With the May 2015 U.K. Universal Medicine Retreat already in the past, I feel drawn to examine my position, and the position of Humanity at this moment in time.
Just a few years ago, if you had told me that you were going to a retreat for a few days, I think that perhaps the first feeling that I would have experienced would have been incomprehension, followed closely in second place by sympathy.
The idea of renouncing ‘normal’ life, ‘normal’ food and ‘normal’ behaviour generally would have filled me with dread, even for just a few days. All those pale, anaemic, kaftan-wearing weirdos muttering things like “far out, man” at every opportunity while shuffling their under-nourished, hunched-forward frames around in an apologetic manner would have been bound to provoke some rather unsympathetic remark from me, such as “Cheer up mate!” or “Come on now, pull yourself together!”
Such a scenario is not just fantasy but based upon a life that I have lived, whereby ‘normality’ was defined as the mainstream or what the majority did. Nobody thought that life was perfect, but nobody could think of a better way of living and so every now and then, someone would be ‘inspired’ to approach things differently, claiming that they had found the answer.
Retreats, groups and ‘workshops’ would follow, and ‘Nirvana’ would be guaranteed after everyone had parted with a large chunk of their disposable income to cover the entrance fee.
What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.
A lurking suspicion that we haven’t quite ‘got it’ yet has guaranteed a healthy income for many would-be pioneers of an alternative way. However, after a flurry of enthusiasm and perhaps an endorsement from the odd celebrity or two, it would all be quietly forgotten about as all those involved would slink back to their ‘normal’ lives, seeking solace in alcohol, cream cakes or sex.
The accepted notion of Normality has taken a few knocks in recent years. When one’s children wanted to go off and hitch-hike around the world, one would have become understandably concerned about their safety and would have sought to discourage them, at the same time as perhaps nurturing a slight empathy that they too were after a better way of living that had so far eluded the ‘grown ups’.
But when they quietly and secretly left home for some undisclosed middle-eastern destination in order to join a religious organisation which every day practiced a brutality not seen since the middle ages, then at that moment must come the realisation that WE have just got it all SO wrong, that expression of shock and the wringing of hands is no longer an adequate response.
Dystopia has finally arrived on our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it.
When that well-known Liverpudlian songster sang “Imagine no religion”, he was onto something.
Just imagine for a moment, the current global situation if Institutionalised Religion didn’t exist.
I’m not suggesting that it would be an end to all disputes, but it would certainly take much of the sting out of the Middle East. Israel would still be Palestine and U.S.A. politics wouldn’t be divided up on religious lines as it is at the moment, with the far-right Christians constantly provoking war by their unquestioning support of Israel. With the Middle East no longer a seething cauldron of hate, the polarisation between the main global adversaries, Russia and America, would diminish.
Institutionalised Religion certainly bears a large measure of responsibility for our arrival at this dystopian state.
So what exactly is Religion?
The word religion means literally to re-link or re-connect, but like many words, through usage its accepted meaning has changed. Today, one definition is ‘a specified system of theology’.
Each system, whether Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, has its own ‘religious’ establishment which has grown into a powerful repository of dogma. As each system has become more and more entrenched in its own dogma, so has it cemented itself into an unyielding adversarial position, and so in turn has each of its ardent followers.
Thus, predictably, battle lines begin to be drawn up just as soon as ‘differences of belief’ becomes an issue.
So for Re-connect read Dis-connect and for Re-link read, Severed Link.
To find out exactly what we are supposed to be connecting or linking with, we must go back to the Ancient Wisdom and this is where Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine come into the picture.
According to the teachings of Universal Medicine, the word ‘Esoteric’ in ancient times meant inner-most, and this is what we should be re-connecting or re-linking with; our ‘Inner-Most’, or inner essence.
In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.
The ancient teachings also tell us that ‘Everything is Energy’ and that WE are energy.
One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.
Since these Ancient Times, We as Humanity have progressively lost contact with our inner-selves and we have fallen for such notions as ‘the cult of the individual’, coinciding with the casting up and the casting down of various leaders as their popularity has waxed and waned, according to our whim. Great Prophets and Teachers have fallen victim to this, including one of the most famous, Jesus himself.
In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way.
However, All is not totally lost!!
Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have been teaching the ancient wisdom for several years now and putting into practice the use of energy for healing purposes.
Students attend presentations and ‘retreats’ which use ‘group workshop’ as a way of self-discovery: this is far more powerful than any kind of ‘Lecture’ or teaching by dictation and ‘learning by Rote’.
When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.
To find our way forward, We have to look back!
The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.
Glancing around at the U.K. Universal Medicine Retreat recently, I saw NO pale and pasty-faced, undernourished dropouts, shuffling and mumbling incoherently in an apologetic fashion.
What I actually saw was, Well-Nourished and Joyful faces. Heard and joined in with intelligent conversation, and Laughed and shared moments with Beautifully Normal Human beings as we all worked our way through the aeons-old wisdom which has a more than ‘slightly familiar’ feel to it….. and so it should, for we all know it already!
By Jonathan Cooke, France
Further Reading:
The Way of the Livingness: Understanding True Religion
The Unspoken Rules of Inequality within Family, Tradition and Religion
The History of Sacred Esoteric Healing
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
‘So for Re-connect read Dis-connect and for Re-link read, Severed Link.’ … one of the best descriptions I’ve read on how our religions currently operate and how in doing so all of us loose out. That other way you speak of to openly enquire and reconnect to the wisdom in us is deeply freeing and a way for all of us to live together in who we truly are.
The word retreat is an interesting one. When we retreat to multidimensionality or when we retreat from multidimensionality, we are accepting that multidimensionality is not the norm.
I just completed the 2018 Universal Medicine retreat in Australia and I particularly loved the group work. Serge Benhayon would present a topic and then we break into small groups to workshop the topic so we really understand what it is about and how we could apply it in our own lives. So practical and real.
The Universal Medicine Retreats have the potential to be truly transformational, and the energetic wisdom expressed in each is timeless, but it comes down to us to actually embrace and live these teachings and the responsibility that they all suggest we adopt, and it is this responsibility that would probably make them not-so-popular to people that are used to the usual spiritual retreat that can entail checking out via complex meditation techniques and looking for a momentary feeling of excited bliss. Instead the UniMed retreats assist us to connect with our own inner divine essence in simple body awareness techniques and workshop together in groups concepts and questions that help us bring this connected state to our normal lives with a greater sense of awareness and understanding.
“Just imagine for a moment, the current global situation if Institutionalised Religion didn’t exist.” This is really a line to ponder on – what would our global relationships look like if we took away borders, religions, political opinions and all the things we like to identify ourselves with and realise that we are all human beings.
The unrest that is always with us when we are not connected to our inner-selves shows how there is something that we deeply miss and that is our soul and divinity. It is where we come from and as you so beautifully said: “The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.”
In my pre-Universal Medicine past, a time of great confusion and living a life that was simply about surviving, if I had read the words “To find our way forward, We have to look back!”, I would have been totally confused. But fast forward to today and those words make so much sense as I have come to know that we inherently hold the wisdom of the past within us, the Ancient Wisdom that Serge Benhayon is presenting to the world; a wisdom that holds all the answers to our lives, the lives of others and all the so-called mysteries of this world.
For a while I questioned what ‘normal’ was. Everything we do, say, how we live etc, is normal according to who? This is when ideals, beliefs, cultural, religious, sexual influences etc were being questioned by me.
In 2015 I attended my very first Universal Medicine retreat and it was like no other retreat I have attended. In all honesty there was only one other retreat I attended and that was very different to Universal Medicine. I recalled not wanting to go back home and stay in India (where the retreat was held). The depression I felt afterwards was palpable and basically I did not want to be around people anymore! I returned a different person.
At Universal Medicine retreat, it was different, re-learning about the Ageless Wisdom and who I am in all of this. At first I didn’t like doing group work as I felt quite threatened exposing myself but during the discussions, I realised I was not alone, the group often were going through similar issues and it was really powerful to explore this together.
I love attending the retreats, every year I learn something more about who I truely am and with this I learn to be more comfortable being in my body and me.
“To find our way forward, We have to look back!” To take a moment to track our back story we can also find little pieces of a much larger puzzle that not only shows we are all one but that in being the one we also need to look at our part within the whole and how our actions. thoughts and movements and the quaility in which we move plays a major role in how we live today. Without the teaching’s of the ancient wisdom and Universal Medicine much of these teaching’s would go by the wayside and we would not have the opportunity to discover more about ourselves and also more about the all. Thank you Jonathon.
I love the title of your blog Jonathan, ‘Universal Medicine Retreat…, and Advance’. These retreats are in no way a withdrawal or pulling back or escape from life. A deep honest dive in and rediscovery of our true purpose… and advance.
Little did I know that deep inside there was the absolute knowing that we are here to serve others, each of us has the way forward deep within. The commitment to life that I feel in myself and other Students of Universal Medicine is beyond what I have ever felt before. For without this commitment, we cannot bring to the world the service that is ours to offer.
“To find our way forward, We have to look back!” this simple fact is a game changer as it wipes out the trying and pushing through that we easily get into in order to get somewhere, when in truth what is required is our total surrender to let that which lives within come out to reflect a new way of being that is absolute and offers evolution for all.
What Universal Medicine and the Ageless Wisdom present is true normality rather than normality as defined by conformity.
Jonathan, I love your dry (and what I imagine to be) English sense of humour and style – the title alone is a cracker! But I know too you are speaking of very sober matters and this line also stood out: ‘Dystopia has finally arrived on our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it.’ Very, very true. I just watched ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ – a dystopian vision of a very near future if not present if I ever saw one. It was actually exceptionally chilling, more so than any horror movie, for the world it represents is but a breath away. But, as you say, so too is our salvation – and quite literally. The Gentle Breath Meditation, one of many salient offerings from Universal Medicine, represents a first, simple step we can take to reclaim a way of living that will restore (if we allow it) true freedom and harmony on Earth.
Renunciation in its true sense is very joyful, we are letting go of all the prisons we have set up for ourselves to return to a freedom to truly feel who we are.
After attending quite a few Universal Medicine retreats I can say I have never seen any kaftans, pale faces, or cathartic experiences like I have experienced in other retreats I have attended in the past. There is such a difference when you attend these Universal Medicine retreats, everyone is committed and open to more awareness and love and then bringing this back into their every day life.
Yes, this has been my experience too, Anna. The previous retreats I attended were very much forms of escapism and relief while those of Universal Medicine are far from this.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves” we hold the wisdom of the universe within ourselves, a level of intelligence far more advanced than we can fathom and it is through our willingness to resurrect ourselves again that we can claim who we are as true sons of God.
The notion of normality gets constantly redefined to suit our ill being. If we buy into it, we get the arguments we need to reject Universal Medicine and its permanent invitation for us to walk into the path of true wellbeing.
I agree Jonathan that it does not take a genius to see that organised religion is behind much of the separation, division and conflict in the world today and it makes me ponder that perhaps it is the security of an organised religion that people turn to when they are disconnected from the ancient wisdom that we all know inside? How many people would really have an issue with the word religion if it was presented as simply a reconnection to our soul, our divinity and each other as a one unified humanity, rather than the dogma dominated set of beliefs and ideals that we currently call religion?
If we were willing to address what we call and think is love our livingness would be very different.
I’ve found the group work element to the workshops, presentations and retreats to be mind blowingly powerful. This is not just someone up on stage preaching, but asking us to do the work, to engage and be active in the exploration and when we get a realisation…. to speak up and share our wisdom, raising everyone’s experience and understanding.
I have never attended any other Retreat beside one’s held by Universal Medicine. I remember joking with friends about other Retreats, Ashrams, 10-day silence and what not, about how I could probably use some time to shut up but I knew I wouldn’t last 5mins. The truth was, the spiritual new age movement never really appealed to me that much. When I met Serge Benhayon and went to a day workshop I knew anything this guy would be presenting would be straight down the line, pure gold, and it was. The retreats have changed my life enormously, they are not a weekend feel good thing, they are something that changes the importance you place on things; it instils a real value in relationships and love.
What we accept as ‘normal’ is far from natural or even acceptable – we are drowning in a morass of normalcy that sets out to sanctify and excuse behaviours that are deeply harming to the individual concerned and to humanity as a whole. Furthermore, normalcy smacks of a total lack of responsibility.
Yes how in any way is it normal to live so far removed from our nature, one of love and responsibility to ourselves, to others and the purpose of our life here?
I love what you offer us here Jonathan. I began imagining all those conflicts you mention without organised religion, (I’d add nationality and culture too!) and really it does seriously exacaberate or has been the instigation of most of them. And the thing is we’re all the same, human, we bleed red, we eat, we sleep, you get the picture and somehow we’re divided ourselves into identities and tribes and excluded those outside as other and not belonging … and it’s a right mess we find ourselves in. And then there is Universal Medicine offering us the insight of what it is to live true religion to reconnect and relink and to come from within us, it’s simple, and that simplicity challenges us, yet it’s the most natural thing in the world, we can just be us.
‘Students attend presentations and ‘retreats’ which use ‘group workshop’ as a way of self-discovery: this is far more powerful than any kind of ‘Lecture’ or teaching by dictation and ‘learning by Rote’. these presentations and Retreats by Serge Benhayon are the most incredible education I have ever had in my life. This is a school that everyone will benefit from attending because it is about how to defeat the illusion and those forces that come to try and trip us up from being all that we are.
‘The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.’ And every Universal Medicine retreat I have done so far awakens this ancient wisdom that is in us all, it re-connects to what is the true purpose of our lives here on earth.
Thank you for this unravelling of how we end up thinking that retreats are a bad thing! I had never been on one for that exact reason till I went on my first Universal Medicine retreat. It was such a wonderful few days. Time to re-connect, to understand my patterns of behaviour and why I did them, to understand the consequences of the food I was eating and to feel how deeply tired I was without them. It offered me a free choice to choose the same again or something different. Living with an understanding that life is about energy is me offering myself more freedom than pretending life is only about what I see and experience. I don’t know about other retreats but the Universal Medicine retreats are life changing.
Having attended several retreats with Universal Medicine I can attest to no kaftans, no starvation, no orange (or purple) clothes, no emotional outpourings and no escaping from the world. A Universal Medicine retreat is a place to reconnect with yourself, develop who you are, and take that expansion of you back to your family, work and life.
Beautiful Johnathan “The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” An amazing sharing of the Universal Medicne retreats and the sense of knowing love and our true purpose rekindled inside ourselves.
“What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” Oh my goodness, never was there heard and felt a truer statement for me. Universal Medicine is the only place to hear them continually and the scales are lifting from my eyes. We are so blessed to have Serge Benhayon pointing out “The Way” .
Everything Serge Benhayon offers is truly an opportunity to advance humanity back to living from the love we all naturally are in essence. As you say Jonathan, it’s the absence of that love that is the beginning of humanity’s problems, and so the return to living from that love offers immense healing.
We tend to write the past off as being the past seeing that life then was harder and more challenging than now particularly without the luxuries of modern time like iPhones and computers. And whilst these improvements have made our lives much less intense physically there is nevertheless the same if not more issues and problems as of our past. Exorbitantly high rates of illness and disease is NOT normal yet we have accepted it as so. Retreats like these are needed for giving us the space to see what is really going on.
‘The ancient teachings also tell us that ‘Everything is Energy’ and that WE are energy’. I love the religion of The Way of The Livingness which is based on this truth about the science of energy. If a religion doesn’t correspond t the science of energy then it cannot be true – to think otherwise is to be separated from the very universe we are part of.
Groundbreaking words Lyndy!
Great point on the power of group work..working together brings up stuff to look at for sure – and an opportunity to resolve and work through it, if we choose to.
‘Dystopia has finally arrived on our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it’. Dystopia is a word I have never heard before so had to google it Jonathon…. and am beginning to understand what you are saying. For us as a collective humanity world-wide we need to be honest about where our present trajectory is taking us by being honest about how we have got to where we are today from the steps we have walked in the past. Understanding what is at play is the key to exposing how this dystopia is shadowing us all today and affecting our quality of lives and quality of relationships.
Its an interesting comment about our current trajectory…. I think in the main people are too afraid to look at where the current pattern of behaviour is leading – whether that be our kids, our health, the NHS, world politics, society, violence, drug abuse, self abuse etc. It gets scary very quickly and that is precisely the reason that we should look at it now, because what we allow now is already unacceptable.
‘In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.’ The simple but powerful tenets are the basis of a life lived in purpose and truth. How can any work place, for example, actually ‘work’ if we do not know that we are all equally Sons of God? And how can we truly understand and observe behaviour if we do not know the fact and waywardness of the spirit? Institutionalised religion has discarded the innate ruth of the Ageless Wisdom and set up ‘untenable tenets’ which allow us to think it is okay to separate from and kill our brothers.
What a great article and it makes so so much sense to what I see. This line which I am sure others have highlighted, “The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” I was never a fan of history or religion but now if I was at school I would have new eyes for what they are. There is so so much richness in the teachings of what has gone before us and the richness lies in the detail of the how. It’s not to do it better but more to live it true. We have no need to try and improve our way of living but more return to a true quality of life. There are so many clear messages from our past that when you open to them you can see the circle we travel, life is no longer a straight line of born and die, it’s a cycle of life and we actually call it that but then walk away from living the very same fact.
‘The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves’. These words are music to my ears Jonathan.
Yes love those words too Jonathan and Lyndy, and when that wisdom is walked we will be living the future now.
‘Retreats, groups and ‘workshops’ would follow, and ‘Nirvana’ would be guaranteed after everyone had parted with a large chunk of their disposable income to cover the entrance fee.’ I love the way you write Jonathan – your see through the whole sham and with such humour. No wonder you have found the glorious Way of The Livingness. Thank you for being you!
There is only so long we can ignore the ancient truths that live within us all before the tension gets too much, if what we are living is in no way in accordance to the way we would live were we to allow ourselves to be impulsed from our inner wisdom. Some would say that we have already reached this breaking point and thus why there is so much upheaval amongst us today. To not live true to who we are and what we truly know invites into the body a discord that cannot help but play out in all our interactions with others. Until we pause to draw breath amongst the self-created madness with live within and take a moment to reconnect to the love that we are, we will continue to live in a seemingly endless loop of disaster and despair, punctuated by moments of elation that offer the much desired relief needed when we live so out of whack to the rest of the cosmos. Sometimes in order to truly advance (evolve back to who we truly are) we first need to ‘retreat’ so we can consolidate our true values and virtues that can then be brought more back out into the world.
Jonathon, love the humour and wisdom you equally share, thank you.
Brilliant Jonathan, like ancient ruins on a history show, the stone slabs of traditional religion sit all around. Covered in dust they are incredibly heavy, and written in a language that has long past. And they obscure the beautiful treasures that live underneath – the ancient wisdom we have always known. While we may have taken on dogma, ideals and beliefs, this ancient wisdom still lives in you and me. All we need do is move the false parts out of the way, and live the truth in our day.
I just completed The Way of The Livingness retreat Vietnam 2017, which again was a continuous unfolding of that which we already have lived before; to live to that inner connection, our inner-most. We are so much more than we are told and held to believe by the institutionalized religions, those institutions that for eons have ruled humanity and kept us captured in that false place of human created belief systems which not only keeps us bereft from the most precious gift men hold, but that also is at the core of many of the atrocities we nowadays can find in our societies.
Brilliant Jonathan, I’m at a Universal Medicine retreat in Hoi An, Vietnam and I can say the same is true here. When I look around at my fellow participants I have nothing but appreciation for the way they interact with everyone they meet. Everyone is glowing and open to connecting.
The heart of true religion is love Jonathan, as you say: ‘One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.’ Without this observational beholding Love there can be no true religion. The very word ‘Love’ along with the word ‘religion’ has been re-interpreted to suit the agenda of a devastating force that we have let into our lives. Time to say ‘no’ to it and ‘yes’ to love.
‘In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way’ This is so true and the Universal Medicine Retreats and the Retreats by Chris James give us an opportunity to reconnect to this, or deepen our connection with this place and live from the inside out in all the truth and love that we are.
‘What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.’ It certainly has Jonathan. Even though we know through history that the status quo of ‘normal’ gets upset with anything that disrupts it e.g.. the woman’s vote, if it is a true step forward in quality energetically, we realise that things are constantly evolving and that to have a status quo of normal is against our own best interests. ‘Habitual’ is a better word for normal as it describes more accurately that it is a habit of behaviour that we are stuck in.
Thank you Jonathon, for a great reminder and confirmation that the Ageless Wisdom is still around. It is merely our choice if we choose to connect to it or not. It starts from the connection of self LOVE.
Thank you Jonathon, your description of ‘alternative’ people at the beginning made me laugh 😂
‘One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin.’ – Thank you for sharing Jonathan – love is something that Universal Medicine have at its foundation and it has been so amazing to reconnect to this and understand that love is in us all and always has been.
Great blog Jonathan I agree, most of humanity is searching for something, although many of us don’t know what we are searching for. Through The Ageless Wisdom and Serge Benhayon I have found what I was missing I already had. I had just forgotten to choose to connect to my own love and to be who I truly am.
Attending a retreat with Universal Medicine, is most definitely not a place for withdrawing from the world, but rather, looking at it and our own place, responsibility and potential within it intensively so, and bringing profoundly insightful awarenesses that for me (and I know many) are nothing less than complete game-changers. Wow and more wow, these events open us up to the Ageless Wisdom of humanity – a wisdom that is there to be embraced and lived foundationally for every one of us today. Is it possible to be presented with truth that is 100% whole and all-encompassing? Once I would have said no – as I had discovered no such reflection upon this planet (there were always discrepancies and ‘holes’ in what was presented elsewhere, and inconsistencies obvious in what was said and what was actually lived…) – yet today I say a whole-hearted ‘yes’, and verify completely, that a Universal Medicine retreat offers the opportunity over 5 days, to experience a package of truth that calls one to awaken and enliven deeply, the inner knowing that has always been there within.
Your opening statement alone Jonathan reflects the real-world relevance of attending a retreat with Universal Medicine. I concur with you in full – this is not an experience of ‘pale-faced, undernourished drop-outs’, as many may expect a ‘retreat’ experience to entail. Not to judge the ‘pale-faced’, for I’ve been there in my own measure. But rather, and deeply from my own experiences, a Universal Medicine retreat offers the opportunity to go far, far deeper into the living of life – what true vitality, purpose, and a willingness to engage with what goes on in our relationships, communities and in the global sense can mean and be for us – more than anything else I know.
‘ If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.’ Such a beautiful reminder Jonathon, love is the missing ingredient in so many relationships, workplaces, families – to re-connect to this deep wisdom and love within changes everything and brings a flow and simplicity to life that is deeply rewarding and beneficial for all.
