325 thoughts on “Claiming Back Religion”

1. The Joy and appreciation we have for being connected to our Essence, Inner-most / Soul seems so natural as you have shared Stephen, and should be the foundation we have from a young age and then we can live in this religious way until we pass-over, so we can return in the incarnation truly evolved from what has been lived.

2. “This is religion that stems from within – it is impulsed and drawn out by our own experiences”. The complete opposite to what is institutional religion, governed by rules, dogma and regulations, and for me totally removing me from my own inner self.

3. Thank you Stephen, it’s an extraordinary read and I feel my understanding of what you have shared has really deepened. Religion is innate, it’s not an outer study, it’s an inward one because the being we are comes from God, so knowing our true selves is the gateway back to God and understanding the grandness we are all equally from.

4. “intuited common sense”, I love that because if we use our common sense we know exactly what is decent and respectful and what is not. We don’t need commandments or doctrines, we simply need to trust our simple, ordinary, no bells and whistles common sense and to be able to honour that.

5. To be honest I don’t feel that we as a race of human beings fully realise just how saturated and ingrained the consciousness of religion is in our bodies. This consciousness is held deep within us and not only does it crush our innate sense of being, it colours how we are with ourselves, how we are with other people and the rest of society.

   1. I would agree Mary, most of us are not aware of the impact that the religiousness consciousness still holds over us, we do not, ‘fully realise just how saturated and ingrained the consciousness of religion is in our bodies.’

6. “This way of living does not have rules and boundaries, just a knowing that we all hold something magical that is there to reignite; an ever-evolving relationship with religion, through oneself, with others, with life itself” – this is very beautiful.

7. Religion can be a way of life that nurtures and develops a stronger connection with our essence which is divine and way grander than just the physical human existence we experience. Super simple and accessible for all.

8. ‘I now know without a doubt that religion truly is something that comes from our own connection to ourselves and to God’ – I wish someone had presented this when I was growing up. Instead I was polluted with the community I was born into and its religion, which many times, I could feel just didn’t feel right.

   Wouldn’t it have been awesome as a child to be offered this, to connect with ourselves so we could see the God that is within us all – our religion.

   1. Yes, it would. It is hard to undo the parenting we have done, but to understand that we can re-assess in any moment.

   2. It would have been awesome to have been offered this understanding of religion as a child, ‘to connect with ourselves so we could see the God that is within us all’.

9. I love your expression here Stephen about religion and the way you describe it resonates deeply with me as something that is innate and inbuilt in us and not something we have to subscribe to or join or sign up to.

10. The Way of the Livingness is a true religion, it doesn’t impose on you in any way and offers a living way that is unifying and embracing of everything and everyone.

    1. It is great that we now have understanding and embodying on what true religion is, as opposed to the false version of religion that turned many people away from ‘religion’.

11. Stephen I really enjoy your writing, it has an earthy warmth, clarity and common sense, thank you. This is a great read on religion and claiming back what we all innately know that is decent, respectful, loving and true. And this is a great line too highlighting the difference between honouring that which we know is innately true, and giving our power away to religion, to – “something that is external to the everything we already are.”

12. Our natural state of being is one that is religious in nature, as through our connection to our Soul our relationship with God and the universe that we are part of is known. And so, the question we should be considering is what it is that we are obedient to? The light we are within where we are at one with God, or the false lights that exists outside of us and lead us away from living in connection to our innate Godliness, where religion is simply an externalisation of our connection to our divinity.

    1. A beautiful sharing Carola, connecting with our inner-most allows us to know God, ‘Our natural state of being is one that is religious in nature, as through our connection to our Soul our relationship with God and the universe that we are part of is known.’

13. The day humanity learn that true teachings have to deeply resonate in our body, everything will change.

14. ‘This way of living does not have rules and boundaries, just a knowing that we all hold something magical that is there to reignite’ When we are able to hold and just be that magical quality in our interactions our relationships are forever expanding, deepening and evolving.

    1. Yes, truly magical because we start to clock that we live a fraction of what is available to us.

15. To call myself religious was a big step for me. I could feel how much I was put off by the word religion as I was growing up and how capped people felt in their chosen religions. There was a point where the relationship with another would only go to a certain point. There was no true depth to a real truth. When I developed a relationship to my innermost sacredness I could start to feel the qualities of my essence. I remember one day during a healing session I felt something incredible during the session — we both felt it. I said to them that I felt God and the practitioner very joy-fully agreed. I was floating in heaven. It changed my life from then on to know I can call on God to be with me when I needed it. I am claiming back my religion and know my father is there whenever I need him.

