As a child I was brought up in the Anglican religion. My mother was quite ‘religious’ – she prayed a lot and went to church whenever she could. We lived in the country and it was not easy for her to get to church. I was sent to an Anglican Girls Grammar School but the religion taught there was so ‘dead’: it was simply a set of rules of things one should not do, some moral values which were worth living by, but that was all.
Although I believed that Jesus had told his disciples to be loving there did not seem to be love anywhere, just fear that one would not be ‘good’ enough. Church services were something we had to attend and I cannot remember one ‘sermon’ inspiring me in any way. I do remember the gossip after the service, which was all about what ‘Mrs So-and-So’ was wearing, or some scandal or other; I could feel this was all very unloving.
I continued to attend church irregularly once I left school and also got married in one. In Montreal, Canada in 1955 there were no civil marriages and one could only be married in a church! I had my children baptised but left their confirmation up to them and did not send them to schools that taught religion. As you can see I did not have any bad experiences but I didn’t have any inspiring ones either.
I lived my life as best I could with integrity and truth, but there was always a feeling of lack there. I believed that I did not truly know what love was and how to be truly loving towards others; I looked for answers in many places along the way – the ‘New Age’ seemed to hold some interesting ones – but when explored further seemed as empty as religion had been.
It was not until I was in my sixties when I began to listen to Serge Benhayon and go to the presentations he gave through Universal Medicine that I began to realise there was another way to live one’s life. This was called The Way of The Livingness, and I realised it had the answers to so many of the questions I had been asking myself for many years. Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.
If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.
This does require us to be absolutely honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting. However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice. Our lives are made up of our choices along the way as are the lives of others, and thus we can never judge or feel different from another as we are all travelling along the same road, making our choices every day.
I simply choose to have joy and love as my way of being which for me is now living a truly religious life, The Way of The Livingness.
By Rowena Parkes, Age 84
Further Reading:
The Outlier – Thanks to The Way of The Livingness
Organised Religion versus True Religion
Living Religion: A Relationship With Self-love, And God
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
There is a whole infrastructure of social institutions that prepares us to cruise in life which guarantees will will keep rowing, not falling into the water but going nowhere.
It is simple Rowena, we have a choice to live with joy in our body or not.
“However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not…” – So true Rowena, and when it comes right down to it, all those issues and ‘faults’ that we may have are but a super thin layer that is hiding the immensity of love, wisdom, joy, harmony, and stillness that resides inside of us, in the same way that the crust of the Earth is but a thin layer over its mantle and core.
Now that is a religion I subscribe to. One that comes from the love of a lived way, connected to the love we are from. Not so much about words as about movements.
‘Our lives are made up of our choices along the way as are the lives of others, and thus we can never judge or feel different from another as we are all travelling along the same road, making our choices every day.’
To me an absolute confirmation of the love God holds us in: he never tells us what to do, never judges us, but always welcomes us back when we choose so.
How is it that that childhood experience of religion can so often be described as ‘dead’? That was equally my experience and then once I was a teenager I realised I would have to start my own journey to find something that felt alive, current, lived. That is what you get with the Way of the Livingness…
When we live from the simplicity of life, and feel the natural joy and harmony from within, we are in ‘The Way of The Livingness’ a religion that simply allows us to return to our natural way of being, where humanity is equal no matter what race colour or creed we come from.
There is not one rule in true religion, nothing we should do or have to do; The Way of The Livingness is connection to our inner heart and living from that loving place in every aspect of our lives, this we can choose in any moment.
‘ It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others.’ Why on earth do we choose another way to live? The mind boggles when we really feel into the choices we make to make our lives miserable through the judgment, the comparison, the completion etc we have with people. None of that has any purpose, We’re all here together to work together, and it is absolutely possible to do it another way.
Choosing to have Joy and Love as your way of being makes for some very good sense to me! And the crazy part is, it’s available to every single one of us. Why on earth would we choose differently – once we’ve cottoned on to this way of life of course??!!
The wisdom and absolute Love in your words is deeply touching and honouring of us all, beautiful Rowena.
I think it’s great how you say that as a child you just knew/ could feel that gossiping was unloving – it reminds me how we innately do know what love is (to be able to say what it is not) and so it’s something we know from inside of us and can re-connect back with rather than it being abstract or something we need to attain from outside of us.
“If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from.” Beautiful. Connecting with my innermost and moving with love from there – a true religion – reconnecting back to who I truly am.
True Religion is simply allowing ourselves the opportunity to express the essence of who we are, as when we do that we are naturally in union with the all.
I am really appreciating, thanks to Serge Benhayon and his presentations and through our own everyday way of living, we have come to understand and are now expressing what being religious truly means instead of going to churches and being ‘good’. This is so powerful. We are coming home.
Our lives are the result of the choices we make every day, and our choices play out what we are aligning to. So, bringing honesty to what we are choosing and why is how we bring awareness to what we are aligning to. As you have beautifully shared Rowena, The Way of The Livingness offers a way of living that is simply a return to living in connection to our Soul, to the love we already innately are and the oneness we are all a part of, through our every day.
When a religion needs rules to keep functioning, it’s clear that has lost its initial essence.
“It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” I am so pleased to have re-connected with this way of living, I feel full, search for answers less and have developed a relationship with truth, love, joy, playfulness and energy that supports me in a way I had not remembered.
It is very true that we can never judge another no matter what we are presented with. As I learn to accept myself and be open and transparent with others the judgement is diminishing. I can hold myself more easily without getting pulled into the criticism and judgement of another. I have an understanding and acceptance for who they truly are which feels a very natural way to be.
Love and joy as a way of being, now that is something to shout of and yet it’s very natural to all of us and how we can all live. It may be considered unusual as the majority do not live this way but it’s totally possible if we’re willing to be honest with ourselves and truly address any hurts or issues we see, in the understanding that there is nothing wrong with us, it’s just that we have chosen to be less than the love we are and any moment we can choose differently.
Religion for me too is not about a set of rules or something contained to a certain building but about the values that I bring to my everyday life, the way I am in all that I do and all whom I’m with; something that can be continually refined.
The thing with the religion that I was brought up with, it didn’t actually matter how good you were anyway because we are born sinners and unworthy and that is pretty much our lot. Oh you can confess those sins but because we are human we will always commit more.
I love your description of The Way of The Livingness. From my experience it is not a case of choosing this and suddenly ta dah you are there (although our essence is always innately there which we can connect to) but it is a constant willingness and re-evaluation and stock take of our life and the choices we are making as you so rightly say absolute honesty is an essential key to this as well as our intentions with everything we do.
To be left uninspired by a religion, is an experience that denies the glory of God that lives within you. And so here we have the true purpose of religion and what it is really meant for as not being about vanity or control, but rather about your re-connection with your divine spark.
Have we ever considered that mainstream ‘religion’ is the perfect companion for people who live empty lives? Although this is not true for everyone, we have to start talking about what religion does for us and what we ask it to do for us.
The choices we make regarding religion need to be respected. The Way of The Livingness might sound strange to some – not like a religion at all; others will think because they’ve never heard of it, it is has no validity. As with Rowena, The Way of The Livingness has inspired me where no other religion or path could, and the changes I’ve made as a result of my living of the principles it presents have been both positive and profound.
One life, one unifying religion, one teaching that has stood the test of time The Ageless Wisdom, which is presented by one amazing presenter, and it is one Livingness that is The Way that is there for all equally!
I was also brought up in the Anglican tradition… I was an altar boy until I fell asleep and dropped the bishops cross ☺ that was it for me with religion until I rediscovered God in every breath and in every footstep.
I had looked for God all my life through various religions, but it wasn’t until I was in my sixties that I found him, in the teaching of The Way of The Livingness, in my own inner heart, and the inner hearts of all mankind.
The blog is great but I am still stuck on the fact that you are 84 and look as a beautiful and graceful as ever. You are sharp and wise, if that is not proof enough of what The Livingness offers, I don’t know what is. Your writing also shows how switched on and active you are in the last quarter of your life, truly inspiring.
I was not drawn to any religion as I was growing up but when I was introduced to The Way of The Livingness I knew I found the true world religion. I am inspired every day to live love and truth, this is the religion I know will ignite fire back to humanity.
“…It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others…” A religion that pays homage inwardly (esoterically) rather than to something outside oneself.
Yes and as such we are able to walk it as part and parcel of our way of living, not just speak it and try to sell a theory or a formula. It never worked for me, that felt empty, so why would it work for others. Go the inward connection!!!
Thank you Rowena . My growing up I always had a liking for religion , ( I grow up in the republic of Ireland which basically was ,is controlled by the roman catholic church ) I loved when the priest read the gospels and read the parables of Jesus.
But all the rest contradicted what the parables of Jesus presented , the sermon of the priest , the way I was raised, the way people interacted with each other, it was all unloving. But I loved the parables they made sense to me . When I heard the presentations of Universal Medicine I got the same feeling , thank you Serge Benhayon . Now I know the truth of “religion” my relationship with God thats why I liked religion so. There is a way to live a religious relationship with God and I love it.
“It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” The Way of The Livingness is also my knowing and understanding of true religion as a way of life and everything else is not and this is very simple and known within.
My experience of religion was much the same as yours Rowena, it was very uninspiring and I could see people acting very Holy within the walls of the church but acting completely different on the outside.
This is interesting to observe because I felt the same as you. I get very inspired when I see people living true religion as it reminds me that we all do know what true religion is.
There is so much about Religion that put me off when I was a child, especially seeing as I was Catholic and could not understand their version of God – it made no sense to the loving God that I felt deep within. I was naturally cautious when I heard of The Way of The Livingness being a Religion, I could feel how uncomfortable this felt in my body because of the bastardised and untrue versions of Religion I had been exposed to as a child. The Way of The Livingness has been life changing for me in so many ways as it is a true Religion, and as you so beautifully sum up in this line – ‘It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others’, yes absolutely, I totally agree Rowena.
Realising life is made up of our choices is a huge step, one that requires great honesty and responsibility and one that is so liberating.
The truth is our bodies always want to choose life, but in life many times we are living anti-life. When we feel we know what is truth, we know what is life, and in life we are re-discovering ways to truly live. This sounds simple but it is not easy, because most things in life actually discourage us intensely to live and to reclaim what is true. Therefore to truly live, we have to first develop a steadiness and solidity within ourselves, which is to develop a foundation of love with ourselves.
When we start to wake up and realise how we have been living and the extent of the unloving actions towards ourselves and others, it all stands out so strikingly as being abusive that it makes you realise how asleep you must have been, and how come we did not come to this awakening of our own accord. I know for myself and my family it took attending the Universal Medicine presentations by Serge Benhayon for us to stop and listen to the truth of the matter.
Values and rules imparted that are apparently worth living by but not actually lived are empty and indeed dead in both their teachings and potential to inspire change and true evolution.