True Jonathan – we all carry the truth within ourselves, we just need to let it out and not hang on to the world in the way we have made it to be.
“What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” Normality these days seems to consist of overeating and drinking, eating junk food, leading to obesity and diabetes – all a result of our choices. This surely cant be considered normal by any stretch.
Our future does lie in our past and is there any time we choose it. The ancient wisdom lineage, which has been unbroken over time, shows me that we in humanity have always had all the wisdom of the innermost available to us. We have simply turned our back on it.
The observations about ‘normal’ life and how it rules us, shows me how important it is to live a life that does not follow sheep like along after the herd. This is how a society can go seriously down hill. We have seen many examples of this behaviour over the years and have seen the horrific consequences, such as the genocide of Jews in WW2. But it is even more insidious in the ‘positive’ aspects of normal life. The pressure to conform is so strong when it comes to things like being charitable, being sympathetic to those who are ill, needing to compromise in our relationships, putting family first – the list goes on.
Great blog Jonathan, as you say, ‘In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way.’ And as such the only way back is through re-connecting to our inner most. Tools that we have been gifted by Universal Medicine such as the Gentle Breath Meditation are a great start and well worth trying out.
The contrasts you draw here are well illustrated Jonathan: “powerful repository of dogma” and the “re-linking to our innermost” are poles apart, the former we are told is religion, and the latter I know to be true religion.
Thank you Jonathan I love the lightness that you bring to your writing about subjects that could be deemed as heavy and how you do not hold back from exposing the discrepancies in what is currently deemed to be ‘normal’ and just how far this has strayed from the inner knowing that we can all choose to connect back and the fact that Universal Medicine has been instrumental in facilitating this return for so many.
‘When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.’ Re-connecting to the Ageless Wisdom in super practical ways is what Universal Medicine Retreats are all about and demonstrate the way forward for humanity at a time when most are feeling lost. Truly a beacon of Light in the current darkness.
The system of religion is truly flawed, it doesn’t support any of us in truth. All it gives is us is a distraction from our own inner most, which when connecting with asks us to be responsible for all that we are.
With the state the world is in at the moment The Ageless Wisdom can’t come back strong enough or fast enough but as we know we will get there in the end no matter how many wrong paths we choose to take. If only we could look to the past and stop doing all the things like war that don’t work or solve anything and discover that The Ageless Wisdom is our only way forward.
Thank you Jonathan for a really great blog, We are not coming back to something new but to something that is age old and deeply known with in our own being, this is why it feels so normal, eons old. This does not depend on the number of people doing it for it to become normal. For it is normal within everyone should they connect to their essence.
Super blog Jonathan. The living evidence is clear. Nowhere on Earth at no time on Earth have we ever lived in a way that is truly and visibly evidently bringing back the inner joy our love in our life, aside from those who have practiced and lived truly connected with their Soul and with God. These are the normal people. It just so happens that so many are not living what the true norm should be, so like most things in life, the definition shifts to a meaning that is not its full truth.
A stunning blog Jonathan, I particularly love your line… “The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” An example of the simplicity and profoundness of the Ancient Wisdom. We are going around and around in circles, until such time as we do exactly what you say here… go within to connect with what once was and remains forever intact.
Without the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom presented by Serge Benhayon this world would be a lot worse off. Through the Ancient Wisdom we have inspiration and truth from which we all learn that we come from God, and are the equal Sons of God. Our lives can influence, in a positive way, that bring in the changes to our state of being and the Evolution of man.
Brilliant Jonathan. We are so used to exposes that appear on our newspapers, or sensational stories that go ‘viral’ online unmasking corruption and leaders that lie, yet none of us seem to ever stop and consider that the way we are carrying on may not be right. Why don’t we have news with the top story ‘world exhausted – what is going on?’ or ‘Disharmony and disease – is there a link’? Surely its time we started to see that it could be possible the corruption starts and ends with you and me.
“for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed” The normal way man is living at present is resulting in escalating illness and disease and constant conflict between different factions, religious groups and even between and within families. Universal Medicine retreats are an opportunity to explore and understand The Way of The Livingness for all to return to a way of living in harmony with each other and the Universe. .
I had a jaded view on any sought of retreat before I begun studying with Universal Medicine, before UM I could only see three options when it came to finding out more about yourself and the universe on a deeper level.
OPTIONS
1. The spiritual gathering style retreat i.e. extremes – sitting in circles – juice fasts – endless yoga – zero talking – Zen – feeling the earth – bare foot –
Then come Monday back to the office to live ‘normally’ again but make sure you have turmeric tonic a raw coconut ball and a green smoothie on your lunch break to remind you that you are conscious.
2. The Rah Rah self help Guru that promises that when you changed your perspective, then your whole life will change – that you have to take control – wear a power suit – drink – take a double dose of vitamins and raw egg protein shake and hype yourself up in the mirror in order to succeed, be the best!
In this case they came to your office as a motivational speaker, that is how you actually got onto this and you want to do the 2 week retreat power fire walk in Vanuatu!
3. Then there’s the BA University degree, followed by masters – followed by double degree – followed by becoming a philosopher of others peoples work – studying dusty books and lecturing at the same Universities you studied at, retreating in libraries and books and writer’s festivals and book signings and the novel you never finish.
The book is the retreat – the escape – it holds the answers – the identification, the superiority….
None of the three options above appealed to me, so instead I mocked them all.
Finally something that makes sense Universal Medicine and strangely enough, I actually am more accepting of all of the above now I am a student of my own heart.
It is pretty humorous what some of us get up to in the search for truth… yet there is nothing more normal when you come to realise the truth of home is within yourself.
I am beginning to realise that although it appears that there are many paths and may look like everyone is moving in the opposite directions, it is a lot simpler than that. There are only two, one is escape from all you feel and one is facing all you feel- letting it go and observing it. It is funny the extremes we will go to in order not to feel. That to me says that feeling may play a huge part rediscovering our true power.
I agree Sarah there is only one true path and that leads us to the truth of ourselves. This may require some fine tuning and honesty to recognise and admit where we have lead ourselves astray in our quest for betterment, and in doing so we begin to rediscover and accept the responsibility of living from that inner connection, the true power that is our nature…very simply without any rah rah.
Jonathon, I love reading your articles. Truly insightful, and yet with a humour that keep the most morbid topic light. Thank you.
ha ha I had a good laugh at your incredibly relatable opening paragraphs. But underneath that what I felt is the group force that so strongly wants to keep everything the way it is and not to be disturbed by any change or at least and especially NOT the truth. Comfort Unimedpedia http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-comfort.html makes a very interesting read on this subject.
“To find our way forward, We have to look back!”. This goes for all our daily trials and tribulations. To spot the moment where we went off track and correct it for ourselves.
“Since these Ancient Times, We as Humanity have progressively lost contact with our inner-selves and we have fallen for such notions as ‘the cult of the individual’,…. yes, and this culture has lead us further from the truth of our nature, that we are all intrinsically connected.
So many people become uncomfortable when there is a discussion around what we accept as normal, much less the word responsibility, it’s interesting as a lot of ‘ norms’ are now being exposed like sugar and dairy, as having been promoted with a lot of misconceptions and it’s challenging the status quo. I feel the tipping point is coming and a new/ancient intelligence will begin to swing toward truth. Bit like the 70’s we went all spiritual, well I feel the 20’s will be Soul connection and it will be felt deeply, redefining normal and our responsibility on this planet. Bring it on🌏
Very True – the Ancient Wisdom Teachings are all known to us to the nth degree, for we have lived their Truth in full, in times past. How glorious it is to return to who we are and to restore purpose, meaning and Love to Life.
This is a fabulous piece Jonathan. We all have a deep knowing inside that we can easily connect to when we make the choice that is needed to live in true religion.
“Glancing around at the U.K. Universal Medicine Retreat recently, I saw NO pale and pasty-faced, undernourished dropouts, shuffling and mumbling incoherently in an apologetic fashion.” How awesome! When I attended a Universal Medicine event, It was the first time I felt I didn’t have to prove myself to anyone.
a really interesting blog. Really analysing and looking at the whole picture, something is not working, there is so much dysfunction and separation in the world from large scale to small. Its good to know there IS a way, a way that we all know because it lives inside us. We know there is love and connection because it is what we seek most, but the trap lies when we place it outside of ourselves.
There is no normality in this world when you start to uncover what lies below the false facade society presents. The lies we are expected to live with do not support a life of vitality, responsibility, that return us to knowing ourselves as religion and esoteric as our true way in the original sense of the words.
Jonathan, it’s amazing how something that is truly intended to connect us all has become so divisive and the absolute antithesis of it’s true meaning, religion that is, and how in fact it’s been co-opted into the existing agendas of the powers that be and those that challenge them. So yes, if current institutionalised religions did not exist it would help immensely but underneath all of this is as you say, what we have all lost is a wisdom in all of us, our inner most, and if we do not live in a way that honours that, we will find other ways to make another the other, be it religion, politics, nationality or other – they are all the same divisive seed and one we need to root out for all of us.
I love your honesty about your past perception of what a retreat looks like. I too have felt similarly to you. Imagining it to be for hippies seeking more bliss. But my experience of Universal Medicine retreats are far more profound than ‘feel good’ moments. There is so much to learn, experience and grow from. The level of integrity and responsibility is nothing I’ve ever experienced from any other event that has promised something. In fact Universal Medicine promises nothing, it is for the idividual to make of it what they choose. It’s all simply about truth and choice.
This article, despite being written over a year ago, should find itself in the paper, in several papers actually and magazines. Who can argue with everything shared here? It makes utter sense.
“One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.” This says it all and is everything to return to our inner knowing which becomes our way of living. Through Universal Medicine workshops and retreats we work our way back through lives and separation back to the oneness and wholeness of us all with an honesty and responsibility to be celebrated and appreciated lovingly.
What I love about the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom is that it presents we are not going anywhere but returning from where we came from.
This amazing article really lays out the dire mess that the world has gotten itself into, with half the population starving to death, the other half dying of obesity and chronic disease, countries at war, conflict, torture and oppression being perpetrated every day, and the rest of the world resolutely ignoring it, hoping that this energy will never come to camp on their doorstep. But we are all in this together, and any act of violence or abuse needs to be spoken up about – otherwise we continue to languish in the separation and misery that we have all allowed to become entrenched in a world whose purpose is to learn brotherhood and oneness. How far have we strayed and what will it take to return?
Great to read this again and feel the confirming of the truth of The Ageless Wisdom Teachings. Something that the world, in all its mess and confusion, is crying out for.
“a slight empathy that they too were after a better way of living that had so far eluded the ‘grown ups’.” I had never really thought about the obligatory back packing adventure trip many young people go own like this – as if the young adults see their future life based on how adults around them are living which contains a lot of anxiety, disconnection, harm and ‘getting though life’ and go ‘well I better have some fun for a couple of years before I settle into that!’ But adults are sending that message to our young people. No wonder they are a bit dazed and confused.
It is interesting what you shared about normality being defined by what the majority does, for although this makes sense being a generalisation of the masses – when you look around, normal has clearly not been working for us. Obviously the answer doesn’t lie in normal. The Way of the Livingness is the only thing I have found that is living proof of a truth that works, hopefully one day this will be normal.
Our Future lies in our past. There is much to ponder with on these words Jonathan. Have we learnt form our past or are we just living it everyday and not moving on. We still have wars, violence and abuse, none of these things have changed they are more sophisticated and more in keeping with our times, but it is still life repeating itself over and over again. On a microcosm scale I know I still repeat things over and over again until I become aware of the harm they are doing. This is where the Ageless Wisdom is so powerful, we learn to truly heal our past so that we no longer bring it into our future.
Once we lose touch with our true self, we cannot but lose our way in a world that has been built upon the emptiness of the separation. But all it takes is the choice to reconnect, and from there a new world is begun.
The Ancient Wisdom is back, or really it has never left, as it has always been living in the inner heart of all people. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presenting the simple techniques to reconnect back to our essence, we can realise this truth for ourselves and begin to live in its joy and fullness once more.
I’m all for a new ‘normal’ of joy, vitality, fun, love, truth and harmony. Live it consistently to the best of our ability and the ripples will be felt everywhere.
‘If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.’ So true Jonathon, after spending years going to spiritual retreats that promised much and delivered little, I can say with authority that what the Universal Medicine retreats offers people is an opportunity to bring true healing and change to their lives and a deep connection to your true self and to all your relationships.
..and no wake-up coffee served on arrival, at break, at lunchtime, in afternoon. No alcoholic relief at the end of the day. Not needed. No boost or relief is needed when we connect to our true way of being because the exhausting fight against ourselves is no longer being fought.
This statement captures the fork in the road of choice… “One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy…” A great blog to read.
Thank you Jonathan, I love this line . . .
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves”. . . All the more reason to re-connect!
No doubting the healing power and evolution Universal Medicine retreats and presentations offer.
What I am coming to understand is how the Ageless Wisdom has never left us, it is always been there. It is us who have chosen to not live it and hence hide its truth from our awareness, to the point where we don’t even realise it is there any more. Great teachers such as Serge Benhayon have always been there throughout history, it is not just a blessing Humanity has the opportunity to hear these teachings once again, it is equally a blessing to have so many today who are open to hearing, and living these truths for themselves.
It is so sad that we, humanlty, have lost touch with the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom. What a blessing for humanity, that Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are reintroducing and reconnecting us to our truth and purpose; a divine blessing.
The Ageless Wisdom is brought once more, just as it has been all throughout history, Serge Benhayon presents for our times, the truth of the Way of the Livingness, just as has been done by so many in the past – from the new beginning when Hermes first presented ‘As is Above, So is Below’ so many thousands of years ago.
Great blog to return to Johnathan and be reminded of how important group work is for us all.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” We are so used to looking outside or ourselves for recognition, our notion of what ‘normal’ is, comparing ourselves to anything and everyone, that we have indeed lost what it means to deeply reflect, ponder, go within and know we have all the answers. This is not something we foster in our children, ourselves and usually not even those around us. As you state, going back to our past, understanding we are all everything right now, we just have to connect to that and trust we are so much more than meets the eye.
It is so true, the students of Universal Medicine define a new normal. What is tought is ancient, and we innately know it, it is coming back to our inner most, knowing that we are connected with everything and everyone, and God is part of this whole, being an equal part showing us that we are magnificent too.
I agree with you Jonathan our perceived notion of normal is very skewed and misplaced; even though the range of normal in our world today is extensive.
What needs to arise, and indeed is, is a normal based on the Ageless Wisdom teachings delivered by Serge Benhayon.
I also agree with you about the destructive forces of main stream religions.
Thank you for highlighting these very important points.
This normality feels very limiting, it’s normal because we repeat it and if we repeat it we know it’s outcome. We have a life that can be controlled. But as the Ageless Wisdom presents the energy of love can never repeat, it expands what it is already. When writing this I first thought – then theres a fear of the unknown of that grandness because in repetition there is security – but that’s a lie because we know what love is and if it’s just going to expand itself then there is no unknown. Coming out of our ‘normal’ behaviours is not a case of fear, it’s a willing or unwillingness to renounce control and the belief that we are in control of anything when in fact everything is energy, once we choose the energy that is what leads our lives and not the human choices we make after the energetic choice.
Getting to the root cause of why I behave the way I do has helped me make lasting change and not just substitute one unhealthy behaviour for another. One example I can think of was giving up smoking. Great, but them as a result I started to drink more. It was not until I was encouraged by Serge Benhayon to ask why I need to drink that I got honest with myself and was able to identify what was behind that choice. This is why I go back to the courses Serge presents. Just the amount of money I have saved in not buying cigarettes and alcohol alone are so worth it, not to mention the priceless benefits like better health and relationships.
I love the play on words in the title of this blog Jonathan. I attended the recent Universal Medicine retreat in England. What I loved about it was the group work and how Serge poses questions we don’t ever think to ask ourselves. Through discussions I have come to discover so much more about myself, and in that a deeper understanding of others.
I have never been to a UK retreat but have attended Universal Medicine retreats held in Australia. Pre my experience with UM retreats, I always viewed retreats as something weird that people did to make themselves feel better momentarily. I knew they had no lasting effects because friends of mine would go to them, not talk for a week or do yoga on a mountain and then they would be back to partying with me like it was 1969, not even a hesitation. To me, they were a pointless and weird waste of money that I didn’t bother with.
The stark difference with the retreats put on by Universal Medicine is the majority of people that attend come back to their lives and are truly open to readjusting and rejigging their idea of normal. I mean, I changed my whole life as a result, trading in the loose, lost party girl with an attitude problem for the business savvy, community minded family woman that I now am. I do not do any drug or consume coffee or alcohol; this is not out of a control but born from an inspiration to bring more of me to the world.
I love the global prospective you bring about Institutionalised Religion Jonathan, we really have strayed miles from the true meaning and origins of the word religion.
Jonathan,you touched many aspects with in your story. When you talked about Institutionalised Religion it reminded me of a time I studied Theology. I was looking for answers in life and I thought to start with religion. It did not bring any clarity, understanding or spiritually guided connection. It was an account of upheaval, battles and chaos of wayward people. What I was looking for I have found alive and well within Universal Medicine.
“Just imagine for a moment, the current global situation if Institutionalised Religion didn’t exist”. I love the point you have made here Jonathan and often wondered the same thing for the same reasons. All the wars and brutalities that could have been bypassed. I used to also wonder why people were so taken by alcohol and other drugs and would imagine how less dramatic and less abusive, physically, mentally and emotional life would be without them. I now live that life! Thanks to the presentations of universal Medicine.
I absolutely agree with you Jonathan our concept of “normal” is very skewed; how is it that humanity has stayed so far from the Ageless Wisdom Teachings that showed us a “normal” in beautiful divine harmony with who we truly are.
Thank you Jonathan, I have just attended the 2016 Australian retreat, and it was amazing to feel that far from escape and withdrawing from life, this moment to stop, talk and discuss allowed us to go deeper as one. What would our world be like if we practiced this everywhere with everyone, stopped cutting off, went underneath and questioned openly just where we have been? Perhaps through this simple practice, we would start to see we are going round in circles eternally until we come to understand and heal what is out of tune with the greater song we are here to sing.
This stood out for me too Reagan, “In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.” this is something I at times forget when I go into my head to try and fix the problem instead of being with my body and it’s wisdom that already knows it all.
What Serge Benhayon presents is totally normal and natural to the soul
There was so many amazing points you have made here Jonathon, but one that stands out for me was “In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.’ This is something that we have lost in society, that we are all whole and have all the wisdom, love and understanding within us, all the time. We have that as children and we never loose that.
“What I actually saw was, Well-Nourished and Joyful faces. Heard and joined in with intelligent conversation, and Laughed and shared moments with Beautifully Normal Human beings as we all worked our way through the aeons-old wisdom which has a more than ‘slightly familiar’ feel to it….. and so it should, for we all know it already!” That’s it Jonathan – being reminded and coming back to what we already know for us to return to who we truly are.
This is beautiful in its’ simplicity Nicole and so true.
Great point CJames, what we accept as ‘normal’ in society does need redefining. We settle for a normal that is actually harming people and creating more illness and disease, we have a responsibility as a community to bring this awareness to others and hopefully bring some true change in this area.
Beautifully said Nicole and very true.
This is a truly inspirational sharing Jonathon. These words of yours impressed me also “The future, OUR future lies in the past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and untapped wisdom within our inner-selves” Thank you!
Good point Jonathon concerning Institutionalised Religion, and the fact that we are now being encouraged to look at the truth of Religion from the past through Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayons Presentations of the Ancient Wisdom.
If institutionalised religion didn’t exist the world would be a very different place indeed. Discovering the true definition of the word redefined it completely for me. The Latin for relegate is to re-tie or rebind so we can have a religious relationship with anything we feel tied to. For some it may be football, or alcohol even! But what if it were a relationship with love, with the deepest core of ourselves. How would the world feel then?
Our view of what is normal is exceedingly skewed. Just because many people ingrain a habit doesn’t mean it is good for us. Even something that tastes ‘good’ may not actually feel good in the body if we listen to and are open to receiving its messages. Being true and being good are not the same.
“When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever”. This is true education and our way forward.
We are fooled by what is normal not so much because it is true, but because it is familiar.
Well said Adam, it is the comfort of the familiar that fools us.
Yes it is the comfort of that familiarity that is so appealing as it never asks us to be more of who we truly are.
. . . and it is so safe!
After years of shaming religion and putting them all (the different dogmas) under one banner of military like beliefs – I am now honoured to know true religion and say I am religious in the way I choose to live. Thank you to Universal Medicine for being the shining light in an otherwise darkened and confused belief systems on who God and all of us truly are.
Jonathan, I feel like this sentence sums it up beautifully – our path of return – ‘The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.’
‘Thus, predictably, battle lines begin to be drawn up just as soon as ‘differences of belief’ becomes an issue.’ This morning this line jumped out at me and I felt that all arguments of any nature are really just that. We hold ideals and beliefs inside and we are attached to them as if that is who we are and when someone challenges those in any way we react and become defensive and the argument begins, these beliefs run very deep and keep us in a loop of self destruction. cutting ourselves away from these beliefs, rather than cutting ourselves(as so many young people do today) and building our own self love and thus self worth is key in this renunciation process.
Thank you Jonathan, I agree “one of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy”.
Beautifully said Nicole, when we connect to our inner most everything is there for us. We allow ourselves to be an instrument of energy that we then align to love, the incredible power and energy that we can bring to all is amazing.
Jonathan, this is brilliant! ”When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.” Knowing and attending for over 4 years all sorts of workshops by Serge Benhayon via Universal Medicine, I must say that I am tapping again the wisdom that resides within me. I had to discard a lot , and I am still letting go of many behaviors, thoughts, beliefs that kept me away from feeling this inner-wisdom. But the hurtful part was that this was my choice, but with understanding I got to feel that these choices do not define me any longer. I am myself again and I have a lot of wisdom, just like everyone else. Let’s tap more of the true good, our wisdom from deep inside, lets build pyramids (symbolically) again – together. Universal Medicine is key, everything they show, learn, teach is incredibly powerful.. Because you always learn in experiencing it yourself, never just knowledge! (if truly connected to).
Beautiful Danna, I can relate to uncovering the wisdom which exists naturally within as a familiar knowing that is ancient and wise. Attending Universal Medicine workshops is like coming home to myself, it’s an opportunity to feel and celebrate without holding back the glory and wisdom that lives naturally within us all. Feeling this Ancient Wisdom within has created a foundation of self love and a knowing that I am much more then all the roles, ideals and beliefs I participate in.
I agree Nicole. It is a deep celebration to come back to the knowing of this ancient wisdom. What is so important about what Universal Medicine offers, is basically not something new, but simply a reminder of that which we allready know. How empowering is that!