    1. It’s a beautiful sharing thank you Rik, and it highlights that religion is our own personal relationship with and connection to God, no intermediary or special person is needed because we are all equally able to be connected to God.

    2. What an incredible session Rik, that allowed you to feel your essence and connect with God, realising he is always there for/with you, ‘I can call on God to be with me when I needed it.’

16. “Observe young children and their innate acceptance, care and trust in others will become evident.” I remember someone saying to me that it is a developmental stage to stop trusting and a sign that the brain is developing well. I find that odd because it is like saying we have to learn to excuse people who choose dishonesty over those who are naturally honest….that sounds the wrong way round to me.

17. I like this line about an outer faith or obedience not being the marker for the true qualities that person brings. This takes away all of the disempowerment that can come from organised religious faith, and brings back to each person the fact of their soul.

18. I love that I now know the true meaning to the word religion and that I no longer react to this word because I know what it means and how I am with this in my own life. In fact knowing and being able to live religion in my daily life has been a real blessing.

    1. I am with you Jennifer. It is incredibly joyful to know that being religious is very natural for us, as we are in essence the love of God and as such inescapably part of a greater whole, and living in connection to this innate quality, moved by this quality is what supports us to live our divine sacredness as such enriching our everyday lives.

    2. The true meaning of the word religion is very beautiful, ‘In its true energetic meaning Religion simply is that which re-unites human beings with the Divinity they already are by Essence.’ Unimed Living, Unimedpedia-word index, Religion.

19. Religion is by-and-large a matter of faith. In truth it is about movement of a deep beauty and quality by which we cannot but surrender to the deepest of our essence; divinity.

20. I love here that you say religion is something that comes from our own connection. It is a personal relationship yet on the whole as humanity I would say currently we do not truly have this and instead use religion to not take responsibility for our relationship with ourselves and own innate connection. To my surprise what I discovered the other day was also how people assume someone’s religion. In one of the places I work when having a conversation with first a young person and then a member of staff both assumed I was Christian (which I am not) and would celebrate Easter! This opened my eyes to just how much we assume about another without truly knowing them or speaking with them.

21. I felt my body breath as I read the last line of this blog ‘grounded in intuitive common sense’. It is a constant unpeeling of the bastardisation of words and their meanings. Religion has such a polarising effect on people that it is often a topic to steer clear of, but then we allow that re-interpretation of a word, then we contribute to the bastardisation. Religion should be about a connection with God through our connection with ourselves and our movements that reflect that relationship with God. It is not about theory, it is felt and lived from the body in our movements, with ourselves and others equally.

22. “at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.” true religion is not found in a church or temple or something outside of ourselves, it is within our own temple, our own body, where our divine essence lives.

    1. It would be incredible to feel and observe if we all accepted ourselves, and each other.

23. I agree that there is something deeply beautiful about many people coming together under the one unified purpose of embracing divinity. However, I do find myself asking if this is what happens in church, and if in fact it were possible to live in this embrace instead, so that every moment with every person is under this intent, making life one massive congregation?

24. I was thinking about how God has been presented to me when I was young and grew up in a family that would go to church every weekend. I remember I was trying to pray to God when I was lying in my bed, but it did not resonate in myself or feel real, but what I do know is when at school we were told about Jesus, something did resonate, a deep love within myself and for all people.

25. I grew up in Religion and the endless searching to find God, thank Heaven for Serge presenting to us The Way of the Livingness which I have come to understand and know is true Religion. No more outward searching but and inward connection, a returning to the light of my Soul.

    1. True religion I can, and do embrace, ‘“A true religion will realise you as the Son of God first. It will then describe the fall away from that truth and why we do not see ourselves as the true Son. It will teach the fact that we are all the Sons of God, equally so, and then teach about the hindrances (the gunas) that stop us from realising it for ourselves. This is truth in word and this message is there in all Divine word that has not had man’s interpretation on it, no matter what religion.”