True religion is a very personal relationship and has very little to do with dogma or rules imposed upon the many by the few.
There is such a stark contrast between a set of rules that have been written in stone, and a living way that is guided at all times by our innermost to be in service for everyone. In particular that we need others to re-interpret the written rules, or we are the ones that inform our choices based on the divinity we can feel inside and all around.
“…gossip after the service…” is also a form of religion, ie a way of having a relationship with other people that feeds a version of connection that is in fact not connecting but separating.
If true religion is simply making daily choices that truly support us in our everyday, that lead to a healthier, more vital, more inclusive and more committed way of life, surley this requires deeper enquiry when so much of our society is dissatisfied, unhappy, unhealthy and constantly searching for something to bring answers to the bigger questions about life.
“The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do…” – this is such a difference to all the idealized, solution based, life improving promise making or old spiritual or religious tradition praising methods and teachings. It is simple, clear and practical. You know it when you give it a moment of openness.
Religion, if it is about our natural relationship with God can only be inspiring. This is where we are reminded we are so much more than we have been led to believe and intimately connected to everyone and everything. There is nothing greater in life. For religion to not be inspiring means that man’s reinterpretations of God and religion have gotten in the way and tainted the awe and love that should naturally be there.
“…once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice.”
Beautiful blog Rowena and the words above are particularly powerful to read and feel. Every part of me knows that I am responsible for the way my life is but I don’t live as though this is the case a lot of the time. Blame, indulgence and irresponsibility may make me feel ‘better’ at times but they also make it more difficult to connect to joy and glory.
I’ve read this a few times and had the experience myself…. where a Church or Sermon just seem so lifeless, with no connection to me or the wider community. I love what I have found through Universal Medicine in The Way of The Livingness. Super simple, warm and full of love and life… not for me, but through me for humanity.
I love that the words ‘religion’ and ‘enriched’ go hand in hand; life should never feel cold or empty, and connecting to the flame of us, the stars and there being something ‘more’ is what makes life religious.
“This does require us to be absolutely honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting. However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice.”
The honesty can be confronting because it requires to take responsibiliity for the next steps we take in order to live more of the love we are.
It can be very sad the moment we realise that much of what we live amongst in our world is not holding any love and care for humanity. This moment though is a tipping point, one where we begin to explore what is love and how it feels to live from and with it.
Something that stood out for me when reading this, was being honest with ourselves….now I have begun to unreel the layers of dishonesty that surround the way I live, particularly how I have ignored what my body shares, but it does take some doing to let go of the ideas we have about life being good and right and about ourselves. This is however loving, it is loving to be aware of the whole, consider how we are with others, be honest, these are simple tenants of a way of being, that is religious, otherwise it is all rules and just words. The Way of The Livingness has a key message in it’s title, it is a living way, aligning with it, comes from a lived quality, it not just speaking about doing it. When I choose to begin to heal with responsibility, and return to an essence of pure love and truth that I have felt, I am living a religious life. This I understand and can relate to.
More than ever before, science and research are drawing a great big link between our health and the way that we live. So if we want a truly well life, then surely it makes sense to make the way we are every day our devotion and focus? If you wanted to sum this approach up you could not do better than call it ‘The Way of The Livingness’. After all what is more powerful that the quality we choose to be? Thank you, Rowena, for this reminder to cherish and honour me.
We are all traveling along the same road. I’m so appreciating the understanding of this that allows me to drop judgements I once held. Sometimes I have to work on this and can feel judgement towards myself that needs understanding and healing. Judgement feels so toxic and deprives us of supporting one another along the same road with the same destination we will all get to. It is never a race or competition but an appreciation of one another.
‘…the love and joy we felt as children…’ – it is a great point of inspiration for me these days to remember the joy I felt inside as a child, to realise I have that same quality in me now, and to accept the fact that the more I acknowledge and embrace this the bigger it grows.
This is a truth that certainly needs to be hung on a poster on the wall in any workplace – It dismantles any separative “…Our lives are made up of our choices along the way as are the lives of others, and thus we can never judge or feel different from another as we are all travelling along the same road, making our choices every day…” Beautiful and brilliant.
So beautiful to feel the natural love and grace that is your livingness Rowena. The reflections that I receive from Serge Benhayon is the complete opposite of what I felt as a child when going to church. As a child I could feel that there was a true way to live life but I was confused as there was a lack of integrity – the words and the expressions around me didn’t seem to invite me to be open and trusting – in fact it was the opposite. Now with The Way of The Livingness I can unfold back to the truth that I have always held within.
Yes Susan and to re-build that relationship with yourself and others. Trust is a painful thing to lose and not trusting people builds hurt, yet we have an opportunity to learn from this and build a relationship with ourselves that means we are discerning and acknowledging what we are feeling. That, in turn, re-builds trust in our internal radar to recognise what is going on around us and can feel the integrity of what another is saying versus what they are doing. We can then be discerning about what we bring into our lives so it is not about following anyone or any doctrine but walking in the equality of what is being reflected to us.
Life and religions were always two separate concepts for me. There was an element of airy-fairy-ness to religion that made it not quite practical to every day life. Besides there was so many inconsistencies in each religious teaching that made it not quite make sense. This is until The Way of The Livingness which proved to be the most practical, sensible, loving and evolving framework to living this life of ours on Earth.
The Way of The Livingness cut any believes or ideals I had about what it means from living a religious life… far from dogma, sets of rules and a strict isolated life it simply comes down to connection… connection to self and then connection to others.
Awesome Rowena – you break the rules as to stand in love and share simply what is true and nothing else. We must never ever adhere to any rules that do not come from the heart. We must play our part by choosing what is true and only truly loving.
It was only on my meeting of Serge Benhayon that I realised another way to live life could be lived. Before that, I had seen life’s anomalies and was trapped by them. The Way of The Livingness frees that entrapment and empowers those that connect to it, a way to live that brings more love, equality and understanding to self and to all.
I agree, I think I had a very warped view of ‘normal’ and one that had a very clear trajectory to chronic fatigue, nervous breakdown, post natal depression – heavens – Thank God for Serge Benhayon!
I certainly had a kind of given-up-ness, thinking that fatigue, anxiousness and stress were a natural and normal part of life because this is most people’s reality. I didn’t realise though, that this is the false reality we have created because we have denied the simplicity of living with our heart and soul. When connected to and lived, The Way of The Livingness enables a fresh view on this false reality bringing truth to the fore, a clearer eye and a freshness to life. Thank God for Serge Benhayon! Amen to that, Lucy!
“we have denied the simplicity of living with our heart and soul” It is so simple that we doubt and question. Where is my frustrated emoji?! We should be celebrating being odd I reckon because we would then be true to ourselves and not working so hard to fit in that we end up in that given-up-ness.
“If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. ” having come from being very anti religion myself I am not very much religious and appreciate what true religion actually is. Having this as part of my life is what is most supportive.
Thanks, Rowena. There is indeed another way, and thank God for Serge Benhayon and his family who are showing us how this can be simply and naturally lived in everyday life.
Truly religious people can be found anywhere, not just in a church or temple. Temples can be used to hide and pretend, whereas living religiously in life is something that is out in the open for all to see and feel.
‘One’s life,’ is one life and we are all learning the lessons of this life and it may take many lives. As a forever student of myself, life has become so glorious ever since I started to attend Universal Medicine events as presented by Serge Benhayon. So living with true responsibility and purpose is definitely worth it.
I never got anything from church when I was a child, and it makes sense now because I wasn’t looking for anything… I wasn’t looking for distraction or feeling “good” as I was already super content with who I was, and what I did from there.
The Way of The Livingness is glorious in its simplicity and absolute inclusivity. Everyone can naturally live this Way.
There is no soul-full activity in gossiping, which is very telling of the church sermons you attended, if afterwards many of the ladies began to gossip.
The Way of The Livingness is the best religion I have ever experienced. What I love is that there is no giving your power away it is all about your inner connection with your Soul which is automatically having a relationship with God because this is where we come from. Super simple and yet so incredibly powerful. Your every movement, breath, thought and word spoken either confirms this magnificent that we are or not. This is the Livingness; to live without perfection and master this quality of living and expression.
I agree and love the inspiration of The Way of The Livingness that empowers us to keep our hands on our own steering wheels rather than handing over to a doctrine or set of rules to adhere to.
I have always been inspired by people who are able to be loving and caring for others even when those people are being unkind or in a reaction. I feel that is the level of love we must strive for and I see it so often in those who have chosen The Way of The Livingness. That to me is the way forward for us as a humanity, stopping reacting to the loveless behaviours, and instead reflect that life can be warm, open, tender and caring and that each imprint of this way of living provides more space for others to act in that way too.
This phrase describes most of my life: “I lived my life as best I could with integrity and truth, but there was always a feeling of lack there. I believed that I did not truly know what love was and how to be truly loving towards others”. It is uncanny that we even when we are ticking all the boxes, we can tell that something is amiss. What a blessing it has been to be supported to learn that all those boxes I was busy ticking were not it and inspired to cease trying so hard and allow myself to connect to the simplicity of the love and awareness within.
All the regalia of religion is a great distraction from the divine beauty that lies within and between us all.
When we look at life, do we want to follow examples of what others may or may not have done in the past? The past is past, and translations often change content, understanding and meaning. What Serge Benhayon shows us here Rowena, is the present, how it is possible to live in the world today..”Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.”
This is so inspiring to feel the fact that we can never judge another because each and everyone of us is on the same path – some have chosen to make loving choices that others are yet to make but nevertheless once upon a time they made those choices too.
It is unfortunate that the word religion has come to be associated with faith or lack of reason, and more so come to be associated with alignment to the mainstream schools of thought as to the true nature of our existence. For in truth, it is none of those things.
‘The Way of The Livingness… is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from.’ Living who we truly are is the gift that the Ageless Wisdom and The Way of The Livingness gives and it available to everyone – no chosen few.
It is such a hypocrisy you describe Rowena, and little wonder people are turning away from some of the organised religions in droves. What is saddening is that they often turn away disillusioned, and are then skeptical of what is of truth if it resembles in any way the outer facades of religion, even by the word itself.
I was also brought up in the church life and like many become disillusioned with the difference between what I heard and what I saw and felt. So I went exploring other religions, not seriously, but definitely looking and experiencing. What I can feel through that is that I had a very strong sense that there was a truth to religion and God that was there in part to every religion I had come across, but there was always something missing. I definitely reacted to what I saw in religion and even blamed it for the woes of the world. Perception can be a powerful thing. I for one am very grateful to know that religion and God is not something to find on the outside, it is not a set of rules on how to live, it’s not about punishment or being less, it’s not about being better than another because of whatever religion is being aligned to. It is about our inner relationship with God. Getting to know God on the inside, through getting to know ourselves. I love knowing that we are made of the same stuff of the universe and feeling and re-connecting to what this means and then living what we are feeling on the inside. How incredible is that? Living and breathing the universe we feel on the inside.
