Weekly church, regular confession, fasting at lent, praying for forgiveness and generally trying to be a good person dominated my religious life from when I was old enough to understand it until organised religion and I broke up when I was 35. The break-up wasn’t long and drawn out; in fact it was short, fast and relatively painless for me.
If you had asked me when I was in the thick of my regular organised religious practices if I would let it go, I wouldn’t have believed you, as I have always known there was God and I was taught throughout my childhood that God equated to religion and church.
GOD = RELIGION AND CHURCH
It just seemed normal to me that, if I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion as it gave me a sense of a belonging to something where everyone was on the same page; and without attending church, I could not consider myself religious. Interestingly during this period, I often felt not good enough, seeking God’s forgiveness or praying to him to make life better. My sense of God and religion was always approached as something outside of myself that I needed to have in order to be considered a good person, and to confirm to others that I cared about people and life, so although I didn’t agree with every aspect of it, religion was something I felt I needed.
As it turned out, it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be. In the early nineties, the media was reporting on the religious clergy who had been involved with the church’s long history of paedophilia and how chosen and trusted religious leaders had covered it up. This shocked me to the core but at the same time, I was willing to be open to hearing what the head of my church had to say about it, hoping they would admit their error or show that the media was engaging in the usual sensationalism.
The final straw came while attending my usual weekly church service. I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage. This was the very position that the media were reporting had resulted in such wide scale, epidemic abuse of children across generations and classes.
From that moment, I knew I could no longer be part of something that was willing to be so dishonest as to continue to hide the truth of the systematic abuse of children, fostered through a stance of silent neglect that left many, many lives broken. So after 35 years I left the church with no regret. It did take me some time to recover from all the teachings I had so blindly aligned to, so much so I used to say I was recovering from organised religion, but I am delighted to report I have recovered and I have actually found my true religion.
From my deep, inner knowing that there was God and from what I was reminded of via the Ageless Wisdom presented by Universal Medicine, I discovered that the love of God was already within me and all I needed to do to live my true religion was to:
- Know this deep, inner knowing as truth
- Choose to re-connect to this truth
- Live in a way that confirmed it – by making self-loving choices
- Share the love I now felt from within, with everyone I connected to – not by preaching or knocking on doors, but by being myself.
GOD = THE ALL
Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me – has completely changed my life. And like many break-ups that happen in life, my break-up with organised religion had the best silver lining in that it allowed me space to find True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.
By Sharon Gavioli, Brisbane, Registered Nurse, Adult Educator, Counsellor, Age 56
Further Reading:
What hurts – Religion Itself, or the Bastardisation of Religion?
What is true religion?
Organised Religion versus True Religion
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
To leave any organisation such as a religious organisation is painless because we are so numb to the truth because of the lies, and when we start to feel the hurts that is because of our separation from God and because we are understanding this we are deepening our relationship to God as we are re-connecting to God.
I would imagine it is easy to leave a religious organisation when confronted with this when attending church: totally abhorrent, ‘I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.’ We all know how the church manage this, move the paedophile somewhere else to start all over again!
When we see and feel the truth of something it’s simple and effortless to make up with it.
Perhaps we could call such religions that prey on children sexually or involve themselves in violence or other unloving behaviours “disorganised religions” – the truth is they are not religious at all.
Breaking up with the Catholic Church at the age of 15 felt great. I had observed from a very young age that what the Church actually said and did was completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus… for me the hypocracy stank.
Absolutely, religions are lost even though there is people who are in there because they feel the truth of Jesus.
Hiding the truth of the abuse of children in any organisation is absolutely abominable as it perpetuates the cycle of abuse all the more.
Totally, the abuse just continues ‘something that was willing to be so dishonest as to continue to hide the truth of the systematic abuse of children, fostered through a stance of silent neglect that left many, many lives broken.’
Thank you Sharon, and if we could explore one of the cycles of life that religion has also turned its back on, by understanding the ritual and ceremony around funerals. What is the use of a funeral? Does it not tie us to be held in self judgement and thus to also judge others! To see who turns up at our funeral, so we have a desire to hang around and then see how they feel about us, or is it about letting others get all emotional and teary because of the many reinterpretations? Ether way it is much simpler to reinvent the wheel and celebrate the life of people as they get close to passing, or even as they get older and see life for the true values it has. This is a level of appreciation that can exist for us and our families as we deepen our understanding of our religious ways as is presented in The Way of The Livingness.
When we break up with something that doesn’t truly serve us, instantly we free ourselves and inspire others to get out of the dwell we have created.
Religion is a big topic worldwide and many appear not to practice what they preach. To hide paedophilia in any religions as far as I’m concerned is endorsing it.
I feel a religion that presents the truth is a true religion, it is that simple.
I really get how an organised religion may offer a (false) sense of security by control and not care. Our insecurity comes from us not connecting with who we are, and that can never be satisfied by anyone or anything no matter what they may preach or promise.
“Live in a way that confirmed it – by making self-loving choices” I love this point and it gives such a simple way forward in being religious because we simply have to live that we are divine, in other words treat ourselves and our body with the utmost love, respect, care and attention as we would do before with the God seemingly outside of ourselves.
It’s interesting that for most, some sort of outward proof that we are attending the religious order is required… church, monastery, synagogue etc. Yet what if all that was required was a daily living connection to God that can be so ordinary… a simple conversation with Him in the evening, a connection with him on a walk, when we are talking with friends? Anywhere and everywhere – that is what Omnipresent means.
When you know God, and you look around at who openly talks about God, organised religion is the only obvious thing on offer. Yet when I look at what they present, compared to feeling I know of God, there is a huge gap. What we have in organised religions is a man-made version that suits all the things like judgment, right and wrong, and inequality that we are yet to let go of in humanity.
Organised religion is so far from the truth of what true religion is, organised religion has no equality, ‘My sense of God and religion was always approached as something outside of myself that I needed to have in order to be considered a good person, and to confirm to others that I cared about people and life’.
‘…,True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.’ A religion I love to be a part of, to live from knowing I have the responsibility to be the light that I am, the best I can and inspire others to shine their light equally so.
Beautifully simple, re-connecting to the love within me and from there, ‘I have the responsibility to be the light that I am, the best I can and inspire others to shine their light equally so.’
Yes it has been a great realisation that it is not the name that defines if an organization is religious but the living way of the organisation that defines this. So when an organisation deals with paedophilia like the church does and literally lets the abuse continue this is no religion at all but organised abuse.
The way the paedophilia has been handled by the church would be more than enough reason for me to break up with organised religion too. Religion is about love, not covering tracks. It should also represent absolute truth and integrity.
I agree, the church need to be held accountable for how they have perpetuated paedophilia.
Religion for me has been an obligation growing up in the Hindu religion, and for a long time I had no impulse to go to the temple, and no choice but to go when I was growing up. I used to find it awkward when attending. What happened at home was not what was being preached in our temple and vice a versa.
I stopped attending many years ago as it was not my religion, and I know one of my parents is unhappy that I don’t attend the temple, thinking I attended a church instead, and won’t accept that I attended neither of them.
My true religion is unfolding since attending, or listening to the Ageless Wisdom presented by Universal Medicine and I know that I am a God and everything I need to know resides within my body, temporarily covered with beliefs and impositions that don’t belong to me.
Great claiming and confirmation Shushila.
It amazes me that even after all the crimes the Catholic church have committed and been complicit in, millions of people worldwide don’t question it, they turn a blind eye and continue to attend church as if nothing has happened.
It is totally crazy, people bury their heads in the sand as if nothing terrible has happened, and continues to happen; surely that is being complicit with the crime.
“I was taught throughout my childhood that God equated to religion and church.” This begs the question of how much else in ‘organised education’, either through school or our parents, is based on a bastardisation of the truth?
I wonder how much bastardisation of the truth there is in society, could it be at endemic levels?
It is not breaking with organized religion. It is breaking with religion organized upon false foundations. Breaking with a way to organize religion that is simply not true.
What a liberating feeling it must have been to have finally “discovered that the love of God was already within me”; I know that it was for me. In fact, it made so much sense of how I used to feel but couldn’t put into words. No big fancy church needed, no clergy serving to be the middle man between you and God and no need to listen to words that in the main serve to distract us from the truth. Breaking up with all this is definitely has the power to change the way you live.
“like many break-ups that happen in life, my break-up with organised religion had the best silver lining in that it allowed me space to find True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness,” Reconnecting to religion with The Way of The Livingness is pure gold.
We need not go anywhere to know God for His ever-presence is in us, in who we are, and the house of God is none other than our bodies, the greatest temple that is accessible to us every moment of every day through our every breath. And so, the way we live can be a living prayer that is guided by our Soulful light. This is true religion lived.
Having the clergyman tell his congregation to keep paedophilia to themselves is an eye-opener indeed, but I wonder how many that day said to themselves this is so wrong and did nothing about it. This was clearly one of those moments when the eyes had been opened wide, and a choice was made.
And doesn’t it show the coldness in the clergy with the lack of care for children and adults and the lack of the most basic common decency by preferring a focus on protecting the churches reputation only. This shows an inherent lack of connection to God, and as such, a lack of true religion.
What an amazing sharing Sharon, it clearly demonstrates that the moment we are willing see something or anything for that matter as not being true we make a space for Truth to present.
its quiet interesting to see that we have lost the meaning of true religion. And that it has been institutionalized has been more so our global acceptance of religion being not actually what it truly is. Interestingly we are now fighting our own creations with each other, whilst there should be now more clarity and honesty – looking in truth where we have come to and how, and being open and honest to admit that we all play our parts. And that we should come back to our brotherhood. No selective few. No one has been wrong – we just have not been honest about our own love, that simple it is.
When we join or do anything from a need it is never going to be true for us as we are looking outside of ourselves to fill a gap ‘religion was always approached as something outside of myself that I needed to have in order to be considered a good person’. Driving home from work today it was said that the pope has said there is no longer a hell and that condemned souls will just disappear! Oh I have so much to say with regards to this!. How much longer will we give our power away to people who say what is true and not true. The truth is The Ageless Wisdom I know this with every cell of my being and may we all know the true truth soon even if we think its true or not at least it will be known.
What you shared about the pope’s ridiculous comment about there no longer being a hell, but condemned souls disappearing is an example of how true evil works. It is obviously appealing and seemingly ‘progressive’ to say that hell doesn’t exist (because everyone knows it in their hearts anyways, but then what is offered as a replacement is usually much worse. It’s like a distraction while they then are providing an even worse ideal or belief that brings people in further away from their souls (that are actually eternal).
It’s possible that people are turning away from the Catholic religion and they want to make it more attractive by doing away with the concept of hell – it all feels very manipulative and yes, why are we giving our power to such people?
It sounds like the break up with organised religion, which came very strongly from your knowing of a true way for a religion to conduct itself and what was not true, allowed you to gradually free yourself from all the false ideals you grew up with. When this fog lifted, you can return to a true relationship with God, one where we are all equal in essence to everything he is.
No dodgy way is bringing us to the truth of things. It takes our willingness to see and feel beyond what was once believed, and break up with anything that does not belong to our heart. It only takes our honesty and will to make a change, a true one, that truly sets free. Not by any mind.
I recognize your assumption: ‘I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion’. God and religion are then always associated with a church, organized religion, dogma, rules book, and so much more outside of ourselves. The Way of The Livingness offers the uniting truth of religion.
” Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me – has completely changed my life.”
Yes this is so wonderful living the re-connection to what was/is already there , there is no church needed.
Organised religion separates people, true religion unites, not only to ourselves but to each other as well.
It is quite a problem for kids who naturally know God but are told that to have a relationship with God you have to swallow all that comes with organised religion. Perhaps we need to drop all we have created around God and religion and start with the fresh eyes of a child.
‘I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.’ For me this sums up how out of touch religion is as we know it.
This makes you ponder on how deep this insidious way of living is practiced within the church?
Yes Sally, out of touch with humanity, out of touch with their own humanity, and out of touch with God.
To me God was a simple fact as a child, however, I did come to a point in my life where I was looking to connect with God and momentarily turned to organized religion, but there I did not find the God I knew. It is only since coming across the Ageless Wisdom teachings that Serge Benhayon presents that I can again say that the God I knew as a child is the God I again know now.
I had a conversation with an elderly gentleman today who lives in a Jewish only complex, and when I asked him about his Jewish faith he told me that he did not believe in religion because it separated everyone – he is not wrong, but he did surprise me. It just goes to show that we can have perceptions about people without knowing what’s in their heart.
Finding True Religion, which brings a lived understanding of the meaning of so many words has been paramount in changing the lives of those who relate to the Truth that is felt by the body.
If you know God, then it is natural to want to hang out with other people who claim to know God too. But this is where the compromise often kicks in. You don’t just get people coming together to appreciate their connection to God. You get rules, dogma, and emotional manipulation and an erosion of our natural knowing of divinity.
I can relate to what you have shared Sharon, I was what I would call religious, until one day when I was about 28 I saw a presentation on the Catholic Church’s doings during the period of the dark ages and the torture and murder that that church instigated on people who did not believe what the church said. I was shocked to my core and deeply saddened. From that moment on I turned my back on that religion. Until many years later I finally found true Religion in The Way of the Livingness.
I cannot believe that they actually told everyone to keep paedophilia experiences to within the “church” and to not go to the Police! I mean, the Church is an institution that if you say you are a part of, you are treated normally? And Universal Medicine cops flack, it doesn’t make sense unless you know that this is all a game of energy.
Ironically the church has nothing to do with the truth of god.
We do not need any intermediaries to be in communion with God, and neither do we need wafers or wine. The connection to the divine is innate in each one of us, man, woman or child.
Beautiful,Gabriele, we come from God, are part of God and don’t need anything outside of us to connect to God.
“… my break-up with organised religion had the best silver lining in that it allowed me space to find True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” Beautifully expressed Sharon – and how I feel too. I feel blessed to have rediscovered the Ageless Wisdom this life.
People may not like to admit it but by choosing to stay a member of a group that covers up abuse they are actually supporting it inadvertently. Great that you left Sharon and exposed this abuse on this blog.
100% Thomas and well spotted. When we don’t call it out, we allow it and the continuation of the abuse.
I concur when you find the Ageless Wisdom as Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine present you have definitely found true religion. I used to hate the word religion and felt there was nothing true to it from what I could see in the world but also knew there was far more to life than what we are all living. My understanding now of TRUE religion is that it is absolute love that has order, flow and unity and that we are without a doubt all one and all equal. When I read this many words came to me ‘I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.’ including the word audacity. I did not know what this fully meant so looked it up and it mentioned arrogant disregard for personal safety, shameless boldness and insolence’ That is exactly what this is and truly disgusting that a person could even consider this acceptable.No wonder it was such a painless exit for you from organised ‘religion’. And organised in all the wrong ways!
I can so relate to that feeling the need to belong to something, and I guess when it comes to coming back to God we cannot do it solo so it kind of makes sense that there is this pull to come together. But how the organised religions have set themselves up as a checkpoint between us and God has done much harm than good.
We are in fact the love of God and as you have wisely shared when we live in connection to who we are we live the love of God in all we do, this is true religion, this is our innate way of being. As such we don’t need to try to do anything or follow any doctrines to define our worth.
I was not brought up in a religious home, but still felt the restrictions of religion. In this though I also knew God. I came to a point in my life where I was searching for the connection with a knowingness of God that I knew was real. In this search I took myself off to church. What I discovered in this was that there was no equal love for all delivered from the church. In this I knew that it was not the way to connect back to the truth of God as I knew it within. Knowing this also lead me to Serge Benhayon and the Way of the Livingness.