       Serge Benhayon
       A Treatise on Consciousness, p 136

26. Thank you Stephen. As a child I used to go to church, and if I am honest, I could feel then that many people lived a very different life, yet were seen to be good people because they were regular church goers. For me Religion is something we hold from within and we don’t need to go anywhere to worship, because if we allow it, God’s work is being done through every exchange we have in life and everything we do.

27. “Throughout time, people have been divided and diminished by religion, and violence has often been used to control and to conquer”. Given this its no wonder there is much reaction against religion, including my own. The question I have as a result of this is does our current thinking on religion work? What has it brought us as communities living together?

28. I love how bringing true understanding of what religion is makes it so simple. It is a movement we express from our bodies in every moment and the quality in which we move can be one of love or one of drive and or push. Showing us just how simple it is to connect to our inner divine in any movement we make everyday.

29. My religious upbringing was a box-ticking exercise. Learn to tie your shoes, clean up your room, learn to read and write, go to church to get confirmed and learn how to drive a car. These were on the list. As I ventured into the world, religions and their dogmas felt wrong and confining. Why would you willingly join a group that if you were not good, you would go to hell, that’s a bit hard! The Way of The Livingness is what is contained within everyone and has no walls only openness.

    1. In the church communities throughout my life, I have noticed there is an embracing of community and it gives people a sense of purpose above self.

    2. Love that viewpoint Steve, haha, so true, ‘Why would you willingly join a group that if you were not good, you would go to hell, that’s a bit hard!’

30. There is a beautiful simplicity in The Way of The Livingness, no dogma or beliefs that build walls or create division amongst us, just a livingness of what we know from our inner-most, something that we can continually unfold and learn more about.

31. “This is religion that stems from within – it is impulsed and drawn out by our own experiences.” How very true it doesn’t come from what we are told or what we read it comes from a natural way of being, when we are young, when we feel everything that is going on around us and haven’t yet come to depend on what others tell have told us. We trust what we feel, not having been influenced into trying to fit in with other peoples traditions, cultures, ideals and beliefs. We innately know the truth and when we don’t live it it causes disturbances in the body, for example we begin to doubt the inner wisdom we all naturally have. Imagine if we weren’t taught to see other people as different, as less or better, with no judgement or comparison, simply accepting and respecting our fellow human beings.

32. I came from a very religious family and perhaps that is why I grew up so confused. The religion that we were part of made little sense to me and when we find out the truth of its origins and the atrocities throughout history caused by this institution, it is the most refreshing thing to find true religion and find out that I was not odd in what I would think or feel.

    1. True and I wonder if that is why people start new orders of old religions – to try to get away from the horror that was done ‘in their name’.

33. The title ‘claiming back religion’ reminds me how it is up to us to, through the way we live what we know truth to be, bring back truth to the meaning of words.

34. So true – we do know how to be loving and caring without church telling us how to do it, it is something we already are. Claiming back the word religion and living its true way is so empowering, and its meaning keeps on deepening as we keep on surrendering to who we truly are.

35. I know when Serge first started mentioning the word religion there was a lot of tension and some resistance within me. My experiences with the world religions did not leave me with an openness to what religion truly is about. The care, understanding and love with which Serge allowed the healing of the bastardisations and belief and the acceptance of true religion to unfold is a perfect example of how true religion brings one back to the deep connection to God from within.

36. Stephen I can relate to so much of what you say. I was taught about the ecumenical movement and tolerance yet at the same time was taught if someone did not believe in God or had a different faith (which was a sin) then they were going to be sent to hell – so it was not stacking up. I always knew there was a God but began to test his love for me because of what I saw going on around me that was not love. We are all deeply sensitive and The Way of The Livingness, honours this within us all – not asking us to be anything rather to return to the love that we all are.

37. It is about time we limit the use of the expression ‘a religious family’ to refer to a family that is in religion (re-binding, re-connecting, re-turning).This makes sense, because deep enough, religion is a pattern of movement.

38. There is no more beautiful feeling than to be religious (in union) with ourselves, the acceptance of ourselves no matter what choices we have made is a miracle that opens up our acceptance of the world and in an instant we let in more of the world and our entire universe expands. Living religion is an universal expansion.