If we yet look at our world state, we see a lot of missing truth, missing love, missing purpose. We can say that we miss our true power. If we connect that to what is being said above ” One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin.” We actually see and have proof that all we need is : connecting back to our love. It is simple and divine.
‘One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.’ – Beautifully said Jonathon and such a great reminder on the power of love. What we have accepted as ‘normal’ is holding everyone back from being who they truly are – re-connecting to the Ancient Wisdom has been worth breaking the mould of normalcy to experience true Brotherhood and true Religion.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” Great line Jonathan, I am beginning to understand more and more that our past, and the wisdom we once held, but long ago abandoned, is still waiting for us, forever patient, to be re-united with once again when we re-connect back to our inner heart. The more I recognise and live by this the more I can see how my future is coming to me and not me trying to work out and create what my future might be.
It’s a crazy thing, trying to fit in and be normal lead me down a track of despair looking for a place in the world to call home, funny that the only place that ever shed any light on what could perhaps be another true way of living is something that we all have inside but many are trying to discredit this and it’s simplicity in actually how normal it is, not this out of control mess we currently live in.
Normalcy has not got humanity anywhere! Had normalcy truly advanced us as a race, war, poverty, suffering, conflict, abuse, true inequality just to name a few of humanities ills, would have been long ago moved on from and a far more unified way would be the ‘norm’ to life. But no! Normalcy proves to provide a soft cushion of comfort and security that keeps our very ills going!
‘Normalcy proves to provide a soft cushion of comfort and security that keeps our very ills going!’
Spot on Joshua! This was my feeling when understanding the ‘normal’ aspect of life. It’s pure comfort, stagnation and rot – we often say ‘when it’s all back to normal’ after a trying time or challenging phase of life, but these times allow for evolution, to grow and ask more of ourselves in life. Normal is like an excuse to not have to look at how we live or change what is so obviously not working.
‘Back to normal’ is really just back to comfort. So true Rachael. And while safe and ‘normal’, ‘back to normal’ is often boring and very very uncomfortable. Does this not say a lot about the truth of normalcy already?
I second that Samantha, The Way of the Livingness has allowed me to connect to my own divinity and wisdom within all.
Upon reading this blog again – it was this line that popped out to me. “When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever”. How wonderful is our body in its experiences and ability to learn, understand and process?
Group work allows us to share our experiences of living with all and offers many points of learning and reflections for evolvement. Group work is the framework for a life lived connected to love.
The great danger in looking for Utopia is that it is a search that instils a yearning that can never satisfied. We can never be enough to fill the emptiness we create. The teachings for the modern age, the new era, presented by Universal Medicine draw on the Ancient Wisdom that has always been there, a thread woven throughout our spoken and written history for eons.
After reading this wonderful blog Jonathan I reflected on the response I felt within my body during and after reading Serge Benhayon first book “The Way It Is”.
This was an extraordinary experience of deconstruction and awakening to the truth I had already felt within me, a deeply healing and re-connecting experience.
It has been My experience as I open my heart to the Ancient Wisdom that exists as a known within me, ideals and beliefs begin to deconstruct allowing space to feel and begin to develop a relationship that is genuinely loving with myself and supportive to all those around me.
‘But when they quietly and secretly left home for some undisclosed middle-eastern destination in order to join a religious organisation which every day practiced a brutality not seen since the middle ages, then at that moment must come the realisation that WE have just got it all SO wrong, that expression of shock and the wringing of hands is no longer an adequate response.’
I absolutely agree, standing there, baffled, and asking how this can be possible? Is playing dumb and being completely ignorant of our state of living. In a world where abuse has become the norm and is being celebrated, where profit always goes before human connection, where what we do is the main focus and an acceptable way of living, where individuality is being fostered and celebrated, and where responsibility and integrity are long lost virtues. We do not have to look far to fathom ‘that WE have just got it all SO wrong’. A look in the mirror, a look towards one’s own responsibility, is where to start.
I suppose the Universal Medicine Retreat is an extension of the way we are all choosing to live so while it is intensive it is not a huge deviation, as far as what is eaten, drunk and the rhythm of sleep that is chosen, from the way many live their day to day lives. This sets it apart for a start because many students do not need to change their diets as they are feeling the foods that work for them which explains the healthy glow of the participants and they are already working on their good health and the rhythms that support this. There is nothing artificial taking one away from their lives to make a new start, these people are living their lives and the retreat is a part of the whole picture, not a separate thing.
You really open up and nail what should be the conversation around the world at the moment with this article. How we can be living in todays society and what is happening around the world in politics, in religion, in the global economy, in global health, in the way we interact as human beings in the street, road rage, abuse, violence – We are simply out of control. If we stop and actually take a look we have to admit there is something very very wrong.
The only person I have ever heard make sense of this – and be able to put it all together is Serge Benhayon.
Couldn’t agree with you anymore Simon we are wildly out of control this was something that was so familiar to me but never made sense. And yet again Serge Benhayon has been the only person that’s been able to make sense of a senseless way of being.
Beautifully expressed Rebecca, we are all part of the bigger picture and it is our responsibility to take charge of our own healing and offer this reflection to others in need of it.
Yes Simon, Serge Benhayon brings such a level of clarity and understanding of current events in the world and also the important part we all play in this by taking responsibility in the way we live.
We are all healthy, vibrant people living the truth of who we are. What a relief that is, and oh so easy with some love and gentleness along the way.
You have described your experience at the UK Retreat so beautifully Jonathan. This group work where Serge Benhayon supports everyone to open up and share what they feel, explore and to go to the dark corners of truth where we have been avoiding with such Love is extraodinary. This way of working together and understanding that the Ageless Wisdom is already known as it is our inner-connection to our Soul that access it. This power can not be denied.
Great words of truth Jonathan. It has been said it you forget your past you a condemned to repeat it. Which is a really strange but true, but only appears to be a omen for bad things. So have we filled ourselves with so many bad things the simple things have gotten lost? The presentations presented by Serge Benhayon are also lived by him. He is showing us all what we have forgotten and shown that it is still alive with in us all… it is time to re-awaken who we all truth are.
“One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin” – awesome line Jonathan – reconnecting back to Love, and our seeming difficulty towards this clouded by not wanting to see the adverse and extreme effects of division, separation or institutionalised activity has had/has on mankind, is the issue and also answer i.e. the choice to see, and then say no to that which is not the energy of Love.
I have in the past been to retreats and they were always the same, and there were never any evolutionary moments. The Universal Medicine Retreats are so powerful, life changing and the retreats themselves are evolutionary, not one is the same, they are always inspiring. Thank you Jonathon
Natalie, having attended many Universal Retreats in Vietnam, Australia and the UK, I can also attest that “not one is the same, they are always inspiring”. Although each year the theme is the same for the 3 Retreats, what is presented is always different as each can build on the other and as Serge Benhayon presents according to what each audience is ready to hear. Thus the Retreats are ‘organic’ – no two are ever the same but each one is as you say, “powerful, life changing and . . evolutionary”.
Thank goodness for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for bringing back to us the Ageless Wisdom Teachings based on the Truth that we are Love – the Retreats offer us a few days together in exploration of what this really means. I have been forever changed because when I leave a Retreat I take home more of me than when I arrived.
The retreats are definately lifechanging
The Universal Medicine Retreats are an awesome way to take stock: check in with how we are doing, as individuals, in groups and the larger community and in every aspect of our lives. Check in to how humanity is doing as a whole. It allows us to connect to something much grander than ourselves and to realise what needs to change and gives us the tools for that change.It brings us back to greater awareness and the potential to live with more truth, love, stillness harmony and joy.
Hear Hear elainearthey! This is an accurate, powerful and heartfelt description of the Universal Medicine Retreats. They are ‘Universal’ because they take the universal within us and outside us into total account, and because of this they are pure Medicine. This amazing opportunity to have 4 days together, held in such Universal Love as we explore the side-track we as a race have deviated into, is nothing short of life-changing.
And as you have so beautifully said: ‘It allows us to connect to something much grander than ourselves and to realise what needs to change and gives us the tools for that change.It brings us back to greater awareness and the potential to live with more truth, love, stillness harmony and joy.’
Universal Medicine retreats are real, down to earth and practical. No airy fairy new-age stuff anywhere in sight. The personal growth and healing that is available through these events is absolutely astounding, and this is not disconnected from the growth and healing that is needed for humanity on this planet. We are all a part of the bigger picture, therefore the healing that we do on a personal level will have an effect on the greater whole.
Well said Rebecca Turner. I’ve been to some yoga retreats, health retreats etc. Airy fairy and great at building escapist delusion. Universal Medicine retreats seriously get right down to the core of things and break open the purpose of life in the most practical and genuine way. Pure Gold.
Jonathan you clearly show how ‘… for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” And I absolutely agree that the way forward is actually through re-connecting to our inner-most, to the Love that is eternally there and making that the foremost expression in our life.
As you describe Jonathan, “According to the teachings of Universal Medicine, the word ‘Esoteric’ in ancient times meant inner-most, and this is what we should be re-connecting or re-linking with; our ‘Inner-Most’, or inner essence”. Once we realise that humanity has moved so far away from what is our natural way to live, then it makes absolute sense that the true path to healing is one where we re-turn to that which we were. The students of the Livingness are living examples that once this path is chosen, miracles can occur – “To find our way forward, We have to look back!”
‘To find our way forward, We have to look back!’ – Universal Medicine and the Ageless Wisdom teachings show us just that. It’s not ‘back to the future’ but forward to the past. What is presented here is time-less and known to all in our inner-most. All we have to do is reawaken our connection to it.
Going ‘forward to the past’ must mean therefore that we are going in a circle and coming back to where we started – to a timeless Now – a constant here to be rediscovered.
Gosh Jonathan, I think I was at the same ‘nirvana’-style retreats you were! And you’re right, Universal Medicine retreats are the antithesis of these, because what Universal Medicine offers is the polar opposite of that which was offered by every modality, religion, therapy, new age event and offering I’d explored in the two decades I spent searching for answers that made sense. Those of us who attend UniMed retreats in our vitality, joy and commitment to a responsible life are the living proof of what this organisation and way of living offers.
Awesome blog Jonathan, the way in which you’ve expressed the power of love and reconnecting with ourselves resonated deeply with me.
Jonathan, I love the way you write. It’s like you package wisdom, intelligence and a deep philosophical view of the world with a deliciously dry wit. This blog was no doubt written with a twinkle in your eye!
“One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy”.
What you have expressed here is very wise.
Your blog is very revealing and informative Johnathan, thank you
Exactly Shirl, and so true – Our love within is an incredible powerful energy.
The words Religion and God bring up so much for so many people. We have judged that which is infinite within each and everyone of us, based on the behaviours of a few. It’s really not surprising that we have reacted so firmly to the extreme behaviours based on what we currently know as religion and turned our backs. But are we turning our back on what religion truly is and a deepening relationship with ourselves that allows us to know God intimately. I have began the process of healing my relationship with God and religion based on all the hurts that I have of what I previously thought this meant. I am not aware of anyone anywhere opening up these kinds of conversations and feel very blessed to know that Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon is staring these super important conversations.
Very true Jennifer – the words religion and God make many people flinch and cringe, because globally we have a certain picture of what it means to follow a religion (the key word being follow – helpless, sheep, blind) and to be a religious person (can’t think for yourself etc.), but as you say it makes no sense at all to shy away from these words based on the actions of a few throughout history who have bastardised their meaning.
Such a great disservice to us all by those words being taken from what they truly contain in their beautiful simplicity. You’re so right Susie, the stigma attached to those words, or the use of them for false ideals time and time again, has made them almost unbearable for so many. Sharing them with the love and simplicity they are is the beginning of claiming them back.
I love reading this blog Jonathan. At this reading the following stands out for me – “One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.” I so agree with you here, Love is the basis of ALL. When we truly connect to our inner-most, and hold ourselves really open to love and allow it in, how amazing it is. It changes our whole perspective on life, we find there is an amazing purpose to life that now all makes sense. We are here to let love in and let that love out to all. So the key for humanity is just that, connect to love, be love, live it and let that love out. Then there would be no need for war, aggression, abuse etc. and all would be in harmony, the true purpose of humanity.
A great many people can feel that life as it is lived by the majority right now doesn’t make sense, yet most of the alternatives out there are just that, a bit out there. That is what i love about Universal Medicine and the way of the livingness, it is completely grounded in reality. Although you talk of the retreat Jonathan what is wonderful is that there is no retreat from life, quite the opposite in fact. Practical teaching are on hand that give me the energy to live very full purposeful days. Here’s to not being pasty faced!
Today in society we have mistaken the word ‘normal’ and what it currently means as our marker of what how we should be and what is excusable because the majority (in a culture) are doing, behaving or living this way. For me the word ‘normal’ signifies what is natural, original, what is true and living from a commonality that we all naturally and equally share. That what is common for us all is that we all have a Soul and an equally divine essence. And our true normal way of living is connected to our essence, our Soul and as such with All.
Well said Carola. How many times do I look around at how we are living – our politics, social media, illness and disease, the media and how it treats people, the way we interact on the roads, how many people just walk past each other in the street, domestic violence, suicide, cancer, poverty and sex slavery, racism and war – when did this become our ‘normal’ world? Why have we not stopped and said – ‘ wait – we need to do something about this? Normal needs to be claimed back and you spell it out so beautifully.
Very well said Jonathan, all is not lost because of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and what his many presentations, workshops and Retreats offer us all. That is, to expose the Utopia in this world that people are constantly seeking, which by its very nature has you arriving at the fact that the world is indeed in a Dystopian state. The so called “good intentions” of institutionalised religion has lead to some of the greatest harms the world has experienced.
How absolutely true Terri-Anne. The ceaseless seeking of Utopia in this world leads us hugely astray and keeps us involved (in every sense of the word) in constant activity that leads nowhere.
Thank heavens for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine’s re-ignition of the Ancient Wisdom for the 21st century – a wisdom that explodes the myths and ideals that can keep us encased for centuries, always imagining we will eventually ‘create’ that paradisal life here. Life is us, Life is our Soul, Life is Love . . .no matter what milieu we find ourselves in.
When people seek Utopia, many fail to consider that their ‘Utopia’ may well cause, and often does, another’s hell, such is the imbalance in this world. True equality is Utopian.
There is a well-known saying: ‘The way to hell is paved with good intentions’. It took me a long time to understand the truth of this saying but a consideration of religion and all it has lead to illustrates it perfectly. There are deeper readings still.
Thank you Jonathan for such a real alive and honest sharing of the Universal Medicine UK retreat which I attended also and really appreciate your sharing of this.
I love the way you express” One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.” And from here there is so much more to share and be for us all.
I love that Jonathan “all is not lost” hurrah, thank god for Serge Benhayon and his sharing and reigniting of the ageless wisdom into the world. I have only just been able claim that I am religious as I kicked back against that word and what it represents in our world as it is horrific what has occurred and is occurring because of the bastardisation of religion. To now know it as it was intended to mean re-connect to the love and inner wisdom that lies within is something the world really needs to see and feel as it is the only way back to a humanity that is harmonious!
I have also more recently reunited with the word religion after shunning it completely having taken in the bastardised version of the word. Now understanding its true meaning of re-connection, I feel reignited and a responsibility to live and claim religion as the most natural way to live and be, so that we can all come back to knowing the truth, the equalness and sacredness of this word.
Beautifully expressed Sara. I too have been re-discovering the truth of what religion is through the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom and The Way of the Livingness. I can feel without a doubt that inside us all is a sacredness that is naturally religious.
To re-connect with religion in the true sense of the word is a liberation so complete and yet I feel that I am only of the edge of rediscovering its Glory.
I love your comment here Sara about Religion. I too have had a strong aversion to this word for most of my life, but I now understand it in full and in its true sense, thanks to Serge Benhayon. It is exactly as you say “the most natural way to live and be, so that we can all come back to knowing the truth, the equalness and sacredness of this word.”
The simplicity, beauty and depth of what is naturally ours in the true meaning of the word ‘Religion’ has for so long been taken from us and transformed into something so far from what it actually is. What is worse is that we have to feel that we let it get taken away. I’m with you Sara. Once you reconnect to what is deeply and inherently ours within – the purpose of us being here becomes very clear.
Having been at school in a Catholic Convent, ‘Retreat’ meant retreating from the world, being silent, and in prayer. The Universal Medicine retreats are the opposite – they are a total immersion in a way of living that includes how we sleep, what we eat, how we are in the day. They are not silent – we listen to inspiring presentations and are encouraged to talk together in groups and to build relationships so that we can BE in the world with the rest of humanity. In doing all this we have a wonderful opportunity to experience re-connecting with our innermost selves, feeling what is possible helps us to embody a way of living that is our future.
Thanks Jonathan for bring this down to earth, very true piece on the way things actually are. I thing the one thing everybody in the world at the moment could agree on is that things are just not working. The environment is getting trashed, people haven’t learnt that greed caused and is causing the financial crisis, religious fanatics are running amok and no one knows what to do about it. The only way forward is in our past! Love and harmony are our greatest powers and allies.
I agree Kev the world is actually undeniably in a mess! Wherever you look, war, crime, hate, greed and the presentations from Universal Medicine actually bring it all back to us. Our way of living is our responsibility and ultimately affects all of humanity since we reflect everything we do to others. As children we learn by copying others and what we see is most often what we go on to live.
So true Kevmchardy, what is being called out here in Jonathon’s blog is that things really are not working. We need to get honest about that and call it out. There is something not right with the organised religions that wield more corruption, disempowerment and unloving behaviour that every before, there is illness and disease going through the roof and much more. There is a way, the way of the livingness, that is about simplicity, love, truth and living in a quality that is allowing of love and understanding all the way.
The measured sliding scale of ‘normal’ has indeed been a slide in depravity. What has happened to the simple absoluteness of what is healthy, healing for us and what is harming?
Resolute and authoritative Jenny James. You have spelled it out as it is.
I loved reading this Jonathan, it makes so much sense and brings us back to simplicity – coming back to ourselves with the immense support of the presentations, retreats, workshops of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
Jonathan, thank you for this eloquent mini treatise on the state of the world and the false notion of ‘normality’ that we so desperately embrace when everything inside us tells us that ‘normal’ has become an excuse for depravity and just won’t do.
“All is not lost”. Absolutely not, as we have the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom showing us that the way back is by connecting with our innermost and the wisdom that lies within.
Thank you for an awesome blog, Jonathan. You put the word ‘normality’ into a different perspective, as well as the word ‘retreat’. And I love how you have pulled apart the word religion and then given it back to us in its original form: re-link. Love is indeed out inner most and the essence to re-link back to, something that is sorely needed in our world. Through Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have learned to connect to that which I have been searching for all my life – the essence within – (and believe me I have tried many different practices to ‘get there’). This is a blessing itself, far grander than anything else I have ever experienced.
I love reading this Johnathan and it is fascinating how all that we need to know about life we actually already know as it is all within. As we deepen our connection with ourselves and God we discover the way life was in the past is what can support us now as we as a humanity have moved a long way away from what we know is true and normal. Thank goodness for Serge Benhayon and his family to reflect and remind us all of these other ways of living with love.
This is a great blog which captures the Universal Medicine retreats very well. Having read this blog before, the lines I always remember from it are this ” What I actually saw was, Well-Nourished and Joyful faces. Heard and joined in with intelligent conversation, and Laughed and shared moments with Beautifully Normal Human beings as we all worked our way through the aeons-old wisdom which has a more than ‘slightly familiar’ feel to it….. and so it should, for we all know it already!” Now, having read this, I look around and see fellow students and feel appreciative that we are choosing and experiencing another way of living all because of one man and his family and all that they share openly for humanity to see another way to live. This shows how it is well worth reconnecting to what is known within to support us in making the changes that lead to us feeling vital, nourished and joyful so this way can be accepted as what is normal!
Agree Jonathan, “predictably, battle lines begin to be drawn up just as soon as ‘differences of belief’ becomes an issue”. This is true whether one is talking about religion or any other area of life where we are owned by ideals and beliefs. Humanity would be living a very different way if we listened to our innate inner knowing rather than the myriad of beliefs that are instilled in us from young and which we collect along the way to protect our hurts.
I love the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom and I love listening to Serge Benhayon present on this topic.
You are right Jonathan, it seems the quality of what we call normal was far from perfect but now seems disintegrating. We have accepted a lesser quality of health, education, and compassion for others. The example you give of people leaving their lives behind to join a bloodthirsty offshoot hell bent on taking over the world by force is indeed a wake up call. Religions of the world that are holding another group of people as separate or different are yet to realize that this has never worked, and is the problem, not the solution. The Ageless Wisdom on the other hand knows in essence we are all the same, and promotes unity.
‘To find our way forward, we have to look back’, is so clever to understand how we have all the knowledge we need within us, so makes the going forwards so simple. Once I understood this teaching, it was like a huge leap forwards, because I had no excuses that I can’t do it.
To learn to be a master of one self in unison with the all or everyone and everything else feels to me the way to go .The ancient wisdom teachings as presented by Serge Benhayon
Offers us a practical way to develop a deeper relationship with our innermost which in turn creates more harmony in our bodies and minds .This also has a ripple effect on others and the world we live in.
Jonathan this is a really great blog. Hilarious beginning, ‘normality’ was defined as the mainstream or what the majority did.’ Yea, we all really need to get it straight that normal doesn’t means what is mainstream. Illness, lack of vitality and disease is mainstream and definitely not normal ! I’ve had to realise that being different from others doesn’t make me not normal or weird – just not mainstream. That’s much easier to handle haha!
It is interesting how we turn the word normal upside down. For us in this world it is almost normal that in at least one area there is war or at least political calamities, it is normal that in some parts of the world there is wealth and in some parts poverty, it is normal that there are prostitutes and it is normal that news are presented with excitement, it is normal that professional sport is highly paid and a cleaner or a person working in a shop is paid very poorly etc, etc.It feels like a huge amount of people in our society have given up on what is true. What would be if we would not take this anymore normal but seeing it as something which needs to stop, because it is not love?
The ancient wisdom is truly powerful, and yes, it does feel very familiar.
I too found the level of joy and inspiration from the conversations held at the retreat to be awesome beyond compare. I look forward for many months to every retreat simply to enjoy this.
Thank you Jonathan, you have outlined the essential flaws in currently established religious organisations, what more evidence do we need than the historic carnage that continues in it’s various forms to this very day. What Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine offers through the teachings of the ancient wisdom, is the opportunity to shed the myriad false ideas we have of what it means to be religious, and the possibility that there is such a things true religion. As you so aptly describe, this is a deeply personal and intimate thing, between oneself and one’s inner-most.