“an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people” that is certainly not what I would have thought of as religion but it certainly makes me want to know, hear and feel more.
It is truly disgusting when any kind of organisation closes ranks because it is trying to hide something. Integrity goes out the window and it’s all about how things look from the outside and nothing to do with integrity. We have all seen and felt it, and to do that while also have a ‘religious’ nametag disrespects and demeans God.
On reflection going to sunday school as a child and later in my teens I felt every time I attended never enough. I always felt disempowered and that I had to go to chapel to make me feel worthy of God’s love. Breaking away from chapel naturally occurred when I got married in my early twenties. Although there was still an attachment I realised as I began to feel my worth that God was inside me and everything and all I needed to do was to connect to my essence within. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine through The Way of The Livingness are supporting me with this empowering me to be and live the truth of who I am, a son of God, the complete opposite to feeling small, needy, pathetic and having to rely on going to chapel to make me feel better.
‘The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.’ This is a beautiful description of The Way of The Livingness Sharon. It is a shame many religions have strayed away from truth and love, and even though many know this they still hang onto it out of tradition or ideals and beliefs even when they thought it’s not true.
What I appreciate from The Way of The Livingness is that there are no prescriptions or rules to follow. It’s the inner and personal connection with God that initiates each individual religious experience.
There is so much out there that challenges our relationship with God – misrepresenting him through one organisation or another. The game changer for me is that The Way of The Livingness has always been about asking one to explore our relationship with God, in our bodies, in our way of living. Its personal, its relevant and it makes common sense…. and feels wonderful too.
It is interesting how we fall for a ‘sense of belonging’ to religion. And, yet, the need to have a sense of belonging to something we naturally belong innately so is ridiculous. It is however a clear sign of the amount of distortion that prevails in matters of religion.
If we are all going to be on the same page about God, let it be a page that includes every single person on Earth.
‘It did take me some time to recover from all the teachings I had so blindly aligned to, so much so I used to say I was recovering from organised religion, but I am delighted to report I have recovered and I have actually found my true religion.’ The insidious and pernicious teachings of organised religion can take a deeply rooted hold. Even though many people would say they are not religious they still manifest the symptoms of organised religion through guilt, shame and not feeling good enough!
it is like a veil of silk has been thrown over humanities eyes… It is time for this veil to be discarded so that we can truly feel our relationship with God that is there in every moment to be felt.
I left Religion when I found out what the church did in the dark ages, I was horrified then and found leaving easy. Finding The Way of The Livingness came many many years later and opened me up to the truth that I am love in my very essence as is every single person on this planet, love also. No more them and us as Religions would have it.
The Way of The Livingness is the only way to know God within our bodies and to live in constant confirmation of that which is our natural way of being.
To know that God is one commodity that nobody can own, is our birthright.
For many many years I attended the local spiritualist church three times a week, and was heavily involved with the study of the movement. Then one day there was a moment when my eyes were opened with what may seem an everyday meeting – I was talking to one of the other long term members and she was very scathing with her description of one of the other members, and later that night we went into a private meeting and this lady was asked to open with a prayer, and she started to talk about love. From that moment on I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I did not belong there, and this lady helped me enormously to see, for in that split second I could feel the emptiness of the words, and knew without a doubt that this was not love. What really stood out was the severity of the previous words and the now talking innocently about love, the two did not match. Shortly after that I resigned my membership.
I love what you say about ‘sharing the love with, with everyone’; this is a connection with God, not to choose to be loving or favour a few or certain people but to meet everyone equally, this is largely missed in the world today, lots talk about it, but very few live it.
In this life I have never been part of an organised religion, I never felt the authenticity in them, I have been intrigued by them some times and talked to friends about it, but could not bring myself to go along with what is so blatantly hypocritical…and the I encountered The Way of The Livingness and then I saw people walking their talk and I knew I had found religion lived, a rebinding to divinity through a relationship with the body.
For me religion was always true it was how people wanted to live made it untrue. Truely there is no path back to God ,for we are of God in our essence , the want to live from this truth allows one to be religious. I am very religious this is the way I live ” The Way of The Livingness”
The heart and the body only know truth. Allowing us to feel tells the truth about everything in the world. Whether it is the truth of religion or the truth of what to eat for lunch, every honest answer is within us.
Powerful stuff Sharon! I love that you trusted yourself and walked away from something once you could confirm it no longer felt true. Your new religion feels a lot more real.
There is a comment you make about not preaching and banging on doors, but representing your religion in the simplest way possible, just through the medium of how you live. Its so, so simple, and if we are being ourselves, effortless and gorgeous. A true way that does not impose on others but warms them from the inside out as well!
I couldn’t wait to break up with organised religion, it was shoved down my throat from the day I was born and it never seemed to sit well with me my break up was swift too and I was in a bit of a religious wilderness until coming across The Way of The Livingness which for me felt right immediately.
To have a solicitor who is responsible for upholding justice and the law telling members of his church not to go to police if they have experience paedophilia in the past shows the lack of love and integrity that this man and his religion has for not only the congregation but humanity at large.
Thank you Sharon, I am starting to see there has been a religious way I’ve lived in my life that has not been the real deal at all. I’ve settled for words, actions and disciplines but fogotten the most crucial ingredient of all – Love. How can a religion based on God be mean and hard? How can it hate and judge? How can it react and denegrate? It truly makes no sense at all. No amount of rules or dogma can hide the fact the Love is the hallmark of what is great. Make your day Loving and you can’t help but keep returning to the truth, and know a religious life.
I have met many different types of devout religious individuals. Most, are driven by their beliefs like a horse pulling a cart and wearing blinders. Some are just in a groove moving on, and others try to impose their beliefs. The ones that always stand out are those who cherry pick and practice the do as I say not as I do, religious rhetoric. Once we know that God lives within us all equally, all the time, and fully embody it, anything that is not truth, is a red flag.
The ownership held by modern religions over our relationship with god and then the evils perpetrated in that name beggar belief. Thanks Sharon for affirming the two can be mutually exclusive and there is another way to be religious
‘Share the love I now felt from within, with everyone I connected to – not by preaching or knocking on doors, but by being myself.’ This is so beautiful Sharon, it is natural to be loving. simple.
My perception was also that I would never be good enough to have direct access to God, Sharon, I was always going to be a sinner no matter what. This gives us a guilt to carry like a burden on our backs because of the image that there needs to be some perfection. Now I know there is divinity within me and through this I can access God whenever and wherever I am from within me.
The path back to God is not asking for forgiveness (that, by the way, will never be given) but claiming back our divinity in our life and living it.
In what realm of life can anyone ever say we should protect a person who has committed an act as vile as pedophilia. Anyone who would preach such an approach is not someone who would receive my attention for even a moment.
A great reminder Sharon, that sometimes it takes something very extreme for us to leave the comfort of what we know. But if we stop and feel where we stand, and honour what we feel is true, what to do and how to act will actually become super clear. For with every move and thought we allow, we actively support and subscribe to a source of energy that produces the life we see. It’s this relationship with choosing truth that is the very essence of Religion to me. So ironically in your story, breaking up with the church to choose Love is an awesome and truly religious act.
Once we remember who we are and where we are from, we realise that everyone is from that same equal light, and our time here is to relearn and live that light together in brotherhood until we all remember who we are.
Hearing Serge speak from the very beginning brought home to me the truth, that I knew deep down, the joy of having found it again, the dismay of realising that I knew all along but had been denying it, and the call to responsibility that I had been dancing around the edges of. Starting the journey back through all that I had created to avoid living the truth has been not easy, but absolutely worth it – the great joy of reuniting with the truth that my Soul had been offering all along and now learning to live its purpose, is beyond anything this world has to offer.
“The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside” is exactly how I sense my religion with God is. It is from a livingness impulsed form the inner fire that lives in my heart and when allow that fire to infuse in my body, the way i move and go along with life will change accordingly and will express at any moment that love of God we al know so well.
Is breaking up organised religion the new Tower of Babel? Where people that speak the same language, and have built their temples to impress God! Is it well past time for urban renewal?
The word relligion is a sacred word for me. It means returning back to God. And as I know that God lives inside of me it means returning back to the true version of me. And as He lives in everybody of us, even if we are not concsious about this fact, it means returning back to the deep truth which everybody equally carie inside.
The extraordinary this is how it can take so long for the ‘lights to go on’ and to realize what one has been a part of.
This article gives us permission to acknowledge, accept and appreciate that we all do have a deep sense of God within us (we may struggle with this word and can substitute love, stillness, truth and/or joy here) and from this place we can explore our lives and relationships with an amazing knowing that we are unified and held.
A question that could be asked to quite a number of religions is, how can you have religion without people; walking, talking examples of energy, cause & effect and magic in what we can do and bring? Does shutting yourself away from the world and going on a solo path to enlightenment or inner peace not miss out this huge factor or religion?
I would venture that many would agree that organised religion has failed us. Unfortunately, many by default turn away from religion, rather than remaining open to the possibility that within the plethora of religious philosophies that abound, there might just be one that is true.
As many here has said, that when we accept that God resides in everyone equally, what is the point of something outside of us that requires us to only believe in God according to organised religion’s rules!
Yes, agree. One either believes in God or Knows God
It is only by re-turning to who we truly are that we get to see clearly all we have been played to live in place of this. This is the science of true religion.
I did not grow up with any leaning to particular religions and it was not until I was at a Christian boarding school that I chose to pay attention to listen to what was being prescribed under the banner of ‘religion’. To tell you the truth I was petrified of this scary dude that was supposed to sit in the clouds, read my mind, judge my thoughts and actions and if he was not pleased punish me perhaps in some gruesome way!
I am sure that most people gloss over the anomalies in the teachings of organised religions, because if they didn’t, a lot of it would not make sense and the sincerity of the whole lot would have to be questioned.
The Livingness of Our Kingly Light is what brings us back to what true religion is.
The love of God is within all of us and once we give up looking for it on the outside we come back to this connection and the simplicity of living true religion.
‘The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” so true and what true Religion is and what we all know when we are honest enough to allow ourselves to simply feel, it is all there for us. Beautiful !
Religion is an all encompassing relationship, and not a title that gives permission to live void of this relationship ‘in the name of God’.
Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine brought religion back home to my heart. Before that religion had been a cold affair, one of a constant trying to be good but always feeling like I was failing.
I agree with you Jane, as many others have found the real meaning of region, that has filled the void that many variants of what God should be have been created.
I feel I have finally broken up with the religion of my choice for lifetimes – the Roman Catholic Church. I was abroad recently in a country that is steeped in that religion and I allowed myself to feel the consciousness of that country and it came to me that there is an over riding feeling of leaving everything until tomorrow, nothing matters today there is no sense of purpose in the people. It also felt as the consciousness would take care of you as long as you supported the religion they would be responsible for you and as the Church elders have the ear of God they can act on your behalf, don’t worry everything will be taken care of. It felt as though I could go to sleep for another 100 years and all would be taken care of, I just had to say yes. I felt all this as I walked around the village in the early morning while everyone was still asleep and with every step I said no to that way of life. It is a prison sentence and having just escaped prison I have no intention of falling for it’s luring ways again.
What did it for me was when I heard Serge Benhayon talk about Religion in a way that I totally understood. Before that, the religion I had known, although I had not been in a fully fledged relationship with it, rather an unwilling bystander, never made sense and never rang true for me. Thankfully Serge introduced to me the meaning of true religion and now I know that there is nothing I have to do to be religious other than to build my own ever deepening relationship with my own divine self, in whatever shape that comes.
The practices and traditions that are carried out in religious ceremonies seem to confirm people in not being worthy and contribute to the grief. One thing choosing a religion does bring us that we like though is identification; we identify with a group, a set of beliefs, a set of traditions, a set of movements and ways of living and that is attractive for people. But if it is causing perpetual unknowing, un-sacredness and a consolidation of being not worth,y then is the religion or tradition truly Godly or a pure suppression?
True religion should leave one free of imposition of any kind to be free to develop their own relationship with divinity, to make mistakes, and to come to their own realisation free of dogma or blind faith.
I can now embrace the word religion. The Way of The Livingness is a lived experience, a connectedness with myself, God and others that inspires my way.
Very true Jenny, The Way of the Livingness is not about gathering knowledge or being in a building, it’s about living the livingness each and every day.
I like how you call it a break up. A decision to say no to something we know is not supporting us in our movement to grow and evolve.
I like the way you have pointed out the false fusion between god and church. Indeed there is more to accessing and being in relationship with God than is offered by the church. In fact the more, is more simplicity and immediacy
Yes. Out of a church and into everyone and everywhere – God is.
The acceptance that God is within us changes everything in our lives as we learn to live the love we are from inside us and we are reflected this love everywhere.
Organised religion can be like cotton wool wrapped around the truth, because we have had some truly great people grace our planet over the centuries, who have brought incredible and great truths to us as a one humanity. I suppose it is down to us, those who live thereafter to discern whether the religion that has followed these great teachings is full of the whole truth or just part of it with the rest being just fluff.
Short and sweet, what a journey, what a True Religion and what a woman you are Sharon. A clear and strong voice that is inspiring to hear. What a disgrace about the way the church has always tried to bury and bad press, what a great thing that you are now able to love your connection to yourself and God without being under a strange and backward set of rules.
I love the four pillars you share Sharon on living our own true religion. Beautifully simple and absolutely liveable, no false expectations to live up to, purely ourselves and God at the heart of our choice.
You just know that simple is true – it shows that there is a natural order and flow which makes perfect sense in a universe such as ours.
When I was growing up, religion was something older people did and tried to induct their children into the same beliefs. As the world evolved, what God offered could not compete with technology. In the US there is a separation of church and state so religion is not taught in schools like in many other countries. But, religious schools can teach both. Many of my friends I grew up with, that went to a religious school were a bit more rebellious after spending the class day under the rule of the nuns with rulers. I never felt the pull to God and what someone that died 2000 years ago could do for me? Many years later and discovering the true meaning of religion and the fact that God is in everyone all of the time has always been just a choice away!
It’s so simple isn’t it, that if God is love we simply live this love everyday, not as something outside of ourselves but by reconnecting to the love we all are innately within, and we are in this sense true Sons of God.
Thank you, Sharon. One of many things I love about The Way of The Livingness is the responsibility called for – there are no rules, dogmas or people in positions of power to defer or answer to, simply our choices and the understanding of the impact of these on everyone.
The joy of finding that true religion comes from within ourselves and is our everyday livingness is so beautiful and warming to the heart . knowing that GOD = THE ALL . Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me – has completely changed my life. A beautiful sharing of finding true religion and living it lovingly.
When I took it upon myself to be completely devoid of anything to do with God, within weeks I was in a position through my own silliness that destroyed my back to ask for forgiveness and from that day until I found the true teaching as presented under the Universal Medicine banner by Serge Benhayon, I was still lost but at least looking for the truth and love.
Some break-ups are tough, and emotional, some are simple and conciliatory. Breaking up with organised religion was neither, it was essential, easy and left no need for reconciliation ever.
It is interesting to question why we still have organized religions which tell us for ages that God is outside of us while the true religion just lives within in our connection with our innermost, that part in us that is directly connected to God.
Looking for God is the same as searching for love, until you stop and feel that what you have sought, has always been inside of you.
And that is exactly the conundrum we play with in life, we know from inside that we belong to God, but from our mind we make it mysterious and something we have look for outside of us. This makes us choosing to join institutionalised religion or to enter into doing good, all to find God, that hilariously, is always there in our inner heart.
The core of religion – come back to our core, love.