‘However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice.’ Religion has so many do’s and don’t’s so many rules to obey then comes judgment if you fall short. The Way of The Livingness shows to us our own past choices not with judgment but with love, a self love that when embraced brings true healing, this is my Religion.
What we perceive to be ‘faults” or “failings” are nothing more than opportunities for us to return to soul, as when we see it this way we turn it all around and not get stuck in a rut of judgment or shame for that is an indulgence that gets us nowhere but in further disconnection from our hearts.
When we are in judgement of our faults or failings we automatically cut ourselves off from what we know within and our connection to God, rather than as you say, Francisco, an opportunity to re-connect to our truth. Perfection and punishment are never needed to know God and in fact, confirms that we will not know God.
Ridding ourselves of the creations that have kept us identified with struggle and strife is the most confronting yet liberating gift we can possibly give ourselves, because all that we are then left with is pure and undeniable divinity.
Religion, as presented in my childhood, was similar Rowena, a set of rules and ones you were sometimes obliged to be seen to follow, yet no real love or care for yourself was encouraged or considered – while nice words about the common good and love for all were spoken, they meant little and were not lived. Coming across The Way of The Livingness has changed my life and the biggest thing for me is it’s a lived way, one that considers the all and you in that all and is about living love as a normal and active part of one’s everyday life; nothing special just that anything done with love builds and compounds that love in our lives and in our bodies; for me this is true religion.
“If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness” Religion is a way of life So it is wise to know what we are living with as a conscious choice than just blindly following one.
The Way of the Livingness presented as an accessible, sustainable, all encompassing way of life – a true religion – thank you, Rowena.
Hypocrisy observed is the greatest obstacle that prevents us from being open to the possibility of true religion.
I relate Rowena, and had a background similar to your own (without the marriage in a church and children bit!). I searched high and low for years, in the New Age, in different religions and philosophies, in yoga, spiritualism and more but all were ultimately hollow. The Way of The Livingness was the first offering that resonated with me and was of substance. I’ve never looked back, and beyond that, have grown enormously – both in terms of my self-development, and my capacity to serve.
Rowena I can really feel the dullness of your experiences in church through your words and this encapsulates so much of what I have also felt, that there is no need to judge or to condemn the church itself or the people who attend the meetings there, but that there simply was nothing there that truly inspired love in me or in anyone else that I could see in the congregation., that it always seemed to be about following the rules be they set down by the institution of that religion itself or the societal rules set down by congregation. And that’s not to say that true love is lawless and wild, it simply is that when true love is present, everything falls in to a natural order that holds everyone with equal respect.
‘However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice.’ There is something very refreshing and empowering to get over the perception that we are victims of life and that everything that happens is a direct result of our own choices. ‘But what about the families we are born into, what about the things that happened to me when I was a young child that I had no control over?’ could be questions asked in response to this statement. Delving more deeply into this we can see and feel that many of the things that have happened to us as children are the direct results of the choices we had been making in previous lives. A stretch for some I know, but it makes so much sense if we are open to the possibility of reincarnation. Having had a fair number of healing sessions over the last 12 years I have felt many of the hurts I have harboured coming from past lives – from the choices I made back then. I too have found that once felt into it is very easy to rid from my body the consequences of those choices and I am more clear and less tense than I have ever been!
Living a way that is truly loving is a path walked by very few in life, but desired by many. The Way of the Livingness offers support to walk that path of love on a daily basis.
It is indeed confronting, Rowena, to examine our choices from the past when we were not so aware, but it is an important part of learning.
“…This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others…” I concur… A religion that can be practiced anywhere, no building required, a simple and loving way to live your day.
The simple way of living you describe Rowena is the way of the future, so when there is no criticism or judgement this level of honesty finally brings us to the truth.
‘I do remember the gossip after the service, which was all about what ‘Mrs So-and-So’ was wearing, or some scandal or other; I could feel this was all very unloving.’ – I can relate to this – growing up I learnt how important it is to keep the facade, what really went on and was being said behind closed doors was definitely not loving.
I have come to see ‘keeping up the facade’ as one of the most insidious, separative and damaging practices in life – keeping everyone at arm’s length and deceiving ourselves and each other. We baulk when we suggest that we are lying to one another, but that is what is happening and it is the foundation of many societies. Keeping up appearances, competitively and comparatively… really ugly.
Thank you Rowena, this is huge.. You just shared all that we need to hear and come back to. Thank you again. We all find our way, we are all on our path..
“Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” What Serge Benhayon presents is remarkable in its simplicity as it shows us that no matter what our age we can embrace a different way to live that supports us and everyone around us simply by making very basic different but loving choices in our day to day lives.
As you’ve shared Rowena it’s so important to see our issues, problems and hurts as NOT US, because as soon as we take them on as a part of us we then start to bash our bodies or self loathe based on the reflection we see in the mirror, i.e. the issues we’ve taken into our body.
I hope that I am born into The Way of The Livingness next time so I don’t have to go all around the houses before getting back to it again, but I guess that is just another one of those choices we make along the way.
“…..honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting. However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not…”
I observe that I sometimes numb my awareness in order not to have to change something and step out of my comfort.
I like you Rowena had a religious upbringing but saw it not truly playing out in the way people were living who were attending the services, that there was something missing or lacking although I didn’t know what. I realised what had been lacking in the religions and Spiritual new age movement that I had looked into was the livingness; sure a lot of the words sounded good but there was no livingness in them and they felt hollow. When I was introduced to The Way of The Livingness Religion I felt the re-connection to the truth I had always known, not only by what was being presented which made so much sense but by the everyday livingness. The heart of The Way of The Livingness religion is true love, it has depth, vitality and an aliveness that I fully embrace as my way of living.
Our faults and failings really are just creations that we are responsible for. No need to beat ourselves up about it, just become aware and make new choices. It is as simple as that!
‘It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others.’ – The Way of The Livingness is is a way of living that is deeply transformational and very different in a world where there is no focus on true love and what we all energetically contribute to the whole.
Love the simplicity of how you describe religion: “…it is a way of evolving back to where we came from…”. So it is entirely up to us how we are heading towards the inevitable, intentionally putting step after step either towards our future that is actually our ancient past or deliberately seek to stall our return by taking as many detours as we can find.
Within this tiny sentence is also the wisdom that we are not having to try and do something we don’t know already. We are returning to something; it’s a path we know well and were connected to already in our younger years.
How many people live daily with the feeling of being overwhelmed by life? Understanding that although it doesn’t feel like it we have a choice about how we are in any given moment or drama unfolding in our worlds.
I also could not feel the truth behind religion from my brief encounters with Christianity as a child – it just felt like something that had become outdated and was no longer relevant – science had taken over. As I have learnt to reconnect to true religion through The Way of The Livingness I know the religion includes science and can be lived every day.
Beautiful point, Michael, that true religion encompasses science, as a way of life and big picture view of our place and responsibility in the world.
“Although I believed that Jesus had told his disciples to be loving there did not seem to be love anywhere, just fear that one would not be ‘good’ enough.” likewise this was my experience, the word love was used but everything felt cold and empty.
When I was completely lost and searching for answers I asked everyone, who was open enough to talk about love, the question “what is love?” And not a single person was able to even start with an explanation that came close to what true love is, in fact everyone was just as lost for a true meaning for love as I was. Then the presentations by Serge Benhayon answered all my questions and more, and now my understanding is that love for most of us, if not all, is to big a leap, which means it is simpler to started with being at-least gentle. Then to feel gentleness was a huge step towards the direction of love from where I was.
“Our lives are made up of our choices along the way”. This simple premise if embraced in earnest is a truly religious way of life, knowing that in every moment we have the choice to be connected to our innately divine nature.
“Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” The Way of The Livingness has enabled me to heal the hurts I was holding onto and open my heart to the world again. The deeper the appreciation and connection I have with myself, the more I love deepening my connection with people and God in the every day. No need for a holy building, set of doctrines, prayers or otherwise, just a great deal of honest observation, true compassion and innate tender wisdom to bring into expression.
Judgement is something that really affects us and is awful to feel, I have only ever met one person who doesn’t judge – and boy on boy by not holding one ounce of judgment towards me they let me feel me and how amazing I really am.
I now listen to presentations and workshops of Serge Benhayon for several years and there is more and more wisdom and depth to discover and to live.
I agree and I love the ‘unfoldingness’ of life… like a book you re-read and come across ‘new’ aspects or depths to… the teachings of The Way of The Livingness endlessly develop and deepen.
As I read your story, and many others who grew up with religion being quite an important part of their life, I give thanks that I was not sent to a religious school and how I could, since a very young age, see through all the different stories and all the different religions that I came across as we travelled the world. It seems to me that so many religions are full of lies and really do get in the way of people connecting to who they truly are.
This is a gorgeous blog of the freedom and truth that is presented by Universal Medicine. The Way of The Livingness is a real and true religion that I know for sure it is teaching and inspiring us to be more to be all that we are, in the fullness and the reality of this world.
This is a gorgeous blog of the freedom and truth that is presented by Universal Medicine. The Way of The Livingness is a real and true religion that I know for sure, it is teaching and inspiring us to be more to be all that we are, in the fullness and the reality of this world.
There is something very freeing about understanding that our choices are what have led us to the life we are now living. When we realise this we can bring appreciation to ourselves for what we have chosen that truly serves us and also knowledge that we have the ability to change those things that do not.
“Although I believed that Jesus had told his disciples to be loving there did not seem to be love anywhere, just fear that one would not be ‘good’ enough”. This is the huge illusion and trap we have fallen for, where instead of knowing that love is our true essence we think it is something we have to achieve, and when we see it lacking in ourselves or someone else instead of looking to see what is blocking the true expression we take it as a sign of us not being good enough. This view propogated by the misinterpretations that have seeped into many conventional religions is a huge handicap to us knowing ourselves and living as the true Sons of God that we each are.
Many say that the world would be better without religion. Despite all that gets done in the name of what is clearly false religious beliefs, I would venture to disagree, for religion truly remains the last great unexplored frontier in many respects, and so we should foster a society where religion is not frowned upon but rather encouraged to be explored. This is not to say that we should not call out religious practices or beliefs that are clearly harmful or hypocritical. In fact we should encourage such open discussion, for it is through the acknowledgement of that which is not true that in part assists us to find the truth of all things eventually.
Rowena I love what you share here about being honest – and that it will bring up everything even things we might not want to see. But really it just comes down to our choices – simple as that.
Thank you Rowena, The Way of the Livingness is absolutely about love. It’s unlike anything else I have explored in religion or spirituality because that love is within, and it’s in my own connection to love/God that I make my daily choices. No rule books, do’s or don’ts needed. It’s personal and energetic responsibility.