39. Love what is shared here Stephen, as it highlights how we all had a natural sense of true religion when we were young, through to our connection to our inner-most essence, to our truth within. We are all naturally religious, and as we are the Sons of God it is our innate way of being to live in connection to God through our connection to Soul. The fact is that we are always in a relationship with the oneness of God, the universe and all it encompasses including all of humanity, this is inescapable. As such when we embrace, honor and surrender to all that is on offer through this relationship, true religion is naturally lived.

    1. Beautifully expressed Carola, we are innately connected to our Soul and to God, ‘We are all naturally religious, and as we are the Sons of God it is our innate way of being to live in connection to God through our connection to Soul. The fact is that we are always in a relationship with the oneness of God, the universe and all it encompasses including all of humanity, this is inescapable.’

40. I can place trust in that too Stephen. If I am asked to take more responsibility for my own behaviour and can offer more to others as a result, that is the religion I can be part of.

41. True Stephen we are all naturally religious, connected to a wisdom in our body we can only avoid feeling but is always there for us. And the next quote is deeply resonating within me ‘at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.’ This is knocking out any ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, there is no judgement possible.

42. Being religious is so natural that any external theory becomes strange when not related with what we feel within ourselves. The experience always precedes the theory, not on the contrary.

43. The thing I never got about religion before The Way of The Livingness, is that t all seemed to revolve around fear, the fear of God, the fear of hell and the so called devil. Love was commonly talked about but it never felt true.

44. This is great Stephen, and it raises a question? Could it be that religion or should I say True Religion has never divided people but as you have shared Stephen, “people have been divided and diminished by religion, and violence has often been used to control and to conquer. Therefore I often ask myself, what does this form of religion bring us and why would we need to have faith in something that is external to the everything we already are”? This feels like it comes from a lack of trust we have allowed in and a straying from the deep wisdom we all have within, but constantly choose to block – often by giving our power to institutions who claim to have the answer.” So True Religion is about our divine connection to our Soul, which is us holding the Love we are and appreciating a life that is Soul-full to the best of our ability!

45. How refreshing is it to know that there is a way of living that is respectful and decent to others. That simple step means everything to me, for it innately says we are all worth being treated with respect, every single one of us.

46. ‘religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience’. Well said Stephen – obedience to our true nature.

47. The best way to ‘thank God’ is not to stick to man-made rules but to live as the sons of God that we are, reflecting and living divinity here on earth.

48. “an ever-evolving relationship with religion, through oneself, with others, with life itself. This is religion as we can all know it… grounded in intuitive common sense.”
    Beautifully said Stephen, through this every evolving relationship our eyes continue to see more, our ability to read and feel is reawakened and the depth of our innate wisdom resurfaced.

49. “Religion for me stems from within and is about acting with integrity, considering everyone in our actions and taking responsibility for our life.” Although this is what most religions profess to be about, it is not neccessarily the case, often with the clergy/priests etc preaching one thing but then living another. But the Way of the Livingness as taught by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine is a religion that includes every aspect of life with the utmost integrity, leaving no area or person more or less improtant than another and where responsibility for all that we do is key.

50. I was reading recently about how in the dark ages the Religion of the day would send out the priests and monks into the community and rather like the sales people of today, sell the idea that if you want a fast track to heaven then you must give the church your money and the church fathers would guarantee you a place in heaven. No wonder there are certain religions that are sitting very pretty on a mountain of ill gotten money and investments, through the miss selling of God. And I wonder if that is why so many people don’t want to have anything to do with God because they can feel in their bodies they were ‘ripped off’ and instead of blaming the church, or themselves because they were ripped off as it were, they blame God.

    1. I have a nose for a sales pitch and really struggled with this idea of what can happen if we ‘tow the line’.

51. The ‘religion that stems from within.’ I love this sentence. Our innermost, our essence, is the place where each and every one of us can connect deeply with ourselves and with God.

52. God seeks no reward, only that we live true to who we really are, and even when we don’t he does not judge us.

53. The beauty of knowing God inside us cannot ever be taken away from us and this is something Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine offer us all to know again and reclaim true religion as our living way in connection with the all in our deeply beautiful connection with ourselves lovingly.

54. For me it has always been about my connection with God. Even through being brought up catholic it didn’t feel true to me but always knowing that it was my relationship with God that mattered.

55. It is really beautiful to feel religion is not boud to any of the buildings we see around like churches or mosques but lives inside us every single moment of the day.