I remember the moment I knew I had to ‘end it’ with the organised religion I was involved with as a child/young adult. It was a very clear and obvious decision and there was no regret or doubt that it was the best thing to do and I immediately felt an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders once I had done so.
That is interesting Andrew, that means that with entering an organized religion we allow ourselves to create an imposition in our body as we go into a way of living that is in denial of our natural connection with God that is always there in our inner heart.
It’s interesting how long we can stay in a relationship we know isn’t good for us and in fact when we look back at it, we’re not sure why we even stayed. When something has a hold on us, that tight grip results in us loosing our way.
I broke up with organised religion when I was about 12. Up till that age I was quite interested in the christian religion, and was baptised Anglican from birth. Around 12, I found myself drawn somewhat to religion, but was quickly disenchanted as I realised the depth of hypocrisy in the various belief systems. After all, if the church had the answer, why were they in themselves so divided? From there I gradually became one could say agnostic as I sought to question life, and it was not till I was around 28 years old that by my own accord I found myself embracing reincarnation, and finding myself being drawn to the many different prophets – the Buddha, Jesus Christ etc – and finding different things in different religions to which I was drawn to, without being drawn to any one in particular. Enter Universal Medicine and the teachings of Serge Benhayon, who confirmed and further deepened for me so much of what I had already decided upon was the truth.
That is a very similar way to how it was for me also Adam, from not being able to see a true representation of god and real brotherhood through church and the organised assemblies of religion. I too was more agnostic, and once declared at the dinner table at around that age how I could not align with church or religion but may go looking for god at a later time. My travels and experiences far and wide across the globe then lead me to believe in reincarnation and past lives, rather than, the Christian version of heaven and hell, guilt and repentance.There was too much hypocrisy masquerading as truth.
The re-introduction of the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom from Serge Benhayon this time around with its long history and lineage makes perfect sense and explains so much truth. No wonder it has been bastardised, hidden, desecrated and discredited as it has the ability to truly liberate man from creation and the karmic wheel of rebirth. From learning to self-love and create a kingly body so to speak, so that body can be taken into the world to serve and share with others, to learning to make better choices consistently, within perfection but open to grow and evolve. There is so always so much to learn and I understand now the power of knowing that we are always humbly an eternal student of life, as we are a part of a much bigger picture and our place in the universe.
I’ve searched far and wide, noticing a truth here and a revelation there but always there was something that equally turned me off (like being responsible for genocide or paedophilia) or that limited what I felt to be true inside me about the vastness and richness of God’s love (by being too theoretical or cerebral). What Serge Benhayon has presented and is lived through The Way of The Livingness is at one and the same time both uplifting and inspiring, encompassing the whole universe, and at the same time deeply practical and right down to the minutiae of how we live. It’s irresistible.
I too accepted religion as being related to church, to Sundays and even a sombre attitude, that is it was something to be taken very seriously and not associated with joy, hearing the word love, self-responsibility or equality, mentioned. It became apparent to me that the beliefs that surrounded organised religion weren’t true. The Way of The Livingness religion offers us the tools to re-connect to what we know deep within ourselves to be true and then it is a self-loving choice to re-connect to and live that truth and love everyday, which naturally expands out to include other people. It truly is a way of living that doesn’t exclude anybody, because we are all connected, we are one humanity and whether we choose to accept this or not, it just is.
Religion and churches had always felt heavy, imposing and smelt funny when I was young. The greatest gift The Way of The Livingness offers everyone reminds us we are the host of God and he resides in all of us!
I have heard many stories of the struggle people have gone through to remove themselves from a belief system they do not feel is true for them, feeling outcast and shunned – no matter a person’s choices of what they feel is true for them they should not be shut out of a community or their family. God is a personal connection.
The knowing that God is within us all equally, and that our connection is through our stillness, we can live the love we innately are and express our divine qualities.This is true religion and an amazing confirmation of what our body truly knows and we have come home. The Way of The Livingness is true religion and allows the truth of religion to be known and lived again.
Sharon, it is so interesting and revealing of organised religion as it stands today, when you say ‘ it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be.’ What IS region if, within its ethos, it does not truly care for people.
This is a great answer to ‘are you religious?’ Religious has become synonymous with systems, rules and rituals, beliefs and festivals and here I can feel your ‘religiousness, or religiosity,’ in every move you make, as it being coming from you not something you subscribe to. Living in this sacred way for me feels like true religion.
The priest, being a lawyer, would surely have known the hypocrisy of telling people to not go to the police – and is that even legal to say such a thing? It makes me wonder if he was so blinded by the system he couldn’t see this?
Sometimes I am baffled by what we can consider “normal” and “okay”. How can the priest in this example, reconcile a dedication to God and humanity alongside so blatantly defending the abuse of people. And how can the congregation reconcile their love and care of one another alongside accepting such a proposition? This can only happen when we invest greater significance and power in what is outside of us, i.e. when we say religious organizations know better than the voice in our heart – a card that organized religion has played so well throughout history.
“It did take me some time to recover from all the teachings I had so blindly aligned to, so much so I used to say I was recovering from organised religion…” Isn’t it interesting how ingrained and automatic these behaviours can be, and yet when we are doing them we wouldn’t believe or even want to know how much they are affecting our lives – the energy of those behaviours owns us. This exposes how important it is to be discerning of anything that is presented to us – does it feel true, or not?
Yes, Paula. And for me to be able to ask the question, ‘Does it feel true, or not?’ I needed a period of rebuilding my relationship with myself so that I could access again the knowing in my body that I had as a child. And what is amazing is the simplicity of living from this knowing rather than the complicated, fickle, often non-sensical ramblings of my mind.
I can relate to growing up thinking God, religion and belonging to a church where a package. It wasn’t so much a conscious awareness but that was the under lying current of the message that I took in – much of this would have come from how religion and God was presented by the church. So when there came the moment when I had the sense that church and it’s religion wasn’t for me – God went out with the bathwater so to speak – for a while. As I grew to making my own life discoveries and observations I could feel that God didn’t need a church or minister as such, God is everyone – it’s up to my choice of awareness and connection to His presence, and allow his love to be felt in the ways that he communicates.
I feel religion is the way to go, to reconnect to this inner knowing of god. And not to be guided by a group that has made religion a way to impart power over others, to keep us all feeling less than the magnificence we are.
I feel religion to be very important, it is our connection to what we truly are, and brings a knowing of love that is unbreakable.
A beautiful and inspiring reflection, Benkt, that true religion returns us to knowing and living the untarnishable, unbreakable nature of love.
Once we accept that the love of God is within us and all around us, we can never be hoodwinked again into believing that we are sinners that require an external force to make us worthy.
This is so true Janet, the external forces in my life have become so easily recognisable thanks to the truth of The Way of The Livingness.
Interesting isn’t it how organised religion seems to have this monopoly on the definition of the word ‘religion’ and how we are led to believe that in order to have a relationship with God we need to belong to a religious organisation. But if we consider the meaning of the word to just be about developing a relationship with our own soul and ultimately with God, then yes it helps to get support with this process but surely this can be done without belonging to any organisation?
I totally get it Sharon and having found true religion, in no way would I go through the pain of leaving it. The Way of The Livingness for me presents true love and the slightest deviation from this truth is a set up to distract and disconnect us from knowing God, so when you know this level of energetic truth my only place is connection to our divine aspect.
For more on true religion go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=TRUE+RELIGION
I remember breaking up with Organised religion actually it was the Catholic religion when i found out about the atrocities by the church in the dark ages, I cried that the church that I had loved could do such things, leaving was easy. It has been a winding road over the years of searching’ out there’ to find at last through the Ageless Wisdom teachings that it was ‘in here’ all the time, dwelling deep with me, the love of God that I was searching for all my life.
Sharon, your journey with religion illustrates just how important it is for each one of us to follow our truth, what we know and feel to be absolute truth, and to honour that. ‘As it turned out, it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be.’ When you felt the enormity of the lie of the priest, and even though he was a lawyer, the power of your truth took over and the break-up was a no-brainer.
“Interestingly during this period, I often felt not good enough, seeking God’s forgiveness or praying to him to make life better.” This is the problem with organised religion in that we are seen as ‘sinners’ in some form, so we are set-up to feel wrong, less, not good enough from the start – which is the exact opposite of the truth! We are born glorious, precious, open, full of light, love and joy… and it is the imposition of such belief systems as organised religion that we then take on to take us away from standing out in all our beauty and glory.
When we approach life from the emptiness of not connecting to who we truly are then we are at the mercy of the illusion of what the world offers disguised by that which is called good or benevolent, it is only through the deep appreciation and love for self that we get to know that true religion is our own relationship with the whole universe.
I like the title of this blog “breaking up with organized religion”. I was raised in the catholic religion and it was always instilled in us that the catholic religion was the only true religion and that you dare not leave it or you would go to hell. The truth of the matter is however that just like a marriage if it is not working and is in fact abusive then it is imperative that we do leave these situations. This is basic self-love and self-regard.
What you have pointed out so beautifully is that there is a difference between true religion and Organised religion. And that most of the world today goes by Organised religion and yet we don’t call it this. It confirms that if someone were to ask me if I am religious – I can say yes in the true sense but I am not part of Organised religion.
Yes, I too like this description of the two groups as being ‘organised’ and ‘True’ – it does make complete sense.
“It was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be” This statement itself should have us sit up and pay attention. When what is supposedly at the heart of an institution is the exact catalyst for us leaving the institution, we know something is very wrong.
Sharon, I wonder whether it is legal to entice victims of criminal acts to stop going to the police as the priest did in his sermon.
Sharon, I also had a very passionate love for organised religion. It seemed to me to be the bridge between people and the divine, however what I have come to realise is that not any of the religions that I encountered really wholly and completely included the human body as part of the divine, and in fact in many instances the body was seen as a hinderance or an impediment that stood in the way with its earthly requirements, I found that all of this lead to a heady or mental approach to life that left out some pretty big basics such as the utmost necessity for a deeply sensitive self-care. Universal Medicine has turned so much around for me just by introducing the physical frame in to the divine plan, which has enabled me to begin to truly recognise the divine within myself and and all others equally.
If it is our need to ‘belong to something’ that motivates us to join groups such as churches, community gatherings, families, groups of friends etc. we are doing it from a sense of being separate and wanting something to fill the emptiness we feel because of that. A true religion or family would reflect to us the love and truth we all have within so that we no longer need to look outside for fulfilment but can reconnect to our divinity, wisdom and love.
Organised religion has such a heaviness to it. But true religion is actually very light, playful and is the most joyous way of living.
Being a ‘good’ person tends to be hung onto as a religious tenet, but when we look at many religions around the world, we cannot say that all of their members are ‘good’ and how do you define ‘good’ anyway? Does it mean doing good works, or simply behaving in a way that does no harm to others? Certainly some of our major religions have done a great deal of harm to others with their Holy Wars. So perhaps it is not the religion at all but what is in people’s hearts that defines how they will behave.
“…harm to others with their Holy Wars. So perhaps it is not the religion at all but what is in people’s hearts that defines how they will behave…” Good point Carmel,…it seems that most religions have a peaceful aspect about them, but it is the need to be right behaviour of man rather than letting people be, that seems to cause the conflict.
Organised religion – one of the most abusive relationships out there… You’ll be lied to, think you’re always wrong, a sinner, fear you’ll go to hell, and that God is judging you. It’s the complete opposite of having a deep and true relationship with God and the magic that is possible within that relationship.
I struggled with religion as it always felt like something was missing and what they said didn’t make sense and now I know why. Religion gave us just enough to make us feel comfortable and acknowledge that there was a God, but that we had to work hard to achieve his recognition and acceptance and there were only a chosen few that could achieve this which didn’t feel like the God I knew. So I chose to have no religion until The Way of The Livingness, a religion that is for everyone, no one is excluded, and it offers no beliefs or rules and all we have to do is connect and live by the loving principles of our inner heart.
Yes, partial truths can be very difficult to deal with. One can reject it in its entirety or accept it but to discern what is true and false is difficult.
True religion, religion is a lived experience, it is expressed from the body…it is very clear when the mouth and mind run the show and not the heart.
The time I was in an organised religious group what I was seeking was love but what I found where restrictions and within those there was no space for true love. When I chose to leave this form of religion I still stayed in the same pattern for some time to seek love in the outside. When I learned to know Serge Benhayon I felt that true love was free of restrictions but its foundation is to take true responsibility for oneself but not, as I used to think and as I was raised,for others.
I broke up with organised religion when I was twenty too Sharon, and received the silent treatment of ostracisation from many of the people close to me and had to live up to many false lies which eventually I reacted by making them all true. It was not an easy step to take, but a step that absolutely also brought me much closer to God, that today I can say without reservation that I am deeply Religious. This has been deeply healing as it brought me back to truly standing up for truth.
True religion is innately in us all and is living this connection to the all. To me, this is the opposite to organised religion which seems to me gets us looking outside of ourselves and in disconnection to the all, in separation, isolation and need.
Organised religion forces us to have tunnel vision to see only the way that someone outside of us, wants us to see and believe! It makes us deign the whole that has always lived within us, to believe in something that is less.
You have nailed the ridiculousness of even the term organised religion. Just like processed food, organised religion has all the hallmarks of man’s attempts to control things to his own gain, which ends up turning something that is pure and amazing into a fraction of its magnificence.
Religion is always found first and foremost within.
What I have learned from Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon’s Presentations of The Way of The Livingness is that God is within and therefore we are never separate, we are his equal Sons. Therefore we can breakup with Religion but not God.
The organisation of religion simply takes us away from true religion. If true religion is within us and we can live from true impulses and live religion, then organising it is purely going to destroy it. It is then separated from the original meaning and expression. It then becomes something else.
True Doug, as Sharon put it, when she “re-connected to the love within me” she discovered the re-binding (religion) to that natural essence of within us all.
This is a great example of how sometimes we need to walk away from something that doesn’t feel true before we discover what we truly were searching for within ourselves.
I still hold onto hurts around religion – one being told what I could and could not do on a Sunday by someone, and the same person sharing that my parents would go to hell because they had not asked Jesus into their lives. Absolutely not true and very evil. It was the latter comment that made me say stuff you to the church and this person. That was the final breaking point for me.
‘As it turned out, it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be.’ This statement speaks volumes about the state organised religion is in and what it promotes.
I broke up with catholicism when I was 19. There wasn’t a specific incident, but for many years I had felt the practice of this religion allowed me to live a completely guilt ridden life, being fearful of making a mistake in some way shape or form. I knew that this wasn’t healthy for me and I knew anything that supported me to sustain such a way to live wasn’t worth dedicating my time and energy to.
Sharon you hit the mark with your honest words. Religion is so much more – it should be ” . . . an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” That is exactly how The Way of The Livingness is for me.
I broke up with organised religion before I broke up with my first boyfriend, which was a long time ago. Now I have a lifelong relationship with true religion, thanks to Universal Medicine. God is without exception part of my every day.
Although I have not had this kind of relationship with organised religion I have with other lifestyle choices and have had the same kind of wake up call moments where I am forced to face what becomes glaringly obvious in front of me – life is like this and will always present us with moments to reflect on the consequences of our choices.
Coming to know our love inside us, is making us see even more the falseness that the church portrays. We are shown a compassionate community, but in essence it is all but true human connection that is being practiced,its all a mental excercise of the truth that in essence is a knowing in the body. As we all know inside, that God is our connection to everything and each other, not the distant father that is watching over us with a judging eye.
To me a true religion will always put people before anything else, express truth without hesitation, expose evil without hesitation and will always be guided by love. This is only some of the basic foundations of true religion as there is more but from reading your blog Sharon the church you used to attend lacked all these qualities, which makes me wonder how its teachings can be appealing?