“it had the answers to so many of the questions I had been asking myself for many years.” I found the same, it shows me that so many of us have very similar questions yet nothing before The Way of The Livingness actually had complete answers that made sense.
Even when we aren’t brought up with a strong religious indoctrination, if there is a religious belief running through a family or institution it will still insidiously infect us and have an impact on us that will undoubtedly leave an impression on how we perceive life in general, and more often than not without the full realisation of that impact. The Way of The Livingness, on the other hand, leaves you alone to make your own choices about how you live every day from what you feel from within, to be true for you.
The beauty of The Way of The Livingness is beyond this world and a way of life with simplicity love and responsibility for ourselves and everyone at the same time, flowing and expansive and something to be truly appreciated.
‘However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations…’ so true, realising that actually everything that is not us is merely something we have created in order to not be all of us is exposing in that there is no reason that we need to be held back other than that we choose.
Yes, religion is a ‘way of life’. And it is a way of life to be lived from heart, body and Soul, not from the controlled, intellectualised mind.
The Way of The Livingness represents religion in truth to me – a livingness of true love for self and all others equally.
“Our lives are made up of our choices along the way as are the lives of others, and thus we can never judge or feel different from another as we are all travelling along the same road, making our choices every day.” I love how this is unifying and eliminates judgment as well as any comparison or jealousy or envy… and there can be no blame or shame here either – only the choices we have made and the honesty to see them for what they are, as we all travel the same path.
The way you describe religion and The Way of The Livingness Rowena is so very inspiring… “If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” When I read this I can actually feel and claim that I am religious for the first time in this life. I used to recoil at the word God and religion but to read this and know it is a way of living love… that is something to be.
It is interesting that I looked like you describe in many directions like religions and the spiritual new age, the seemingly old well-established wisdom and teachings and although something could draw my attention for a while nothing really stuck. With Universal Medicine (UM) and The Way of The Livingness it has been different. After 12 years with UM I still put it to the test but it never fails, there always has been a realness, openness and comprehensibility by making my own experiences, coming to my own understanding and truth and a practicality of making it an everyday way of living.
I listened to a minister speak recently – and although there was much I didn’t agree with – there were pockets of truth where he spoke of the truth of true love and the true work of Yeshua (Jesus).
In many ways not having any inspiring experiences with you is worse than not having any bad experiences. Not being inspired makes us turn off from religion all together thinking that religion is not something that tickles our fancy so to speak. But what it does is taint our definition of religion and makes us think of it as something it is not. Our definitions of words are shaped more by our experiences of their use than by the official meaning alone
Choices are the great equaliser as you have so beautifully expressed Rowena. We are all travelling along the same road making choices everyday. And with this we equally have the power to either unleash our potential, or tighten the shackles of imprisonment with every given moment.
We use the word ‘religion’ in so many ways. People may say they do something religiously, in that, they wouldn’t dream of not doing, that’s how important it is to them. Then there are people who say they are religious because they belong to a ‘religion’ such as Catholicism or Buddhism. But what if being religious was simply just a way to live one’s life based on some universal truths, like that of The Way of The Livingness?
Being religious now means so much more beauty to me than it used to. I am so glad to be able to enjoy religious life with its true Intent and impulsed from our own inner heart, relying not on dogma or doctrines or imposed hierarchy.
The Way of The Livingness “is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from”. My experiences with other religions are far from this. I have experienced much more the ‘giving your power away to a higher power’ type of religion, a God we need to be grateful for and can never be equal to. The Way of The Livingness is also not airy-fairy or trying to achieve bliss. It is very much based in the living of religion, or your relationship with your soul and with God and bringing that into everyday life in a very practical way. It is all about love, real love that is equal for all, not just doing ‘good’.
“This does require us to be absolutely honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting.” The fact that it is at First confronting is an important point here, as the more open and honest one becomes, there is a deeper surrender to what you sense and feel ultimately leading to true contentment.
It is so true that The Way of The Livingness “is a way of evolving back to where we came from.” There is nothing that Serge Benhayon has presented that has felt foreign or unknown by me deep inside, he is simply reminding us of where we come from and giving us a nudge to make our way back there!
I love your description here of religion Rowena as a developing relationship with life and ourselves based on observation and common sense, rather than following a doctrine or set of rules and beliefs and imposing that rigidly on life.
When in my youth searching for true religion in different denominations and finding that “the religion taught there was so ‘dead’” so this constantly showed their was more to life. Then for a while the “‘New Age’ seemed to hold some interesting,” but was also found to be ‘dead,’ The Way of The Livingness has shown that true religion has a living pulsing heart of truth.
Its bizarre that religions have got by for so long by literally putting the fear of God into people, the whole fires of hell thing, I wonder who thought that one up, I imagine a group of men sitting around a big old table dressed in robes when one comes out with an evil chuckle, “I know lets tell the masses that if they don’t do what we say, oh I mean what God says through us they will burn in a deep dungeon like place for eternity”.
The Way of The Livingness is a way of life which is deeply religious in the way that it supports everybody who is open to returning to the deeper version of oneself and as such return to a life which honors the delicacy, tenderness and love in every person including oneself.
Prior to coming across Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness I used to say I am not religious. It was an automatic response which just flowed out of my mouth without much awareness of the depth of sadness and pain I actually felt with that simple expression. I did not realise the immense given-up-ness I held in my lungs and how disappointed I felt about life.
Thank God (literally) for Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness, as well as my own Soul and all the brothers and sisters who inspire me, all of which have beautifully provided so many sign posts for me to find my way back home.
I can relate to the fear of not being good enough. Even though I wasn’t brought up obviously religious this pervaded all things organised religion touched including school, guides etc. The Way of the Livingness is such a beautiful return to the truth we are all divine and it’s what we take on that corrupts our way. So recently when I was reminded I never judge and I was like I know I do! But then appreciated actually I do not but what I take on energetically does, I realise my responsibility is to be me and discern what is not and not let it own me.
“It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others.” – A simple foundation for life on which we can evolve back to the love we are in our essence.
‘As you can see I did not have any bad experiences but I didn’t have any inspiring ones either.’ This is the thing experiences, good and bad, may shape our lives to a certain extent, but inspiration ignites a deep purpose within and carves out a completely different way of living.
Connecting to our own true purpose is a totally different way to live. Sometimes we have to support ourselves in our own unique differences as everyone goes about living what they are choosing to shape their lives with.
No matter what stage we are in, what experiences we have had, what part of the world we are born in, what age, what background, what language we speak, there is a commonality equal within us all and that is we know what is love and what is truth. Once we are open to accepting and returning to what is simply innate from birth, life is completely transformed, as there IS another way to live.
These words: “It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others” say it all so succinctly about The Way of The Livingness; they are the foundation that hold the truth of this everyday religion. When I read them they make so much sense; how would we really want to live any other way?
I am also learning to not judge people who choose institutionalised religions. So many of us do.
For me living a religious life is learning to observe and not react to people or situations.
The Way of The Livingness is a religion lived the future today as it is alive and forever expanding and deepening the relationship we have with the essence within, the All knowing, and it is knowing ourselves and recognising others from this essence that will become our future.
Religion is so natural to us that if we do not know true religion and reject the current forms of religion it feels like something is missing. True religion is an essential part of life, knowing that we are more than just human beings and have a relationship with this is as essential as having food to eat and water to drink in my experience.
Beautifully expressed Lieke… we all absolutely know there is more to us than just our body and this planet we live on – and apart from through Universal Medicine, this knowing and multidimensionality is not encouraged or presented in our lives.
The Way of The Livingness – the truest commitment to life one can live, a commitment with oneself and thereby God and everyone.
It sure is imposing, so often people have told me to do this or that but because it has come from an instruct without them living the words they are preaching it has put me off and usually I have rebelled and done the opposite! When we truly come from love and a knowingness in our bodies then the person receiving the words is held in love and feels it – what they do with them is then up to them.
We are never too old to re-connect to the true religion that has always resided within us!
I too had the feeling that what was presented in the church that I attended in my youth was old and not vital and inspirational like The Way of The Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon.
We might eschew organised Religion, and say ‘that way is not for me’. Perhaps we have avoided for most of our life, ever going to church. We could say this kind of life is suited for someone else, and consider ourselves untouched. But is that really true? Or do we tend to live each day from an unseen rule book too? Do we measure everything by whether we did a ‘good thing’? If this is the case, then surely we have to admit that we have been lost and trapped in a profound way. The quality of honouring what we feel you highlight here Rowena is the thing that we need to resurrect, our knowing of divinity.
Being brutally honest with ourselves and with all the choices we have made, is challenging but it is also the key to healing and so worth it.
I am with you Rowena as The Way of The Livingness is my chosen religion also as I too had felt the emptiness of institutionalised religion and after exploring what was on offer in the Spiritual ‘New Age’ Movement coming across the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine was like a breath of fresh air. The presentations simply made sense and showed me what love in action loved like and reminded me that we are all on the path of return . . . a return to the love that we already are.
The words that are taught in church are dead as there is often no livingness behind them. Teaching to love thy neighbour means nothing when not lived and reflected.
Yes very true, we can say all kinds of lovely things, but if we don’t feel it and live it, they are delivered empty and mean nothing, nada, at all!
Spot on Nikki, love in itself is all inclusive and leaves no one out as we are all the same and as you have shared has to be lived as a Livingness and reflected so everyone feels this level of love whether they acknowledge it or not.
That’s why people like Jesus and Buddha left such a mark in history, they lived what they shared, their words came from their livingness and that’s what makes what they shared so powerful. Those same words can be spoken by anyone, but the world today in all its disorder, chaos and lovelessness shows the same thing – we aren’t living those words. We could have churches on every corner but if the truth is not lived by those representing the great Masters of our past (such as Jesus) it can leave us feeling flat and empty. We are actually inspired by the truth being lived, that’s why Serge Benhayon is touching so many lives. The term “The Way of The Livingness” could not be more appropriate!
I relate very much to your childhood experience with religion – there was something, a potential at best that draw my curiosity at times but without any livingness of that potential by anyone of the parish it was just an empty facade of wannabe religion.
Yes, that is the sad thing about institutionalised religion, it has no livingness, it is an empty shell, cold, disconnected and dusty.
Whether we grow up going to church or not, we all grow up in a society where we learn to be ‘good’ people and citizens and the meaning of ‘good’ is very much tainted by institutionalised religion. The interesting thing is that we make it more about being ‘good’ than about being true or even honest, in fact it seems ok at times to lie for a good cause. And of course if there is ‘good’ then there is ‘bad’, so the world it polarised by this thriving to be good, it causes separation and therefore disconnection, conflict and war – some things that The Way of The Livingness does not foster at all, making it entirely about love and connection and nothing that gets in the way of this is accepted as truth.