Thank you Jonathan for saying how things ‘are’ but also how they can be turned around and returned to our natural way of living. The word ‘normal’ has been so bastardised and used to confirm our way of living, our relationships, how we are with ourselves etc. so not to truly show what is in fact very ab-normal.
Yes I understand your misgivings about retreats- sometimes it worsens the problem if the approach is to further idealise hiding away from others and disengaging with life. I have found this to be the total opposite at universal medicine retreats and courses. Every time I have attended such events I come away refreshed, energised and really willing to work with other people. I feel committed to addressing my role in so much of life and in truly making the world a better place by looking at my daily contribution as the most important focus.
Now that’s “talking about a revolution…..we all want to change the world”!
The commonly accepted version of normal is not only one of the biggest lies we have fallen for but also one of the most unnoticed hindrances to simply being who we naturally are; true religion (re-connection), love etc. When we start to declare our inner-most knowing to be normal we recognise how upside down the whole world actually is.
I agree with your suggestion Jonathan that the wisdom presented at Universal medicine Retreats has a familiar feel to it and that it touched deeply a knowing in my heart about love and living life with purpose and what true brotherhood and community is about. What is also familiar is that access to that wisdom comes down to choices we all can make everyday, so it is not elitist or privileged knowledge and this speaks to me and I suspect many others of being true wisdom.
Through the aeons-old wisdom we have always known, but buried deep inside us, we are re-discovering our future which is to return to where we came from, that is to God.
Ancient Wisdom and an inner knowingness are not given their rightful place in today’s society but as humanity’s self-made ills continue to escalate, more attention is being paid to these truth-full commodities and as you say, we’re beginning to look to the past to determine our future.
I love how you write Jonathan so clearly and with such strength of knowing ,for we do know and when connected to our innermost essence all is known. Only then can the truth and wisdom be lived and a real true way of living with honesty and responsibility become the new way forward. Living lovingly within ourselves and with everyone else with no divides ,no separation and a loving understanding can we live who we truly are and bring joy harmony and trust back into our lives. This is the way of the livingness brought back to us by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and this is the true normal and we will all begin to realise this soon.
How far away humanity is from the truth of religion. Thank goodness for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for now we have the truth for all, the tools and guidance to live from our inner most.
“One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy”.
These words Jonathan are so simple yet so powerful, wise and divine, thank you.
LOVE is incredibly powerful indeed.
How far we have come as a society where we now see those things that were once deemed as ‘normal’ as far far far from normal.
How far do we still have to go when all those things that we once deemed normal are still poisoning and ill-effecting so many of the worlds population.
It is alarming to understand the poison but inspiring to know how easy it is to change a way of living that truly supports health and vitality.
“What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed”. Never was a truer word spoken Jonathan. Not only is our notion of ‘normality’ flawed, it is the exact opposite of what would be a loving and responsible way to live. Thank you for calling out and giving attention to this falsity.
I love attending the Universal Medicine Retreats. I now see it as a joyful responsibility to attend as a member of the human race. Not only is it inspiring and hugely developmental, but it is also very practical in unpicking the lies that we have believed in and embracing the oneness that we are from.
‘Aeons-old wisdom’ that we all know already…inspired and supported by Universal medicine in our return to this lived knowingness…what a foundation for this Monday morning. Thank you, Jonathan.
I love this blog, Jonathan, as it exposes how wrong we have been getting it, but also how possible it is to turn things around. I wonder how long it will take for society to recognise that Universal Medicine shines a steady light from our past to our future.
So true Janet, understanding our ancient origins explains how far we have descended from our divine glory. Once that is acknowledged the Ancient Wisdom reveals the way back.
The future of humanity is True Responsibility, Love, Tenderness and a natural Brotherhood with each other. Lets face it, nothing else has worked!
So true Joshua, it is not the definition of madness to keep doing the same thing (war, abuse, lovelessness) and expect a different result. The future of humanity is, as you so succinctly say… True Responsibility, Love, Tenderness and Brotherhood. Apply any one of these words to it’s full meaning in your life, and it will change everything irrevocably…. for the true good of everyone!
This is about the most beautiful thing I have ever read, relatably hilarious in (quite a few) places, revealing with a powerful yet light hearted clarity, and in the end deeply deeply inspirational, like a calling back through the mists of time to our depths and the very essence of life itself. Both your style and what you so clearly deliver is nothing short of pure GOLD.
I agree, Kate. what is written here is so very powerful, so simple, so truthful and is the core of humanity.
There is such a strongly held sense of ‘normal’, which in truth is a myth that we use to prevent anyone truly exposing what is going on around us and right under our noses.
The Universal Medicine student body is full of real, vibrant and energised people. Many of whom have made amazing life changes, turning around lives that were not happy or in some cases had major addictions and ill health to deal with. It is a great reflection of how making simple changes can turn anyones life around and make life worth living and fun to share with everyone. And their is nothing weird in any of this, it is just the what the old,new normal looks like.
Thanks for your blog Jonathan – I found it hard to read and have trouble facing the reality of what institutionalised religion is delivering in the world today.
After I leave a Universal Medicine Retreat I can feel that everything that is presented is right there with me. My choices in every moment then allow me to accept, embody and live the truth that every part of me already deeply knows.
Jonathan your description of what you DID NOT see at the Universal Medicine retreat made me laugh as I remembered my own previous caricature take on ‘retreats’. I find Universal Medicine workshops immensely profound in terms of the understanding about the dynamics in real-life as well as tangible insights and techniques I can apply to all aspects of my life.
And I find that the opportunity to share in this learning experience with a large group of people – the presenters and those attending – and to feel very included and cared for, never judged or expected to be me more than I am, and to be able to explore various areas of life as an equal in this way is immensely healing and confirming in itself.
‘What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.’ Never truer words Jonathan, our definition of normality is definitaly flawed, it is more synonymous with common, familiar and most usual.
Yes Michelle what we define as normal is defiantly flawed. It is like the current norm is the ‘Emperor with no Clothes’. We know that it isn’t right and yet pretend it is, or ignore that it isn’t. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have set the ‘norm’ of the future with greater integrity and love as a lived foundation. What a blessing it is to be introduced to this at this current time.
And it is this dense layer of flaws on the surface that distracts us from seeing what normality really is and how simple life can be.
Thank you Jonathan for what you have shared. I remember as a child and young teenager sitting in church being a passive recipient, not being involved, just going to church and then leaving to go about my life until the next week when I went back to church again. I had always known there was so much more that we were being offered at church, so much of us not shared. To learn through the presentations of Serge Benhayon about the truth of the meaning of religion, to re-link, re-connect and that it’s all about relationship. This makes so much sense to me and gives me everything I need to work with in my own life so I no longer choose to be a passive recipient of life, but an active and committed participant. Being at a Universal Medicine Retreat for me is about learning to live everyday in connection with God and my own divine heritage, bringing this beauty to all I do, no matter who I am with. Although there is much to learn and unlearn I know that my everyday way is all about a learning to live a religious way.
Beautifully said Jennifer. As a child I knew God, in me and in natures beauty, from the smallest heavenly detail to the most expansive landscape or sky – I felt held in the most stupendous loving warmth, that I knew God to be. I too recall being made to go to Sunday School for a few years and feeling this gaping disconnection inside the church, a rigid empty place that totally lacked the warmth of lived love that I knew so well. I sat on a hard wooden bench feeling the glow in my heart and body and stared out the window, when asked by the ‘teacher’ with some annoyance why I was looking out the window and not facing the front I replied with a joyful sharing that I was ‘watching God dancing in the daffodils, because he was outside the church more than inside it’, a comment that landed me on the naughty chair facing the wall for my apparent ‘cheek’, and ‘wickedness’!.
Why our current major belief systems never could really entice me or claim to hold ‘the answer’ was so starkly demonstrated in Johnathan’s lines: “Each system, whether Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, has its own ‘religious’ establishment which has grown into a powerful repository of dogma. As each system has become more and more entrenched in its own dogma, so has it cemented itself into an unyielding adversarial position”. This says it all to me, and I love how you bring it back to the daily living of connection Jennifer, “learning to live everyday in connection with God and my own divine heritage, bringing this beauty to all I do” – simple, practical and real.
Awesome blog Jonathon – so clearly explained where humanity has got it wrong – religion and normalising the way we currently live. I have always been anti organised religion, easily able to feel the control exerted over people. Since coming to Universal Medicine and learning the true meaning of religion – re-connection – I have been able to re-connect to God and experience all the joy and love that comes from knowing I am a Son of God. I am coming to realise that this is what is normal – not the struggle, the searching. Normal is feeling my body alive and vital throughout the day, feeling the joy in nature and from connecting with others, taking deep care of myself because I am worth it. For me living with the divine is the new normal.
Lots here to consider Jonathan and it would appear that humanity has lost touch with its Inner-Selves and it would appear to our detriment. That’s why courses and retreats run by Universal Medicine are so important – there is no one else out there at the moment who is telling us how it is in truth and that we can choose to change. Sometimes I wonder how bad does it have to get before we choose a different way of being.
The outstanding thing about going to a Universal Medicine event is how well and vibrant everyone looks. Even those with serious health concerns have a sparkly light in their eyes. I recently attended a mainstream religious event and was struck by the fact that the only people who looked well were the children and even then there seemed to be no spark. By this measure alone it is worth the investigation into this new normal being set by Universal Medicine.
It is the spark in the eyes that is so telling when one is in joy with themselves.
Very true Amanda, it is the sparkle of true joy. I am continually amazed to witness how people transform themselves as they journey through the workshops, how the depression, exhaustion and resignation melt away as people, self included, learn how to deeply care for and love themselves again. As you say, even those with serious health issues still shine. We are a body of people well worth studying, as we turn the tide on the trends of ill health and ageing, walking into our futures full of a vibrant joy and vitality.
The whole idea of ‘normal’ needs to be examined. Normal and common are not the same thing.
For instance; it’s common today that many many people have multiple medical conditions – however it is absolutely not normal.
It’s common to suffer abuse and trolling via the internet from total strangers – again not normal.
It’s common to compete, strive and to drive our bodies to both great physical feats and into the depths of disregard – absolutely not normal
Lets reclaim normal.
It’s normal to feel joyful and to breathe freely. It’s normal to be gentle, delicate even. It’s normal to love and be loved. (which means respect and responsibility are absolute givens). And this is just the beginning of what normal is …
Great point Helen. I agree. With ageing for example the common experience of many who age is considered normal and because we just don’t see the ‘norm’, it’s almost forgotten. Yes let’s re-claim normal.
Thank you Helen, for beautifully laying out the simplicity of real and true normality.
Love it Helen, you have exposed the reason for our ever-declining state of health and vitality, all the while thinking it’s perfectly normal. Our poor health and diminishing vitality is not normal at all, but is definitely increasingly common. Only by comparison do we make things normal.. if everyone else is doing it, or has it, or suffers it, then it is so. Here’s to your reclaimed normal…
I was talking to a Rotary Club representative today about suicide statistics in rural NSW and he said a similar thing about rising suicide rates being comparatively normal . Suicide is on the rise – Australia has alarmingly high statistics especially in our youth – and the terrible thing is that we are increasingly numbed to it through its commonality. He was emphatic in stating that although it was more and more common, this situation needs to be discussed frequently and as an abnormality – similar to our increasing global ill-health.
Yes well said Helen! A very true and powerful comment. There is a lot to ponder on here of what we are allowing because it has been construed as the ‘norm’ or is just ‘common place’ in the world now. Thank you for clearly saying what is normal.
Love what you share here Helen…yes, its time to reclaim normal!
Yes Helen, with all the craziness in the world escalating to being more common, an upping the ante on crazy so to speak, the notion or experience of normal gets forgotten. We adjust to the new level of what becomes commonly accepted and carry on. How crazy is that, Its like the worse it gets the more we shut our awareness down because it is too painful to feel it. So, if its not happening to me its ok. But, it is still happening.
I love coming back to this, there is so much wisdom combined with common sense and absolute wordliness.
So true Jonathan, the world is dividing ever deeper into factions, religious, ideological, political, nationalistic – even sporting events can incite a frenzy of hatred and violence that seems surreal, yet it plays out everywhere in conflict and emotional overload. These problems will not go away through managed solutions. It will take a deeper understanding and acceptance of love and equality among all human beings which everyone can connect to as the essence that is innate within us all. Then all those outer layers will be seen for the falseness that they are, obscuring our clarity and perception. We don’t have to be taught this equality, just reminded of who and what we naturally are.
Indeed Annie – and violence at sporting events is a great example of the ridiculousness of the ‘state of the nation’. Parents assaulting each other and the referee at children’s soccer matches. Larger scale violence at the big events. HELLO … there is something terribly wrong here! It does seem surreal, but it is very very real.
Your comment about managed solutions is very pertinent – we are constantly trying to manage situations without addressing the real issue, and while the real issue seems insurmountable it is in fact very simple and starts with respect and responsibility.
Without doubt the Universal Medicine retreats provide these foundations for true equality and the real key ingredients – Love and Truth!
Well said Annie. And yes Helen, Universal Medicine Retreats simply support us to wake up to what we already know and all we naturally are.
Exactly – ‘what we already know and naturally are’ is in everything that Universal Medicine represents, presents and delivers time and time again.
Your summation, Jonathan, of the state of world politics due to the influence of institutionalised religion is very accurate. I have never been able to comprehend how they all in their different ways all profess to have the answer as to what is true, to be word of God, espousing love, peace and the perfect society, yet so blatantly be the starting point of such violence throughout the centuries.
We do comprehend now how the ‘religions at war’ situation has come about thanks to the presentations of Serge Benhayon – through many carrying deep hurt, protecting themselves in a ‘safe’ fortress of dogma which brings a false sense of collective and community, which then holds the rest of the world to ransome and falsely projects that the ‘others’ are the enemy. They are trapped in a paradigm which will not allow them to realise that they themselves are the love they so desperately crave.
Our understanding and reading of the situation assists in healing it.
So true Lyndy, by not adding to the emotions of fear, hate, blame and reacting to them, but understanding deeply how these situations arise do heal. And by applying this understanding in our own lives we inspire those around us to not be part of a train of events which can lead to that feeling of being isolated and unloved that leads so many to Hatred and violence.
I agree Jonathan, our current religions seem to do more to engender separation, war and hate then unite people with loving teachings. They seemed to have quite dramatically failed humanity. The emphasis on personal re-alignment in the Universal Medicine Retreats has been in my experience a fundamental starting point in supporting people to establish the real tenants of religion in their lives again. Connecting to our inner self requires honesty, focus, dedication and complete responsibility to adhere to our inner knowing and wisdom. When we do achieve this, resolving conflict, restoring unity and living in harmony becomes the main focus of life, which can all be achieved without controlling, manipulating or influencing another. The teachings of Universal Medicine have and continue to support me to address many a difficult situation with real tenderness and love, transforming what would have been very stressful interactions in the past into interactions that deliver true understanding and real evolution.
with the recent killings of people due to their faiths not being the same as the person doing the killing it is clear that we are separated from the innate love that we all feel deep within which is source of true religion, living that is religious. You would have to be so separated from yourself to kill someone over not believing what you believe God wants its hard to understand.
Great blog Jonathan, ‘In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.’ It is great to be reminded that we have all the knowledge we need in any situation, I am starting to trust this more and let go of trying to control the situation. With work in particular I have always tried to control the outcome, but have been learning recently that if I let go of the control, remain open to what is presented to me and trust that it will be ok, then work flows and there is a magic that happens.
Through Serge Benhayon’s workshops and retreats I’m learning everyday that the wisdom is inside me, by trusting myself and my own inner knowing.
Yes the only way forward in reunion with self.
The real meanining of the word religion, love this sharing thank you.
Love this sharing too Angelo. The only way forward is back to who we are.
i love the simplicity too Angelo of reconnecting with self as a way forward- yes this is the true meaning of the word religion, and it shows us how far off the mark we have been when you consider how disharmonious most world religions are both within them and in between them.
Yes this is the only way forward -by living the truth of what we know religion really to be about. jam so grateful to UM for showing me this truth.
“What this demonstrates more than anything else is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed”. This is very true. We consider all sorts of abusive behaviour towards our body to be “normal”. Drinking alcohol, which is a poison is considered normal, so is cigarette smoking, so is eating food that does not support the body. And the thing is that we don’t seem to stop and consider why something is considered normal. Is it just because the majority do it? It is time to look at all these things that we consider normal and not just accept things at face value.
I agree, normal has become abusive to both ourselves and others. Normal has come to mean not that something is true and loving, but just something that the majority people do, and if many people do something then this is ok, and it becomes normal. Personally this is not the way I choose to live life, I feel more the opposite to be true – if something is TRUE and loving, then that is what I choose to be normal.
Yes Meg Nicholson. I find nothing more joyful now to go against ‘the norm’ i.e. to stay with me and fully commit to my feelings and my truth.
I agree, it’s actually fun and it feels amazing to go against what is normal and live and be what is true to you.
It is difficult to fathom what we have allowed to become “normal”. More the question for me is why? Why have we allowed these behaviors to become normal? Do these behaviors allow us to not take responsibility? Do they allow us to hide? Do they allow us to not look at our issues and how we have created the current state of affairs? It is very interesting to ponder on these questions and develop an understanding of what is truly normal and why.
Well said Elizabeth. We just seem to accept things at face value because it’s the norm and no one wants to be different. When you break it down like you have i.e drinking alcohol and eating harmful foods etc. it’s so obvious that something is terribly amiss here. Questions need to be asked, and what we regard as ‘normal’ needs to be exposed for the ridiculousness that it is. Thankfully we have Universal Medicine who have brought a deeper understanding and awareness to this harmful acceptance of what society sees as normal.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” The truth of this sentence is so powerful, and makes me feel so joyful to appreciate that everything we require to return home is within us.
Thank you Jonathan, I have been attending the retreats for six years now and I will certainly be doing the next one and the next one and the next one……… they have been life changing events for me.
Our current version of ‘Normal’ is definitely flawed, there’s nothing normal about poisoning ourselves, overeating, being constantly checked out, or even retirement. I think I’ll make my own normal where love and care are the leading factors!
Meg, I will definitely join you in establishing a new ‘normal’ based on love and care for self and others as many students of the Livingness are already doing. Once this is lived, then everyday miracles become ‘normal’ as the student ‘before and after’ stories document!
Life definitely takes on a whole different colour and outlook when we establish a new ‘normal’ based on being true to ourselves and what we feel, and deepening our love and care everyday – I am a big fan of this new ‘normal’!
Some great points and one that jumped out at me today about the alternative therapies sector. An ill forgotten fact is that whilst people may try to find the answers in these options I’ve never met someone who’s actually seen a truly change and feeling of real vitality in their lives. No judgement on the therapies, but they clearly lacking something. I tried a number of therapies to help heal my stomach issues alongside talking with the Doctors and the only modality that has made a true difference has been the Esoteric Healing and Way of the Livingness modalities.
I love this blog Jonathan, so clear, concise and puts it all in a ‘nutshell’, and we know there are plenty more ‘nutshells’ around waiting to be cracked! And they will, as we all live what we inherently already know, and with such joy remember at each retreat.
I appreciate the observations you share in your blog Jonathon, as there is no judgement, just telling it as it is. There is nothing to be fixed and no solutions to be found, the truth lies in us connecting to our inner selves and returning to our inner knowing, that which is available to us all equally and universally so. From this place war can never exist and the possibility of a different way of living presents itself. There is no opting out of life from this place, it is a way that is deeply committed to life and all of humanity, which is neither self serving nor tolerates any form of lovelessness or disregard in self or others. This way of living might seem like a fantasy world, but I have found through attending Universal Medicine retreats, that this way of living is the most true and natural way of being there is. And there are thousands of people (and growing) around the world, with lives transformed, whom are living evidence of this.
I just love the title of this blog. It reminds me to come back to myself before I take another step, to be aware of the energy I am walking in- is it a drive to survive or a moment to take all of me into the next step?
This joyful and well nourished face is really glad to have read this blog. To see the simplicity of re-connecting to your innermost in such a light in the face of all that is heaped upon us in the name of ” God”, is an outstanding spotlight.
Indeed, that young people are turning to fundamentalism to bring purpose to their lives reveals the deep disillusionment unfolding within our societies. These young people are seeking a reflection of truth, of brotherhood – they become angered and disillusioned with the empty promises of organised religion, they want to feel more, they want to belong – the search brings them to extremism. When all along the truth they are seeking lies within, not buried in the mud of institutionalised religion.
The Universal Medicine Retreat is an unparalleled platform that offers us the opportunity to understand the world’s workings and catapult us in making in-roads in our evolution as well as that of our sphere of life. It’s is amazing fun and very challenging, as is much of the work with Serge Benhayon. It provides us with the tools to go out to the world and share the truth we live.
I attended my first retreat in 2013 (Vietnam) and was introduced to the Universal Medicine bridge to the Ageless/Ancient wisdom of true connection to self. It was a HUGE relief to validate what I knew was in me all the time. Thanks Jonathan I was fortunate to experience the 2015 UK re – treat, it was my 3rd retreat and each one just brings more and more self awareness and connection.
Universal Medicine Retreats offer the true way forward or in truth – way back to our divine essence where no anger, hatred or war can exist.
“Well nourished and joyful faces”. Absolutely. Universal Medicine retreats are packed full of healthy vibrant people who are committed to life. No drop outs here!
Exactly, Rebecca. If someone were to actually clock the general state of health and well-being of the Universal Medicine retreat participants, and compare this with societal norms, the penny would begin to drop that there is a different way of being that brings harmony, joy and vitality consistently every day.
I love the way Serge Benhayon describes true religion, science and philosophy all as one and the same thing, and feel like you, Jonathan that we are on the precipice of a cliff. To move forwards, we need to look back but it’s all within us, ‘a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves’. We all have service to do.
The Universal Medicine Retreats give me an opportunity to experience a complete lifestyle that is dedicated to a consistent rhythm and way of being, of self-care, nourishing eating, and communication with others in group work that is both engaging and inspiring.
Spot-on Carmel, one gets a complete “How to” manual on the subject of life and living.
Nothing outside of us is it.
Your example of the shift from children leaving to hitch-hike in a foreign country to go off to fight in the Middle East is a dramatic but true reflection of the increasing chaos, illness and disease in the world. However, as you present there is another way as presented by the Ageless Wisdom at the Universal Medicine Retreat so that it is is not all doom and gloom but an inevitable, if bit painful for some, return to Truth.
To quote Jonathan: ‘When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.’ This is one of the reasons I find Universal Medicine workshops and retreats invaluable because the work does not stay as knowledge you actually embody it and it becomes your way of living not just something you know intellectually.