I read your experience of organised religion Sharon and I felt the heavy stifling clock of a system that wants to thwart us fully, suffocating us in the dark. I then read what it was like in re-discovering true religion and the joy and freedom I could feel does not stop. True religion is a freedom like no other. The exact opposite of what the harm done by institutionalised religion would have us believe.
Amen to that Sharon, the joy of finding true religion.
Any organisation that tries to cover up something as seriously abusive as pedophilia that can’t even abide by the laws of the land, have such disrespect for common decency and have shown that “keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage” – means blaming the victim, and moving the perpetrator to another community. Such actions expose the rot and ungodly darkness of these institutions and that only common sense is required to know God is being misrepresented, all the good is just an elaborate illusion that God wants us to arise out of.
Yes, I agree Doug, it’s like a thin veil we put over ourselves that keeps us away from ourselves and everyone else, however much it looks like we are there we are not showing up in our full glory. We are caught in a web of untruths, difficult to see this web but it’s there and it sticks.
“True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.“ Beautifully expressed and so true, it mirrors the truth we are from the inside out.
‘If you had asked me when I was in the thick of my regular organised religious practices if I would let it go, I wouldn’t have believed you …’ – it’s interesting how much we can actually ‘let go of’ when we are committed to living the truth. We start to see things for what they are, reading the energy first, they either support or they don’t and we naturally let go of what no longer belongs, clearing the way for us to allow a deeper level of love in our body.
Religion cannot be compartmentalised, it is not about going to a certain church or following an edict. I live religion in all areas of my life, it is my connection to the All, and knowing that I am of God, a Son of God, that offers divinity in all I do.
Since I’ve read this I’ve been very intrigued by why the title’s captured my interest. I especially like it because it expresses that we choose what we have a relationship with and how, we are not puppets. For me it likens it to a relationship with a partner and how we can end that relationship even though we may have had strong attachments to it and there are processes involved but ultimately we are the ones who decide what we are in relationship with. That this is always our choice.
“…religion was something I felt I needed.” How mixed up do we get when we are not told the whole truth about who we are and where we come from? Thank goodness that Serge Benhayon has cast a beaming light on humanity’s many illusions.
Asking the congregation to keep such ugliness within the confines of the church. How shockingly self serving, and lacking in love or respect for people that request actually was. If there was true love within that institution there would be a natural desire for transparency and rooting out of such ill, not a protection and therefore condoning of it.
When I broke up with religion I was free to be religious.
That is so beautiful Alex, freedom from any dogma, doctrine and rules. Set fee to return to the spark of God within.
So true Alex, me too… a return to the simplicity of that which is true.
Hah! Alex I love the playful expose of the inhibiting nature of organised religion.
Organised religion tells you what to do and what to not do. The exact opposite of what True Religion teaches us: to listen to our own connection with our body, our Soul and with God / the Universe. To live who we are, we are to develop a strong connection to who we are. Because as long as we don’t know we’ll be fooled and fed constantly from the outside in – instead of from the inside out.
I can not think of a religion that, sharing the love within with everyone is really a practice? There are many professing ‘love thy neighbour’, but at the same time protect its own who don’t practice what they preach. What kind of message does this send!
Spot on Sharon, religion is innate and inclusive of everything.
The bastardisation and hence mis-trust in organised religion runs deep in a lot of people, very understandably so.
I remember feeling very connected to God as a small child but then feeling the grandness of that being completely crushed and distorted when I started going to church. It didn’t seem to make sense anymore and for a long time thereafter even after I stopped going to church I felt rudderless. Finding true religion in The Way of The Livingness was a true homecoming to what I had known as a child, that God was within me as he was in everyone else.
“Weekly church, regular confession, fasting at lent, praying for forgiveness and generally trying to be a good person” that was my version of religion as well, its amazing how different that is from what I understand true religion to be today, how complicated it was and yet how incredible true religion actually is. Beautifully inspiring to see how breaking up with organised religion allows the freedom for true connection and true religion – the thing we all know has been missing in our lives.
It has been my experience that there is a lot of ‘blind’ adherence to religious teachings and organisations. Surely we are not here to blindly follow rules and dogma that do not make sense. We are gifted with sensitivity and wisdom that allows us to discern what does and does not feel true. Are we to ignore our sensitivity to become blind in our following or to question, to uncover, to explore until our innate knowing reveals what is indeed the truth?
“GOD = THE ALL” How can he not really. We live in an enormous Universe created by an immensely wise, all knowing intelligence that is way beyond our current, narrow comprehension and we have the audacity to think that he can only be found in a Church, or accessed via a set of religious doctrines. I can only Imagine how strange and funny this must seem to God, as he accompanies us every where we go, believers and non believers alike, an internal flame that burns brightly within us all 24/7/365!
Powerful are those moments in life when such clarity dawns… and we know without a skerrick of doubt that we can no longer accept an abuse (or indeed many abuses) that we have allowed in any relationship.
Great to read of your realisation here Sharon, and the integrity within you that came to the point of being willing to see the truth, and not compromise upon it one iota.
I used to think that others could have a relationship with God but not me, I now realise that I allowed those thoughts in as I was not aligned to the true source: God and the Hierarchy. Once I aligned I knew I am an equal Son of God and that I am always having a relationship with God given we all sparks of God.
it is interesting to observe how much we will allow a lie to continue because of our investment in that institution and what it brings for us, and then we must dull our awareness to not feel then tension that arises in accepting and allowing the untruths. This goes for everything in life not just religion.. so the more honesty we can bring to our own investments, attachments and desires and what they bring to us, the more clearly we will be able to discern the deceptive hand that offers us those false allures.
It is incredible to consider how many of us go along with rules and dogma and all manner of beliefs outside of ourselves in the guise of Religion when True Religion is anything but and is simply the livingness of Love – Love that leaves no one less, is equal, all- knowing and is and was within us all to begin with.
Jane such a stunning point and what a fantastic yard stick transparency is for truth. If someone is not willing to fling their doors wide open and put up a sign that says ‘access all areas’ then that’s a sure sign that they have something to hide. And if either a person or an organisation has something to hide then that naturally leads to the question ‘ what are they hiding?’.
So true Ariana, the two are almost synonymous, as is healing. We have lost the truth in meaning of all three, and the fact they are intrinsically linked.
Sharon I have read your blog several times now and was struck by your statement “I discovered that the love of God was already within me “. What it brought home is that it is ‘the love of God’ we connect with, and this allows us to know what is true and what is not. If true, it will resonate with this love within, and if not, then it will be in discordance with it. In registering that what you heard was not true for you, you were already registering the discord. This is the way to navigate life’s intricacies with greater confidence, and to know what is true and what is not.
‘Praying for forgiveness’ implies the belief that we have ‘sinned’ which sets us up to feel that we are not good enough and that someone else is judging us. ‘Confession’ is based on an assumption that we have done wrong but even if we confess and our ‘sins are absolved’ we often go off and do it all again without taking any responsibility for what we have done. So the process of confessing just alleviates our conscience but does not change our behaviour.
“Weekly church, regular confession, fasting at lent, praying for forgiveness and generally trying to be a good person’ and yet all this does not prevent people abusing other people, as evidenced by the conduct of the Catholic clergy. True religion is the perpetual art and science of connecting with God within, which can be done while putting the rubbish out, shopping, going to work or snuggling up with your loved one, an choice that nurtures our integrity, transparency and appreciation. It doesn’t make us ‘good’ but it does make us true, real, honest and very trustworthy.
Thanks for sharing Sharon. Your commitment and loyalty was to the truth even though for many years it appeared to be to the church.
Sharon, I like your description of The Way of The Livingness as ‘a True Religion … – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within.’ We need no priests to interpret God for us as we can all feel our connection to God and truth once we reconnect to ourselves and then, as you say, if we confirm it by the way we live we reflect our love of God to others without any preaching or imposing.
The Truth of Religion – what it truly means to be religious… so simple and yet so profound.
I keep coming back to read this blog, so eloquently written… it is so inspiring to feel the self-empowerment of someone who has followed their own truth and the magic that follows.
We love being together and we love surrendering and share (the wonders of) God, yet these days it’s hard to communicate the love of others and the love for God. There’s so much bastardised that we lost connection and trust in love, each other and God. Yet, this is the essence that actually binds us; that makes this life worth living. This is in fact true religion, but isn’t organised with a set of rules – it’s ‘just’ a humble sharing of the richness and stupendousness God and life is.
Spot on that The Way of The Livingness has no promises. It is not a given by any means, but constantly offers the opportunity for evolution.
Thank you Sharon for this sharing and how your relationship with religion has changed to offer a deep level of support. I am so amazed that the church openly shared that pedophilia should be reported to them only- wow it shows the state of the world we are in and how it is up to us to stand for truth.
How shocking and irresponsible this is, that a man ‘of the cloth’ and also as a representative of the law, is actively encouraging paedophilia to remain hidden in this way, by the words in his sermon to a congregation.
“I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.
So true Stephanie for those who enable the abuse of others also allows the vile behaviour to continue its destructive cycle.
Going for a walk on Good Friday morning my neighbour asked if I was going to church and she urged me to go even if my husband wasn’t going. My reply was that I really didn’t need to go to church as I saw God in everything around me – the stillness in the morning, playing with my dog, the sun rising, getting to talk to her. These were all opportunities for me to connect and understand what my role was in any given moment. She was a little surprised by my response but loved it. My relationship with God is so much bigger than what happens in a church.
As has been shared above, one can have a strong relationship with god without following a specific religion.
Sharon, It is sickening to read about your clergyman suggesting not reporting child abuse and keeping it within the confines of the church. This frame of thinking is ‘old era’ and the cause of much of the mess we are in. All needs to be reported for the healing of all and real changes to ever take place. Everyone has a voice and it is Universal Medicine students who are claiming their voice back for the love and truth of all as inspired by Serge Benhayon.
It’s amazing how much the idea of God and living religiously has become entangled with organised religion – but does it need to be? I have found it’s possible to have a relationship with God, as far out and seemingly intangible as that might seem to some, in a very practical, personal and religious way that is not enshrined in a doctrine, building or practice, but is in the way that I live.
To know the deep inner knowing I felt when being introduced to my Church as a child, and to register that what I was being shown and told, was not Truth as it did not correlate with what I felt inside, was something that stayed with me, though buried somewhat along the years. I didn’t re-explore this until 40 or so years later when I chose to reconnect to this truth after hearing Serge Benhayon present on the true nature of us all – gentleness was the way in, the starting point. From that point I was able to start making self-loving choices and learning to live in a way that confirmed the truth of our inner-most nature. Sharon I love how you talk about sharing this love/truth, “– not by preaching or knocking on doors, but by being myself.” So simple.
Beautiful thread to your conclusion here Jane. I’m sure God cannot tell lies, as God is Truth.
Your choice to stand up against the atrocities and abuse of the organised religion you speak of here, is a sorely needed reflection for your fellow brothers.
Yes, Sharon. Silent neglect is something we are all guilty of when we do not call out evil, but in a place that claims to be the house of God, it is heinous exploitation.
Just in the very first line of this blog there is such a strong indication of the evil illusions of the catholic religion – “praying for forgiveness”. Two basic falsehoods. God never judges, therefore there is no cause to ask for forgiveness. Seeking forgiveness is a 100% absolving of one’s own responsibility. It’s not about asking for forgiveness, it’s not about saying sorry, it’s about taking responsibility to accept the mistakes we have made, having the transparency and honesty to examine the root cause of them and then choosing to move and express in a different way. All of which is up to us and has no relevance to anyone else (least of all God) granting us forgiveness. This seemingly minor seed of separation, is a gross illusion that keeps man from living their truth, and thus needing the catholic faith as some kind of crutch and/or escape route.
‘GOD = RELIGION AND CHURCH’. This is how it is presented, and this is how I viewed God to an extent. I was taught that it was my duty to go to church and pay my dues, so it was a always a relief when mass was over and we could all go home to our Sunday lunch and forget about the burden and boredom of church for another week! Learning that I always knew God and in ways that felt very normal and natural had to be re-discovered. Thankfully through Universal Medicine I realise that I was more connected to God that I had thought and that God isn’t this judgemental heavy force that you need to appease, simply a fathomless and exquisitely beautiful beholding power that emanates stillness, love, harmony, joy and truth. Connecting to this isn’t a big deal however as I am of this and am therefore this myself! There simply needs to be a claiming of this and a living of it…
A lot of organised religions ask us to become something we’re not and change in order to fit the prerequisites to achieve something e.g. forgiveness, access to heaven etc., so it’s not to say that these religions are ‘evil’ or bad but it’s SO important to look at the whole picture and decide if we entirely trust the organisation before signing a contract and changing ourselves completely.
One thing you share here is how “I have always known there was God and I was taught throughout my childhood that God equated to religion and church.” like you I always felt and knew there was a God however I never understood the church – yet I was told God is found only in the and through the church. The re-connect and discover the truth about God, to have that feeling I felt as a child confirmed is deeply liberating.
The clarity and clean-ness of this break up is inspiring in itself – there is no doubt about the inner knowing that supported you in this.
I always felt I was religious in a way until I discovered the teachings by Serge Benhayon and the light and love that has been shown to me have revealed what true religion is all about.
For more about light go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=LIGHT
By re-connecting to God, It is fascinating now talking to the people that knock on my door and try to preach to me. There have been two types so far, the ones that are open and the others that God is in a box they own, or a row ploughed in a field that is unwavering.
I am pretty sure too Jane, that God is not lying but instead is super transparent in the way he communicates his love and only truth, which I have to admit, is not always that easy to accept, as I’m also coming from that bastardized and manipulated truth (read lies) that have been fed to me for a great part of my life by the organized religions.
To be religious is actually our natural way of being and in that we do not need any institution or building to confirm and coordinate this. In fact it is a livingness that comes from within, as we are all connected to that grander whole we call God and religion is in fact about our connection with that inner most, that divine part in us we originate from.
A great point… if an organisation, individual or institution is less than transparent and seeks to cover-up, deceive or mislead then there are clear indications that things are not as they seem and the very foundation upon which they stand is rotten and corrupt at best.
Connecting to the true love within is Religion like no other – the livingness of truth.
The scriptures themselves have such phrases as “the kingdom of God is within you” all over the place. Baffling how we ended up with that translated into building massive buildings and organised religions that dictate how we need to relate to God.
It can be a great feeling to be religious yourself without needing an intermediary.
When ever I think of organised religion, I can’t help but feel the suppression of one’s inner most being that it entails. It is a complete set up to supress, control and allude one away from the complete glory they are. It comes with separation, suppression and control. It lacks truth, love and the honouring of the essence we all come from. It’s a break up that holds no regret when the true religion is found.
Well said, my experience of organised religion is the complete lack of equality. The words may be touted yet the steps are not walked. It is the game of ‘better than’ ‘less than’, a set up neither of which is in respect of the truth we are.
It’s actually shocking to hear that your clergy said to not report pedophilia to the police. This is corruption at its core. It’s like asking a criminal to investigate their own crime. The challenge with this as a church goer is that it breaks the trust that is held as we see those who are not walking their talk as they see themselves higher than the law of the land. It’s actually disgusting.
Yet there are circumstances where we turn a blind eye, or allow a lie to be ignored. If something isn’t true then the whole foundation is tainted, as everything is part of everything. Nothing exists in isolation and this truth is universal no matter how intent we are to ignore this.