56. People love to live in a community. It is the natural way to live so I agree most people join churches to feel that they are part of a community. It is sad that we feel we cannot form a community without a church. I feel this is something that the church has instilled through fear over the ages with witch hunts and crusades and the likes. In fact the church has hijacked people’s natural sense of community for their own purposes.

57. What a beautiful claiming back of true religion with the oneness, love and truth in our hearts and simply living this.

    1. A true religion will always state as its first and foremost principle that we are already Divine and that our evolution is to return to that.

58. And the more people I talk to the more I see that everyone knew this as a child, this knowing of God/Divinity/Love inside us… I find this very inspiring as a foundation for returning from our waywardness.

59. ‘it is within us each to feel what the truth is and how we wish to be in this world’ – what a totally beautiful invitation and responsibility – to realise and activate that we have a choice every step of the way about how to be in relationship with ourselves, others and the world.

60. The Way of The Livingness is in fact all of us living our natural essence in full.

61. The Way of The Livingness celebrates our connection with ourselves as the divine beings we are, equal Sons of God. Little kids live this so naturally until they learn behaviours from others.

62. “If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’” . . . I certainly cannot think of a better way than this. Well said Stephen.

63. Serge Benhayon has been amazing at peeling back the layers and re-interpretations of bastardised versions of religion, and in so doing has restored it to its true meaning, without which we would be lost. So many people have an aversion to religion and the word itself, and this stems from the fact of the bastardisation, however, when we allow ourselves to connect to the truth, we cannot deny that religion is within us and well and truly alive, it is simply about us activating this and allow it to blossom in a true and purposeful way, unaffected by any ideals or belief to make it into something it is not.

    1. indeed Henrietta, it is that we have created a conundrum of the word religion to put it outside of us while in fact it is simply that inner connection to our inner most everybody equally has. This shows to me to that the way we are currently living as a society is not it, that there is another way of living we all know from inside and are craving for many ages. Thanks to Serge Benhayon we have now back The Way of The Livingness, this way of living we all once will return to and will be united by.

64. “I now know without a doubt that religion truly is something that comes from our own connection to ourselves and to God. – Religion for me stems from within and is about acting with integrity, considering everyone in our actions and taking responsibility for our life. If one’s own life blossoms through how we live, then the opportunity to support others by nature becomes that much greater.” Thank you Stephen for this beautiful sharing of what religion really is and how you have found a way to express this shows that is innate and from a deep essence within that already has a precious relationship with God – evidence that it lies within us all, just waiting to be tapped into.

    1. The naturalness of our relationship with God is in every cell of our body and is always there behind all our wayward choices and patterns of behaviour. Being curious about this fact, exploring it in ourselves and out in the world means we can meet people more deeply than at a facade they may be presenting.

65. Claiming back religion is simply claiming back the fact that we are all the light of God – it lives within, it is who we are and where we come from. We’ve forgotten that and so have most mainstream religions.

    1. The origins of the word religion all indicate a reconnection, a re-bonding with the Divine or a return to God.

66. Woah woah woah! What a powerful piece of writing from a man who is living it. Awesome and inspiring, thank you. I particularly love what you write here – the world would be a different place if this truth was adhered:

    ‘Our religious experiences must do more than tolerate other faiths: at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.’

67. Your observation of young children’s innate acceptance, care and trust in others, as well as their natural tendency to feel at one with nature and life, is a great measure of true religion.
    “A religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience” is certainly one that my heart understands.

68. ‘I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me.’ The innate knowing and wisdom we can all connect to is there, it is who we are. To try to attribute it to something outside of us is so dishonest it is evil – we rob ourselves of knowing who we are. Instead we keep chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow not realising we are the gold.

69. The Way of The Livingness is a Way that puts our body at ease, in its natural posture, a living turn towards God. It is a Way of being that confirms the truth of who we are.

70. ‘Our religious experiences must do more than tolerate other faiths: at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.’ Living this way brings so much joy and beauty to life Whereas tolerance keeps people at odds with each other under the guise that we’re getting on when it’s not true. Accepting tolerance as the pinnacle of relations prevents us from going beyond and seeing we are all one.

71. I find it utterly amazing to observe children and the way they interact with each other, being naturally inclusive, knowing and honouring of who they are, as you have mentioned here, this is true religion and we can be constantly inspired by this to return to that which we left behind and yet is bursting to come out to be shared with all.