I love reading your blogs and your senses of humour is awesome Jonathan. How you describe a lot of workshops in the past before Universal Medicine is so spot on as I attended many of them and was one of those very unhealthy, unhappy, depressed people. Not any more, since attending Universal Medicine workshops and retreats I am vital, joyful, play-full, loving and full of inspiration for the day ahead
A refreshing wise funny article on the subject that is so important, a perspective that really needs to be heard worldwide. The bizarre concept of what is normal has set the bar for most of us during all our lives, and in this great article is exposed for what it is, an absolute illusion. Thank you Jonathan
I agree Jonathan, dominant religions of the world have indeed given the title Religion a very bad name. Any religion that says, “I am different to you” is part of the problem. This separation extreme, as it is in the Middle East, plays out all over the world, even in peaceful, sleepy country towns there is youth suicide and alcohol fueled abuse. Religion has been used by warlords with the cry “God is on our side” to commit the most ungodly acts. Religions have also been used as an excuse for the most extreme forms of greed, lust for money and power used to fuel the separation.
Many have been put off religion having witnessed the oppression of dogmatic institutions and are “Imagining” a world without Religion. It may come to pass that many people in the world will see that these separative religions are not working, and leave them in droves. What will take their place? Living without Religion in a humanistic way has been tried many times and not had much success. We won’t get there without God.
The Ancient Wisdom has been there throughout the ages, people have lived a harmony with self, with others, and with God.
Dare I say that perhaps The Ancient Wisdom will really catch on in a big way soon, given the right circumstances?
I agree Jonathan. People just need to get tired of being sick and tired to start to consider that there many be another way to live that actually supports their body and their being.
I get the sense what you have shared in this blog Jonathan is the tip of the iceberg 🙂 Perhaps that is what I feel too, that there is so much more to life than what is in our faces. Serge Benhayon is the one presenting some of that ‘more’ at the retreats and the thing is, the Ageless Wisdom that is presented does feel rather familiar to me, making me wonder if perhaps I already know what Serge presents??? Truth be told, I know I know. And it is wonderful 🙂
This line is both a crack up and a profound revelation – “Nobody thought that life was perfect, but nobody could think of a better way of living” – love it! — but there is a different normal!
Joel, I love this line too. “Nobody thought that life was perfect, but nobody could think of a better way of living”.. Now we have been presented with an alternative way of living that supports everyone. Who wouldn’t want to give it a go?
Great blog Jonathan, so well expressed and straight to the point! We need to reconsider what religions are doing to humanity and what is their true purpose. How lost can we be as a human race to fight in the name of God?
I love this blog because it is not afraid to say things as they felt by the writer.
Yes, every religious system has so ‘cemented itself into an unyielding adversarial position’ with their falsely created dogmas, based on the limitation of the human spirit and the human mind it dominates and controls. What has happened to the beautiful inner-heart with its immense capacity to love, observe and understand? Well, it has come back, as you say, Jonathan, with the presentations on the Ancient Wisdom by Serge Benhayon. How can one ever doubt the ceaseless love and care of God, and even imagine that conventional religious dogma with its rigidity, exclusions, dictates, has one iota or ounce of God’s essence in it?
Lyndy, I love the expression of your comment and it sums up Jonathan’s blog to a “T”. I was brought up a Catholic, as a child, and although I knew God was love intrinsically I couldn’t fathom the connection of God through the dogma, ritual and control of the church. The Ancient Wisdom presents everything and more of what I know in my heart is true about God and life; that we are all Sons of God equally so and what we are missing is our inner heart, (soul) connection on earth. The Ancient Wisdom shares how to connect to the wisdom within, express it and live it in connection to everyone and the all. The Ancient Wisdom is entirely inclusive without one drop of exclusivity.
And I just wanted to add to this Jonathan that I totally love and appreciate, not only your enormous heart and insight into the healing power of the Ancient Wisdom, but also your wonderful way with words – the the play on ‘Advance’ (evolve) and Retreat (a time where we can be held as we detach from the binds and hooks of so-called ‘normal’ life) working so well with the’ battle lines’ drawn with the reign of dogma over heart, and the innumerable states of war instigated and fed in the name of Religion.
Jonathan this is a very clear and well written blog. I can agree with what you say 100%. We are so fortunate that we have Serge Benhayon teaching The Ancient Wisdom and the beautiful way of Living that this presents. That we are all equal brothers and sisters and that we have all we need inside us, if we connect to that, this can be done through the Gentle Breath Meditation. The World needs desperately at this time to feel this Love and connection we all have together. For us to see the separation that many religions cause and change that through Love is surely what this shattered world needs to pull it back together. We each have a responsibility to ourselves to connect to Love.
Beautiful “What this demonstrates more than anything else, is that for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” What we consider ‘normal’ is a great subject to consider, there are many things that I know I have been shocked by and in the past have told myself , “well that is the way things are” And yet this is not true, we may not be able to alter issues that are far flung across our globe but we can start by choosing whether we react to these issues and whether we live in our own way to support humanity. What is ‘normal’ is defined by numbers and those with the loudest voices, rather than true, let’s look at what ‘normal’ means for us.
Yes let’s have an audit of what is normal, including looking at those times when everything just ‘flows’ which we label as magical. Suppose magical = the new normal we can return to?
Could not agree more kathiefreedom, what is considered ‘normal’ these days has moved far away from what is natural and true. “Normal” is definitely a word that needs re-defining.
Yes kathiefreedom, I agree it would be great to look at our definition of ‘normal’.
We seem to accept what doesn’t feel quite right deep inside and brush it off as ‘normal’, and if we see something that we have always craved in our heart we tend to call it ‘too good to be true’
I propose we just shift our spectrum a little and realise that:
– all of what feels right deep inside is actually what is in line with and so it is ‘normal’ according to our own essence
– all of what does not feel right deep inside is what is ‘not normal’. Society is filled with it only because we keep telling ourselves it is normal and keep living life in that way!
Oh yes Samantha, in society at the moment if I am normal, I am unhappy with self, family and work, and have a few health issues. Most people accept this and do not contribute to changing their part in it. Accepting things as normal goes against our natural deeper wisdom.
Our ‘normal’ way of living is not often questioned which is strange if you think of it. How well do we all feel, how many of us suffer from mental and/or physical discomfort and disease, how many wars and unjustice do we see around us? Without having to immediately ‘solve’ all the problems we face as a Humanity, it is time to stop and feel the state we are in, the seperation that we see all around us. We are all connected and part of the Whole, responsible for the Whole together. Why miss out on the joy of returning to the love we all are? What awaits us is vitality, love, Brotherhood, living a quality that is the opposite of the quality most of us live in today. It is all there for us, all we need is choose a different ‘normal’. Thank you Serge Benhayon for reflecting another ‘normal’ that is so true to who we really are.
What can I say, your very well written blog says it all! Thank you for highlighting the power of group work, the bastardisation of words and the ancient wisdom in us all,’ and lets not forget the joy we experience when we are together in this true way.
I love the humour in your writing Jonathan, truth delivered in such a joyful accessible way. Thank you.
Universal Medicine brings so much common sense, truth and love to a world that has truly lost itself. It offers us the most glorious map back to who we truly are.
An awesome sharing of what truly happens at UniMed Retreats and how greatly this is needed in a world that has seriously lost its way right now.
There is so much power and wisdom in this blog. I especially love the truth you expressed in this part –
‘One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.’ – so very true Jonathon.
Well said Jonathan! I found this blog so interesting and engaging.. I love every bit of it. Thank you
I love your comment “To find our way forward, We have to look back”. Initially I thought in arrogance that we were always going forwards, because history was behind us. But looking back is making so much more sense to me since I came across the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. We are returning back by reconnecting to our inner selves, and we are going to return one day, back to where we came from.
Thank you Jonathan, having the opportunity to attend a Universal Medicine Retreat every year has been one of the most significant investment I have made as I have learnt so much about life, me ,expression and humanity.
I absolutely agree Francisco. Every year the retreats inspire me to continue committing to life and the richness that this brings is immense.
I third that! The retreats have shown me where I am in relation to commitment to life as much as commitment to love. Each year, it has confirmed all the loving choices I have made and where I can take it in the next year. If there was ever a true process of new year’s resolution, it would be from the foundation the retreat has offered me year by year to build on.
Me too Francisco, the Universal Medicine Retreats have been life changing for me as well as thousands of other people. It is not only the people who attend the retreat that the changes happen for but also for their families, friends, colleagues, all benefit from the knock on effect. Thank God for Universal Medicine who is an organisation that is truly supporting humanity.
Perhaps it is time to really question what we consider “normal” as a lot of what we consider normal is extremely detrimental to our body and our wellbeing.
I agree, Elizabeth: harmful concepts of normality e.g taking drugs, are certainly effecting our health and wellbeing as individuals and as a collective humanity.
These false concepts also cause inordinate amounts of confusion within our collective psyche as we learn to accept as ‘normal’ that which feels completely wrong within ourselves.
Such inner divisions then cause further health issues within, so that we have not only, e.g a harmful drug within us, but the added poison of accepting something as ok, which is clearly far from ok.
Totally agree Elizabeth, just because many may be living a certain way that is ‘accepted’ or familiar does not make it ‘normal’. If we look at the state we are in as a society it certainly does not look or feel ‘normal’. We have accepted a way of being and living that does not reflect the truth of who we are as Jonathan so beautifully writes.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.”
Extremely detrimental I agree Elizabeth. I can just recall when I was a small child in the 1950’s when it was normal to be surrounded by adults smoking cigarettes inside.
Yes I remember this too, and not only was it normal to be around them smoking, but to sit in a car with the windows up while the two adults in the front were smoking and the kids in the back were choking on the smoke….this was deemed normal…crazy.
The behaviours that we are now considering normal are quite extreme and if we wind back the clock twenty, fifty years ago these same behaviours would be considered to be abnormal. Why is this so? Is it because we have become so detached from ourselves that we don’t really know the full extent of the damage these behaviours are doing to us or have we simply given up and our mindset is if it’s good enough for him/her to do it than it’s good enough for me, to hell with the consequences.
Jonathan what you wrote about our future also being our past and both being found in our inner selves is simple and profound. How crazy has the world become ? How desperate and how lost and yet the answers to everything are sitting there quietly biding their time equally within us all.
Yes the simplicity and profoundness of this statement hit me as well.
The systematisation of religion is indeed a divisive reinterpretation of what religion truly means. It prevents all people from enjoying the simplicity of connection with the divine within us all, which has only been complicated by those seeing themselves as more divine than another. How absurd we can think like that, when true religion was offered to remind us we all all equal children of God?
This is a great description as to why group work is so effective. Because we register an experience not just a thought, hence our body remembers it: “When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.”
Yes Oliver I can say that is correct because I have felt it to be true in my own body. I have gone from hating group work to knowing that it is the only way to go!
Jonathan I love how you have expressed – so relatable and with such honesty of where the world is at. I love how you have said ‘ to find our way forward we need to look back’, and agree as a human race we do need to look at how we have lived / are living so that we can move forward with greater awareness and understanding. More needs to be written about this. Thank you for sharing your deep insight and wisdom.
Yes…I agree, Donna: look back far and look back deeply, just like the Sphinx….
Every year I attend a Universal Medicine retreat I always come away knowing that the experience has been absolutely life changing.
I’m right there with you Vicky, absolutely life changing and I know that by going out into the world, back to my life after a retreat and simply being me, I can bring about a little bit of much needed change in the world.
Another great post from you Jonathan Cooke – keep on writing as it is simply inspirational.
The bit that really sticks out is when you say “To find our way forward, We have to look back”. This is making more and more sense to me since I came across the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
We have lost the plot and yet all the wisdom that we need to get back on track is actually inside each and everyone of us – Equally. There are no special or chosen ones.
The amazing thing is Universal Medicine gives us the tools to connect back to our inner most where this wisdom lives. How cool is that eh?
That is true Bina, we have been here before and lived both gloriously and as we do now, not so gloriously, what out future is has been also our past and a great start to this future would be to reclaim the word religion for its original meaning as Jonathan shared. If we reconnect to ourselves then we can rebind humanity. The principle that we are all one might sound fanciful to some but it is not so when we live with a deep care and consider everyone our equal, the sons of god we all are. Not one person who is reconnected to themselves would ever want to fight or harm another in any way.
It is one of our greatest hypocrisies to go to war in the name of God. God is love, connection, brotherhood and wisdom. God is not hate, disconnection, separation and lies – that’s called war. It is the complete antithesis to love and therefore the complete antithesis to God, no matter what religion we belong to. Thankyou Jonathan, we do indeed have much to reconnect and re-turn too!
Absolutely Liane! it makes so sense whatsoever to hate and go to war claiming you know God more then someone else. We are all equal, we are all from God, how could someone know God less then another? – they couldn’t. It’s sad the reinterpretation of religion is what most people know today and think it’s the truth of the word.
Spoken with authority and with greatest respect for the truth that we are, thank you Liane.
Love is our universal religion.
Yes, Love is our Universal Religion Victoria, absolutely. How could our innate relationship with ourselves, each other and God be anything less?
I agree Lianne it is ridiculous, especially when both sides are asking God to be with them on the battle field. When we love and connect to ourselves is it not impossible to harm another?
I so agree with you. To go to war in the name of God is sheer hypocrisy. It is an excuse people wield to justify their actions but has absolutely nothing to with the love of God. By putting God’s name to it makes people feel they have the right to act out their hate whilst not having to be responsible for their choices.
You are very correct Liane; going to war ‘in the name of God’ is a total hypocrisy.. If you looked at all past wars, a surprisingly large number of them were fought due to religious disagreements – both sides claiming they were serving their God. The universal argument over who’s God is who’s and what God is what has brought a lot of large scale disharmony and suffering to the world over history.
beautifully put Susie, “The universal argument over who’s God is who’s and what God is what has brought a lot of large scale disharmony and suffering to the world over history.” And it is still happening today and is not only on the battle field, it is within established religions themselves, where there is still dissension which often results in more splits and sects. It feels crazy that all this is in the name of a Loving God.
Beautifully said, Liane!
I totally agree – it makes no sense to go to war or to kill for God, who represents love and brotherhood. It really reveals how far away religion is currently from the truth.
Jonathan it’s such a true observation that we have indeed, ‘got it so wrong,’ when there are young people secretly leaving the UK to join in religious groups who practice barbaric acts. I get a general feel that the authorities are at a loss as to why they choose to join such organisations and what the appeal is. I often hear how those who know these young people are so shocked that they’d want to do this as they were so quiet and so studious.
What if they’re just showing us the lack of connection we have with one another in our lives. That talking about the weather or ones grades at school doesn’t cut it. There is a deep disconnect that leaves an emptiness that promises of whatever attempt to fill. How we are with each other is shouting out to be considered.
These young people choosing to join these forces is not isolated to certain communities – they just express this lack of connection to themselves and others in this way. There are so many other ways that have coined the term ‘disaffected youth.’
Being in connection with myself and others is vitality important if we are all to come together again as a society.
Karin, ‘Being in connection with myself and others’..is vitally important’ and we then can also connect to our true purpose in life which I feel a lot of young people are looking for but cannot find within normal society. Many long to contribute in a real way but there is often no opportunity offered and so they end up going for something which seems to have meaning for them.
Great point Karen, the focus on grades and outside attainment means nothing to the inner feeling of connection and love, whilst we are focused outside we will forever be less.
Yes Karin, you are right we have got it so wrong. We are losing our disaffected youth and talking about the weather and school grades is not enough. Everyone is crying out for connection, and when they don’t see it they can be deceived that by being part of a holy war they are part of a brotherhood they don’t feel at home. We have to show them another way so that they have real choice.
This is a very important point, Karin. It seems that when teenagers leave the country to join IS, or start taking drugs, we are very quick to point the finger at the terrorist group, or the drug dealer as having seduced them. These people obviously have a responsibility here, but what we do not do is look at our relationship with children and young adults and ask ourselves what in going on with them that makes them choose these courses of action? What in their world is telling them that this is the best course of action in their lives? We are all responsible for this world that we share with one another.
You express with such clarity Jonathan, it feels impossible to me that anyone can deny the truth of what you say. Yet they will, for humanity is so embedded in its own individualism and concerns and dogmas, and unable to choose to detach from them, even for a moment, just to take a peep at the blind spot. It seems to be about security; thousands of years of tradition establish a status quo that is comfortable for most. Yet The Ageless Wisdom is far older, and in re-connecting to our innermost we discover we are connected to so much more, to all humanity and the universe, and we belong to ourselves, the safest place on earth.
Beautifully said joanchristinecalder, the truth may be denied, however it is always felt, and therefore a blessing.
A great account of what is truly happening Jonathon, humanity is losing its way, WE have got it SO wrong.
If everyone could feel the loving support from shared groupwork sessions at Universal Medicine workshops, experience the “power of self discovery”, open up and claim their untapped inner wisdom, then,
organised religion/s could no longer control people.
I agree Wendy, even more reason to take what we gain at the Universal Medicine retreats out into the big wide world for everyone to see and feel. The Way of the Livingness is the only way, and the only way the world is going to feel it is if we go out and live it. Not in a preaching or ‘trying to convert’ way, but by just being true to ourselves and building those loving relationships with ourselves and others.
Of course, you and I know this already, I just like to keep reminding myself lest I ‘forget’…
so true sandrahenden I love what you are saying. it is the only way forward.
I have also seen these ‘Well-Nourished and Joyful faces’. It is undeniable the healthy effect Universal Medicine has had on thousands of people.
And not only do we have institutionalised religion creating separation and conflict between people but look at sport, particularly sports like soccer where in some countries the hatred towards another because they support another team is really just insane, and shows just how far we have separated from the love we innately knew at birth and that is there just waiting for us to reconnect to.
Yes, Sandra, there are many ways in which we have cemented the separation from our inner selves, religion and sport included. So much pain abounds from just these two let alone the pain that ensues from our education system which teaches nothing about the Love that we are and can be with, in every moment we choose to be connected to our inner selves. There is much work for us to do to truly live the Love we naturally are. Firstly, we need to see how damaging a lot of what we champion as good in the world truly isn’t!
I have felt this for some time Jonathan when you say “In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way.” which can be seen close to home through the ‘wars’ and disharmony going on within our own bodies, in our homes (domestic violence is on the rise at a scary rate), online (trolling and cyber abuse) and in our workplaces.
What I’ve found with the retreats at Universal Medicine is that by taking time to reflect, consider, heal and evolve there is certainly an advancing in my self connection and self development. The current way many of us are living is like we are on the hamster wheel, thinking we are going somewhere but staying in the same place. It’s little wonder that we simply accept what the majority do as normal when its anything but.
Dear Jonathan, re-reading your blog the phrase that really stood out this time around was ‘Dystopia has finally arrived at our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it’.
How utterly true. The whole world is dysfunctional and distopia-ed. I always knew this when young and used to campaign, go on anti-war marches and protests, write critiques about the corruption of the world, and yet still managed to believe that some of the world was okay. It is only since meeting Serge Benhayon and encountering Universal Medicine that I have realised the full extent of the corruption, the full extent of the dysfunction, the absolute insanity of the whole kit and caboodle. You are right Jonathan we can no longer turn our back on this dystopian creation. We must face it, feel it, and bring all the love, power and understanding that we truly are to bear upon all that we encounter, within ourselves and others.
For how long have we accepted that because something is statistically common it must be ‘right’ or normal. This is a lemming mentality that keeps us trapped in a cycle of dysfunction that does not serve the big picture. We have little pockets of advancement with no regard for all of humanity. What Universal Medicine brings is a naturalness that whilst for now is not lived by the majority, is our innate way of being. For me, working through my hurts back to this, I have found myself in a place that feels more like home than anything ever before, having met and worked with people who feel more like family than anything I have ever encountered before.
Beautiful expressed Matilda, there is so much ill we have just sat down and accepted and the deep consequence is that our quality of life is less. Universal medicine is dedicated to bringing a new benchmark to humanity, one that holds ourselves, our fellow brothers with such loving regard that we can stand absolute in our knowing of what is and is not true.
Thank you Lucinda and Matilda for expanding on the ‘lemming mentality’. It sparked a memory of when I was very young many years ago and I read a food health book about not eating protein and carbohydrates together (which, at the time, wasn’t sure I agreed with). I immediately thought of a whole nation – Italy – where pasta and cheese is commonly eaten together and thinking, “Could a whole nation be misled in their diet?’. I can remember my whole world cracking apart a little as I began to wonder how much do we just do something or think something just because everyone else is doing it! It was a real turning point in my life as I asked myself ‘How do we know what is true?’ Deep and undying thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine for the amazing guidance and reflection we have all received on this!
25 yrs ago I got married and we decided to trek in the himalayas for our honeymoon.
Little did I know that it was a pilgrimage path that we were following, visiting Buddhist temples on the way. The experience touched us within. We recognised that were searching for solace and truth. So for the next 10 yrs that followed we decided to take up meditation, and I followed guru after guru who claimed to know God and what enlightenment meant.
It was only until 2008 at a 5 day heart chakra retreat with Serge Benhayon that I deeply felt the true connection of God, within my inner heart, reconnected by the gentle breathe meditation. So different from how I was previously taught, whereby I was giving my power away to the guru, and searching outside of myself for answers to life’s woes. It was a life changing experience for me. And I have never looked back since then. I have finally found true religion, in the Way of the Livingness, the ancient wisdom taught by Serge Benhayon.
Our future is written is black and white in the statistics that abound us these days. Everything from suicide, road deaths, war, illness, shootings, accidents and abuse in all its forms, pollution… I could go on and on. When we look at these and feel the absolute waste and suffering it is staggering. Surely we are getting close to saying ok, enough is enough, let’s examine these statistics and wake up, our normality is killing us.
This piece has me wondering how we manage to shut ourselves off from what is truly happening in the world, to know about it only at a superficial, or technical level, in a way that enables us to not truly feel the horror of the fact that young people are choosing to leave their homes in the countries that we live in, and travel to places where barbarism is the norm. It took Jonathan linking this with the more prosaic round the world backing pack trips taken by so many young people, to really jolt me, and to make me realise that this is happening, that these are real people, from the UK and like countries. It occurs to me that how we manage to shut ourselves off from really knowing the horror of what is happening is in part by being shut off from the reality that it all involve real people, humanity.
Jonathan it is so simple when you put it like that – that we know the all-encompassing philosophy of life already, it is just waiting to be reconnected to. And how amazing is it when we do reconnect to it?
Johnathan your blog is so powerful and what it presents is much needed across this planet.
Once reconnected to our innermost … Religions would no longer have a grip and wars would be obsolete.
By attending the Universal Medicine retreats and choosing to take responsibility of our own lives one by one the students of the Way of the Livingness will change the course of history …. Bringing the true reason for retreating back to humanity. A time of reunion, re linking and true re ligion ✨
Beautifully said kathrynfortuna.