Organised religion has given us a purpose outside of ourselves as well as a sense of belonging and with this recognition and attention. But do these practices truly support us. To be grand, to live with our Soul, to love ourselves, to be non-comparing? Do we really feel inside our body what is shared in books, sermons, at dinner tables? Why did we give up on our own truth, our own voice to feel for ourselves what is true and what isn’t. We know! The Way of The Livingness doesn’t tell us how to live, it shares a one purpose and that is a way of living that supports our own well-being and is knowing of our ‘journey’ back to the place where we once separated from – Heaven.
Sometimes when something has elements of truth in it we can accept it or enjoin with it but not discern the entirety of the package we are receiving so to speak… But if the whole thing isn’t truth then the parts we like are tainted with the ill energy of the more hidden (or perhaps not so hidden) erroneous ways.
That is true, when we are compromising we don’t quite know what the whole deal is, what else do we accept? This is normal when we don’t know any better but if we ever experience truth or love without compromise, then it makes a lot less sense to compromise afterwards.
Yes, Fiona, in a way it is a blessing that the ill energy was exposed in such an explicit way, but it is also a great lesson for us all about discernment.
I wish more people would just walk away from organisations that have cover ups and skeletons in the closet instead of the pretence that all is well and good.
Absolutely. But to support ourselves in doing this we also have to walk away from the cover-ups and skeletons in our own lives. For, in truth, our lies enable theirs.
Very true – any lie enables another lie as to does the living of Love inspire us to each return to a known true way.
And this is the root of responsibility. The ripples that expand out from any movements or expressions that we make. Thus we heal the world not by running around trying to ‘do good’ or make things better, but by committing to living our own truth. That is the biggest gift that we can give to humanity.
Aaah religion, that old chestnut. As a kid who went to religious schools, I gave away my sense of awesomeness and replaced it with guilt and not-good-enoughness based on what I was learning about religion. Perhaps that was self imposed to some degree, but today I am a liberated man in that sense, choosing no external dogmas to stop me from feeling that sense of awesomeness.
A painless break-up because you knew the truth and voted with your feet… Unbelievable to tell a congregation to keep this serious matter ‘in-house’… The whole congregation should have got up right there and then and make a mass exit..
Im realising how much religious beliefs have under pinned many of our behaviours and ‘norms’ in society and how these are keeping humanity in a certain way which is not evolving.
‘As it turned out, it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be.’ – Our bodies speak loud and clear if we care to listen, and it feels like your ability to break with this religion was that you trusted what you felt in your body over the dogmas that had been given to you.
I can see why you didn’t feel right supporting this organisation that was trying to hide and cover up the utter abuse it has allowed within its walls.
We need to subtract the factor church from the concocted equation GOD = RELIGION AND CHURCH. It is by people putting themselves and or a dogma into the equation, ie making themselves a variable or intermediary that the true meaning of religion gets lost.
My break up from organized religion has been messy as I wasn’t aware of how active it was deep within my body. As I become more honest with myself I find pockets of old religious ideals and beliefs that have coloured my perception of me and my place in the World. This left over energy is very manipulative, arrogant and dishonest and as I have put my need of a relationship before anything else that energy has played with me time and time again. I have finally seen/realised what is actually occurring and can bring understanding the more understanding I bring to my body the more settled I feel.
It’s interesting how much of a reaction we still have to the word religion.
There is an assumption that Religion and God are inextricably linked, but many people have a sense of God without belonging to a religion. Our experience with God is a very individual thing, because it is something we feel inside our own bodies, and yet, in our true connection with God we are all inextricably linked with each other.
I feel you have captured the dilemma at the heart of nearly all religions in your title by referring to them as ‘organised religion’. True religion has nothing to do with being organised and told what to do and think it is based on personal responsibility to re-connect to the divinity within ourselves and live that to the best of our ability with no judgement of ourselves and others of where we are at with this.
Yes, after years of searching for truth in organised religion and the spiritual new age, Universal Medicine too finally helped me discover “that the love of God was already within me”. This is the ‘homecoming’ that everyone longs for because it is something they have experienced and known before.
“the systematic abuse of children, fostered through a stance of silent neglect that left many, many lives broken”, a very powerful statement Sharon, and a state of affairs that needs calling. It’s absolutely clear how your care for people was at the root of your sudden and unexpected break-up with the religion you’d known to that point.
Praying to God to make life better is very different to knowing we are part of the body of God and choosing to live from that connection. From my own experience the first is from separation to God.
When a representative of any organisation encourages that child abuse should not be dealt with according to the laws in place to do so, in full knowledge of the harm in doing so, then something is very wrong. When this person professes to be a representative of God and is supported in what they are doing by the organisation of which they are part it is exposed in its entirety for the evil it brings.
The comfort and the “community” of organised religion is certainly something that for many is a great appeal, but with that “community”, from everyone I’ve spoken to and my experience, there was always the ups and downs, the things that didn’t feel true and the result was a going along with something as there was nothing better. Today understanding what true religion is puts a completely different perspective on my life and my relationship with religion.
“Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me – has completely changed my life.” The hallmark of True religion, a way of living that restores to us our ability to connect to and express our inherent love in all we do throughout our day. Our ‘Church’ is the one we wake up in, the one we work in, the one we return to at the end of the day, the one in which all we do is undertaken in joyful worship and celebration of the Love of God within ourselves and within one another; a consistent and integral adherence to honesty, respect, compassion and truth.
How telling is it that traditional religions built their churches out of stone – to keep their beliefs contained? And, inscribed their beliefs at a time when they were the few that could read?
If all break-ups were that sweet, life would feel very different for us all.
‘It just seemed normal to me that, if I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion as it gave me a sense of a belonging to something where everyone was on the same page;’ …. unfortunately, as you discovered, Sharon, just because we belong to an organised religion, does not mean we are on the same page. Things can be presented as being a certain way, yet underneath, the truth may be a completely different story. A priest may deliver the sermon on Sunday, but that does not mean he lives it for himself behind closed doors. Yet, in truth, we are all already on the same page and we can feel this for our selves when we live from our essence.
This is the difference between organised religion … “My sense of God and religion was always approached as something outside of myself …” and True religion … “that the love of God was already within me …” and all one has to do is simply connect and live that!
When we disconnect from our inner knowing, from our connection with the ALL that’s when we need to rely on rules and regulations. In everyday life we see the most well-intentioned rules not fitting a situation and end up being unjust because they cannot respond to each unique situation without adjustment. I’m discovering areas I have lived according to certain beliefs and realising I have followed them as if they were rules. Questioning them and reconnecting with the truth of a situation is me opening up to feeling what’s needed and responding.
An easy break up when you are simply letting go of something which is not true.
For eons we’ve tried to organise religion in a way that people are told what to do, what to attend, how to live etc. But when we look at the world, it doesn’t and hasn’t worked, ever. Thank God for Serge Benhayon who re-introduced the one and only true way of a religious life. To deeply honour and care for ourselves, heal our hurts and be there for this deep connection for everyone else.
If something is not working then we either fix it or get rid of it all together. When a representative of a religion asks its members to hide child abuse or abuse of any kind then this is clear evidence that something is severely broken beyond repair.
Traditional religion needs to be broken up, so as to remove the deceptively hidden block that it places in the way of accessing true religion.
The moment we start to choose protection over transparency, we have cemented ourselves further into the darkness, robbing ourselves of the opportunity for clarity, awareness and true freedom.
The Way of the Livingness for me means equality for everyone, this is inclusive of everyone with no separation for deeds done.
“…to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage…” – true religion could never do this as it opposes its very essence. So what kind of religion produces a clergy like this? It is not just some black sheep who misuse their position of power, it is a consciousness that has a big part in bringing forth such thinking and behaviour.
A lot of unjust has been done ‘in the name of God’ – no wonder this brings up trust issues, we have fallen for the belief that God ‘concurs’ with the abusive behaviours played out by several different religions.
I watched a video recently about people who had felt their faith or the faith of their families, and the breaking apart of their lives and relaitonships that they found ensued, where those around them could not accept their decision no longer to either belive in that particualr religion or religion al together. It can be so easy to become disenchanted with religion, and yet what i have found through The Way of The Livingness is that religion resides within, and inner connection without the need for anything outside to provide that.
“…no dodgy aspects” I completely agree Sharon.
I have felt fully confirmed by what The Way of the Livingness is and so I have finally given myself permission to trust, claim and LIVE what I know True Religion to be.
I have always felt true religion had to be based on absolute eaqualness and love for all and so none of the many religions I visited including Buddhism and spirituality made sense to what I knew inside.
Can’t help but see the irony of you breaking up with seperation!
Michael what a fabulous insight and one that highlights that we are each already in unity with God until we engage in separation and indeed ironically traditional religion is one form of separation.
Beautifully expressed Sharon, religion is us living the divine connection from within us, no outside authorities needed.
‘It just seemed normal to me that, if I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion as it gave me a sense of a belonging to something where everyone was on the same page; and without attending church, I could not consider myself religious.’ When I was younger I remember asking all the close adults around me why they attended church, much like you it was because they enjoyed a sense of belonging. It is natural for people to want to feel part of community etc, but as you have shared it is very wise to ensure that the foundations we come together on are solid and supportive of everyone, without dodgy pockets as you have put.
The position not to report pedophilia is actually fairly recent – starting in the years before and after 1900 – presumably before that the concept of report church-based pedophilia may not even have existed.
“when we choose to connect with our inner heart, we have God on speed dial.” Is this possibly behind us agreeing to go along with something ‘organised’ as if we live with this connection to God we could only see ourselves and everyone as equal then there is no room for separation and the daily abuse we accept throughout society, only space for Responsibility.
I love this presentation on what True religion is. It never made sense to me why being being able to claim oneself as this or that religion meant you had to go to a special building that nearly always felt cold and damp. To me claiming something meant any time not just a Sunday. Thus in my younger days I turned my back on God all together. It was after meeting Serge Benhayon and when I reconnected very simply to what I already knew was true that I could embrace religion in my life again – truly.
It is beautiful that when we let go of something we held dearly because we realised it was not true, there is always the next thing ready that is even more beautiful and there to support us in our return to who we naturally are.
Yes our willingness to let go of things, however familiar, once we are honest about their real quality, is a great point of inspiration and liberation.
What I love about this story, Sharon, is how you talk about that constant inner knowing and connection to God, which is now fully claimed and celebrated in your life as you embrace what is true religion.
Such is the move away from true religion that we grow up to think without attending church we cannot consider our selves religious. Being religious is a way of being, not the action of going to church or doing the rituals and ceremonies associated with that Church, it is a way that I knew as a child but did not make sense or feel true in the clergy that I came into contact with.
This is astonishing, that a person actually stood up and told the congregation to be silent about abuse, standing up and speaking in what is called a ‘house of god’. This proves to me that there is no place of brick and mortar, wood and metal that can be more powerful than the place of our inner-hearts because in there we always know the truth.
I agree that our association with organised religion or any other belief, ideal or habitual practice in our lives for that matter does feel like a relationship and it is always good to assess whether the relationships are healthy ones or not.
The Way of The Livingness invites us to return to who we truly are and therefore once we make the commitment to reclaim our true expression, the joy and integrity that arises from just being ourselves naturally embraces all we meet. The very idea of coercing another into having to believe in a doctrine in order to belong exposes the very apparent manipulation of our way of being that it is. When we return to ourselves, we naturally align to the harmonious order of the Universe, no doctrine required.
‘Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me – has completely changed my life.’ It has completely changed my life too Sharon, I find it is far easier to observe life rather than get caught up in life and from this place of observation I can respond with less reaction and more love. I remain steadier when those around me are not and life feels a whole lot easier.
‘As it turned out, it was my care for people that was at the root of my sudden and unexpected break-up with religion as I’d known it to be.’ There is such an irony here; the organised religion that professes love for humanity but doesn’t, vs the inner knowing of truth that does. Totally cool Sharon that you listened to that inner knowing and didn’t put need ahead of truth!
The Catholic Church talked the talk, but did not walk the walk, when this came to light, there was nowhere to hide. Yet, sometimes the ‘break up’ may not be as straight forward, our need to hold on to our beliefs is greater than our willingness to accept the truth and accept that we have been wrong. The problem is, when we do this, it affects everything. We can’t compartmentalise our life, we hold only truth in our inner-most and when we allow complete honesty, we feel this truth. To act on this can be challenging, I know I still hold some false ideals and beliefs around parenting, which I am working with, it feels like the struggle is about control – between myself as the individual versus accepting the whole and allowing the space for things to be as they are meant to be.
Sharon across the world we are seeing the break up of organised religion, not from the outside through wars but from the inside through the exposure of all the parts that do not make sense, all the parts people are saying now this is not working and the abuse, dogma and untruths. Things that I had no idea were going on are coming into the light and it is incredible what has been hidden.
Great humility is required to admit to ourselves that we have been wrong – but the rewards are even greater if it leads us to truth. I feel we have to be prepared to be humbled in life so we can clear the decks and see the way ahead. All too often we stubbornly cling and even defend what is incongruous and is not working in our lives – but eventually, it all comes tumbling down. Whilst this can feel devastating, it can also be a new beginning, one of true openness to what is clear, true and congruous. We must it seems get used to the taste of humble pie.
Sharon, I always thought this growing up to, ‘I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion’. This was what seemed to be taught and that if yiou were not part of an organised religion you basically we’re not a religious person. These teachings are so far from the truth or true religion, where we don’t need to go to church or belong to a certain religious group, never at school or growing up did I hear the truth about God and religion – that we can connect with God inside if us and need never set foot in a church, the religions of today, apart from Universal Medicine, have a lot to answer for in how they have misled people and created false religions.
I too was born into a catholic family and rejected it as the way to God from about 8 onwards. I saw through the hypocrsy early on and knew that God was not to be found in those church walls. I wasn’t looking for God or any religion but when I went on a one day presentation with Serge in the UK about 15 years ago I felt something in my body that I had not felt all my life, a reminder of the stillness that lay within. The fact this is now a religion has been a process of acceptance for me and one that has bought up a lot about the word religion and how it is used by the world. God is most certainly not a dogma, or only found in places of worship, God is everywhere and in everything he pulses the universe, every breath can be aligned to that energy or not.
All power to you for walking away at such an early age. That is the first and most important step back to our truths. For the hard bit is not claiming what is true…it is rejecting what is not true.
I like the way that you call it a break-up. Like marriage vows, the church tries to bind us with rule, contracts, doctrines, guilt and judgement and thus in the same way that many put up with abuse in their marriages, we then put up with abuse from the church. I have read a fair bit about many of these paedophile cases and the grossest part of them all is how the perpetrators use the powers invested in them by the church to enforce their subjects to carry out the act and to then bind them into secrecy. How can this possibly be a true religion?
Otto indeed it is not a true religion it is bullying of the most heinous nature.
Awesome point, Otto, that is so true – there is so much control in terms of what is expected from the Church, in order to be ‘accepted’. It feels like a burden, rather than what I now know to be true religion, thanks to The Way of The Livingness, where it is about taking responsibility, being and living the love that I am, it’s that simple.
The Way of the Livingness invites us back to our true way of being. The Church demands that we walk the other way.
Sharon, this has brought back so many memories of the choices I used to make and that although my choice to breakup with religion never had a defining moment it certainly started the process of dying out very early in my life. I cannot remember the last moment of severing ties but do know there can be moments when its insidious rules of what ‘good’ is can still pop-up when i am least expecting it. The blanket of control that it espouses will ‘keep humanity warm’ on a cold night are narrow, judging and controlling. True religion is re-connection to our own inner heart and the guidance this offers – a truth that when others choose the same connects us in true brotherhood.