I have been plagued by the notion of being ‘good’ and doing the ‘right thing’ for all of my life, both are yard sticks that scew life in a lop sided fashion rather than allow life to be all that it naturally is.
Yes, Rowena. The more I let go of the configurations that have held me identified with hurts and injustices, the more I return to a state of being that has always been there deep within me, a feeling so naturally loving and divine.
‘If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness’ Beautifully said.
Thank you Rowena, I love how you have re-defined the word religion simply by brining it back to your body and your way of life.
Rowena I love your lived experience of The Way of The Livingness, as you say “It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” There is something that is so powerful about this as its true religion and something that we naturally felt as children and are simply returning to.
“However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice” This is what I love about the teachings of Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness, it is the acceptance of being human and the knowing that we are innately divine, living with this knowing is what can set us free from the tyrants that often run in our heads and keep us imprisoned in what is for many a living hell. We can break free from the insidious mind and be impulsed by the same love that impulses life.
Very well said Rowena, our lives are made up of our choices and if we do not like our lives then it is up to us and only us to make more loving choices, we have no one to blame or find fault with. The more we live this way the more loving our choices naturally become and the more we actually start to embrace and enjoy life – do the opposite and we retreat and hate the world finding fault in everything rather than the learning and love that is on offer.
Rowena, I love how you say that religion is a way of life, not a set of rules. People often say that they do something religiously, meaning they will stick to whatever they are doing, because they have a constant rhythm with it. True religion is not a doctrine from the past but a lived experience within us, The Way of The Livingness is the way to live that.
The Way of The Livingness empowers us to make our lives all about love, integrity and discernment, qualities that are innate within us all but not nurtured in our current cultures. I am continually inspired by the teachings of Serge Benhayon, teachings that call on us to deepen our relationship with our inherent qualities of God on a daily basis, always with the end game of open heartedly serving humanity firmly fixed in our sights.
Living a religious life is The Way of The Livingness and The Way of The Livingness is a religious life.
“If my religion is the way to live then my religion is The Way of The Livingness”. Rowena, your story is similar to my story. Unfortunately I never felt truth in the organized religion I was attending. I always felt as a stranger and never felt a part of it even if I so much wished to be part, to belong.
Now I know I only can be part if I am truthful and loving to the best of my abilities, if I allow my awareness to grow and my love to deepen.
The Way of The Livingness… bringing religion from the confines of our restrictive, misinterpreted and power focussed organisations to truth. An ongoing exploration and commitment for us all. Thank you, Rowena.
The Catholic Church teaches us that we are born sinners – if that is the case, what’s the point? In truth it is just a ploy to maintain power over us. But these beliefs are insidious – I’m only 67 but I am still struggling with letting go of the belief that I am not good enough, that I’m always wrong, a ‘sinner’. The Catholic Church teachings are insidious, not geared to promoting good health and wellbeing, and, as we have seen from the many news reports, much of the Church is rotten to the core, with corruption, paedophilia and abuse. How come it has such a stranglehold over so many millions of people? Is it promoting the riches in Heaven and conning people that way?
What you share here Rowena is important to remember. That we are all on the same road and make different choices which have us ending up in all kind of different situations, but that does not say anything about the human being in which we actually are all the same; so there is no ground for judgement either.
“Church services were something we had to attend and I cannot remember one ‘sermon’ inspiring me in any way. I do remember the gossip after the service, which was all about what ‘Mrs So-and-So’ was wearing, or some scandal or other; I could feel this was all very unloving” – yes agree Rowena, churches for me were places of comparison amongst families and as i remember and recall comparison mostly of wealth, rank and importance given the donation basket that was handed around [all eyes watching the clinking amount of coins, or flashing of notes]. I always felt I was/we were/ that our mother felt it of herself too, never quite enough. The church was so far from loving and embracing.
I agree Ariana, it also supports us to take responsibility for all our choices and in every choice there is an opportunity to learn and grow.
I stayed clear of organised religion throughout my life because none of them felt true for me. I was open to seeing what they presented but what I saw lacked integrity, equality, love and truth. I had many questions to life that I didn’t find answers to in organised religion. The Way of The Livingness is the first religion that felt absolutely true for me, its teachings and presentations is of the highest level of integrity, love and truth. It inspired me to look within my inner heart for the answers to life and to always trust what I feel and to live love and truth consistently. It allows me to discern for myself what feels true or not and not an ounce of judgement because it is always about love first.
I found it quite a shock to realise that the New Age didn’t work, that it was actually quite harmful. A lot of knowledge but the knowledge didn’t truly support life.
Yes true, for a long time I thought the offerings within the New Age were an alternative to institutionalised religions, until I realised they are just the same thing in a new disguise, looking a little newer and more enticing but are just as devastating to people.
Religion was not for me either. Growing up I tried things because I knew there was more to life than what we see but like you, it left me feeling none of them felt true and all of them felt empty. Until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and I must admit when I heard the word (even though it was the true meaning of the word), religion presented here I flinched and squirmed a bit, but you are right in that The Way of The Livingness asks each and every person to be honest and evaluate how we are living which in turn equals responsibility. Now, this I can feel makes sense to me along with knowing we are far more than our physical body.
Your story could be my story Rowena! It was such an amazing feeling to find The Ageless Wisdom as Presented by Serge Benhayon and feel the truth that put life back into Religion for me. To at last understand where we came from and who we are, all equal Sons of God. What the true meaning of Life and Religion is through The Way of The Livingness. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to live with love and joy in my heart.
Nearly all religion has a seed of truth somewhere, and indeed all the mainstream religions find at their core the teachings of what one might call a prophet. Whether those teachings are truly reflective of the teachings of the original prophet is highly unlikely, especially given that more power is given in those religions to the study of the second hand words supposedly written about the teacher at the time than to actually living the tenets presented, and by applying it to one’s life, determining therefore if they are indeed true.
If we take for example, the tenet that some christians abide by that one must swear allegiance to Jesus in order to enter heaven. But what of the millions who never even met the man, or another christian for that matter. Obviously, this tenet when applied to real life is exposed for the probable falsity it is. And so we go on. Unfortunately, people tend to rely on faith as the basis for their religious experience, or, alternatively, pure cold reason. Both paths are indeed flawed and neither truly allows one to be truly open to understanding what true religion just might mean.
This is so true Rowena… “It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” We are born full of love, joy and vitality… and let that go when we don’t see it reflected back to us as we grow up – we enjoin, rather than holding that love, joy and vitality to show others there is another way to be in life. Thank God for The Way of The Livingness that is guiding and inspiring many to reconnect to their innate and natural love, joy, harmony and truth.
The Way of The Livingness is the only religion that I know of, that what is presented is lived.
It is truly amazing to be living a way of life …“that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others.” A simple, true and harmonious way of being in the world.
“Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” A simple way of living that allows us to be and grow with each other, that everyone can apply to their life and everyone benefits greatly from.
Rowena what you have shared is so powerful in its utter simplicity and absolute truth. For me simplicity and truth form part of the foundations of The Way of The Livingness, which, is in stark contrast to the feeling that I used to get from ‘traditional’ religion, which was one of complication and dishonesty.
It is never too late to allow ourselves to connect to what truly supports us and re-unites us. What an inspiration you are Rowena!
‘It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.’ This is gorgeous Rowena and I like to add where do you find a religion that instead of viewing the body as sinful, honours our bodies as the marker of truth.
Rather than continuing to fear making a mistake and being found out, I’m discovering being completely honest about choices I’ve made that have been less than loving, harmful even, is how I get to see that I am able to make different, more loving choices. I am not intrinsically bad for making such choices, indeed I do not want to make them now I am not caught up in the energy of the hurt that I was blinded by and can clearly see the harm.
Thank you Rowena, for your beautiful sharing of your discovery of a way of life that is full of inspiration. The Way of The Livingness has also greatly changed my life as I know understand what love truly is, how we can live in connection to and be guided by the love we are within. In this relationship with myself, I have rediscovered my relationship with God and as such my Divinity, which I now realise has always been there to embrace, as it is equally so for all of us. A religious way of life is one that I now cherish with all of me and I now live as best I can the love we are all here to live together.
I remember growing up listening to the ‘sermon’ in church by the different priests. I listened before I ended up checking out. They were these words that were supposedly the greatest story but I did not feel that in my body. There was no interaction just what was delivered on the day.
In the sermons at Universal Medicine interactions questioning is 100% encouraged to challenge and question how it is. This brings accountability and an honesty to how people are feeling. It represents how it is in society and the true account of religion thus bringing the congregation together.
I too experienced something missing and not whole in everything I encountered prior to meeting Serge Benhayon and The Way of The Livingness. What Serge presents is a religion and reconnection to that which lives naturally within the core of everyone. There is a great sense of coming home and no ownership as it is something that belongs to us (everyone) all equally and recognises all as equal – truly simple, joyful and liberating.
Just reading my comment I noticed for the first time there is a SMILE in the letter of the word SIMPLE – that made me smile and it is so true!
Rowena you say: “It was not until I was in my sixties when I began to listen to Serge Benhayon and go to the presentations he gave through Universal Medicine that I began to realise there was another way to live one’s life.” – but interestingly enough from Day one you share how you knew there was an emptiness and something missing in all else that had been presented to you. This is the experience of countless others. Therefore for us to know what is not true, not whole and not of love, we must already know what is true and that there is another way.
The simplicity of making choices that are loving to be a religious way of living and making unloving choices, simply meaning to not live religiously, exposes instantly every institutionalized as well as personal way of religion for what it is.
The Way of The Livingness has brought me back to religion and knowing I live a religious life through my connection to my inner self and my daily choices.
Hi Rowena, I can very much relate to the disillusionment with organised religion with all its hypocrisy, having grown up during the troubles in Northern Ireland. I too then dabbled in many new age practises, but was only able to re-connect to the love I’d been seeking all my life, when I walked in the door of Serge Benhayon’s clinic. Thousands of people have similar stories of finally having an experience of coming home.
When religion is about evolving back to where we come from rather that a glorious epiphany our relationship with everything can become alive.
I can sense the grandness of what you say Nicole, when we understand the true meaning of the word religion we connect with the grandness we are part of including its tiniest details and therefore our relationship with everything comes alive. I love it…
To be love is super inspiring to me. What this means in practical life is not a doing. It’s a way of being with oneself that asks for tenderness and a lot of delicate care for the body. It is through this instrument that we’re able to express the loving energy of our Soul. This requires surrendering to our body. But before doing so, could it be that we’re to start to make choices that support us and renounce choices that are toxic to our body?
No walls or special building can stop the love emanating out from within ..
Thank you Rowena for these gorgeously restoring words – that true religion “…is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.” I note your age and my whole body smiles with the knowing that it is never too late to return to the love that we are.