    1. Yes Francisco, we have these amazing messengers in front of us everyday, exposing and presenting a true way to live, and we dismiss and undermine them at every opportunity, saying they are only young and they don’t understand, yet who is it that really doesn’t understand?

72. ‘A rieligion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience?’ This is Obedience to our true nature.

73. The innocent power of this claim is gorgeous: “I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me”. How have assigned the wise and loving expression of wonderful people to religion, when if any religion was true, the first thing we would be reminded is that our true nature is just as loving caring and gentle of this young boy and “the kingdom of God” does in fact reside inside us.

74. Given we are all from the one God we do not need religions that asks us to worship a God outside of us. All we need is to re-connect to our innate wisdom and our own spark of God who resides with in. This is why I love The Way of The Livingness it is the only religion I know which presents the fact that we are all equal Sons of God and all equally as powerful and all knowing.

75. “I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me.” The truth is so clear and simple when we remain connected to our naturally divine state of being.

76. Life is not to do with being ‘good’ but living the truth. There’s nothing we need to achieve, or to get to. All that is asked is that we live who we are – Love. When we align to this way, every moment of every day is our prayer to God, every step all about the connection. It’s not a big deal but it is a big step to let go of all the beliefs and ideals that make us think we are less than divine. Thank you Stephen for the beautiful sermon.

77. True religion is love in movement and dedication to it.

78. The truth of religion lies within us all, we all know what we feel to do and how we feel yo express from our innermost.

79. Going to Church every Sunday does not make you a ‘good person’ and being a member of something does not define the quality of your being, especially if you follow their dogma. The more we feel deep inside what is truth, the more true will be our expression.

    1. Carmel I love what you share, its the more we deepen our inner connection the greater we understand true religion.

80. It is not the religion that makes someone a community minded person but their own inner heart connection.

    1. An ‘inner heart connection’ that makes it so clear that we are all connected, all of the same essence of love and that there is no sense in our divisive, nationalist, combative ways.

81. “As a small child I was very loving and caring for others, but I would not attribute my values or my actions to having been influenced in any way by attending church, I would attribute them as being naturally religious. ” I wholeheartedly agree its these natural innate values that I also felt i held as a kid that actually helped me feel that what was presented in church or through the religious education I had was missing a key ingredient – Love & Truth.

82. True religion asks nothing of us, it allows us to respond to what we know is innately true, honouring, respectful and honest. These are inborn qualities that reside in every cell in our bodies, and when felt, honoured and expressed, lead us back to God within.

    1. What a touching and very beautiful confirmation of our relationship with God. Thank you Rowena.

83. It is perhaps one of the greatest moments on earth when you realise that all the natural joy and beauty that you experience is because of who you are and not because of anything else.

84. True religion and our love for God comes firstly from our connection and honouring of our bodies as when we live this way we are in connection with the all, this in itself exposes the lies of man-made religions that rely merely on indoctrination and dogmas keeping one away from the divine source within ourselves.

    1. I have abused my body for a long time and I still have a way to go in truly honouring my body in order to live religiously and reflect the truth and love to others.

85. The Way of The Livingness is a true religion that reconnects us back to God, and offers us immense love and truth. No special building required, no rules, no dogma, and not reserved for a ‘special’ few as we are all equally the Sons of God.

86. Observing young children is very inspiring – not only to see what is possible and natural in our relationships for one another, but also to remember what it felt like to be like that and know I can bring that to now.

87. ‘I can place trust in something that suggests that I act with more purposeful care, decency and respect for others, more understanding, more commitment to people and to situations.’ A very empowering and timely reminder.

88. Love what you have shared Stephen, so to add to what you say about “decency and respect,” we could all take an huge pill of “decency and respect” and then some! One day we will find that we need to be at-least holding everyone with “decency and respect,” so we can all evolve.

89. A beautiful sharing of true religion and how we can claim it back in our life by simply connecting to our innermost and living from here allowing the magic in our lives and loving ourselves within.

90. I used to wonder why I had a very uncomfortable feeling about going to church – and yet I was hanging on in there seeking ‘hope’ when all along I just simply needed to look within and feel the magnetic pull of the Universe and the magnificence of God.