Inspiring words “The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.”
Great before and after description of the UK retreat Jonathan . . .no “seeking solace in alcohol, cream cakes or sex.” after this retreat. . . . Love it!
I feel this needs to be read more than once to get the full depth of the richness of truth that Jonathan Cooke has offered here.The disharmony that has been propagated in the world through religious belief so clearly defined here. It simply, isn’t love.
I remember being so struck by the power of the Universal Medicine group work. In days gone by I would feel that I had nothing to contribute to this kind of discussion but now I am filled with wonderment at the myriad of expressions and the depth of truth that can be connected to if we express together from our inner-most.
‘if we express together’: we expand into the big picture, understanding the fragmentation of individuality and the magic of our unique expressions, all from the one place. Thank you, Lucinda.
I so agree Jonathan these Retreats are phenomenal, life changing and ground breaking. Serge Benhayon is amazing philosophy who delivers the ancient wisdom in such a down to earth way. These retreats are a blessing for all of humanity.
This is all so true Jonathan, by returning to our innate wisdom, living with true responsibility and seeing we are all equal players in the equation of life there feels hope for us all to pave a new way forward.
Thank you Jonathan for this very insightful blog as there is so much truth here to consider.
Jonathan,
What an amazing offering of what religion truly is and all the disharmony it has caused in its current form meaning.
There is something deeply wrong in our world – there are too many people seeking relief, a better way, another way. We have been confined by what people say is the way rather than truly connecting with what it means for ourselves. I too take my hat off to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for offering me the true meaning of words, and showing me it is more than OK to be who I am.
“Our future, lies in our past” is so true Jonathan. But there is no need to continue to be controlled be the lies in the past that are holding us from the our true future and our connection to God.
Jonathan, you cover so much here, and you lay it out so simply and so clearly. It is an absolute joy to read. As you note ‘Dystopia has finally arrived on our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it.’ – we surely can’t and it offers us an opportunity to consider that we can live another way if we’re but willing to see and let go how we live now. We’re in a time of change and in the middle of this we have tools like the ancient wisdom which can offer us another way.
You make many great points Jonathan: for me what stands out is that the Inner-most is the most unifying connection we have in a world where nationalism, religion et al seem very at home with division and the falsities of “better than”. Essentially we are all equal and there is nothing more equalising than connecting to our own Inner-most by the work presented by Universal Medicine. The world needs the Ancient Wisdom very badly.
In a world that is loosing its way it is definitely time to look back to the ancient wisdom and to the inner wisdom that is inside of us all.
Looking at what is happening for our kids today, the wars, illness, obesity, domestic violence to name just a few of the signs that humanity is way off track…bring on the Ageless Wisdom to show us the way back.
Jonathan I love how you write – so joyfull and yet with such depth and insight. I love the line about the ‘cream cakes’ – freakin brilliant 🙂
“learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever.” I can testify to this, when I feel something , from lived experience it is with me , it’s part of me, it’s in my body – it is an absolute knowing that no one can tell me otherwise as I know what I have felt – there is a steadiness, a certainty and absolute clarity. Whereas when I am told and try to learn something from my head there is room for doubt, uncertainty and questioning. And the same can be said for when someone shares with me from their lived experience, you can feel their authority, it is an absolute knowing – rather than a flatness from a textbook or a what if scenario that comes with a trying to convince.
Gyl that line also stood out for me for the same reasons. It is the difference between communicating lived knowledge from our bodies as opposed to concepts from our heads.
Hear hear Jonathan this is music to my ears and whole body ” for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” What we have perceived as normal for so long is in fact so far from the truth – and so far from our truth – normal is living and feeling amazing, energised, speaking and living the absolute truth, having deeply loving relationships , harmony in life, in our bodies, in our homes, workplaces and families, working together, deeply loving oneself and one another, being and feeling truly joyful , miracles happening every single day, people being deeply committed and dedicated, knowing we are all sons of God … and so much more.
Jonathan Cooke, loved reading the true power of your truth. When truth is delivered with love you cannot really argue – it’s baseless. Truth is equal for all its one-unifying. It’s a point we all can reach by simply re-connecting.
Love it – “up-skilling”. This blog certainly up-skills everything, not just our English!
This is a very, very special blog. A clear, comprehendible and utterly accessible layout of the simple facts. Jonathan, you must write more and more and more, for what you have presented is the absolute truth. A truth that the whole world needs to hear over and over again – loud and clear.
Yes, I agree Otto. This is the truth – spoken with full authority and the simplicity of the way it is. Refreshing, revelatory and real. I love it!
Otto, this blog does indeed present “a truth that the whole world needs to hear over and over again – loud and clear”. What is here presented by Jonathan in his very, very special blog is that we have lost “touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way”. It is now time for All to know that the only way back “lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves”. All that it takes is self-responsibility and a willingness to go there!
Our future lies in our past, which just shows there is no such thing as time as everything is already there and has been there all along. It just shows how we as a humanity are lost. But for sure, all is not totally lost, because there is a way, the only way, which it the way of livingness, presented by Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.
Mariette this is amazing. Our future lies in our past? There is much to ponder on if this means that everything is already there…… then why are we so lost?
How refreshing for you to name and expose what goes on in the spiritual new age scene, of gurus and so called enlightened masters. And believe me I know what I’m talking about, having spent most of my life with a guru.
Through connecting with the wisdom inside of me through the teachings of Serge Benhayon I was able to free myself from this insidious way of life.
Well said Thomas. I never had a guru per se, but following the New Age; the latest thing one needed to do to become ‘enlightened’, feels exactly the same to me now. I was giving my power away, thinking New Age Spirituality was different than the mainstream Religions. But in the end it left me just as disillusioned and lost. Only since studying with Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon – and remembering the Ancient Wisdom – my path has become so much clearer. The path is simply back to the true me. I’m still pealing back the layers of all the stuff I took on along the way, as, in the past, I was never enough. What a huge lie so many of us fall for. Thank God for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine to remind us of a true and simple way to live, from our inside out.
Jonathan I did not understand every word still improving my English but I can feel so much power in your blog…and this is absolutely amazing what you are adressing here…and so wise…thank You for sharing Your wisdom and experience with us. With love Nadine
You are amazing Nadine!
What I love about the Universal Medicine retreat group work is that everyone has something to share, It doesn’t matter how many UniMed courses you have attended, or how long you have been a student. There are no colour coded name badges. All contributions are welcomed in discussions because, as you write, ‘we all know it already’, just need to be woken up from our slumbers.
It is time we see how ridiculous it is that we have ended up with a multitude of dogmatic religious expressions, causing wars and separation, when true religion is as simple as connecting and living from our inner hearts, knowing that we are divine and equal in every way.
“OUR future, lies in our past” this says so much Jonathan. That what we once lived in our full connection to God is what we are returning to.
Jonathan I also attended this retreat, to say it was a life changing experience would be an understatement, I whole heartedly agree with what you have said.
How can a war be fought in the name of God? It’s an oxymoron, and the words ‘war’ and ‘God’ don’t belong in the same sentence!
Yes Sandra, this always puzzled me enormously when I was growing up! If God is love how can anyone kill in God’s name and say they are a ‘follower’ of God’s teachings? We manipulate anything and everything to suit our own agendas and to justify our actions. All I can say now is thank God for Universal Medicine reflecting light and illuminating the truth to the warped way we choose to live. Thanks for showing that there is a loving way which is true FOR ALL in the full equalness of the living Sons of God that we are.
So true Sandra. War & God? What a bad excuse for unacceptable behaviour.
Our current state and madness summed up so succinctly. Thank you, Sandra and Jonathan.
What a gorgeous blog Jonathan – it was a joy to read your words expressed with such truth, joy and love – I will definitely return to this blog and read it again to reflect and let go.
It is impossible to refute your words Jonathan – humanity is in a mess, religions play a large role in having caused and maintaing this mess and we need to change the way we live if we are going to get out of this mess. Universal Medicine retreats offer all who attend an experience of a true religion, one based on Ageless Wisdom, one that is universally applicable to all people, one called, The Way of the Livingness.
I love this blog Jonathan. You write with such a frankness and “down to earthiness” that makes reading a pleasure. In being lost it is true, “To find our way forward, We have to look back!” I have found the Teachings of The Ageless Wisdom invaluable in my support back to me.
I also found the Teachings of The Ageless Wisdom invaluable in supporting me to come back to myself, Rachel. And with “To find our way forward, We have to look back!” the Ageless wisdom was not called Ageless for nothing.
‘To find our way forward, we have to look back’, not to wallow in our hurts but beyond these to the wisdom that is in us all, from ages ago. A wisdom that has threaded through our history and is now, thanks to Universal Medicine, on our table, in the 21st century, ready for us to claim and live.
Over the past 15 years I have attended many retreats, I’ve chanted, worn gowns, danced in ecstasy, you name it, I’ve probably done it. The last 4 years I have attended Universal Medicine Retreats and what a breath of fresh air. People are normal, there are no specific colours you have to wear, no gowns, no guru, no vegetarianism. What is on offer is the opportunity for us to re connect (religion) back to what it is that is already inside us. There is no special or far out way to do this, but what is offered is the simplicity to clear our hurts and those things that get in the way from us feeling the beauty of what we all are, which is love. The grandness of this is there is nothing to attain, but to remember what we come from. There are no ‘special ones’, we are all equal. This is what Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon shares.
The door is open to all, irrespective of what you wear, your beliefs, your background, your creed, your colour, your class, your past or your future. A far cry from every single organised religion in the world, in which lie the first seeds of separation, from whence all wars have grown.
Well said ottobathurst✨
Otto beautiful shared, it is ‘A far cry from single organised religion in the world, in which lie the first seeds of separation, from whence all wars have gown”.
I will second that Kathryn. Well said ottobathurst.
Yes Otto, the door is open to all in the understanding that we are all equal and that we are all Sons of God. From this platform it is easier to fathom that true brotherhood is a possibility for us on planet Earth – no tolerance necessary for others in other groups as we are all one – no separation.
I attended my first ever retreat with Universal Medicine 8 years ago, and I’ve attended one every year since. Had there been any chanting, robes or special ceremony, I would have run a mile, but there wasn’t. It was everyday people who had felt the truth of what Universal Medicine presents in a very practical and easy to understand way.
Yes the simplicity in what is offered is not at all threatening as we are not asked to be anything other than ourselves and indeed are still accepted in spite of everything we have taken on that we are not. This is simply seen as the protection we are in and is completely understood without judgement. All of this is seen through and we are held in the fullness of who we naturally are, allowing for a letting go of the hardening in the return back to what we truly know.
A very wise exploration of where we have come as a society and where we are going. I find this both refreshing and alarming
Upon reading this again I feel very moved and something in me feels deeply for things you have talked about. I don’t understand why our communities and why our lives have been so out of sorts for what seems like centuries. You share that for such a long time we have had that feeling of something missing or being ‘not right’ which has given rise to the ‘hippie’ movement of going against the grain which in itself was still not the best choice of action for many reasons .. The unsettling feeling in me appears to be that your answer and the answer that we must come back to is the ancient wisdom teaching that reside in each and every one of us within our inner heart ..
I feel this to be unsettling because of how this has been with us for all of time but we have not chosen to connect to it and live from this place. It’s very confronting to know that we each have the answers but have not been living from this place but rather from a place of control and domination .. And this is possibly where religion comes into it as well and the separation of people depending on what style of religion they saw to be ‘the way’ … Wow such a powerful blog you have written which has opened a can of worms .. That which needed to be opened.
Woohoo such a awesome description of what is true and inspiring in this world and also education of what is separating out societies. We need to connect back into the ancient wisdom to get back to a society that is living the harmony that which is possible. You talking about group work is great as you share how important this is for the whole and only by nations and societies dealing with issues with love and understanding but still calling out what is not true that will we actually get anywhere…
Absolutely, Elizabeth! This is a great testimonial to what religion is and what it can be. As Jonathan says, we have lost the meaning of religion, and somehow ended up considering the mess we now find ourselves in “normal”. But the truth is there if we choose to see it.
I agree, this was my observation and experience “Well-Nourished and Joyful faces” I attended my first Universal Medicine retreat this May and it was a joy to share. For me the retreat confirmed and celebrated life, religion and living in a quality of love.
“well nourished and joyful faces” – to get to a point in adult life where you get to feel joy again was unthinkable to me 10 years ago. To be able to celebrate life like this, as you say Samantha, and to not simply do it on retreat, but every day like children do is something that I now find to be possible and real. The Universal Medicine retreats, like Jonathan says, are far from the usual offerings delivered by others. The presentations are simple, wise and very accessible, because they are lived by Serge Benhayon in full and are known by us all.
Michelle it’s fascinating for me to feel that we can enjoy life in the same way as children do because I had the belief for most of my life that it’s not biologically possible to have the same experience as children. It has been a revelation to me to begin to feel as incredible as I did as an 8 year old, every single day.
Growing up we are told to take life seriously and stop mucking about as “life is serious” – there are jobs to find, mortgages to pay, children to raise etc., etc. But what if that responsibility could all be done joyfully, playfully and with ease. Where is it written that life has to be dull, lifeless, hard and miserable?
Yes, Alexis, the belief of joy being only for children and not an experience associated with adulthood is very insidious and patently false. Joy is a state of being available to all though choices, founded on a self loving way of living.
Where did we get the belief that its exclusive to childhood?
There is so much wisdom in this blog Jonathon; what a gem you are to share all you have. I just love love. I love people. I love humanity. Since I can remember I’ve lived with a deep love for everyone and always strongly felt how we are all deeply connected by love and that everyone craves to be connected to in this way. The retreats, Universal Medicine and the Ancient Wisdom have supported me to express this in my everyday. An absolute blessing for humanity.
Leaving home to go and hitch hike around the world in my case was definitely in search of a better way of living that had eluded society. I didn’t like what I was living in, so I sought something else. I’d never quite made this connection so strongly or seen how similar it is to people joining various religious groups with that same seeking.
Nikkimckee, I read this morning the story of a Jordanian young man who went to Syria to help because he felt that the authorities, (secular or religious), in his country were not listening to the voices of the young people throughout the area who were calling out for change. One of his questions was’ why does a king live in a castle when the poor live on the street?’ His motive was not at first religious, more humanitarian, but his choice to go to Syria led him to factions that encouraged the belief that violence was the only way to relieve oppression.
We know there is another Way, the Way of the Livingness, where we each come to a place within ourselves that is love. We do not have to travel or get involved in other peoples disputes to find it, but once found, we have the responsibility to express it, call out injustice, tell it the way it is, because this world is crying out for the truth of Love to be heard.
Hmm yes interesting point you make here Catherine Bower about looking at beliefs that determine to then cloud an otherwise clear choice of truth, and that understanding (without condoning the choice here of violence) a person’s position is key here. That they are so deeply hurt. And in this hurt make a choice to behave not as they would otherwise without it/the hurt being there. When we love, we love more. When we hurt, we find love difficult and fight back. It really does as you say Catherine, show the extent to which there is an URGENT need to live and express the way of love or The Way of The Livingness.
When I did leave and travel it was with a huge hurt in me, of which at the time I was unaware. When we seek from a place of hurt the choices we make can be so far from our truth.
I agree, Catherine. So very many people care and want to make a change. However, something (unresolved hurts, misconstrued beliefs ) often blocks a full and truthful expression of that natural care. The Way of the Livngness is the only way I have found that allows me to express this care in a way that supports me and all others simultaneously.
I was the same – I went backpacking round the world at 21 because I had been so disillusioned with family life and university; I was kind of running away. I developed a tough exterior and powered through pretending I was OK, but really felt small and isolated. Travelling the world didn’t really change anything either because the world was still loveless and I kept encountering the same disconnected behaviour from everyone else everywhere I went. Coming back to England I had a nervous breakdown at 23 but buried it all deeply because my answer was just to keep ploughing on, working hard and getting on with life. It wasn’t until I hit my mid 30’s and encountered Universal Medicine that I finally understood – it’s not about the world getting it and giving me something I wasn’t giving myself, but about me in my own connection to myself, and then out with the rest of the world!
What a long way to go nikkimckee, around the world, when all along your true home is in your inner heart.
It was the ‘spiritual pursuits’ that side-tracked me, I never travelled far from home, but I was a very long way from MY true home, inside MY inner heart.
Thank Heaven for the Universal Medicine Retreats, Serge Benhayon and all he presents, for re-kindling in me the knowing of the truth that was there all along.
And in travelling so far sandrahenden I was always amazed that I couldn’t get away from what I was trying to escape! When I did accept my true home and took responsibility for it, the need to go anywhere vanished.
A great read, a great synopsis of the state of the world and a great summary of what is possible.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves”. Jonathan, thank you for expressing wisdom so succinctly and for reminding us of the importance of staying connected to our inner-most and living each moment from that place. A truly inspiring blog.
It’s true that people who attend the Universal Medicine retreats are vital and alive, and are able to continue to live with that vitality in their everyday lives. This is very different from retreats where people go to escape from life and then lose any sense of serenity once they leave the retreat. Universal Medicine gives us tools for living life…and living it well.
I love what you have written Jonathan. It is so affirming to know and feel that the path I have chosen now is the one that truly connects me to myself and thus to God. The retreats have become part of our annual rhythm and support us so much in our daily living.
Institutionalised religion has a lot to answer for. Thanks Jonathan for reminding us what true religion is and how we should be living it.
Amazing blog Jonathan reminding me that living true religion restores me to who I naturally am and is incredibly inspiring for all those that witness it in action.
I agree Elizabeth, it’s so great to hear about true religion.
What I love about Universal Medicine is that it brought a normality to an activity like meditation, i.e. it being used as a simple reconnection to the feelings in the body, not as a way to distance ourselves from life. The same can be said of other matters thought controversial or otherworldly, such as reincarnation, karma and the difference between being spiritual and living soulfully. These are “out there” topics yet the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom make them real, tangible and steeped in common sense. All of the above allows us, if we choose, to become bigger players in our lives, and for me this has meant less allowing life to happen to me but instead going out there and making life happen.
That was my experience with the gentle breath medication too Stephen and blew away all the other types of meditations I’d tried which had all encouraged visualisations and basically leaving the body, whereas the gentle breath meditation connects me back to my body and what I’m feeling. Such a practical tool that Universal Medicine have taught at workshops and retreats, and so simple and quick.
I love the power in your writing Jonathan. You know who you are, where you’ve come and where we are all going, there are no mysteries. As you say we are all equal and everything we need is there, within us…’ all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us.’
Thank you Jonathon for beautifully expressing that all religions of today have ignited the mess that all of humanity is in and as you rightly have announced, that we need to go back to the truth, that we are all the Sons of God equally so and it’s in our innermost that we will find our way back home.
Truly Glorious Jonathan, bringing us all back to the absolute simplicity of the truth that lives equally within us all – the reconnection to our selves and through this to each other. A heartfelt thank you for sharing this with us all.
Brilliant blog Jonathan, love your down to earth way of writing. We are energy, we are love and now we have been reminded of the wisdom that helps us reconnect to this within ourselves, thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
What a great and concise contribution, thank you. You really make it very clear what a sad and sorry dystopian state humankind is in, what we have, by choice, created for ourselves.
Well said Gabriele…the state we are in as a society lays with us all.
And what we have, by choice, the power to turn around, if we are prepared to shift the focus and start to walk a path of return to Love. One step at a time with the awareness of our responsibility and the joy of connection to others on the way.
Great Jonathan, as a child I got so confused when both sides in a war were praying to their god for victory…how did he choose?
As an adult I now realise that it’s us that should be choosing differently.
Yes, very true Kathie – it is not god that chooses a side, it is us that creates the separation in war, and often both sides should be choosing differently.
A great sharing Jonathan. You have clearly presented the truth about religion and how the meaning of the word has become so distorted that it is, by most, something to shun rather than to embrace it for the true way of being it is.
When I rocked up to a yoga ashram in India for what I believed would be a rejuvenating retreat, I was shocked to find how pale, withdrawn, hunched and glum the residents looked. On arrival you had to hand over your mobile phone, passport and promise to commit for 5 days before being allowed to leave. One could say it was like cult incredibly controlling with repercussions of emotional blackmail if any of the established staff left. There is nothing about Universal Medicine that is in any way controlling, Serge Benhayon presents and it is left to us to take onboard or not what is presented as we so choose. There is no investment from Serge or his wife Miranda whether you come back again or not. Not any, none. If you do choose to return next year or in 5 years, you are always lovingly welcomed back regardless.
What an enormous contrast to your former experience of a retreat fionacochran01. Thank you for sharing.
As you say Jonathan, with so many specified systems of theology in place, each claiming truth, it is no wonder the world is so separated. Indeed this dystopian, individuated world is on a merry go round. Universal Medicine has bought a stop – an opportunity for evolution – a return to a wisdom anciently routed within us all – a re-connection to our living inner essence – true religion was never about the involution of so many entrenched deadened dogmas – true religion is alive – within – us all.
“… for a very long time our notion of ‘Normality’ has been flawed.” What is accepted as ‘normal’ today is eating too much and the wrong things (processed foods, MacDonalds etc) – hence the obesity epidemic and the astronomical rise in diabetes in western countries. Yet back in the 1950s the UK was at its healthiest – despite food rationing. During the retreat we saw, as you describe, “Well-Nourished and Joyful faces. Heard and joined in with intelligent conversation, and laughed and shared moments with Beautifully Normal Human beings” – lets make this the ‘new normal’.
Top blog Jonathan and one that poses a great question to ponder on, “what if Institutionalised Religion didn’t exist”. How would the world look? A lot less dogmatic and fearful I feel.
Institutionalised religion has a lot to answer for Tim.
I still struggle to use the word religion because of the bastardisation of the word and because of institutionalised religion. It’s possible many people shy away from anything “religious” because of these same feelings. So this something Institutionalised religion has to answer for.
This is such a brilliant question to pose, just in as much as it opens so many doors that have been out of bounds for so long.
Love it – I am seeing a ripple of conversation spread across the world liberating people from the confines of habitual beliefs and patterns.
‘The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.’
And this is offered back to us by Universal Medicine, who presents religion in the true meaning of the word: connecting back to the divinity we all are.
‘And this is offered back to us by Universal Medicine, who presents religion in the true meaning of the word: connecting back to the divinity we all are.’
Here here Monika.. I no longer feel intimidated or shameful of the word religion or saying I am religious. Universal Medicine asks us to play big and know we are all united as living Love.
I love your writing Jonathan, and what you’ve said about institutionalised religion…I’ve often wondered how the world would be without it, without the hate for another who doesn’t believe in your God, the genocide, wars, etc … and I’ve often wondered if the generations who are now fighting in these religious wars even fully know what they’re fighting for?