‘In Montreal, Canada in 1955 there were no civil marriages and one could only be married in a church!’ That really wasn’t that long ago.. it shows the hold institutionalised religions have had on society.
And our governments across the globe! The American dollar bill still has ‘In God We Trust’ on the back of the bill. The beginning of the inclusion of the phase started during the Civil War in 1861 by a Reverend that petitioned the Treasury Department to add a statement recognizing “Almighty God in some form in our coins” in order to “relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism”. It was also propagand against the Rebels in the confederate army.
The fear tactics have been used right through the centuries, from burning and skinning those who opposed views to todays promise of Hell forever after if one does not comply with the rules and donate money.
Yes, fear worked very well in the past but the right ideals and beliefs work very well even without fear.
Thank you Rowena, your simplicity and clarity of your expression is just grand. To live a religious life as such, which encompasses firstly the love and self care of self and then all others. How we and the world would change if we all reflected this as our living way of life.
Being religious is a way of living that expands us and our choices. To move and express in a way that shows and reflects who we are without perfection or fear, just the space to explore, learn and live in a way that supports joy and true vitality from our connection to our body. That sounds pretty awesome to me.
“I simply choose to have joy and love as my way of being which for me is now living a truly religious life, The Way of The Livingness” There is so much depth held in these words of the way we can live day to day, moment to moment and year on year. Ways that bring through the love and joy that we all naturally are.
‘…This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from.’ – Thank you for sharing this Rowena – I too have felt how non imposing The Way of The Livingness is – religion as I saw it told me that you have to be a certain way – but The Way of The Livingness simply brings in our responsibility to be all of who we are.
To me main stream religion is very sneaky there is some truth in what they espouse, but mostly it is a way to control people for lifetimes as once the energy enters by our permission into the body it is incredibly difficult to eradicate. Again to me it feels as though it has tendrils that find their way into every part of our body. And we have little awareness that these tendrils are there, however they colour our lives with ideals and beliefs which build pictures that we then live by. A bit farfetched some might say but from my own experience of ridding myself completely of the Roman Catholic faith from my body I have full awareness of how insidious the energy has been.
To me mainstream religions are based on controlling the thoughts and actions of the masses and if we just take a look around us this has not worked as there is something about being human that will not take to being suppressed in the way that main stream religion does suppress people. It may take a few life times but the strangle hold will be dissolved because the truth of true religion cannot be suppressed for ever.
Being left with the feeling of fear rather than love…that was my experience too. ‘I must be obedient’ rather than loving. It was a relief when I left that way of thinking behind.
Similar to you Rowena, I too was brought up around the Anglican Church, and although I too never experienced anything particularly unpleasant or out of the ordinary, it never felt right or true to me either. There was just an expectation that I would accept what I was told and not question what my parents believed. But I never considered myself to be religious and quielty reeled when I heard the word being used until I discovered Serge Benhayon and The Way of The Livingness, when I was able to understand the true meaning of the word religion: “If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others.”
I’m inspired by your words and story. They say that a leopard can’t change its spots, particularly as we get older. But you’re a living testimony that the expression isn’t true.
‘As you can see I did not have any bad experiences but I didn’t have any inspiring ones either.’ Like you Rowena I can say when I was growing up, being brought up as a Catholic, I did not have any bad experiences either, however that said what I bought into, and how I then felt about myself was a trauma compared to the love I knew to be true. The denial I was in because of the pain of having let go of the enormity of living the truth of God was absolute. This pain I discovered later was truly raw. Through the Ageless Wisdom teachings and The Way of The Livingness I have slowly been working my way back to living the truth of God again. Through all of this I have been inspired to keep working on buried issues, to let them go, freeing up my body to be more of myself and to live more and more the love that I am and the love I am returning to.
In accepting and appreciating that we are all (yes, every single human being on this planet) on a path of return back to the one truth, love and the divine essence we are irrevocably from, there is only brotherhood where there is no place for judgment, comparison or jealousy, that is a marker of individuality.
“Our lives are made up of our choices along the way as are the lives of others, and thus we can never judge or feel different from another as we are all travelling along the same road, making our choices every day”.
What you have shared is inspiring Rowena, and as an attendee of church in the 50 and 60 the feeling was one of never understanding what was being preached, because the words never came from love. What made the difference at the Universal Medicine The Way of The Livingness events is that the words rang true, and were presented from a loving Livingness, which means the words can be felt for the energy of truth they hold as they are being lived.
When we truly embrace the all that we all are, then the dogma of most organised religion can have no hold on us, in that there is nothing that we have to do except love ourselves and listen to what our inner heart will teach us to know and be again.
Like you I never had a ‘bad’ experience with religion as a child or as I grew up, but I always knew and felt that it was an empty vessel. I wonder if this is just as damaging as those that have been seriously imposed upon by religion, because for me it just left me with this very empty feeling about life “is this all that there is”…and also a distrust in myself and others….why else would we all be saying OK to something so purposeless and unsupportive of our truth; doing so caps us and holds us as less – but unless we actually have a ‘bad’ experience then what knocks the status quo. It is with huge self-appreciation that I can look back and feel that I wasn’t prepared to settle for this ‘less’ and thus I found The Way of The Livingness – my true religion.
How many of us have felt like, life had blown out our candle of love and joy we were born with and then spent years looking for the matches? When in truth our candle has never stopped burning, we have just chosen to turn our backs to it!
“This does require us to be absolutely honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting.” The Way of the Livingness encourages us to tenderly observe ourselves and through its teachings enables us to become aware of our innate qualities and virtues verses the beliefs and ideals we hold about ourselves. The more we focus on expressing our innate grace, the more the self-imposed constrictions fall away and revealing our natural joy and innocence.
‘Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others’ And in its simplicity this is the recipe for a disease and stress free life.
‘It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life’. I agree Rowena, at any age we can return to the purity and openness we felt as children.
The spiritual New Age seemed to promise much and many of the books I read and courses I attended offered ways of bettering life. It is true to say my life improved during this time. But is life about improving our lot or being all that we are? The Way of The Livingness offers the opportunity to reconnect to the truth that resides within us all – the Ageless Wisdom – from where it can be seen that we self-improvement is a ‘tempting morsel’ but actually a distraction from the ‘abundant feast’ that we truly are.
Before The Way of The Livingness my life, like so many others, had no direction or real purpose and certainly no real responsibility.
Beautiful Rowena and a joy to read about finding your true Religious way ” The Way of The Livingness ” the love that we all are simply lived. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine are showing the living way with true responsibility integrity and love.
“It was not until I was in my sixties when I began to listen to Serge Benhayon and go to the presentations he gave through Universal Medicine that I began to realise there was another way to live one’s life.” The same for me although I was 22 when I first had my session with Serge and the incredible changes I felt inspired to make in my life mean that I have developed a true relationship with religion and my everyday living way. One that deepens and evolves each day.
I used to think religion only stayed at churches and temples and separate from our daily life, and even a religion may tell us to pray at certain times of the day or go fasting or whatever, it all happened away from the ordinary everyday life. The Way of The Livingness is exactly as the name says. It is about how we live our life, it makes sense of EVERYTHING as everything is one life.
Religion can be either freeing or capping and stifling depending on the relationship we have with ourselves and with the religion we align to and follow. Having been raised in the Greek Orthodox church when young, I’ve certainly experienced the former – institutionalised religion that sets out to cap the man, woman and child into a subservient way of being, never knowing who they truly are. In this instance religion is corruption in one of its grossest forms.
Contrast that to The Way of The Livingness that asks nothing of you apart to live the the real you – without pressure, judgement or expectation. Simply with the understanding that everything we do, say and think has an impact on everything beyond what we can see and compute with our physical senses, and that deep within us rests an unyielding beauty and grace that is the essence of who we are – and that through our own honest and humble choices, we can then rekindle and activate to be the foundation of all our living ways.
The two ‘forms’ of religion could not be more different.
I loved loved loved reading this Rowena, thank you. A huge smile came to my face and burst out when I read the last line and thought how tremendous that you are choosing this and how inspiring to be doing this as an elder.
I also felt some ‘stuff’ I was carrying drop away when you reminded me of the power of choices, as I was choosing to carry it, so therefore I could choose to let it go.
Beautifully shared Rowena, thank-you. The Way of The Livingness is also for me, a way in which there is no dogma, no ‘double standards’, no falsity nor lack of love whatsoever. It is actually about the embodiment OF love, of the love that we innately are, and living in accordance with this in all aspects of our lives.
Rowena, thank you for sharing your expanding understanding of life and your place in it. The responsibility for the life we live and whether we choose to bring all of the love we are is up to us and as you have shared ‘Honesty’ is a part of that. Part of what I am starting to be more honest about is the beautiful, tender, fragile and loving woman I am – choosing holding this back would be dis-honest.
Rowena thank you for sharing your experience with living a religious life and The Way of The Livingness. I also had the experience like you did: “As you can see I did not have any bad experiences (with a religious life) but I didn’t have any inspiring ones either.” Since living The Way of The Livingness there is so much inspiration every day that life becomes so colorful and joyful that I will never stop living and breathing it.
‘A way of living that is full of love’ – yes to this, along with my understanding that my relationship with, and living of, love is deepening and evolving all the time
The Way of The Livingness presents teachings on the inherent beauty of responsibility, which is essentially what is being shared here and the joy that is living a life knowing this.
With The Way of The Livingness, there is nowhere to ‘get to’, we are simply returning to who we innately are, discarding all the ‘stuff’ from life that has weighed us down, dulling our light, distracting us away from our glorious selves.
I agree Alison, our selves are indeed glorious and if only we confirmed and celebrated this fact from birth then our whole experience of life would be radically different.
Rowena, I love your honest sharing of how ‘unloving’ your introduction to ‘religion’ felt. It’s interesting how we may present as being very ‘religious’ on the outside in our attendance to and participation with the church. However, if our religion is something we believe in unequivocally, our rock, the foundation from which we go about our daily lives, surely this should bring us enormous joy and a spring to our step, a glow from our heart. Yet, like you, this is not something I have witnessed or associate with organised religion, I’ve felt the opposite, more of a dour piousness or righteousness. The Way of The Livingness, on the other hand, supports us to simply live who we are, igniting the love and light that we hold within. The emanation from anyone choosing to live in this way, in connection with their inner heart, is truly gorgeous.
There is nothing more inspiring than meeting someone who makes true choices to engage responsibility with the part they play in humanity and who lives their talk.
The only time I’ve been inside a church is for weddings, christenings and funerals and in all these times I felt the sermons to be oppressive, judgmental, contradicting and quite dry. There was nothing tangible that I felt I could take away from them, so I was very disengaged. The Way of The Livingness, on the other hand, has always been extremely inclusive of all, supportive, practical and always looking at the bigger picture of life. It also holds you in the fullness you are and never sees you as less.
