I settled for the Methodist Church and with a group of boys we would pool our collection of money and buy a packet of cigarettes and sneak off to the recreation grounds and smoke. It took me a long time to correct my bad ways but I finally found the work of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon. Now I know I am a Son of God.
Irene, your comment that ‘which is what I felt as a small child before I was introduced to religions’ confirms that we are aware of the truth when we are small, yet we allow ourselves to lose this connection as we grow up and are ‘socialised’. The world will be a very different place once we meet children for who they truly are and allow the space for their innate connection to unfold rather than molding them into what society expects.
Very clear and very simple, no complications there. Straight to the point Tim. I agree that traditionally religions have been the cause of wars and still are, but from the misinterpretation always. If each one of us was very dedicated to living connected to our essence, there would be no war, no need to compete for religion, and it would be the end of separation.
Great comment Janne. God is the love expressed in everything we do.
Thank you Tim. The true religion you speak of I can relate to deeply, I feel it in my bones…
I love what you say Dean and I totally agree – the religion that Tim speaks about in this blog, I can feel deeply and it is in my bones too. The Way of the Livingness has answered ALL my questions that I have had about God, Religion and why we are here and what is this earth life all about. Thank You Universal Medicine for showing me that there is another way to live and I actually look forward to every single day and there are no more ‘dreaded’ or ‘boring’ days in my life as I know who God is in Truth.
What you have presented Tim is the simplicity of truth. Religions throughout history have distorted and complicated the truth to confuse, disempower, de-stabilise and control people. Love and truth reside within. Living from this simplicity is true religion and available for all equally to live in their own way, without needing a complex system of rules and regulations!
Absolutely gorgeous Rik thank you.
Interesting Missspringclean. I had a similar experience 15 years ago in early January . I was very ill in bed with flu and I had a strong feeling that a new religion was born – a one religion for the whole of humanity and that all the other religions would in time disappear. I, like you and many others, know that the Way of the Livingness is amongst us.
I love how you expressed Rowena “When we build our lives based on the foundation of love, tenderness, honesty, truth rather than Being Good, we offer ourselves the opportunity to feel the precious love of God within us”. To the best of my ability, I am endeavouring to live that way.
Beautifully expressed Bina, and I agree wholeheartedly with you.
I agree Helen, The Way of The Livingness is also my religion. I have learned to reconnect to the amazingness that I am within.
It’s my religion too, Beverley and Helen. The Way of the Livingness, what a gift to humanity, based on truth, love and harmony, what more could we want.
This is probably one of the biggest things I’ve realised and understood with ‘The Way of the Livingness’ – “True religion is not something that divides us but unites us All – as we are all equal sons of God. I know that I am no more or no less than any other as I am an equal Son of God.” I can remember always feeling religion made everyone separate… even in school when religion was on (my parents said I didn’t need to do it) everyone would be split into ‘religious’ or ‘not religious’ or ‘that religion’ etc etc. and I was so confused. I also didn’t like how it felt after religion as well, as friends came back different, like a ‘better than’ or arrogance because they went – which is just the same, as you pointed out, on a bigger scale – wars and fighting over who’s God is better.
The Way of the Livingness, and what you have shared made so much sense to me – “God is pure love and pure love does not judge or have rules or conditions.” Thank you Tim.
That is well observed Aimee. I too saw throughout school that even at the very least the way religion was interpreted split people into religious and non-religious, and then I saw in society that this split was just a start – we got the different types and flavours of religions and the competition and arrogance and fighting that goes on. While as the Way of the Livingness has shown, true religion does not divide people but unites us.
“True religion is realising that we don’t need someone to tell us that we have to ‘get or find God’ because God is already inside each and every one of us.” I can feel this as a a truth in my life and I now learning to express from this place. I have had a distrust of words for a very long time but I am learning to express and share what I feel within and I am appreciating that this is part of living from a place of true religion.
I completely get this. I always knew there was more to life than only what we see. I was raised with Christian beliefs but could not understand that if god was all powerful & all loving, why did he want me in church every Sunday to tell him how great he is? This seemed like a very egotistical human trait. I also wondered that, if god could creat Adam from dust, why is god a man? Why does he even need a gender?
Agreed Lee, and when you really peel everything back to atoms and electrons, we might ask why we ended up in the separation fostered by having male and female genders and the ages old domination of one by the other.
Unless, of course, it presents the possibility for us to realise that despite our physical gender, our inner beingness holds the qualities of both equally. Until we reach the point of truly comprehending this possibility we, at least have the reflections from one another of what is possible when as a man I allow myself the space to honour the tenderness I am capable of as reflected to me by the way in which many women gently care for themselves.
This is a great point, we try to humanise God and give him the character flaws that we ourselves have, which is a great way to polarise opinion and make us judgemental of what God is or does. If we accept that God is ever loving and not at all like our humanised portrayal, it is then much easier to build a relationship with God, who is there for us no matter what.
Thank you Tim as this reminded me of how I felt about religion too. Over the years religion has been complicated and I struggled to connect with it because it never made sense. It was a relief to find out that god was inside of me and I was the son of god. The struggle was over as this felt true and simple. This gave a whole new meaning to religion.