I agree Sandra. If you look back through history you can pretty much attribute every atrocity back to institutionalised religion. Religion has divided, conquered and annihilated billions of people and will continue to do so until we, humanity, collectively choose to reconnect back to ourselves and then we will know that we are all God’s children, equally.
And not to forget the generations after, even though the war may be ‘over’, the war still lives on in the perpetrators and victims and their children.
I did a couple of silent retreats back in the day… and my experience was that I got to see the same things going round and round in my head with very little understanding of why or what the alternative might be. The Universal Medicine retreat explains it all, and then gives everyone an opportunity with the Group work to explore and truly understand what is really going on – and so I come away with a level of understanding that is quite literally divine.
An inspiring blog Jonathan – succinct and to the point. Serge Benhayon’s presentations have brought the opportunity to many to re-connect and to live from with their own true wisdom within. The way Serge Benhayon and his family live 24/7 reflects how far away we (humanity) have separated from what is natural and innate within us all.
“In ancient wisdom we are all equal ‘sons of God’ and we all contain a spirit and a soul, along with all the knowledge that we all need about any situation that may present itself to us”.
There were some pretty big topics in here Jonathan… seen with a keen eye. In particular I was pondering this idea of how normal it is to see these religious wars. They have been with us since the dawn of time (you could say that Cain and Abel were the first) and so fully integrated into our psyche as just normal. We all know its a crime beyond understanding… to use God as an excuse to butcher our brothers, yet it has continued through the millenia.
What I love about the Ageless Wisdom is the refocussing on our own innermost, and the divine connection we all have. Its equally available to all, and all that is required is feeling what is true.. so accessible no matter whether you are living on a mountain, up in a plane, working at a desk whatever. Its just a question of being wholly, and entirely ourselves and allowing that to continually expand with our awareness. And the end product.. more love in the world.
Jonathan, it’s great to read your article, I have attended yoga retreats in the past before finding the work of Universal Medicine. The accommodation was always very basic and I remember starting off the retreat really enjoying being with the other people but by the end i just wanted to be alone and so would sit and have lunch alone rather than share a table with someone, it was all about the ‘inner work’, my partner and i were discouraged to have children and we were encouraged to move to the ashram. the swami shouted alot and looked very unhealthy.We would sit for a really long time in an uncomfortable position trying to meditate. How different to my recent experience of the Universal Medicine retreat, staying in comfortable, warm accommodation, enjoying more and more being with the other men and women attending, deeply connecting with each other, no uncomfortable positions and everything presented was simple and makes sense.
When considering how different the world would be without institutional religion there is no doubt that nearly the entire worlds conflicts and wars would not have occurred, we would have a deep knowing and personal relationship with God that stayed from childhood to adulthood. Our concept of what is normal would be totally different as we would have time and space to truly consider how we operate on this planet. Life would be lived in a very different way – a way that is presented now by Universal Medicine – The Way of the Livingness.
This is wonderful, Jonathan, I love your humour and the concise explanation of our human history and where we have got to today. ‘for Re-connect read Dis-connect and for Re-link read, Severed Link’ this is exactly how we have been living and thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, we all now have an equal opportunity to re-connect with our innermost and to feel each other as the equal sons of God that we truly are.
I enjoyed reading your blog, Jonathan, I had to laugh at the picture of the new age guys in kaftans. You describe so well the state of humanity, religion and politics, and then the simple solution to the dilemma – to reconnect to our inner-most. It may seem unreal and difficult, for some even silly, but eventually that is the only way.
The retreats are amazing. Being in a room with a couple of hundred people from doctors to farmers and everything in-between, but it matters not what we do to pay the bills because that is what we do not who we are. We can express joy, tears, tenderness, laughing and dance because it feels right in our body’s… and everyone you meet is real.
I completely agree. This is the beauty of the diversity of the people I have met, all expressing differently, but all connected to who they are.
I agree, the retreats are amazing experiences, real people talking about real things.
Thank you, Jonathan to point out the true meaning of religion so clearly and what it does to humanity in its bastardized version, which has horrendous outcomes.
A great assessment on where the world is at. It makes it obvious how desperately we are looking for and are in need for another way. Universal Medicine is offering a completely new perspective on life, that does not take you around in circles but delivers you to your true self and connects you back to your divinity, which is the true meaning of religion.
Its beyond belief when religion causes so many wars and trouble,but we do need to take it further than that, we are all one brotherhood so we need to put all our quaint little traditions to bed, cultural,territorial,sport anything that causes conflict and keeps away from the One Unified Truth.
What a beautiful summary of the premise of the ancient wisdom Jonathan. The simplicity and practically of what Serge Benhayon presents is amazing.
I guess it shows how ‘disconnected’ humanity has become when they no longer are able to recognize the Truth.
There are so many gems in this blog, it is full of so many valid and common sense points, particularly when you say, “One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin.”
Everything is energy and we are energy and Serge Benhayon is doing a great service to humanity by spreading this ancient wisdom.
“One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin. If we connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.” I agree Jonathan, our connection with LOVE is the key. If we then live from that love in all that we do and express, then we share that love everywhere we go.
Exactly Beverley, so true, the energy of love is powerful.
Hear, hear Beverley! Living with love in all that we do and express feels like the most natural way to live and brings much joy and harmony to my body.
I agree Bev. Love is the Key. But we must understand the difference between what love is and what we thought it was but is not love at all but emotional attachment or investment.
The annual Retreat offers us ways to re-connect back to the Ancient Wisdom which we through our religious beliefs and conditioning had lost sight of. The Ancient Wisdom is within us all and that is why when it is presented at the retreats we can so easily connect to what is being said, for we already know it deep within ourself even though we may find it sometimes confronting, as it is asking us to take responsibility for the choices we have made in our own life and an opportunity to change to making more responsible loving choices in every way.
A great reflection Johathon.
This comment stands out to me “Dystopia has finally arrived on our doorstep and we can no longer turn our back on it”. There is only one way forward from here and that is rediscovering the ancient wisdom and reconnecting to the true way of living in co-creation.
This question struck me too Margaret, we can no longer ignore what is going on around us and play the ignorant card. Our world is a mess and the time has come for us to take responsibility.
Hi Jonathon I am not sure that I agree with everything you say here, The “weirdo retreat attendees” that you refer to in your article sound more like christian monks or nuns to me, There have been more wars between the differing christian orders than between the christians and all the other religions especially when you understand that the Jews, Christians and the Muslims all share the same ancient history and the same God, The differences only occurred in the last 2000 years and the argument is which one of the prophets do you believe in, neither of them, like the Jews. Jesus like the christians or Jesus and Mohammed like the Muslims. It would be way more productive for world peace to ban the worlds armament manufacturers and armies than ban the worlds religions.
However I totally agree with everything you say about Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine where every one is equal and we are all part of the one same humanity.
I am not pasty, but have worn a Kaftan before…. when I worked at a very up market spa and it was my uniform. I always felt ridiculous in it, as if I was trying to give out an image that was not me. Very fake.
As for the retreats, I have attended Universal Medicine retreats for the past 5 years and they are amazing. No silence, no shoulds or shoudn’ts, no seriousness… Just a whole lot of Ah ha moments, lots of laughing, some tears when needed, a bit of dancing, meeting new people and getting to know them, really know them rather than just on a superficial polite level. I recommended the retreats to my friends, and they love them too.
To me the retreats are a great reflection of how it can be to truly live together in harmony. We share food, experiences, healing, laughter and tears, we clean and cook together, and have fun and support each other. To me this feels like the natural, normal way to live, and I love it too.
I haven’t been to a Universal Medicine retreat but know if it is anything like the courses, workshops and presentations it would be very real, practical, grounded, full of love, truth, wisdom, joy and brotherhood and completely blow your socks off at the same time : )
Exquisite! No other words for it, Jonathon thank you.
You make some good points Jonathan…and yes ‘what if institutionalised religion didn’t exist’? The world would definitely be a different place to live in without the plethora of dogma & hate that the many varieties of so-called religion bring. Through the teaching of Universal Medicine I have come to understand the true meaning of the word religion (to re-connect) and am no longer afraid to say the word ‘God’ and connect to that innermost divinity that is timeless.
Institutionalised religion has been a cloak to many of the worlds ills.
Absolutely Jonathan.
Dear Jonathan, you are RIGHT on point. I have been attending Universal Medicine workshops for the last five years and this May (2015) attended the UK Retreat for the first time. Increasingly over the years I have become more aware of myself and life and become more caring in my general attitude. This retreat took things to another level in a very, very practical way. It was the first time in my entire life that I have felt so clear, so strong, so connected to the inner-most as you describe and felt the power of Love – the love in me and the love in everyone else. The group work supported all of us to understand life at a much deeper level and you could certainly feel and witness us all growing as the days went on. This is the best religion. I have always had an affinity to religion and a sense of a connection to God, but since my association with Universal Medicine this sense has grown stronger and stronger into a real lived experience that I am deeply deeply appreciative of every day, as I accept more and more that this religion and relationship with God lives within me.
Beautifully expressed shevonsimon and I too am deeply appreciative of all that Universal Medicine has offered me in supporting my return to an inner knowing and a relationship with God that finally makes sense because it is all encompassing.
Wow shevonsimon, this is a stunning testimony to you, your commitment to love and the fact that our connection to God never fades, but can grow stronger and stronger as we begin to live in a way that fully appreciates all that we are.
Beautifully expressed shevonsimon, thank you for your contribution. I too love the way that everything Universal Medicine presents is so practical and relevant to everyday life while supporting us to know we are so much more than the body we live in.
Beautiful response shevonsimon; since attending Universal Medicine retreats and presentations I have been supported to give myself permission to deepen my connection to God along with the deep knowing we are all equal – no separation.
No backpack or hitchhiking required just a lift to the retreat !!
Love this Jaime, made me smile and appreciate.
Brilliant Jonathon. Dis-utopia is a word I have rarely come across, but it so captures and describes the state of our current society. Wars, corruption, abuse, greed . . . you name it – none of which have got anything to do with love.
Jonathan, thank you for this most thought provoking piece. I am drawn to your words on religion and the fact that humanity has lost its way.
Not only have the respective religious teachings been distorted, typically for self interest, but the interdependence and balance between religion, science and philosophy has simply broken down. As Serge Benhayon teaches we must strive to bring balance (on multi- dimensional level) to these three foundational areas.
As the saying goes “the night is darkest just before the dawn”. Universal Medicine can be the dawn and we can show the world a better way, a way that is based upon love and truth.
Thank you for your inspired writing.
Beautiful comment Matt, I agree. Universal Medicine is most definitely the dawn, re-uniting the important components of life in perfect balance, teaching us once again to draw upon these subjects in order to ponder, comprehend and evolve ourselves. Our religious institutions today are off kilter because they have abandoned science and philosophy, and science and philosophy are also off kilter because they too have abandoned their natural components. Universal Medicine restores the true meaning of religion, to re-align to God within and supports this innate process with true philosophical discussion and a scientific application of religion in our lives.
It is true what you shared, how we have lost our way as humanity. What Universal Medicine has allowed us all, is to experience through the retreats, how it is possible to live together in harmony and use ‘group workshops’ as a way of self-discovery. At the same time experiencing healthy food, healthy rhythms for the body.
So true “Beautifully Normal Human beings as we all worked our way through the aeons-old wisdom which has a more than ‘slightly familiar’ feel to it….. and so it should, for we all know it already!”
I loved this as well nicolesjardin, a confirmation of what we all know within and returning to.
I agree, we are returning to a wisdom that we already know…however, to have departed from this requires the ‘opposite of wise’ to walk those steps away. Where on Earth have we been for so long?
Loving your writing, Jonathan. It is as though you are talking to me and it is with huge appreciation that I soak up your playful, accessible wisdom (tapping into mine!)…thank you.
I love how this blog carries the essence of science, wisdom, religion and love, and weaves them all in together!
I love how you bring back the truth about religion to its simplest form and that is re-connection with our inner-most, our essence. Thank you, Jonathan.
Yes Jonathan, at Universal Medicine retreats I have also noticed joyful, well nourished and intelligent people of all ages discussing with great integrity and heart what purpose in life means as they take a short time out from their busy, committed and productive lives. Universal Medicine retreats are more like celebrations of truly being alive.
I have really enjoyed reading your blog Jonathan – it is very ALIVE and very REAL. I had similar preconceptions about going to see a healer the first time I visited Serge – expecting rainbow tie-die and dreadlocks I was surprised to see a clean shaven man wearing a polo shirt! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Ha ha ha.. this comment cracked me up! And yes, in the Byron bay area, why wouldn’t you expect to see a healer in tie dye and with dreadlocks!
It is amazing what we fall for or what how we expect certain people to dress like.
Good point Rosie. And it is great to be aware of and feel how imposing all those expectations are! If we expect people to be a certain way, we are not being open to receive them as they truly are. I am noticing this more and more in how I expect people I know well to be ‘themselves’ or how they ‘usually are’. It is so much more loving for me and them to just be open to receive them however they may be and know that just because they might feel different, it does not mean I have to. The choice is mine.
Before I met Serge Benhayon, I heard a radio interview with him, and my comment was ‘he sounds so normal’ because I’d heard interviews by so-called healing gurus whose voices sounds spacey and even creepy, I was expecting the same.
True religion – ie re-connecting with the real you, has been elusive to so many for thousands of years thanks to the false religions that have taken true religion and turned it into political and cultural mechanism of force.
Beautiful Jonathan, I love how you say ‘Beautifully Normal human beings’. I attended the retreat and found the students to be the most fun, joyful, playful and wise people I could ever wish to spend a week with, and completely normal and down-to-earth with it. It is not so strange to consider that perhaps it is normal that we have a knowing of what is true and what hurts us… you only have to see a 1 year old witness a conflict between his parents to know that. Imagine if we all could return to that ‘normal’ how the world would relate differently.
Indeed Jonathan, when I first came to a Universal Medicine event, one thing I noticed was how healthy the participants looked. Unlike a typical cross section of our western society, most were within a healthy weight range too & this stood out for me.
Very cool ,Jonathan . The people I have met and got to know at Universal medicine events are some of the most lovingly normal people I have met .With a common thread of wanting to create more love and harmony with themselves and others . The Ancient wisdom as presented by Serge Benhayon makes perfect to me as a way back to love and a deeper connection to God through self love ,letting go of hurts , appreciation and commitment to life .
Wow what an amazing blog!! Often when I tell people I go to healing courses, or to a retreat I get the sense they think you don’t need to do that unless there is something wrong with you. For me, the abundant joy, vitality and love that is present in my life since attending Universal Medicine events is profound. Deepening my connection with myself is as important as cleaning my teeth.
Well said Heather, absolutely agree!
Love what you have said Heather re ‘Deepening my connection with myself is as important as cleaning my teeth.’ And just to demonstrate how Serge Benhayon’s presentations and Retreats are tailor made for all no matter what issues, I have been made to realise that ‘cleaning my teeth is as important as deepening my connection!’
I was at that very normal retreat, experiencing a wisdom that I instantly knew I had experienced before, and were it not normal and everyday, were it to have a spiritual element and “far out” expression I would want no part of it. I love the approach of Universal Medicine as it makes common sense of a world that has lost its way.
‘When that well-known Liverpudlian songster sang “Imagine no religion”, he was onto something.’
And imagine no possession! In the sense that we don’t own knowledge, we are custodians with an age old knowing inside our inner heart, which we can access.
I say Serge Benhayon is a life saver! (pun intended)
He shares with us what he found, he does not own anything, he is NOT a guru with a smile that makes you feel you will never achieve what the guru ‘has achieved’ and there is no need to give your power away; NO he makes it possible for many many people to go back to where we come from, which is past and future in one.
Its a rare opportunity in our fast paced hectic lives to be able to give ourself the gift of spending time with yourself. I relish the chance to give myself 4-5 days being with me so as to develop a deeper connection and understanding with who I am which I am able to apply with my family, friends, work colleagues and the people I encounter everyday.
In the past I too would have retreated (actually I would have ran a mile) at the idea of attending a retreat but now I see it as the ability to be able to re treat myself to the deep love I have inside without the encroachment and pressures of daily life. Which in return allows me to be better equipped for life and to be a more truly loving human being.
I just read your comment Dr Rachel Hall, and I realised that going to the retreat is a real investment in yourself, which not only is a benefit to you but to everyone around you.
Jonathan, you have captured so much in this post. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine present that our issues in life come from being disconnected from our inner-most and that the way back is simply to re-connect back. I am finding that the more I connect with my inner-most the fewer problems I have and the less harm I cause myself and others.
Helleujah for a NEW normal being heralded forth in your humorous and wonderful blog.
Yay Joel! New song here ‘Welcome to the New Normal!’
“Laughed and shared moments with Beautifully Normal Human beings” – And to think that being considered vibrant and joyful is not normal is really quite incomprehensible!
I agree Sally…it’s as if being joyful and vibrant is looked up on with suspicion – there must be a catch!! No catch, just a normal way of being when you reconnect to your essence.
Hi Jonathan I also find it fascinating checking out what words truly mean which is very often quite different to what we think or how they are commonly used. Unimedpedia is a fantastic growing resource dedicated to that. It can be found here http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index with great examples, free audio and quotes already included for the words Love, Religion and Esoteric as you have described.
It is quite amazing that a room full of three hundred or so people at a Universal Medicine Retreat in Lennox Head NSW can all feel that they have done or heard what is being presented before, it is known, but has been buried for a long long time. Somewhere as Serge presents, there is a feeling that we know this work – and then bringing that to the groups we divide up into it is confirmed. We are then all there to support each other in our ability to express exactly what it is we are feeling. The truth is – it is normal. It is normal to express how we are feeling – it’s just that for most of us, our whole lives have been spent suppressing our truth and just ‘going along with it’. No more, and thank you sincerely for this – Serge Benhayon – The Teacher of our Time.
Wow Jonathan I am blown away by how much you have expressed in this blog. Thank you for reflecting the simple truth that we have everything we already need within us and if we work together we can truly make a difference to humanity as the way forward.
Agree – we are living in Dystopia. The question is: am I willing to change me, to bring a really/true change to this? The support here from Universal Medicine is nearly not to grasp but to appreciate & celebrate constantly.
I always felt religion caused so many problems with the wars between nations in the name of God. But now I realise it’s how man has changed what we think to be religion over the centuries, not religion or God that’s the problem. It makes perfect sense that religion is a return and a reconnection to God.
I agree Gill I never understood that the wars and disharmony on the planet were because of the way we are living and the misinterpretations of what God is and what religion is. Brilliant blog telling it as it is.
Wow Jonathan – what a true expression of ancient wisdom, religion and love. Like you – I have learnt about these through the teachings of Universal Medicine – and like you – I have attended retreats that have totally changed my perception of them. It is not an escape, a health kick, an indulgence but simply the opportunity to connect with who we are.
Thank you for telling it like it is Jonathan. I loved reading your article which I found very powerful and thought provoking. You offer great wisdom and insight, and I look forward to the Ancient Wisdom being the new ‘normal’ so that we can all re-connect to the Love that we are and put a stop to the aeons we have spent incessantly feeding our separation with so much distraction.
The word religion carries such a stigma today, so much so that many people who are naturally religious in their way of living refuse to claim it so, for fear of being branded dogmatic or irrational. The spiritual new age movement of the 1970s and up till present day was born in part out of a reaction to traditional religion and its bastardisation of what many felt to be true. Unfortunately, in that reaction, many turned away from owning the fact that they were in truth religious, preferring instead to call themselves spiritual, and replacing the word God with “Universe”, amongst other things. These days the latest craze is to be athiest, or agnostic at least, and there is a leaning in society towards such beliefs at the moment because at least they are seen as safe, and founded in reason.
But true religion does not need to be dogmatic, nor does it need to be devoid of reason, or impractical in nature. It should not require us to seek outside of ourselves, or remove ourselves from the pulse of modern society in order to find God, yet this is exactly what most organised religions ask us to do. Give me a God who gives me the free will to choose, yet still loves me enough to show me the consequences of my actions. Give me a God who loves without reason, but allows me not to love should I so choose. Give me a God who gives me time, space and understanding to discover who I truly am. Give me all of these things, and I will call myself religious.
2 extremes of the spectrum that avoid dealing with the institutionalised dogma that currently identifies as religion. – the spiritual new age (with its ethereal ‘love & wisdom’) and atheism (with eyes closed to all but 3 dimensional evidence) – both convenient but limiting and ultimately inadequate alternatives to a deeply personal relationship with our innate divinity. I’m with you Adam, and God.
Your description Adam is of a God that makes sense of any situation, of any time, and of every person. I agree wholeheatedly – ‘Give me that God’.
Superb article Jonathan Cooke, thank you. I too would never have thought that I would be attending any kind of retreat to renounce the way I lived, as all the signs and indications to date had turned me off any such kind of activity. But Universal Medicine offers a different way, a way that supports people to connect to an inner knowing and bring that awareness to bear on our current lifestyles and choices. Whereas in the past my experience of Retreats was about just that – retreating, Universal Medicine poses a way for us to Embrace life, connect, work, raise our families, support our communities all without one ounce of institutionalised religion, but with a lot of real religion – re-aligning to our ancient wisdom and innate love. And yes all I saw too was well nourished, vital, joyful people coming together to own and deal with their un-resolved issues so that they no longer hinder true community and transform energetic and lifestyle choices to establish a true way of life.
Thank you Jonathon for sharing your fresh clear words of insight into Universal Medicine and all it stands for and offers and the livingness that is present in the lives of the students of the Livingness.
Brilliant! I LOVE this Jonathan. Thank you.
I love the playful but yet very true way you are delivering truth here. Thank you Jonathan!
Jonathan your descriptions of people at retreats made me laugh, I shared this picture along with a suspicion about gurus. But nothing I have experienced in life education has come close to the love and wisdom and power presented by Serge Benhayon at the Universal Medicine retreats, which are not ever about retreating from life, but inspire us to become more committed to ourselves and to life. Each group discussion that I experienced confirmed that we have the ability to deepen our understanding when we work together.
An amazing blog Jonathan. A good dose of reality here!
I love the truth being exposed on religion here. We have certainly lost our connection with our essence – love, in our world today. I feel so very blessed that I have been given an opportunity to return to who I truly am and live as a son of God.
This is a truly, awesome blog Jonathan. I attended the UK Universal Medicine Retreat too and WOW, it was an amazing few days, surrounded by gorgeous, open, honest and lively people. I loved your point about religion, and agree the word has been seriously bastardised over time… When I think of religion in its true sense I think of brotherhood, re-connection, divinity and a one unified truth, but when I look it up on Google people can’t seem to agree what it is! I mean the first thing that comes up is ‘the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods’. I think it is in fact much, much more than that.