“I lived my life as best I could with integrity and truth, but there was always a feeling of lack there. I believed that I did not truly know what love was and how to be truly loving towards others; I looked for answers in many places along the way – the ‘New Age’ seemed to hold some interesting ones – but when explored further seemed as empty as religion had been.” I on the other hand was truly fooled by the ‘New Age’. I fell for it hook line and sinker. It took me until, fortunately, finding Universal Medicine that I realised what a elaborate lie it all was and how hoodwinked I had been. Thank God I was able to make some sense back out of life by attending workshops and talks with Serge. Oh my goodness where would we be without Serge Benhayon, our truest world teacher?
This for me is very pertinent and revealing…”Although I believed that Jesus had told his disciples to be loving there did not seem to be love anywhere, just fear that one would not be ‘good’ enough.” I remember feeling this way at Sunday school. I felt Jesus was deeply misunderstood. I remember feeling like he was my close friend and that everyone else had it completely wrong. My downfall however, was that I didn’t hold myself within this true love I felt from Jesus, ‘regardless’ of how the others thought of me. If I had seen myself in the way that Jesus saw me and appreciated and acknowledged myself and my absolute worth I would not have grown up thinking I was never ‘good enough’ for the people of this world. This has been my stigmata!
So with the support of articles such as these and The Way of The Livingness, we return to the inner knowing we have always had that has been overshadowed by expected behaviour and beliefs.
An inspiring blog that parallels the inspiring Way of The Way of The Livingness… simply love, truth and integrity in both, thank you Rowena for sharing.
I have felt the same Rowena – looking everywhere for true inspiration, nothing even came close until the day I attended my first Workshop with Universal Medicine and heard Serge Benhayon present – every part of my being knew that here was a man who knew and lived truth.
Rowena I can relate very much to what you’ve shared… it reminds me that I didn’t have any bad experiences with religion (though my contact and involvement was very minimal) but what I did have inspired or stirred nothing within me at all, I was left completely unmoved. The result was I felt religion was just man-made rubbish basically, and the concept that God was some almighty being looking down and ruling from the sky just didn’t gel with anything in me either. But yet I didn’t ever say I didn’t believe in God, nor did it stop me being completely engaged, inspired and re-ignited when I first came across Serge Benhayon, the healing modalities (which ignite the spark of God within) and the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom.
Thank you Rowena. Your story clearly demonstrates your lack of interest in a so called religious way that is devoid of love. When you found true religion being lived you said yes. Beautiful.
It is important to stress there are no rules with The Way of The Livingness as Rowena has done, we get so burdened by the rules and the roles and I would say it often stops many of us from making the choices we actually need to support us. We see this in diet and lifestyle where we are constantly defining ourselves by rules made up by people with hidden agendas; eg dairy is good for us, exercise with no pain no gain, etc etc, and yet within us all we know everything about what we need, and the more we connect to that fact, the more we master making the choices that are actually true for us and the rules can be left behind.
Majority of religions are based on control not love. The Way of the livingness insinuates no control, It only offers choices to bring one back to love.
I too feel inspired by The Way of The Livingness to recommit to life and to live with purpose in a deeply joyful way for which I am profoundly grateful to Serge Benhayon for. With his humility and lack of judgement he is constantly reflecting what it is to live a truly loving and religious life.
Honesty is the Best Policy! And also the only starting point for true healing.
Honesty is the door we open that leads the way back to the absolute truth we each in essence are.
Thank you Rowena for this honest and totally inspiring blog. How beautifully you express the truth of the Way of The Livingness as being a living way of being which is natural and innate within us all.
`’It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life`’.
Yes, if religion is about a way of life then I too feel very much as though The Way of the Livingness is my religion. Religion has always felt like a set of rules to me also, and hence it never ever gelled with me simply because of the hypocrisy I saw all around me. Living a life that is not striving for perfection and open to forever growing and loving and respecting myself first and then everybody thereafter feels very true.
Some may fight this because of how they have lived or been bought up thus far, “Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” But doesn’t it make complete sense?…..and I mean it’s simple physics really, you can only bring the level of care and love to someone that you first ground in yourself otherwise you are just bringing the belief of what you think it looks like. How can you truly understand something unless you have walked in it’s shoes and remember it growing up? How did you learn? For me it was from the tangible experience, this is where the most understanding and growth came from for me. So it would make sense that the love you are with yourself is then at your fingertips for others.
To have discovered the ‘Way of the Livingness’ and embraced it in you life at your age Rowena is a true blessing – for several reasons: often as we grow older we can be more set in our ways and it can be harder for some to embrace something new – you have stepped out of this paradigm and embraced the new (or rather the truly olde way of living that The Way of The Livingness represents) and also whatever we lay in place as foundation in this life will be there to support us in the next life. This is a beautiful opportunity that you have gifted yourself, to be deeply appreciative of.
Beautifully said Henrietta. Rowena’s choices remind me that it is never too late to begin something true.
Beautifully said, Henrietta …. I witness a lot of older people just giving up on life, feeling an emptiness within, but being unable, or unwilling to consider that the gift lies within, in simply re-connecting with our inner heart. Rather there can be a stubborn-ness in holding onto what is familiar, even if it is love-less and does not truly support.
Rowena, I love the simplicity of your description of religion and a religious way of life: “If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness. This is not a set of rules one should live by or a list of things one should not do – it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.”
Awesome Henrietta – bring it on! That is what, in truth, we all signed up for.
I love this quote – bringing the simplicity of religion and our choices to our awareness, and relinquishing any rule book that sets us up to fail.
Thank you Rowena, nothing makes sense to me but love, it answers all questions and fills all voids. Love is the essence of who we are and the essence of God, as such love is true religion.
When I consider how much love, joy, harmony and wisdom I experience through The Way of The Livingness and how it all makes sense and is empowering, as opposed to my experience of conventional religions each riddled with dogmas, dictations and inconsistencies which impose, patronise and leave you feeling unworthy and disempowered, I wonder how on earth did we, humanity, allow such a blatant misrepresentation of the truth of religion for so long.
Thank you Rowena, that is very very well said.. So we are to see that religion is not insitualised, but a way of living that is in ones heart, and that is expressed through your heart to one purpose – God.
Thanks for sharing your experience of religion, Rowena, these words struck me: ‘Although I believed that Jesus had told his disciples to be loving there did not seem to be love anywhere’ because there are many times in my life when the words ‘Jesus loves you’ were bandied about, but in truth I don’t think I understood what the word ‘Love’ truly meant until I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
There is no point in considering whether Jesus loves us – or whatever else many religions might tell us – if we don’t first truly understand the word ‘love’.
Listening to presentations by Serge Benhayon answered all the questions I’d been wondering about and trying to understand through many activities and searches. What has been and continues to unfold is the depth of answers I haven’t even thought to ask yet. This is the really wondrous part of The Way of the Livingness I’ve discovered. I might feel a little uncomfortable at times with the call to be as grand and equal as a Son of God, but I’ve lived long enough to know that the quest for understanding through my mind is not the answer. The Way of the Livingness offers connection truth, love and wisdom through our inner heart, soul and divine origins. I’m very much appreciative of being a student of The Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon unfolding back to all I already am.
Rowena, I too found that The Way of The Livingness answered so many, if not all, questions I had been asking myself for years…and then some more. The clarity, common sense approach is not like anything else I have truly experienced. With love at it’s core, The Way of The Livingness shows the way forward, a way we all wish in our hearts life to be.
There is a huge industry around the ‘issues’ we have, analysing the different things that can come up, or offering redemption or forgiveness for acting a certain way. But very few seem to be able to access and understand all life’s events as a gift. This is what makes The Way of The Livingness come alive and show what true Religion is. For every moment relates to your choices and your healing. To focus on past events in history, misses the point – it was never about the situations per se but us choosing Love and integrity. Let’s never let this become dry and dead in an old book when we can live the truth today in every walk, every hug, every look. Thank you Rowena.
Thank you for sharing your journey Rowena and what you now see as a true religion in your life. I can say that The Way of The Livingness is also a religion for me – and whilst I was not particularly affected by the church, like you it did nothing to inspire me. So what I live now is real – it calls to account responsibility and integrity in a whole new level and I can see how I am a sum of all my choices.
If I’m truly honest I bastardised The Way of The Livingness and made it about rules – which is not true – it’s only now I am beginning to live the work.
The Way of The Livingness is certainly a true religion that brings love to all those who chose to listen.
The Way of the Livingness has renewed my love of religion, as it is about true union and equality with self, others, God and the Hierarchy knowing we are all one.
Religion can be super simple, and super practical. Committing to a loving relationship is in itself a ‘religious’ activity, when you understand ‘religion’ as a consistent dedication to there being ‘more’ in life, e.g. being love, working together in brotherhood and making choices in the knowing that we’re part of a greater universe.
‘I simply choose to have joy and love as my way of being which for me is now living a truly religious life, The Way of The Livingness.’
I love this. Growing up I felt the lack of love in the church experiences I thought religion equalled this. I knew there was more but any mention of God or religion had me reacting. So it’s wonderful to allow myself to be reunited with what is truly religious and that is the love and joy we all share within. I have no issue with being religious anymore but celebrate this as it celebrates me.
“but the religion taught there was so ‘dead’: it was simply a set of rules of things one should not do, some moral values which were worth living by, but that was all.” I haven’t thought of religion in this way before but you’re spot on Rowena. My experience of Christianity growing up, both at school and at home was a set of rules without any understanding or livingness to bring them to life. When I was old enough to be left at home on my own, I would pretend to still be asleep on Sunday mornings so I wouldn’t have to go to church. Fast-forward 35 years and I now consider myself to be a deeply religious person. My religion is The Way of the Livingness – a religion that is vital, alive and can only be truly felt when it is lived. Religion is our personal relationship with God and every relationship changes – either with evolution or involution, so it makes perfect sense that religion has to be lived for us to evolve.
Great blog Rowena. Loved reading every bit of it. The presentations of The Way Of The Livingness have become something I want to attend with all my heart and my whole being. Not something I dread or feel I have to do like church often was for me.
Thank you for sharing Rowena – The Way of the Livingness is continuously inspiring me in so many ways – not to be something, in fact it inspires me to return to all that I already am.
Rowena, I love this statement ‘It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.’ as it sums up in essence so clearly what the Way Of The Livingness supports with. Letting go of investments, letting go of the need of security, letting go of hurts and allowing oneself to live in the moment like children is entirely liberating.
I never ever thought for one moment that I would ever say I was religious and that I had a religion as for the majority of my life what I saw and felt instituionalised religion to be was so far away from what I felt it was supposed to be. When Serge Benhayon first presented about The Way of The Livingness” I had a few ‘oh no not another religion’ moments but it didn’t take long to realise that this was the true religion that I had been looking for, for a very long time. Today it feels so natural to say that The Way of The Livingness is my religion.