Isn’t it amazing that Christianity (and other mainstream religions today) actually all got started on a true footing and lost their way? Is it because at the beginning, when they were new they represented threats to the ruling status quo and so there were vigorous attempts to stamp them out, and when it failed, to corrupt them? They become the hotbeds of hypocrisy, separation and even violence that we see today, and hence a great many people are becoming disillusioned with religion and leaving it in droves. Now in the 21st century we have a new religion beginning in truth, and what happens? The ruling status quo tries to stamp it out and if that fails, to corrupt it. So we see less than a handful of individuals attempting to smear Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness by whatever apalling, evil means at their disposal. They are puppets of the same-old same-old. But this time their attempts to bring down the truth will fail. Too many of us are waking up to the truth and determined to continue to be the love that we have found within and with our fellow humans. We will not be drowned out by the voices of fear, greed and hate. We will not give up this time. Love will prevail.
Dianne, you have summed it up beautifully. The same-old same-old are still here but this time (big time) we will stand up fully because we are not afraid, we will not give up and truth will prevail.
Very well said Dianne and Maryline. This time Truth will prevail.
This is a wonderful blog Tim and it really sets the record straight. I got the impression when I was young in the 1950s, that God was deliberately contrived by the church establishment to be rather fierce and someone to be afraid of, so that one would be kept on the ‘straight and narrow’ through fear. Some ‘religious’ people seemed to me to wear their religion like a badge of some exclusive club, giving them a sort of air of superiority. All in all I was repelled by religion which also seemed to be behind a lot of wars in history and still is today. Discovering Serge Benhayon and the way of the livingness, in my sixties was a great revelation to me. The true meaning of religion is
as you say, simple, direct and common sense.
Like you Katrin, growing up I had little time for religion, and only went to church and Sunday school a few times when I was 8 or 9 before my parents no longer insisted that I go. I assume that my parents did not have a strong connection to any one church because, although they were aligned to the Church of England, my sister and I were sent to a Methodist Sunday school so that we did not have to cross the main road! However, I always had a sense that there was a God, only not a god as was commonly portrayed. Like you, it was not until I found Serge Benhayon in my 60s and heard him talk about religion as a re- connection to our true self that I knew what true religion was.
I agree Anne, from meeting Serge Benhayon and attending presentations, I found the meaning of true religion to be the re-connection to our true self. Not outside of us but an expression of the true connection to ourselves.
Well done Tim – you have presented beautifully and simply the answer to a topic that theologians and the various man made religions have made unnecessarily complex. That is that God is Love and is within us all equally if we choose to connect to our inner heart and feel the love for self and others and live it on a daily basis.
I agree with you Peter, true religion is very simple and is lived everyday in everything we do. Interesting how most of those ‘man-made religions’ had genuine loving beginnings and were then corrupted and controlled by men in separation from the actual impulse of God.
So well said Tim. In life we are on a journey, if we stop, things may not go right.
What ever your beliefs are, follow your heart.
So simple and yes there is no need to fight or disagree, we are all precious sparks of God, we just need to stop, connect and feel God’s warmth within. We can carry this warmth with us in all we do, no need for a Church or a zillion books on the subject, just the constant reminder to return to ourselves throughout the day and be Love!
So simple Rowena as you say – no intermediaries, no dogma, just connection with our inner preciousness – ever available.
Great reminder, love that spark of warmth within, I know I feel love very much in my body as warmth and a steady flow that is YUMMY and so much more!
Very simply and succinctly expressed thank you for sharing Tim.
I love your comment Bina that The Way of the Livingness stopped the war inside yourself, so true! Tim this is great love the good, nice etc has nothing to do with religion. Just this week I heard a child at a local school had his golden award taken off him for making a silly face in church – he was being rude to God…. that kids are getting taught this – how easily God was made angry, A God up there watching you who will punish you! Nothing has changed.
Unlike you I was bought up religious and I remember thinking at about 18yr that I was glad I had been bought up religious as I would not look for it as a way to deal with life in the future as I knew it was not IT. It may surprise someone to realise that I now consider myself a religious person – if not me the most! But I am, I now know religion to be about love, nature, harmony and that God is truly inside me with every breath I take. A steady presence forever there no matter if I make silly faces or eat ice-cream or get angry God remains the same, it is I who walk away from the truth of who I am in union with God and it is from there anything is possible, and unfortunately we are well aware of what humanity is aware of in separation to the truth of the divinity they are from…
Ha – I am sure god indeed loves our silly faces. We have the tendency to make life and specially religion so serious, although we are just here in this world and in a human body to get rid of it again and to “union with God”, as you said. I found that when I get very serious I am not longer connected with truth/God, because this is always a joy and it is playful. Yes, it is important to honor ourselves and others – but how? If we are honest, would we not all like to make a silly face, as a comment every now and then – but we are trained not to do so, trained to not express in honesty but to do what is right. But: ‘what is right’ is defined by people and it varies…Truth indeed is from God.
Tim this is so simple and gorgeous. I love how clearly you have expressed what true religion is for you. Having grown up in a strict christian religion I often felt that the whole meaning of religion had been lost amongst the rules and judgement. I could never work out why the should’s and should not’s gained so much attention, yet truly caring for ourselves and one another was second place (at best). The Way of The Livingness is now my religion, true religion, and it makes perfect sense to me.