I am very inspired by the conviction of your choice. There are hundreds of thousand of people sitting in congregations across the globe who know the truth about the huge levels of paedophilia occurring within the Catholic church yet do nothing about it. The responsibility that you have taken is a great lesson to us all and no coincidence that this one true choice opened the door to you finding the one true religion.
It is US that IS at the heart of true religion, therefore even so much as one step away from ourselves towards religious doctrine, religious rituals, religious paraphernalia of any kind is a step away from God. We have to inch closer and closer to ourselves, going ever deeper and thereby getting up close and personal to God until we get to the point that we fully merge and are completely reintegrated again with the only thing that has ever and will ever exist, God. The One body of God is all there is.
Very true Shirley-Ann, well said.
God, is like the fable of the four blind men that feel an elephant. When you feel and describe only one part of the whole, the truth of the whole is lost?
How freeing it is to come across a religion, The Way of The Livingness, that not only has no “church, clergy or rule book in sight.” but it also has no history of violence against others who do not adhere to its way. I never for a moment ever thought that I would be saying that I was religious and that I have a religion but coming to understand what The Way of The Livingness is presenting to humanity soon turned that around. Living ‘The Way’ is so simple, so honest and so true that it takes no effort and no trying but simply the commitment to live everything that I am in full, not just for me but for all of humanity.
When we return to the truth, the smoke we created that had hidden that which we refused to see goes away.
Living the truth of who we truly are, is religion.
True religion in a nut-shell Sharon, no set of doctrines or rules, simply just being you … “Share the love I now felt from within, with everyone I connected to – not by preaching or knocking on doors, but by being myself…”
I love those words Johanne. Beautiful to read again!
I agree, Brendan, not only proposed, but great harm and abuse has been carried out by members of the Catholic church. The insidiousness is intensified by the fact that the Vatican is a law unto itself, hence the consequences of the crimes committed are dealt with differently to how they would be if a member of the public had committed them.
I love the fact that I have found my truth explained and expanded on in The Way of The Livingness. To know and feel how I am a part of the whole, along with everyone else brings a powerful sense of purpose to my life. We are all connected, like lights on a Christmas tree, the more we shine, the more we inspire others to re-ignite, as we do we intensify the enormous love flowing between, and all around, us.
We as a society so need to develop our inner connection with God, and to bring the harmony, love, stillness, joy and truth of that connection to the world – now.
It is a very clever trick we as a humanity have been living under… to indoctrinate everyone with ideals and beliefs that God is outside of us, so then we never look inwards to our own innate connection with God and the power and glory that can offer the world.
Yes, if we are God’s children – does that mean we are Divine or does God have children that are forever less?
I was brought up in the catholic religion and I remember well the day that I left it when at the age of 14 I went to the confessional and told the priest that I did not have any sins and he yelled abuse at me that this was not possible. He hated the fact that I was claiming myself as a Son of God who knew God within me and that there was more to us than just sins. I have often heard people describe themselves as “recovering Catholics” and I understand why they say that because it does take some time to recover from the indoctrination of the teachings that are imposed on us from very young. From my experience it takes a lot of commitment to see through the lies that were told to us, to accept the fact that we accepted the lies and then to move on from it. Since then I have come to realise that I am naturally a religious person, that we all are in fact, and that I absolutely love religion when it is true. True Religion is simply about re-connecting with our true essence and then living from that place. It does not require any buildings to do this, just you re-connecting to the spark of God that is naturally within you and then living from a knowingness of what you are connecting with. In this way, it is very simple.
Having gone to a catholic school in my younger years I had always sensed something was amiss, did not add up, and left me with many unanswered questions. Underneath the façade was a sense of un-realness where I felt the truth was greatly missing. I have since realised is that this is the true evil of organised religions, the deliberateness of teaching us to disregard the truth we innately feel within so that we dismiss our inner knowing, our connection to our truth, our inescapable connection to God through which we otherwise then would know and be guided to live as the Sons of God that we all already are. The Way of The Livingness, a true religion is that exactly, a way that one and all can live in connection to the essence of who we are within, as such is always in a direct relationship with God and with all, wherever we are and with whatever we do.
If we would share the one true religion that binds us all, the love within all of our hearts, we would caringly and lovingly go through life, not taking things personally, but forever understanding that we’re all on our way back to the union with our Soul. How different would life be? How different would society look like? How much support would we naturally give to ourselves and each other? It might seem to be farfetched, but it’s not AND it’s worth to go there!
and what is amazing is that no one talks about it, its like hush hush, lets not put this all on the table for everyone to see.
I wonder, how many, like you had a similar experience with church but didn’t break up with it because they didn’t want to shock or upset their friends who are so devoted to it you could say.
It is The Way of The Livingness that has rewritten, giving credence to those who spoke the truth through the ages, the religious doctrines that have been used to keep us from our true connection to God, to ourselves.
I have found with many things in life, often when there is a middle person, things can sometimes be misinterpreted or distorted. I realise there is no coincidence that organised religion base their religion and teachings on using a ‘middle man’ like a priest or clergy etc. because it allows them to gain control, manipulate and disempower people.
We have been sold such a lie that to know God is only through Church or organised religion. So it is easy see how so many people have become so disillusioned around knowing God, because they can feel that organized religion is not the answer but what is the alternative? Enter Serge Benhayon, and the Ageless Wisdom, bringing back to humanity this round that we are actually all Sons of God, equally ,and that we know that when we connect to our inner-heart. We can feel it when we connect to the smile of a stranger or a glorious sunset. Thank God for Serge Benhayon I say, showing us that there is a way to have a connection with God, outside organized religion.
I was having a conversation with someone the other day about growing up and having many years of Sunday mornings ruined – being dropped off at the church for Sunday School! We spent years getting ready for our Confirmation or Communion ceremony that was like being sent to the principal’s office and asked questions about God and religious stuff we should have learned. All so we could sit in the big church and be bored to tears and have the opportunity to have a sip of wine that everyone had to drink out of the same cup to wash down a wafer thin biscuit! It was alright because, after the ceremony, the only events we all had to attend was Christmas and Easter. When I had left the nest I left behind all of the trappings of religion like a cat out an open door! It has taken a long time to return to something that was always in me, God and self-love. But still feel Sunday school really was just a short vacation for the parents away from us kids!
‘It did take me some time to recover from all the teachings I had so blindly aligned to, so much so I used to say I was recovering from organised religion, but I am delighted to report I have recovered and I have actually found my true religion.’ – Sharon, this statement gave me goosebumps and I can really feel the enormity of what you are saying here.
A splendid sharing Sharon – God is indeed known by us all but we all recoil or at least many of us because we’ve been sold a version of God that doesn’t resonate with the God we feel in our hearts.
When I reconnected back to God and was actively looking for somewhere to turn, I tried the Church again but soon realised it was not for me. Other organised religions, whilst interesting didn’t appeal either, nor did the spiritual practices that seemed at times downright bizarre. Then I walked into my first presentation of The Way of The Livingness, everything fell into place. Everything I felt inwardly about God and life was confirmed.
‘With no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.’
It is very ingrained in our consciousness that God is connected to organised religion, so much so that to connect with God from within is considered blasphemous – how much have we strayed from the truth that we lost our innate wisdom and connection wth our divine father.
It is a very beautiful quality you have that you were able to let go of your fiend religion without beating yourself up or dragging it out. To be willing to admit you were wrong is something that is very valuable.
When an organisation discovers that paedophilia is wide spread amongst its most active members, those that are responsible for the transmission of its teachings, it needs to truly consider whether its teachings truly serve humanity.
This reminds me Sharon of how we will take on or pass on information which protects our existing interests and seek to have those recognised in groups which is the basis of many religions – in essence we will readily defend what we don’t want to perhaps see is not true.
I am inspired by your exposure of organised religion. It feels quite evil how organised religion presents a false message for people, and how much it deludes many of humanity to keep us away for the true religion of feeling God inside ourselves. Every time we speaking out, we claim the truth Sharon.
Wow. It’s quite shocking what the clergy said, Sharon. Did everyone else also leave the church?
Absolutely Fumiyo. It is hard to comprehend that this kind of thing still goes on in our society today and that so many people are still willing to turn a blind eye to it. What Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness are showing us is that when life is lived from a place of truth, there is literally no room for anything else and anything that is not true will eventually be exposed. ‘Religion’ as we have known it is one of those things.
Good question and I wondered the same. Did the clergy find he had no congregation or did ordinary families with children listen and accept what was being said? I can’t believe that for one moment.
Not that I was aware Fumiyo. And no-one in the community who I still had contact with at my children’s school asked why I stopped going to church every week.
‘Share the love I now felt from within, with everyone I connected to – not by preaching or knocking on doors, but by being myself.’ Our actions, body language, the way we hold ourselves and move speak volumes.
Mmmmmm…. I had never considered this “trying to be a good person dominated’ my life – honestly until reading these words I would have never ever ever thought this belief, ideal was in me – but it is – something that will come out in it’s own time I am sure. I have just realised I have chosen good instead of truth to present to people a lot of the time. Maybe to not make other people feel uncomfortable or for them to like me. I am not sure but I have definitely tried to be a good person – which doesn’t feel great. As it overrides everything we feel in our own body. Well it does for me.
I feel I have done this, too, Gyl. There is a tension with ‘trying to be a good person’ as to be so, in my experience, it’s about giving the person what they are asking for, what they want, however, this is often not what feels true. I know there are many times when I’ve been a reluctant ‘good person’ as I’ve not wanted to do what was being asked of me, but I have gone along with it, to be perceived as ‘good’. I now know, if it’s not true, it’s not ‘good’ for anyone.
It’s deeply harming
But really simple and easy
“True Religion, – The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” I can completely relate to this now, I use to be caught in temples, guru’s and all, but the truth is God is within us all and true religion is connecting back to that God within us.
There are over 7 billion people within the world and many of them are religious of many different types of religions but how often do we confirm the innate love we know that is true within through how we live? As you say ‘live in a way that confirmed it – by making self-loving choices’. In other words do we really walk the talk? The only few people I know that truly do this are the Benhayon family and practitioners of Universal Medicine. I am understanding and feeling more and more it is not about the knowledge we have gained, what we have lived or what we believe it is about how we choose to live now in each and every moment and what is this contributing towards as everything affects the all.
Thanks, Sharon. It is so interesting to read about how you thought you had belong to an organised religion as the only way to connect to God. This in itself exposes the lack of truth in what was being presented to you.
How refreshing to read about someone who has ‘broken up’ with organised religion as organised religion has broken up people, families, communities and countries since time immemorial.
My own break up from Catholicism happened one midnight mass at Christmas as a teenager. I had gone with my family to a church in London where the mass was said in Latin. Looking at the sheer theatricality of it but not feeling any substance I told myself that I couldn’t do this anymore and chose not to go to communion. I remember feeling very sad about it because I didn’t know how to access God without it! Honestly – I look at that now and almost laugh – how insane to think that you can’t access God without a priest and a cold, damp building!
“I discovered that the love of God was already within me” this is what is missing from all the organised religions that I ever learnt about. To re-connect to this fact as presented by the Way of the Livingness has changed my life as I have a level of settlement in my body that was missing for many years.
Sharon this morning i read about a Nigerian Governor who has recently made a statement about the severe outbreak of meningitis north of the country, saying ” the problem was that people had been sinning against God and that it was important for people to know that their relationship with God is not smooth, they need to repent and everything will be all right.” The Government have taken no responsibility to the outbreak.
Another shocking example of how organised religion is being wielded to abuse power and as a tool to suppress and retard those living under its dark control.
Without a connection to ourselves and thus our innermost we cannot have true religion as it will only be an outer ‘thing’ but not a connection and relationship from within. This is reflected by understanding the notion of God within and God outside of us.
I remember being disillusioned with Christianity at 13, when I could not understand why the church was so fractured. For many years thereafter I even questioned the existence of God, and found myself being agnostic until probably around the age of 26, when I decided that this life could not be all that there is.
Very similar for me to. A committed agnostic through reaction to what was on offer, but then very confused by such a reductive view on life as I knew there must be more. Then I discovered the Way of The Livingness and every single detail of life immediately started to make sense.
‘Living in this way – that is, re-connected to the love within me ‘ this is exactly what organised religion does not present and seeks to hide from humanity – that the love we are from within is a connection to God and the Divine and that with this all of the aspects of man made religion they have created are totally unnecessary and the way they have been made truly harmful.
When we have experienced the turmoil of a mind filled with uncertainty, then faith appears to be a wonderful solution. But there is no true Livingness in faith. It may create a sense of calm, peace and certainty – but it is not alive with the love of God. The Way of The Livingness is not about faith but is a living way as the name suggests, a way of innate connection to Love and to God. When this truth is lived, faith is not necessary.
So many have lost trust in True Religion and in Humanity by those movements that profess to be Religion yet do not live nor honour the age-old True Religion that is a living way and never a set of rules or dogma.
So many have followed Religion yet have not considered all that comes with that alignment as a whole.
Is it possible that many people follow organised religion because we are drawn to being with people, essentially looking for brotherhood and to belong to something. But I think what has happened is that many people have not stopped to energetically discern if what is present is true or not. The words and outer appearances may look and sound the part, so it is easy to fall for a false version of truth and God, especially if we choose not to be aware energetically of what is truly being presented.
As I re-read this profound and deeply moving blog, the simplicity of being in connection with God touches me to the core. Thank you Sharon for sharing your choices and changes so clearly. A deep healing for all.
GOD = THE ALL
My complete break up with organised religion came late in life. True, I had rejected the hypocrisy, corruption, lies, abuse and violence carried out in the name of a distant god, but I still on occasions visited sacred sites, temples and churches. Not until Universal Medicine did I understand the full extent of the bastardisation of religion and ended all attachment to conventional religion. In its place came an intimate relationship with an inner divinity that has no bounds and life is simpler and more harmonious because of it..
When you know something so fundamentally, that every cell in your body tells you it is true, you cannot help but bring that change into your life.
I remember well, the ritual of saving ‘best clothes’ for Sundays and church attendance. With true religion there is no need of special clothes worn on particular days, every day is special, no dressing up needed, just being true to our divine selves. True religion and The Way of The Livingness walks the talk: people feel who we are by the way we live and relate to others.
I asked a very dear old friend of mine a while back why he still went to church, when we know the truth these days about how it was all founded and the atrocities committed in the name of God for many of the main religions and he told me it was about the community and like minded people. So I feel we all innately know there is a God even if we claim we don’t and that brotherhood is something we all want even if we say we don’t. We all just have to get on the same page and like you Sharon walk away from anything that is not true and has any sign of abuse and find truth.
How can a religion call itself a ‘religion’ and at the same harbour deceit and abuse? The Way of The Livingness engenders the complete opposite, a total transparency born of a commitment to a level of integrity that is lived in both public and private life, a one consistent expression of honesty, respect and openness, qualities that reside inherently within us that deepen in expression every day.
The cover-up by the Church of the systematic abuse is the most blatant example that the protection of their identity, power and influence is paramount, above Truth and love of individuals. This, I feel, demonstrates that it never has done so, and was in fact, established as a political organisation to manipulate and control and never to be a true vehicle for God.
The lack of transparency and hypocrisy is always the undoing of any organisation or individual. Nothing can stay covered up forever, and this is because everything is energy, and it has to balance out as a simple law of cause and effect. The more we understand this and the correcting nature of karma, the more we can view it, not with a rage or anger about the wrongs of a religious way or any other group and their hurtful evil acts, but as a simple correcting of something dishonest, loveless and in need of cleansing that comes out in the wash of our life cycles.