Beautifully expressed Jonathan. “To find our way forward, We have to look back!
The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” Amen to that.
Another amazing article, I love the way you express and share truth Jonathan.
Great article, thank you Jonathan. What you say about religion is so true – and how can it be that something that is there to re-connect us actually divides and seperates us? The Retreats are an amazing opportunity to take stock and explore more of how we are living and allow us to reconnect for ourselves.
‘…and how can it be that something that is there to re-connect us actually divides and separates us?’ This sentence says so much and exposes the falsity of so many religions that do indeed separate instead of unite.
Love it Johnathan ,The ancient wisdom, the Way of the Livingness Retreats, and rediscovering who we truly are with amazing people form all walks of life. Bringing a truth to what is really going on in the world for humanity to honour our essence and live it. Thank you for such a great article and for sharing what true Religion really is.
A simple history lesson worth reading.
Many people completely understand what this blog is saying.
However the issue is that the religious bodies have leaders which dictate and rile up the masses.
The majority of people are good in this world but just don’t speak up enough.
Awesome point Luke – our collective lack of expression is what allows this normal to continue. Meanwhile the ones at the pulpit are filling the airwaves with their distorted sermons, preaching discord and separateness. We need to turn the tables.
A great sharing with us all Jonathan – thank you. Coming together as a group – from all parts of the globe, the sharing, joy, laughter and most of all communication between us was amazing. To take any of the pearls of wisdom which was offered back out into the world can only serve humanity and show there is a different way to actually live life.
Yet another insightful blog Jonathan, thank you.
While I can agree with the latter part of what has been written the first half just did not feel right to me. I was not going to comment but the idea of saying nothing and just clicking off the page made my jaw clench. I could go into doubts about how I feel or post this and see what happens.
“In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way.” imagine if this were on the headline of every newspaper and magazine in the land, it would offer people an opportunity to stop and look at their life. It is true we have lost our way and what we see as normal is not normal once we start to understand the Ageless Wisdom Teachings and the presentation by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
A great sharing with us all Jonathan thank you. Coming together as a group did feel for me like an extension of my family. Everyone (from many parts of the globe) communicating, sharing, the laughter and joy amazing. As a group we all had something to contribute – what an opportunity to take this with us out into the world and share.
Beautiful Jonathan, I too was at the U.K retreat and as I arrived by taxi for the retreat was struck by how well the men and women attending looked, there was a depth and sparkle to their eyes and an openness and honesty with how they were, gorgeous to be a part of.
Jonathan Cooke, I always enjoy every word you say, full of wisdom and common sense.
As you say Jonathan dystopia is upon us and most of what is out there is only offering us a temporary relief from all the turmoil that is within and around us. Yet what the Ageless Wisdom offers is truly that: ageless, as it has been there for always and will be there for ever once reconnected to. The only way out is in, and not in a airy fairy way but in the very real and practical sense as taught by Serge Benhayon and lived by the Students of the Way of the Livingness.
I have always liked this definition for being different ‘if everyone in the world was crazy and you where the only one that was not…who would be perceived to be not normal?’ Is this not what we have accepted, dystopia is now the normal?
Thank you, Jonathan, very well said indeed. Your description of religion today is spot on, and I am reminded of a word Serge Benhayon used recently – mutuality. If there is no mutuality in our intent with regards to others, there is no love, for we are all the same and an organisation cannot be true if it excludes or differentiates one from another.
Janet this is so true. I’m reminded of the words tolerate and compromise that are so championed. However neither is founded on mutuality and that if i honour truth I am also honouring everyone’s truth because we share the same truth even if we see it from diiferent perspectives and our expression of it looks different.
That is so simple janetwilliams06 – if something doesn’t work for the all, then it isn’t love. That blows all mainstream religions out of the water.
Great blog Johnathon Cooke with so many pearls of wisdom. We all know deep down that as a collective humanity we have lost something important and some of us are carrying on regardless as if it is not lost while others are trying to find it, but are not succeeding. The trouble is the search is taking place outside or devoid of our true essence when the ancient wisdom (which many in history have repeated) is that the love we are missing, craving even, is actually to be found within in our inner essence or inner heart first.
well said Andrew Mooney
As you say Andrew, the search is taking place outside of ourselves, and there are so many different flavours, colours, sounds of religion these days it seems almost impossible to discern what is what. Consider for a moment the family that flies to Syria to join the ISIS movement – I can not imagine how they can consider this connects them to God, to Love or the tenderness that is in each and every one of us.
Very true, Andrew. Some of us have given up on it and others are looking in the wrong places (as I did for a long time). I feel blessed every day to have found Universal Medicine and the connection back to what we have all been missing so dearly.
Jonathan a great summation of how easy it is to accept the normality of life and versions of religion when the truth is very different. Yet you’ve cut through the confusion and presented the fact of re-connection and the resulting joy. This shows just how current normality is far from what is true and the way back to our truth. My feeling from the retreats was very similar and there was certainly only joy in the room and no undernourished faces to be seen.
It is like you say Jonathan, there does seem to be a general consensus that what is normal does not really work, which is plain to see given all the depression and disease that is current in our communities everywhere.
Jonathan I feel we definitely have lost sight of what it means to be normal. Since attending the Universal Medicine retreats and events I have completely redefined what means to be normal and my life has never been more joyful, productive and loving.
Jonathan, thank you for your powerful sharing and facing the worlds disaster and problems and wars, the fact that everything is energy and the most powerful energy is love needs to be taken more seriously, deeply pondered on to then take the steps needed to bring a deeper love and understanding forward.
Love your style Jonathan, what a great read. Humanity is crying out for true religion, by reconnecting to oneself, it is impossible to harm another. The answers definitely are in our past with the Ancient Wisdom and I would love to see a world without all the man made forms of what he perceives as religion. We are all brothers, any form of religion that is not true only separates us from this fact.
Each retreat, course and workshop that I am part of with Universal Medicine I take a step back in returning to knowing and being who I truly am.
By returning to the ancient wisdom we are rediscovering the way of living that we have lost long time ago. But as I experienced during this retreat it is so naturally there when we are working as a group together. We all have a knowing from these times and by sharing this as a group the collective knowing is revealed to all of us equally so.
Feeling your blog just warms my heart Jonathan to feel the truth in what you share about Religion and a True way of Living. Truth in words is an extremely powerful thing!
Very well said Joshua and I have the same sentiments. Truth in words is truly powerful to expose the illusion.
Absolutely brilliant post Jonathan , love how you express the truth amidst the reality of our modern world with all its politics, religious fervour and economic debate. Your words here for me are the ultimate is explaining both the cause of the created mess and answer to a co-created future: “One of the most powerful energies is LOVE, and when we lose contact with LOVE, our problems and the problems of humanity begin”. Our way back, and forwards is LOVE.
A great reflection, Jonathan, thank you.
Wow Jonathan! I love the simple but succinct way in which you have explained the absolute of truth of where humanity is, where we came from, and how we can choose another way to bring us back to what we have left behind…….Love.
With deep appreciation for the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, for showing THE truth to humanity.
So well put Jonathan lovely thank you for busting that myth
Wow Jonathon, may we return to our true state of normal. Where it is normal to do not harm to self or another; to feel joy everyday and not the misery of life, to love each other without boundaries, to know we are all equal. Come to think of it watch children play they already have this normal mastered. What do we do to make them lose it, where it becomes normal to abuse ourselves, to abuse another, to fight another and see ourselves as separate? What’s the saying out of the mouths of babes, we should listen more.
hear hear carolineraphael, letting go of what we have accepted as normal by recognising that it is against all we hold deep within and restoring the true normal as felt from our innermost.
I’ll back that Caroline, ‘may we return to our true state of normal’, that is the only way to truly live on this planet and what we are all missing and searching for. And yes, children playing are a joy to feel and watch, naturally inspiring.
Wow, love your expression Jonathan …… there must be something in the water in France 😇…….left over from our past !
This article definitely goes into my ‘ special file ‘ to be accessed when someone asks “what do you do, what is esoteric medicine? ”
Thank you , this account of your experience at retreat is so beneficial as an insight into what Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are truly about.
Wow Jonathan – what an awesome blog. I loved reading every word- thank you!
This is a completely awesome blog Jonathan – all the things we know and love but have never so aptly expressed before!
I love the way you bring in what ‘religion,’ in its current distorted shape, has cursed the world with, and how the positions of the religions towards each other are adversarial and totally without a drop of divine love. The battle lines are indeed drawn up and each person ‘chooses’ to line up behind the one that keeps their agonising hurts protected and under wraps.
Thank heavens for the amazing re-presentation of the Ancient Wisdom by Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine giving us all the tools we need to come back to a true and harmonious way of living. I know I will be re-reading this blog every day as there are so many gems of wisdom in here. What a beautiful man you are Jonathan!
Jonathan this is absolutely love at its best. ” We connect with our ‘Inner-Most’ then we effectively connect with Love, which is an incredibly powerful energy.” Thank you for sharing your love with humanity it is so timely for the state of humanity today.
What we are given in Universal Medicine Retreats is so precious. Life is not perfect? Life during a retreat with Serge Benhayon certainly is an example of the closest thing to perfect that is possible on Earth in our time.
Yes, I agree with you Johnathan the world would be a better place without the bastardised religion we have today where hate reigns leading to war instead of love which is the foundation of true religion.
Thank you Jonathon, I so enjoyed and appreciated the eloquence of expression in your blog. On reading your article the symmetry of your words in motion carried me on a joy-full ride of feeling you and your experience of being present at the U.K. Retreat. I was not able to attend any of the Universal Medicine Retreats this year, and initially had to deal with the belief that I was ‘missing out’, however, as I reminded myself that all I had to do was be in re-connection with my inner most and the one-ness of the group work was evidently available for us all, and knowingly with that reminder of the fact of our roots being in the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom – no-one ‘misses out’, no-one is ‘left behind’.
Universal Medicine Retreat offers me a choice to build a foundation based on what I know to be true upon which I can live my everyday life – unlike other ‘retreats’ I participated in the past with other organisations that were completely cut off from my normal daily life and was just a holiday high after which I would crash-land.
Jonathon, this a remarkable piece of writing. Reading about religion here I am left to think of some of the broad categories many of us can fall into when it comes to religion. Like the non- religious that believe in a secular society with a strong reliance on the current science or those who are dedicated to their religion but agree many atrocities are justified under the name of religion or those who are religious and see no fault in its ways. I know its a crude generalization but I am in awe how this article is able to critique our so called religious ways with undeniable global examples of religious based dissension while calling humanity back to a religion based on re-connecting to our inner-most and love. Religion has been a long standing interest of mine but never have I heard religion be brought alive and explained and been inspired by anything like the way Serge Benhayon is able to present on the topic. No religion or spiritual teaching has offered science, truth, philosophy, religion and what a loving life really looks like in such perfect equilibrium without contradiction than that which is held under the umbrella of Universal Medicine and presented by Serge Benhayon.
I love your blogs Jonathan especially this no nonsense one saying how it is, with humour.
The idea of ‘normal’ and what ‘normal’ is was something that I had very much confused. When I first started making changes to the way I lived, stopping drinking, intense hardcore exercise, taking time to nurture myself and care for myself – I felt like I was abnormal, a little bit weird, a little bit different. But when i started to feel the difference these changes made and how vital, joyful and amazing I felt – I realised that it the way the world lives is SO far from normal. Everyone should feel vital, joyful and amazing and the ‘normal’ that is accepted in the world today just does not offer that.
Spot on Brooke, it’s only when we start to feel the difference we realise that the ‘normal’ we accommodated, was not normal at all. We can choose to live more of what is our ‘nature’.
Great summary Jonathan of where humanity is at, and the true loving inspiration that lies within us all as revealed by the ageless wisdom.
I couldn’t agree more, Jonathan. I too attended a Universal Medicine retreat in Australia and it was, as always, truly amazing. It feels like ‘coming home’ as, you have already said, we already do know what is being presented by Universal Medicine, it’s in us, we just have to reconnect to what is already there.
Thank you Jonathan, yes it’s time that we ask some pertinent questions about what it means to be ‘normal’ these days and ‘normal’ just doesn’t make sense – conflicts everywhere, nothing has really changed in the last century except get more intense and closer to home, e.g. domestic abuse as well as religious wars, being just two examples. As you say ‘In losing touch with our Inner-Selves, we have lost our way and Humanity has lost its way’, is the natural way to our inner wisdom and love that could not conceive ever having conflict on any level.
Jonathan, your last line says it all, “we all know it all ready”. The teachings of Serge Benhayon is nothing we don’t already know. It’s a teaching that brings you home to love, a love that you know in your whole being as one unified truth.
Jonathan Cooke, thank you, you have blown us all away. The richness and deep philosophy and healing from this blog is bodily felt, and inspired by. “Institutionalised Religion certainly bears a large measure of responsibility for our arrival at this dystopian state.” This is the reality check, however you have written full circle, presenting that it is not too late, it is not the end, it is just the beginning. Universal Medicine is leading the way, presenting back to us Brotherhood, and the true way to live in connection with ourselves, and that once connected, we are here to inspire others to also be in connection with themselves ~ how beautiful is that!
Imagine one religion, imagine it was love. Imagine a world where we lived this truth and honesty in every moment. What then would ‘normal’ life be? Thank you Jonathan for summing up so beautifully what it feels like to return to this simple knowing we all share. This knowing is something I will never retreat from.
Joseph, normal life would look similar to the Universal Medicine retreats we attend. How fortunate are we that the Benhayon family can express how the world could be and one day will be.
Jonathan what a great summation of the state of humanity at present. I love your use of ‘normal’. What exactly is normal? I can tell you I am as normal as they come ( in fact my clients often comment on that) and I am a Student of the Livingness and Ancient Wisdom. The true normal.
Ditto to that Penny.
Love your blog, Jonathan, you have expressed so much truth here. I am another one of those ‘Beautifully Normal Human Beings’, attending Retreats, not in the UK, but in Vietnam and Australia. I can attest to all you say. Although I found it confronting the first time I experienced working in groups, I have come to really love it, it is such a great experience for a group of people to come together to express about a subject and work together to really investigate it. Yes, it can be exposing, but we all grow so much through it.
I so agree that the world would be such a different place if we did not have these terrible divisions that occur through the great divisions in so-called religion in the world. How mis-used that word ‘religion’ is, when as you say the true meaning of the word is RECONNECTION to one’s own innermost.
And while I am able, I will be attending Universal Medicine Retreats. It is so life-changing.
Jonathan thank you for a great blog. You are expressing truth from the way I see it. We all need support and the way to achieve this is in groups where we all share our experiences lovingly with each other.
A joy to read your article Jonathan. I love the way you refer to the retreats a coming together of groups of normal Human beings working our way through aeons- old wisdom that has a more than ‘slightly familiar’ feel to it. Yes, we do all know the language of love and Truth it resonates within. There is so much on offer when we re- connect to inner- selves and re-connect to the power we have when we work together in harmony.
Jonathan, I love the way you write, an absolute astounding essay on the ageless wisdom. Very refreshing and straightforward.
Awesome article Jonathon! You’ve definitely shed light on what religion today actually means. It’s no wonder I’m so opposed to what the bastardised version represents in society today. I also love how you describe what ‘normal’ means. We have lost touch with so many words. Normal should mean natural, our natural way of being would be normal, yet we’re all too busy conforming to something so outside of our innate normal we have lost sight.
It’s not too late however, to come back to the ancient wisdom and redine what normal means for us.
There is much you raise awareness to on the world stage of religion and politics, I’d like to read more Jonathan. I agree when you say ” The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” When this level of awareness is in the world spotlight change will follow, because humanity will choose the changes they feel are needed.
Well said Jonathan. Suppose we’ve known in the past, there’s more to life than what the mob does? I’d say this is wonderfully supportive evidence, to say that we must know within us, what that more is.
The Universal Medicine Retreat is truly life changing. Definitely not any of the old long held beliefs of hippy gatherings. The message I came away with is that It is all simple really, we are already all that we need to be – it is the quality of the choices we make in our lives that sets in place what we live in the future. If the joy, love, vitality and true connection to self is missing – then look to the choices you are making.
What stands out for me in what you write Jonathon is “brotherhood”. When we re-connect to our inner most, this is super lovely for sure but then it expands as we feel how we are connected to all. This is what makes working in groups so powerful because each brings their connection and the group becomes greater than the individual. As you say we get to experience and learn from each other and expand together…brotherhood.
Awesome Jonathan, you have summed up humanity in its present form, to the letter.
Thank heavens for Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon presenting the absolute truth for all those whom may be ready to re-connect with it and, so too, live it for themselves and everyone equally.
Wow, this is a powerfull piece of writing, fully claiming the truth and I enjoyed reading every word of it Jonathan. Thank you!
So beautifully expressed Jonathan! I attended a Universal Medicine retreat in Australia this year and felt the same way. I absolutely love the way you explain that the world would be a different place without bastardised religion. I too love Serge Benhayon’s common sense approach and appreciate the beauty and grace inherent in learning from my own experiences as a student of myself.
Just imagine the world without the divisiveness of our current religions…
That is all so true Jonathan. I grew up and witnessed so many arguments about catholics and protestants and why they couldn’t and shouldn’t fall in love that I lost my faith very early on. Love is the most amazing connection to heaven and I believe closer to God than any doctrine I could have been taught in Sunday school. The retreat you went on sounds like a retreat back to a most amazing school where you are taught about life from love not from doctrine and then get out and live that, not just leave it on the retreat.
Lucy the divide between the protestants and catholics was big when I was young, and marriage outside of your religion actively discouraged. Crazy when you think how much values have changed, rather like clothing fashions. However truth is universal and does not change with the season.
Wow Jonathan, what an awesome reflection on the Universal Medicine Retreat. I attended my very first Universal Medicine Retreat in Australia this year and it was incredible. You have described exactly what I experienced. I saw and felt joyfulness, vitality, stillness and love in everyone. I was also deeply inspired to reflect and re-evaluate my life. I have become so much more aware of myself and my body. Learning a deeper level to connect to my essence, to God and people.
From the true definition of religion to re-connect, it is easy to see that the current religions have failed to meet this mark. When I think of current regions it brings to mind words like control, dogma, separation, inequality, even boring. How can re-connecting with our inner essence and having a direct relationship with God be boring? Normal in todays society has only become normal because we have abandoned this connection. We then look around and see what everyone else is doing instead of knowing inside what is true.
Well said Fiona, I totally agree with you.
“The future, OUR future, lies in our past, and within a great source of long-abandoned and un-tapped wisdom within our Inner-Selves.” Love this article, absolutely amazing so as you are Jonathan!!!
A standing ovation and resounding hurrah from me, Jonathan – every word true! The most empowering and powerful thing has been re-connecting to myself, that is my inner-most, real and true self – who is indeed both a “Beautifully Normal Human Being” and eternally divine. Nothing pasty, undernourished or apologetic here!
Same here, what the retreat offers to us all is amazing, incredible and not to be missed. I will most definitely be planning for the 2016 retreat. My experience this year has supported me to grow, reconnect and to be more energetically aware. Super awesome experience.
Knowing you well Helen, I can vouch for all that you say, and I haven’t noticed you in kaftans either. The wisdom I so often hear coming through your lips is a confirmation of your connection to your inner-most.
Beautifully expressed Helen, and a standing ovation from me too. Such a powerful presentation and one that has invigorated my connection to the truth of my eternal divinity. I feel truly joyfull and inspired after reading Jonathan’s piece here.
I am standing with you in this ovation for this gorgeous blog!
The lesson my first retreat this May has told me was how much easier and to what greater depth learning can take place if we work together as a group. Instead of studying and struggling, as a group one will share something others can build on… and on and on it goes with a magical flow and above all with joy.
I agree Michael Kremer that there is something magical about working together harmoniously in a group regardless of the size, situation or purpose of the group. It is almost like we were designed this way!…. This is why unity is so powerful and important.
Michael, this was my fourth retreat and it certainly flowed with a magical joy that was so powerfully felt. Everything that Serge Benhayon presented made perfect sense to me and I came away feeling more vital and more connected to my essence than ever before. I ditched my ‘kaftan’ in favour of letting the world see and feel the real me, and I agree, that as a group we can show the world that we are all perfectly normal and balanced human beings who are just re-connected to who we truly are.
Its true Michael. Our true power as a community and humanity is in working together as equals. Yes, we may express in different ways, but true group work is being aware that underneath we are all the same and there is no separation – other than that which we create. And even this created separation does not change the unequivocal and ageless wisdom fact that we are all of, and from, the same essence.
Yes, it is so much easier working in a group, each contributor supports the foundation and builds from there together.
I am quite pale but never been called pasty : ). Turns out listening to ancient wisdom has great benefits for the complexion and general wellbeing – as well as reconnecting to the true purpose of being here at all!
As a faded redhead I do well on the pale scales as well! I weigh 70kg on 182cm so the well-nourished majority of our population would probably say I am too thin – it is amazing how values have shifted. When I was young this would have been a good weight and I must say, I have never felt better than with this weight and it came about naturally and stays that way. Walking around apologetically in a kaftan – no, a nice well-cut made to measure suit is much better and walking in a way that many head turns is just about right – and again happens naturally. Yes, having it all can be easy – Da Vinci’s “It is easy to be a universal man” is quite right.
I’m very fair skinned, my mum used to say ‘pale & interesting’ -I like to think more english rose. I’m also very slight in figure, and last week a friend said you need to put some weight on -eat more! Well, I know that is absolutely not true, my weight has varied a little over the years, but what I can say with complete knowing today is that I have never been so healthy, never felt so vibrant, and never has my life been so full, yet I do not feel tired, stressed or overwhelmed. I have a deeper relationship and understanding of myself than ever, and I literally feel like I’m in love with myself, as I have such appreciation and acceptance of my strengths and weaknesses. This is the start of true religion for me, the falling in love with self and all others…
‘When you’re participating in group work you actually learn by experiencing something, which is then within you forever’ super true Jonathan. Group work is great because everyone brings something different. It’s funny finding out what different people think when it comes to certain words- like retreat. The universal medicine retreats are the only experiences of a retreat that I have had and so when I think of retreat, malnourished and pasty are definelty not the words that come to mind.
Haha Vanessa, we could be selling ancient wisdom teachings as an anti ageing treatment
‘…reconnecting to the true purpose of being here at all!’ – something super worth pondering on. Pale and interesting from Hampshire!
I’m just making an addition to “Pale and Interesting from Hampshire’ to “Pale and Interesting and Divine from Hampshire’.
Haha Vanessa, I am never pale, nor apologetic or undernourished – my slim and toned body today is very well nourished contrary to the slim and exhausted body I had before living of stress and nervous energy.