Life becomes so simple if we just choose to live a way of life that is religious in itself, a way of life as being presented by Serge Benhayon as the Way of The Livingness.
What I love about The Way of The Livingness is that it is not that set of rules you mentioned but something that can only be experienced when you live your life and apply what you have learned and being very aware of your choices every day. Also to focus on self-love and care as its foundation makes a lot of sense to me.
True religion means there are no rules, no dogma, no getting it wrong or right and no following of anything or anyone. It’s just about rebuilding a connection to my body so that I can better listen to what I really feel to do, and paying attention to how and what I’m feeling within and around me.
When we see that we’re all travelling along the same road, ultimately heading in the direction, it makes judgment and comparison look totally ridiculous: unnecessary and unreal layers that just slow us down and try to take us off course.
Thank you Rowena for the reminder that our ‘faults’ and ‘failings’ are actually our creations, creations we can deconstruct and choose to not have anymore and that it is very simple. What complicates it is when we give ourselves over to and make the creations bigger than us, which they are not.
Beautifully claimed, Rowena – “If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness.” The same goes for me, and this way of life allows my love for myself and for humanity to deepen every day, as I reclaim the sacredness within me that is equal in everyone.
My experiences were similar to yours Rowena, I had a huge fear and guilt around religion and the way I lived as a sinner brought many heavy judgements. Meeting Serge Benhayon changed that completely. We are love and we come from love, it could not be simpler. We are not perfect so we make mistakes but what you say that Serge presents is clear “Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” What a contrast.
My experience too is that organised religion keeps us away from the truth of love and joy you describe Rowena. Here indeed in The Way of The Livingness is found a religion of true love, a way of learning to love oneself, of nurturing oneself and from there, to love and nurture others.
This is so inspiring Rowena. The lovelessness and then a life full of love is such a contrast. No, religion doesn’t make sense if there is no love being lived.
Interesting how religious education in a religious school is based on such a poor and reduced version of what it is all about.
I remember as a child being told to pray that “God would make me a good girl tomorrow” This meant that it was up to God or not whether I was good, taking the responsibility away from me completely. What was good? As a child it meant doing what your parents or elders said, ‘doing what I say and not what I do’, helping others, putting others first,. There is very little, if any, allowing of the child’s own inner knowing or expression in this, unless of course it was deemed cute or clever in the adults eyes and then of course it is not really taken very seriously because this is a child after all. How damaging this can be and no wonder it takes us a while to recover and find ourselves again.
Similarly to you I attended church services in my youth (an Anglican boarding school – so six services a week) – but never felt drawn to immerse myself in that religion. I too experimented with so many spiritual new age modalities, but none lasted long on account of the hypocrisy I saw there. However on attending Universal Medicine presentations and being introduced to the Way of the Livingness, l felt like I had come home – and belonged. Everything Serge Benhayon has talked about makes sense and he walks his talk.
Yes Sue, Serge Benhayon walks his talk consistently. No-one is ever seen as less or broken and that in itself is why I feel so many flourish and blossom back to who they truly are. All the beliefs and ideals that are taken on from different organised religions are then usually discarded simply and easily.
Such a beautiful post Rowena. ‘ I simply choose to have joy and love in my life as my way of being which for me is now living a truly religious way of life, The Way of The Livingness.’ Now that is inspiring.
‘This does require us to be absolutely honest with ourselves and at first this can be confronting. However, once we look at our perceived ‘faults’ or ‘failings’ we see them as being nothing other than our own creations from which we can choose to rid ourselves very easily, or not… it is always our choice.’ If we truly seek change in our lives, the only way forward is with complete honesty – as you have shared, it’s often not nearly as bad as we imagine it to be.
A beautiful sharing of a very inspiring religion and way of life, Rowena – one which I feel very blessed to call my religion also.
Life is to make sense. Life makes sense, if its lived truthfully. With an open heart that is connected to the whole we belong to, including ourselves. The Way of The Livingness is very precious to me. It is my own forever developing relationship with myself, my body, people around me, nature and God. Thank you dearly Serge Benhayon and the many, many other students of The Way of The Livingness for lighten up The Way for all (A L L ! !) of us to one day unite in brotherhood once again.
“If religion is a way of life then my religion is The Way of The Livingness” super line Rowena.. The Way of The Livingness arising the truth of who we truly are, the surrendering to no wars inside us, or with others.
Beautiful sharing Rowena, thank you. I too had an Anglican upbringing and curiously one of the things I recall most was the ‘gossip’ that went on after the services and how incongruent it all seemed with the ‘rules’ we were just being told about a few minutes earlier. I couldn’t get my head – or perhaps my heart – around the idea of God being judgmental either. Why would this immense being full of love, give his children the gift of free-will – only to judge them for using it? The Way of The Livingness is a homecoming for me, a religion that is lived from within, honouring the age-old wisdom shared by many a great teacher that ‘The Kingdom of God is Within You’. My whole being has opened up to this way and this truth in confirmation – a very different experience from those early days in church.
The Way of The Livingness, a way of living that is there for all, a loving way that we can all choose.
It can indeed be confronting to be absolutely honest with ourselves but as you show it needn’t be a drama either – we can simply learn from what we see we have chosen and commit to the kind of choices we want to make moving forwards.
Awesome Rowena great to hear your story, I too have found little inspiration in the main stream religion that I was brought up with. The Way of The Livingness is out of this world in how deeply loving and super inspiring it is.
It is so easy for us to blame how we are feeling on what happens in our lives, however if we were willing to begin to look at what led to those things happening and the part we had to play in them which comes down to our choices, then perhaps we would understand that if we approached life in a different way, we could change the course of our future. This is exactly what The Way of the Livingness offers to us – a simple, unimposing way to live that has the potential to change our lives in a way that supports everyone, and not just individuals.
Like you Rowena I live in a way that appreciates me and all that I do and bring to this life and by appreciating myself I can appreciate others too. This has allowed me to take a step back from life and what I see is that most people are in overwhelm not coping which produces a nervous tension in the body and everyone seems to be in reaction to the tension they are feeling, and to not feel the tension people are using drugs, food, drink to numb themselves. I was living in this disconnected way too, until I met Serge Benhayon and listened to his presentations on the Ancient wisdom and The way of The livingness, slowly I have changed my whole life around from one of living in nervous tension and overwhelm to one of deep appreciation and can say that living The way of The livingness is actually very freeing as it has freed me from the nervous tension I was living in and the relief I can feel in my body is huge, it actually feels settled.
I didn’t go to church very often but like you Rowena I was not inspired by any of the sermons. Just the way it was delivered would switch me off let alone being able to understand what the vicar was trying to say it all felt very pious and unreal. I dabbled in the New Age too but again nothing really inspired me and the longer I dabbled the more things didn’t add up. When I met Serge Benhayon it was more what he didn’t say that caught my eye and the way he presented wasn’t to tell me what to do or to try and hook me in that I had felt with other presenters. Through his presentations I have come to see that The Way of The Livingness is my religion too, not because I am told it should be, but because I can feel it in every cell of my body.
From young I obeyed my parents, practised religious rituals and attended weekly church services and participated in ceremonies, births, christenings, weddings, deaths. If this was religion I didn’t feel or understand it, it was a duty and I went through the motions. Now religion has true meaning: it comes from within in, it isn’t something I do , it is something I am and live. From being told divinity was something outside of me and unobtainable, I now know divinity lives within me.
Thank you Kehinde, this is beautiful what you have shared. And if I may add…without purpose working through our body, religion is empty, it is as you have shared here Kehinde, a process of going through the motions. But once we connect with the true purpose, when we connect with the fact that religion is not about attending some church and saying your prayers, that religion is so much more as it starts in the simplicity of one’s inner heart and is to do with ones own connection with one’s own grandness that is actually the grandness of everyone…and that true religion has a purpose…then we know that love and purpose to flow through our veins, and then there is a meaning and a pulse to live in that way only as our true way of living. This gives religion back its meaning. We cannot adopt an outside version of religion without at some point feeling an emptiness within. Only a true inner version of religion offers us the settlement of knowing its truth, yet at the same time offers us the challenge of growth and of deepening this relationship forevermore.
Thank you Rowena, I know exactly what you mean about your previous religious experiences, I too found attending Church sounded good but felt as dry as toast. The Way of The Livingness restores a rich sense of love and purpose, coupled with some very accessible tools to empower us to become aware of our innate wisdom, graciousness and integrity, restoring a steadfast vibrancy and joy to everyday life once more.
Being absolutely honest with oneself is challenging but so worthwhile and healing. If you can be totally honest with yourself you have no need to protect yourself from any lies or falsehoods about you, regrets or feeling the pain of unresolved hurts. This means you can have confidence and trust in yourself, which enables you to be open and honest with others.
Rowena I love what you have shared here from the points about there being a lack in life before, that it was missing something to your discovery of The Way of The Livingness and what it’s about most importantly “it is a way of evolving back to where we came from. It is a way of living that is full of love “. What more could we be looking for in life?
What freedom and joy for the word religion to be re-claimed and confirmed in blogs such as this. So many of us ran a mile from false and bastardised religions, we voted with our feet and ended up in a wilderness for many years seeking truth. Not until I was presented with The Way of The Livingness’ were my inner feelings of divinity and something grander confirmed. True religion lives within each one of us, we just need to connect to it. And when we do, love, its heartbeat walks with and is expressed through us.
How true this is Kehinde ..”True religion lives within each one of us…” and it has been Serge Benhayon and The Way of The Livingness that reflected and confirmed this so.
‘It is a way of living that is full of love – towards ourselves, our bodies and towards others. It is a way of returning to the love and joy we felt as children before we became overwhelmed by life.’ I haven’t come across another religion that feels so unifying and that actually lives the love it talks about. The Way of The Livingness is a religion that feels true, like no other.
“Here was a way to live that was truly loving, a way to learn to love oneself, to nurture oneself and from there to love and nurture others.” The Way of The Livingness calls for true purpose in every choice we make so that true love becomes our way of being.
The Way of The Livingness inspires me every day to live from an inner knowing which is already there and not to live from outside rules, dictations, expectations, ideals and beliefs.
As you say, institutionalised religions are a somewhat joy-less affair and mainly a set of strict rules that, we are assured, lead somewhere better and brighter by virtue of adhering to them. Strange concept, is it not? Why not life differently now?
‘I was sent to an Anglican Girls Grammar School but the religion taught there was so ‘dead’. I can really relate to this, not because I went to a religious school but because religion taught at my school was so dead. The sad thing is there is nothing dead about true religion, as true religion is a constant evolving that asks you to be more, it is enriching and very much alive.