A fantastic read Sharon, it is interesting how probably many of us think “…God equated to religion and church…” and with all the atrocities that have occurred historically, its no wonder many recoil at the word ‘God’
Your true love of humanity exposed the church’s lack of any love of humanity in the way they wanted to cover up paedophilia.
“Breaking up with organised religion” to break through to true religion. Since renouncing catholicism myself, and embracing The Way of The Livingness, the spherical and universal truths that are in this religion are palpably felt, self-empowering, and the true way to live life and just be with people in the world.
I have found that it comes as a surprise to many ‘believers’ when it is put to them that God is not catholic – this is the degree of the dominance of dogma and the domination over people and possession of material goods that humanity have allowed organised religion to wield.
A beautiful reminder Sharon that God is not found in the rules and rituals of organised religions, but in the simplicity of reconecting to our essence and living in a way that is loving and honouring of ourselves and those around us.
If organised religion was a partner, your friends would ask ‘Why do you stay with that guy, you should break up with him”. Organised religion makes you feel less, asks you to turn a blind eye to behaviour that harms thousands and leaves you feeling guilty. That is not a loving partner/religion in my book!
In life so often we tend to ignore our awareness of the small signals that let us know all is not okay, especially if standing up for what we sense means rocking the boat and risking unpopularity with those we seek approval of. But the beauty of truth is that it does not go away, the more it is ignored the louder it gets until it blows up in your face and you can’t ignore it. Yet the crazy thing is even then some of us can try to patch things up! Wonderful that when this moment happened for you, you followed your heart. I have found whenever I have done that in life there has been gold waiting for me on the other side.
I have always had a knowing that God is real and had so many unanswered questions growing up that I lost interest and started searching down a spiritual path which fitted my festival going lifestyle much better. It wasn’t until I met Serge that this knowing within me got reignited.
Funny how I too always thought that if I wanted to ‘believe’ in God then I had to be part of an existing religion!
There are 2 things here I must outline to what I now know to be true:
(1) I don’t feel the need to ‘believe’ in God – I am blessed to say I have a ‘knowing’ that there is something far grander that lies within us all, and this is our connection to Soul and to God. I have felt this very strongly, in fact so strongly that I cannot deny this divine connection.
(2) I have learned that to be religious, in other words, to have a relationship with this deepest part of myself, my Soul and God, there is no need to attend a church or religious building nor to belong to a congregation. It is about how I am with myself and hence how I am with all those around me, how much understanding, compassion, love and deep care and nurturing that I can bring.
Sharon, as you have shared, God = The All – God is in everything we do and everyone we meet and it is all around us, should we choose to feel it amongst the stuff that is not from God.
Sharon, you have made your religion about people and about us all…this is a precious truth – Thank you!
Wow, that’s amazing Sharon. I wonder how the others felt when they were told to keep such crimes within the church and not report it to the authorities. I’m sure, because of the sheer manipulation of organised religion, many would have felt very uncomfortable at first (their inner knowing talking to them), but then most likely overrode it by giving their power away to who/what they deemed to be greater than them.
The assumption that church going people are ‘good’ and that the choices that they make should be without reproach has been exposed through the cover-up of the catholic church. The great thing about this means that people like yourself Sharon have reclaimed the responsibility for the way that is lived and have not chosen the irresponsible path of using an organized and strict rule book of beliefs and ideals to dictate your life. It is irresponsible to live according to what is dictated from outside of us. It is our responsibility to re-connect to the love and true knowing we all hold within and to make our choices from this place. Every one of us carries this truth within us and it is this that connects and holds us in brotherhood and the beauty we all bring.
Awesome blog Sharon, your love for people was what guided you to truth. I am sure many people who were in the same church service as you would have felt the same disgust and shock. I wonder how many people followed a similar break up as you and how many people felt to speak up about the cover up. It is interesting to observe how we often tend to standby and say nothing when we are not personally affected by abuse. But the truth is, choosing to cover up and contain the lies from any aspect of life ultimately affects us all, especially when we choose to not expose it or stand up to it.
There was a time – not so long ago – when I would squirm at the mention of the words religion and God… however, through the teachings and presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I have come to understand both words in a completely different way – a way that comes from how I choose to live in each and every moment.
“I knew I could no longer be part of something that was willing to be so dishonest as to continue to hide the truth” There is so much dishonesty in society … not just in institutions, corporations and big business, but also in each of our daily lives too. How would the world be if we were all fully transparent and responsible in our lives and the way we live…
Thank you Sharon for presenting the difference of what religion was to you and what it truly is. I love how you have now associated god with the all and made it about the bigger picture and purpose.
We all share Religion as we find Religion (relating to each other) in daily life. For me God didn’t exist for a long time, but I am reconnected to the fact that there’s God and that he will forever love me and support me to live the most loving version of me. But, he will never ever impose, he will let me make my own choices. How about that for parenting? I love that I’ve broken up with the denial of God. Fact is that I’ve missed him dearly. I actually feel stronger than ever before, but this strength is so much different than what I thought strength was/is.
Loved this blog and love that you wrote it. I love how honestly and openly you shared your experience with religion. It was shocking but needed to hear that the systemic shut down of people who had experienced/or are experiencing pedophilia is STILL happening in the Church, and clergy are still encouraging to keep it within the Church. It shows that humanity is still so slow to learn from its mistakes.
I know some families who still send their children to these religious institutions for their education because they feel their children get a better education at these schools, rather than state run schools. And I find it fascinating having spoken to them that they dismiss the paedophilia and say it couldn’t possibly happen! Surely we should not be sending our children to these schools? How is it we are able to put Education ahead of everything we know?
If we can look at a religion and see parts we like and parts we don’t, this should be a red flag to us for a religion, as with anything or anyone else, is only as evolved as it’s lowest point. Every religion I have explored has had parts I could not align with, until I came to The Way of The Livingness. There is not one part of this that doesn’t have the highest level of integrity there is, not one part that isn’t absolutely true. It is my Way.
What you have shared about the solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage, shows to me just how out of touch the church is with the everyday people that they think they can control and dominate as they did in ages past.
Organised religion has peddled fear and created wars to force people to convert or die… when God has always lived freely in everyone equally as you have said Sharon with our; own ritual, rhythm and people, and with none of the trappings of organised crime, I mean organised religions!
Yes Sharon, and what a great wake up call. What never fails to amaze me is that everyone didn’t do what you did once they could see the utter corruption that was running the churches to cover up the worst possible crime against little children in their care! What is running people that they go about business as usual in the face of a crime against humanity as enormous and devastating as pedophilia?
Thank you Sharon, I can relate to the divorcing of an organised religion, for me it was something that happened at a young age after I felt that there was nothing in me that wanted to attend the church, I never exactly knew why until I attended Universal Medicine and understood that being religious has nothing to do with attending church or following any of its rituals but living and expressing me in full, in my movements and understanding and love for people.
To say no to that which does not work and say yes to the truth we deep down know, this is a beautiful example how simple that can be.
Like so much in life our natural and true knowing is bastardised with organised religion. In your case it was your knowing of God and connection to everyone thinking you needed to belong to a group. It is beautiful how you have now connected to your true connection that is always within and how simply by being your true self you are connected to EVERYONE and not one exclusive group. There is a great definition and some free audio and quotes of what religion truly means here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-religion.html
and Unimedpedia God – http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-god.html provides some wonderful quotes and audio on God.
Yes, Sharon, I too have a new and true experience of religion thanks to The Way of The Livingness, which naturally deepens and unfolds from within.
The moment we choose hiding and self-protection over transparency we are allowing all that is not of love to take hold and gain strength in that darkness – blocking the light of truth from revealing the shadows we have created and bought into for so so long. It takes a willingness to be honest and truly see what we have ill-chosen to be able to discard it and once again connect to the truth of who we all are.
I totally agree with you Annie when you say
“It takes a willingness to be honest and truly see what we have ill-chosen to be able to discard it and once again connect to the truth of who we all are.”
I am beginning to feel the lifetimes I spent hiding from life in the church and it is only now that when trying to free myself of old past habits – pun intended – that I can feel how the ideology of a false faith is still within me. It’s like wrestling with a many tentacled creature, just when I think I am free from its grasp it grabs me again, as though it has an ownership over me. This is what I sold out to, the comfort of hiding within a false religion over claiming my true religion.
They say breaking up is always hard to do but from what was described in this article it appeared simple. I remember thinking God was only found in a church when I was younger. If you didn’t go then you didn’t have him or know him. So much didn’t make sense around this time and it wasn’t just in the church it didn’t make sense. It seemed life was confusing and even when I was younger I couldn’t work out the difference between what I was seeing and what I was feeling. The more questions you asked the less you understood; it was a very confusing time. I would go back to the church thinking God was the only answer for my confusion and there I would seek to understand. Again all I got was more confused even though I was told a lot of things. I walked away from church and religion, or so I thought, because it all didn’t make sense. I tried also to walk away from the world and retreat into my house at one point but this didn’t work either. The only thing from here that made sense was The Way of The Livingness from Universal Medicine. Finally, I was told something but was ask to make sense of what I was feeling from connecting deeper to what I was feeling. It was a U-turn from everything else that had been shown to me and at last made sense I why these feelings were always there. It answered questions I had from young and old, it just made sense and took a huge weight from my shoulders and I stepped back into the world. It always great to bring understanding and be understood.
I have searched and dug everywhere for answers to the big picture of life. Now that I have found The Way of The Livingness I am re-imprinting old patters, shedding old belief systems and re-constructing the whole edifice of how I live, what is important and what supports me. It is a process, but it is a many-lifetime-commitment that I will not waver from. I would never have imagined that I would now be living such a ‘religious’ life.
It saddens me to consider even after the exposure of the abuse, congregations were still being told to keep it within the church and not go to the police. I have this little part of me that hopes organised religion will get it – they will see the hypocrisy and change from the inside. I am not sure that will happen fast. You show the love, care and connection available when we make our connection with God direct – from ourselves to the all, knowing we come from love, we are love and we will return to love. Simplicity at its finest.
This did not shock me but oh my goodness the arrogance, abuse deceit and blatant lies! ‘I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.’ Where do we go from here where people blatantly try to cover up abuse that, as you say, affects so many lives. However, it is people like you who say no to this abuse with your whole being and instead seek the truth and true love that starts to make the change.
I love this blog Sharon, you show us that it is about making our own choices and feel the truth of that god is within.
Thank you for sharing your journey with religion – and finding that your knowing of God was something found within rather than in any building, hall or outer aspect of life.
It’s quite amazing to me that a clergyman advocated the cover up of systematic abuse. What this leads me to question is how could someone who i assume considers they care for their congregation feel the need to cover up such a undeniable significant harm? What did they feel needed protection more than those that were being harmed and from preventing such ills? Surely nothing of true value warrants this defence because nothing of value requires it as it stands up to all scrutiny from every angle. This is what i have found to be true of Universal Medicine, it needs no defense because it is 100% true integrity and transparency.
Religious brand names flaunt various offers to attract the customer – but look below the surface and see what is truly on offer. The hollow words don’t add up, Tearing nations, families and people apart, separation is part of the deal and having a personal relationship with God? – well God forbid. You must go through the middle man who claims to be God’s voice. And who knows what horrors he will claim to be service to God.
The greatest crime against humanity is one that strives to keep us from knowing that we are all equally sons of God and that we all have a direct relationship with God, knowing ourselves naturally from our Divine essence, our Soul, and living that Love every day, in every way.
Jenny, you have nailed it here: “The greatest crime against humanity is one that strives to keep us from knowing that we are all equally sons of God and that we all have a direct relationship with God, knowing ourselves naturally from our Divine essence, our Soul, and living that Love every day, in every way.”
I have noticed through my own early exposure to Catholicism and subsequent study of other organized religions that a common theme in all of them is the notion that you have to either go through some priest, pastor, guru, etc. to connect to and thus ‘know God’. Yet there are thousands of accounts like Sharon’s in this blog that prove how that knowingness of God’s existence and power was there from the start, and remains without any ritual, sacrifice, or otherwise being necessary to do so.
This is probably the best break up you have ever had! To come home to true religion and home to yourself is the most precious thing of all.
So very true!
Well said Rebecca and thank you for sharing this Sharon.
Beautifully said, Rebecca. Everything happens for a reason and sometimes what may appear difficult at the time, turns out to be an absolute blessing.
Absolutely Rebecca as it left me with no regrets!
At school we had a Quaker headmistress, and there was no dogma or rules as such, just appreciation of the world around us and care for each other. Our school motto was “By Love Serve”. But when I reached my teens I was attracted to the Church, responding to the influence of teachers and my older sister, who shared her enthusiasm with me. I felt I needed something more, so chose the smells and bells and drama of High Anglican ritual, instead of the simplicity of being me in the world and knowing I am enough. So I was confirmed, even though I felt uncomfortable and constrained and felt no joy in it. I soon moved away from it but often felt guilty so continued to dance around the fringes of Christianity for many years. Those early experiences at school kept me in touch with what I knew was true, so that when I met Serge Benhayon years later I knew the truth of what he presented. Looking back it seems like the Church offered a hand of love that is not true love, it is conditional love, if you believe and do what they say then the reward of heaven will be yours. It seems deceitful and manipulative, whereas the Ageless Wisdom teaches us where our own wisdom lies, — within.
Sacred Esoteric Healing supported me to connect to the fact that the answer to everything lies within me. Now I am learning how to listen.
Awesome that you chose to live the truth and not comply with suggestions from the clergy and thus be complicit in hiding and lessening the gravity of the paedophilia that had been exposed.
Organized religion offers people a way of moving through life in the name of God. Such way of moving allows anybody to organize its own life around it. That is why it is so difficult for people to break free from it. They have the feeling that breaking free from it is also eliminating the means through which we can connect to God. This is a blunt lie. Actually, the whole thing is a blatant lie. The way of moving they offer will never allow anybody to connect to God.
Well said, Eduardo. It is easy to ‘go along’ with something, because that’s what everyone else around us is doing and it’s expected of us that we will too, however, this blog is an awesome reminder that it’s up to us to discern for ourselves whether something feels true or not, and if not, to have the confidence to say no. There are many wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing in life, just because something looks a certain way, doesn’t mean, in truth, it is even close to being what it’s purporting to be.
When you put it like this Eduardo, one can feel how sophisticated and insidious organised religion truly is.
Well said Eduardo. Traditional religion is purposefully set up to ensure that people move in a set way that guarantees that they will never know God in their bodies.
It is quite shocking when we realize that the institutionalization of religion literally robs us of our true religion, the direct relationship we have with God. The so-called representative or intermediary of God actually is the hindrance between me and God.
What a sinister and evil plan Alex, ensuring that there is no God what so ever in the one place that most people look for him.
I must admit I was unaware of the accusations of paedophilia until fairly recently, but I left the church when I was 18 because it never really made sense to me and God wasn’t a being I had any sense of certainty about. The way Serge Benhayon presents the truth about God has always made sense to me.
A study of the Ageless Wisdom today known as The Way of The Livingness simply applies the love that we all are is held equally between all of humanity so then we have no other way to live other than in harmony.
For more on harmony go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=HARMONY
I have experienced this myself and also had friends and family from many religions have the same moment where the line a line is crossed. Where I said you know what it doesn’t make sense any more and what you are saying does not match up with how you and the community are living.
It’s quite incredible the lengths we can go to, to uphold our beliefs, for example the way the church tried to brush the extensive number of paedophillia cases under the carpet. Every man who chose to turn a blind eye absolutely knew the abhorrent abuse they were covering up and the enormous harm they were perpetrating, yet this was seen as preferable, rather than being open and honest, exposing the truth about the organised religion.
Like you, Sharon, I always associated God with religion and church, which caused me to shun God, as I could not accept church and religion as my truth. However, I always knew that there was a ‘grander existence’ than us, mankind, I didn’t know exactly what it was, just that it held enormous wisdom and that there would be many lessons for me to learn during my life.
What a journey of discovery from a false, very deliberately concealed and contracted way religion can be organised by man to a new beginning of feeling the truth of God and religion within you Sharon. Allowing it to unfold is beautiful as it deepens and grows your own development of your relationship with God in your daily life.
When you are in the religious consciousness and thinking it is all of what it is it is hard to see anything else as being true when in fact it could be. It is the greatest prison in this world as it is clear for those who are not part of that religion to see it as a possible lie it actually is. Without any reflection from those who see the truth of what is going on though, those caught in the consciousness believing what they have been told is true will never be given an opportunity to see an example of someone living in a truer way. Such is the responsibility of us all
‘… so much so I used to say I was recovering from organised religion, but I am delighted to report I have recovered and I have actually found my true religion.’ I love this statement and In reading it I am pondering if I have fully ‘recovered’ from Catholicism too. I am not sure I have, so thank you for this as I can still feel there is something that needs to be looked at here!
It’s a great statement, agreed! And it made me ask the same question. There is some residue, for lack of a better expression, of my Catholic schooling, but when you know the energetic truth, all is exposed.
My breakup with Catholicism happened at the age of 15. I saw the hypocrisy for pretty much most of my teenage years. I couldn’t get past the Aids issue and the Catholic Church’s stance on the non-use of condoms, plus its approach to marriage and same sex couples. I was also aware of the sexual abuse and cover up…not to mention the constant approach to life that we are lesser and not worthy of God’s love and the whole going to confession thing. So all in all I felt the absolute non-support in life from the Church. The support from The Way of The Livingness in terms of seeing truth in life and living that truth has been truly transformational, for me this is the truest religion out there.
Thank you Sharon for sharing your breakup with organised religion which gave you the space to connect to true religion. Accepting that the love of God is already within me has been transformational in my growing relationship with God. I was always turned off by the outer aspects of being part of an organised religion but had a deep sense of there being a God but struggled to express this. The Way of The Livingness has supported me to take responsibility for myself and make self-loving choices that reflect a different way of being that does not impose on others but brings me to a deeper sense of myself and my purpose in life.
It is fascinating that we ‘believe’ we need to attend a church in order to connect to God and yet the most natural way to experience the beauty of God is within and out in Nature that beauty is obvious for all to see and feel. Thank you Sharon for breaking up with religious beliefs and sharing a true connection with us in this blog.
“if I understood there was a God, this automatically meant I needed to belong to a religion as it gave me a sense of a belonging to something where everyone was on the same page”. This is a huge ideal that I can feel I aligned to as well when I was younger. God and the church were so connected for me in my head and what I picked up around me. Now I realise though I never questioned in myself if this was true or not. And that last thing I learned is so important to do, to question and feel or discern if what we see around us is actually true to the truth we know in our heart.
Agreed Sharon, The Way of The Livingness is a true religion “that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” I too know this to be true and what a contrast it is from any other religion that I have also previously known.
God=The All shows us that we can’t compartmentalise God or Religion into a segment, organisation, sect or faction. And to try to make it less than The All, exposes the restriction and control.
When looking at the abuse, harm, wars etc that occur under the name of religion it’s no wonder that it leaves a mark/wound on us when we engage with it that needs to be healed. While not willingly choosing to follow a particular religion I too have felt the harm in my body of choosing to go along with everyone else, believing that I had no choice as everyone else was doing the same thing. The Way of The Livingness is beautiful in that its members do gather, do attend certain ceremonies for various life events like other religions but with the knowing that God is within us it is a completely different experience that leaves no wounds.
What an amazing break up to find the true you and God already and always there within you and it is a joy to read the freedom, love and honesty of finding true Religion with the ancient wisdom being the living way.
We all know God inside us all as a child and the coming back to this allows our childlike innocence and knowing to be lived again in the joy of this for all to feel and share.
A powerful blog Sharon. Love how you are standing clear and tall in your own truth from within and not through external sources.
Reading the list of ‘to do’s’ of organised religion that you mentioned at the beginning of your blog reminded me of when I was young. Organised religion actually felt like a pressure, a damp heavy blanket over my life as I lived with the list of do’s or should do’s or ought to be’s, none of which were true or allowed me to connect to the innate love that I am. ‘The Way of The Livingness’ by complete contrast brought the much needed light to remind me that no doing was required and that the love of God is already within us all.
The point you make about knowing there is a God and therefore assuming you have to belong to a religion is interesting and one that I subscribed to for a long while. This actually lead me down the road of being an atheist because no religion made any sense to me, so I threw the baby out with the bathwater and rejected God for a few years. The Way of The Livingness is a religion that makes total sense to me, and through it I have reconnected to the love inside of me – God.
I was never religious in the sense of going to church, there were so many rules that did not align to who I felt God was, but I was shocked when I heard about how prevalent paedophilia is especially in ‘religious gatherings. I found it amazing how so called religion closed ranks and put pressure on their congregation to stay silent and not speak out when they saw something that was not true. To cover up paedophilia is a crime and yet the Church have tried very hard to protect their priests over and above the welfare of their congregation. To stay silent is to condone the crimes yet we have learnt that it is easier to stay silent rather than speak out even though we know deep down that this is not God’s way.
“I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage.” – wow I am speechless. I knew and felt there was a coverup, that has been well exposed but I had no idea the open and blatant way that people would try and get an open audience to cover up the abuse that went on instead of allowing the lies to be exposed and the abuse to be stopped.
“….. the teachings I had so blindly aligned myself to.” It seems orthodox religions ask for faith and trust and don’t take kindly to awkward questions being asked. In contrast The Way of The Livingness, (the Ageless Wisdom) as presented by Serge Benhayon, encourages us to connect with our inner heart, to ponder deeply, to feel for ourselves and to use our clairsentience to know what feels true – or not. There is no imposing, no preaching, just presentations for us to accept, or not. Freedom to walk away without questions being asked. No judgement, but pure understanding -with a knowing that we will all return to God in our own time, because we all originally come from God.
“The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” By doing so I do not endeavour to be something or someone, I just learn more and more how to be and express me.
Beautiful Sharon. The Way of The Livingness is everything I have felt a religion should be – open, transparent, willing to explore the big questions in life, aware of our direct and innate connection with God, free of judgment…I could go on. It is a homecoming that every part of me appreciates.
“My sense of God and religion was always approached as something outside of myself…” – I’m sure this is common to many – where religion is fostered and presented as something outside of us and not that it comes from a connection within us first and foremost.
Wow that is quite a sharing Sharon, for your church to so openly deny the law is the height of arrogance. How wilfully blind we will be in order to protect what we want to be true is really quite scary. How then can I say that I know that what is shared by Universal Medicine is true? Am I blind? Well for a start calling out abuse is talked about, but not just the obvious abuses like child abuse but how we are with ourselves and each other, how abusive it can be to not speak up about how you feel, how abusive it is to indulge thoughts that are critical and unloving. The minutiae of abuse are explored but not in a way that is to condemn or punish but rather to see it and clear it with loving imprints that are what can become your way. No one gives you the loving imprints, it’s all down to the choices we make.
Sharon, your experience clearly shows the difference between false and true religion. The first religion you experienced felt false, it wasn’t about us all being equal and was not about transparency or true love and in contrast to this – what feels like true religion – The Way of The Livingness, that is all about love, transparency and harmlessness and would never encourage anyone to hide anything or lie, but instead to be honest and true.
Too many secrets, like the level of paedophilia within the Catholic church, have been kept for way too long, and what you experienced that day at church was just one of them and I would say probably just the tip of a very big ‘iceberg’. And with the keeping of those secrets the lives of many innocent children have been damaged so badly that they have had very little chance of growing into a life as an adult that was full of love and trust. This is just one of the secrets within organised religion that need to be totally exposed to the bright light of truth
Thank you for sharing this Sharon. I too equated God with religion but could not reconcile the fact that the family and place where I was born resulted in a particular religion and if I had been born into a different family and place the religion would have been different. However, I never doubted God so I went along with it. My clarity occurred the very first presentation I attended by Serge Benhayon when I heard the equivalent of a sermon that, for the very first time, felt true and I knew I had found the way to be with God without the confusing dogma of organised religion.
I never really looked at me stopping being a catholic as a break up with organised religion but I suppose I physically didn’t have such a clean break as I would sometimes go when home with my mum and family. Spiritually I think I divorced it at a young age as nothing ever really added up and blind faith wasn’t really my thing. It still blows me away how we can believe without question or without feeling things for ourselves.
“The Way of The Livingness, – that mirrors how I feel inside, with no promises or dodgy aspects, but an invitation to unfold myself from within via ritual, rhythm and people, without a church, clergy or rule book in sight.” A superb summation of the True Religion it is Sharon, thank you. The Way of The Livingness is the Divine invitation to re-connect to our precious truth and love inside, to nurture and tend to it so that the Love of God blossoms forth from us in all we do, honest, innocent and firmly embedded in Truth, Transparency and Integrity.
How awesome Sharon. There is a common sense that people who go to church feel as if they are a part of something, and they may well feel a sense of community – but even so, there are different interpretations within the one church, and comparison. You have shared that there is no necessity in attending a church to be devoted to God or living a religious life and that many traits that we associate with religious people are in fact divine and belong to our hearts, not an institution. How could an institution which appears to be so rife with corruption have anything to do with God?
Religion as the world knows it today has taken a long walk away from the path of true religion.
Growing up and hearing from adults telling you to ‘do as I say and not as I do’ has a whole new meaning for the church and the paedophile cover-ups!
We learn a lot about institutions church, corporate or family by how they respond to allegations of child abuse, bullying or malpractice. Very often the pain of those who have suffered abuse is compounded by inaction, dismissal, denial of the complaint itself. Whether we choose to leave or not, It is our responsibility to express in writing our experiences or what we have witnessed. From my own observations, many victims of bullying and those who felt unsupported by their employer leave without completing exit interviews explaining their reasons for leaving, consequently, the problem remains unchanged. Our own authority is powerful and can be used to speak up and express when we feel something is wrong, in this way we represent not just ourselves, but humanity.
Wow Sharon. I know I shouldn’t be but I am shocked that a clergyman actually made it clear that people should keep police out of pedophilia investigations, usually it’s a much more veiled threat than that. I’m not surprised that you broke up with your former religion after this experience as it was made clear that this religion is abusive to the highest degree and interested in protection of the institution rather than people.
It is interesting to read that we actually do not need anything like the institutionalized religions as we currently have. Could it be that we have accepted this man-created religion that is just a mere extract of what religion actually is, as a way to not truly connect with the origin we are from, our father, from God? To me religion is the direct connection to God from within and when I compare it to the religious institutions they only contain snippets of truth to keep us satisfied, but have the tendency to manipulate and control as to keep people entrapped in dogmas and old fashioned stories of 2000 years ago, without any relationship with our nowadays world and problems we have. It feels quite dead while religion to me is a livingness that constantly deepens and expand and brings me a greater awareness of all the dimensions of life we are part of.
Breaking up is hard to do – or is it? When the time comes and it feels right, making the decision to end a relationship with dignity and understanding is a simple matter.
The religions I’ve explored all contain smatterings of truth but never the whole package. The Way of The Livingness is the only religion I’ve ever encountered that presents a beautifully holistic understanding as well as common sense templates daily life. It’s exquisite in its practicality, glorious in its multi-dimensionality and impeccable in its integrity.
A very powerful stance you took Sharon in saying no to the clear corruption you saw within organised religion. To feel in you what it made way for is inspiring for all, as you ended up with everything you ever wanted and hoped organised religion to bring you. Finding instead it was within you all along, and that true religion has no rule books and no organised institution that holds the power of ‘divine connection’.
Sharon, it will take a while but traditional religion will eventually die a natural death as more and more people realise as you did that there is no real religion in traditional religion.
Sharon you are the clergy of the future and your blog is a living sermon.
‘I needed to belong to a religion as it gave me a sense of a belonging to something where everyone was on the same page; and without attending church, I could not consider myself religious’ this is a big lie that many people who feel a connection to God and know the love in their hearts fall for. We are fed this lie in society from young really as our parents before us have been fed it. People do good things and are loving because they have and live that quality in their hearts and definitely not because they attend a building, kneel down, do penance, etc etc each week. We naturally feel a want to belong and are called from our essence to be in brotherhood, however organised religion has greatly bastardised this.
Absolutely brilliant sharing Sharon. Thank you. There are so many aspects that I love about this blog from how you shared it was something outside of you, recognising the difference of recovering from organised religion and not letting it make you lose heart in God, to you stand up for the truth of leaving something that was and still is hiding abuse and justifying it through the hiding, to your beautiful discovery of religion, love and God in truth through The Livingness. And yes God = All.
Super post Sharon.. “The final straw came while attending my usual weekly church service. I heard a sermon from my clergy, who was also a solicitor, stating the importance of people who may have experienced paedophilia, to not go to the police, but to keep it in the confines of the church for the church to manage” — Incredible stance and action. The only way we get to truth is to (without revolt), stand up and speak up of the compete dishonesty, atrocities and utter lies that litter every aspect of every day life and living.
Hear, hear Zofia. The current state of organised religion and the reasons that they still exist in our world today is due to the fact that a majority of people have turned away from love and truth. This is what allows us to carry out atrocious acts and behaviours, be it small or large they are all equally harmful and feed the energy that drives a false version of religion. If humanity fully embraced absolute love and truth there will be no religion on earth that is not based on love, harmony, and truth and about empowering people and brotherhood.
If we all said no to dishonesty and abuse in any form, like you did with organised religion Sharon, then life as we know it today would be very very different. While there are parts that we want to keep hidden, believing that we are wrong or bad, then this hiding mentality continues.
It is remarkable how we can talk and preach about Love, but leave this missing out from the actual way we are with ourselves. We have developed a special talent for broadcasting our good intents, whilst choosing to ignore the living part of things. Ironically, as you make clear here Sharon, is it’s the way we embody truth that is what true religion is all about.
A new aspect : that is letting go of old ways of being that do no longer serve you. And so, we can leave things for good and start anew. Things can feel weird at times of change – but it will always land on its feet.. The nature of evolution.
Many relationships end when the abuse that is being suffered can no longer go unseen. What this then reveals it that there was no true relationship in the first place, merely an arrangement that served both parties by way of a contract we sign to live a ‘comfortable’ life and thereby play much less than the fullness of our true self. The Kingdom of God lays within us all and is connected to by the light of our Soul and not the light of the human spirit that took leave of this body of love long, long ago. Therefore it can be stated that any religion that does not teach us about both spirit and Soul and thus help us discern the difference, is designed to lead us on a path AWAY from God and not back to him. Hardly an act of love and as love is the essence of who we truly are, such abuse is felt to the core of our being.
Excellent point Liane about the arrangement versus true relationship. It is so liberating to be freed from that illusion. I remember once being in an emotionally abusive relationship and feeling quite disempowered when I thought I loved the man in question but when I realised that my entanglement was not true love I was able to free myself. I completely agree that the teaching of the difference between spirit and Soul is CORE to and makes sense of everything. There is a great audio on that difference and lots many more fascinating quotes and audio here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-spirit.html at Unimedpedia spirit and another gorgeous entry here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-soul.html at Unimedpedia Soul.