91. I was brought up in a well meaning church going family too Stephen, but felt absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s not true, maybe I ticked a ‘good’ box because I was made to sit still for one hour with my own thoughts in one day of the week and could then go and do what I liked the rest of the time. That teaches a child irresponsibility and how to live life in disconnected parts. What you write here..” Religion for me stems from within and is about acting with integrity, considering everyone in our actions and taking responsibility for our life.” is the truth about life, every moment of it.

92. “I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me.”
    For so long man has sought the answers from a source outside of themselves, The Way of The Livingness has turned this empty pursuit on its head, by supporting us to re-bind to the answers within, indeed this same knowing you had as a child Stephen.
    “it puts me at ease and it puts us all at the heart of our religion.”

93. I completely agree with the observations of children who are able to live in a way that is soulful and therefore religious which strongly suggests that as human beings we innately know how to live religiously in harmony with nature, the universe and each other. So why don’t we simply foster and develop this natural religious way, rather than relying on institutions and organisations to tell us how to be religious?

94. I feel that we have allowed and then accepted the misinterpretations of age-old teachings because this lets us get away with not taking responsibility for ourselves and we can see this clearly throughout history where we have handed over our responsibility to someone else to take care of us. So I wonder what is it about self-responsibility we don’t like or want.

95. Religion to me is an inside out expression, coming from an inner-connection to the oneness that we all share. Living from this equalising source is religious by nature.

96. Thank you Stephen, as children we can naturally live religiously, with a love and care and in relationship and respect for all around us. This before we even know the word.. as in essence is living within us.

97. We do not need to go anywhere, read any book or be indoctrinated by anyone to know who we are, the depth of our connection to others and our relationship with God. In fact the fact that religion has been reinterpreted in this manner has resulted in many abandoning the natural awareness and connection they have had as a child.

98. Ultimately we can not trust anything before we trust ourselves. Are we willing to feel the extent of our caring and loving nature.. and to express this unapologetically?

99. Thank you Stephen for bringing forth and sharing ‘True Religion’ for within your divine being. True religion is within us all first.

100. Stephen what really stands out to me is how much we innately know true religion yet for so many of us we’ve walked away from this and been hurt but the versions of religion that are out there. I love the power in claiming back the truth of religion and connecting with our relationship with religion.

101. The delicacy and authority with which this blog is written flows with such gentle effortlessness and grace in your expression of what God means to you. This to me is true religion.

102. An inner connection that is known and valued, and held dear is my religion.

103. To me true religion is about bringing out the divine qualities that are found within all of us equally into our everyday expression and way of living. Divinity is innate in us and something to be supported to unfold and grow our expression of, not something we need to ‘obtain’ or hold ourselves as lesser than…

     1. I like this – that religion is a personal relationship with divinity, a quality we all know and have within, and then in the way we live we share it, often without words, and certainly with no preaching.

104. I grew up in a church where I confessed my sins, was told that Jesus was born for all of our sins and where women were very much subservient, even though they would not have ever admitted that, and being “good” was deemed to be the ideal. Now I am part of a religion where there are no sins, we are imperfect but this is to be welcomed because it means we are living a human life. I see Jesus are one of the great Masters, who lived a life that we could learn from, so we could save ourselves, not wait for him to return to do it for me (where’s the fun in that). I know as a woman that we have a sacred role within our communities, to be the exquisiteness and gorgeous beauty we all are and that it is something that comes from out inner connection, not from our appearance. I also know that being true to myself to the best of my abilities in all situations is not an ideal and has nothing to do with being good. None of these things I learned from being in Church.

105. ‘Misinterpretations of age-old teachings may not consider everyone equally, but it is within us each to feel what the truth is and how we wish to be in this world.’ so could it be down to us, each one of us, to what feels true and through that connection bring back the age old, ageless teachings holding us all equal to our world?

106. ‘If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’’ – very true, actions speak louder than words and require commitment. By unreservedly living our authentic self, we honour the whole and, therefore, every part within the whole, equally so.

107. ‘I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me.’ … I love the simple absoluteness in your knowing of who you were as a young boy, and still very much are.

108. “it just didn’t resonate in my body so the teachings had little to no impact on my life….” This sums up beautifully the discord felt as a child – a natural spacious unconditional love felt within the body and then sitting in a church and hearing the preaching… the difference is black and white.

109. The only way to claim back true religion is with our bodies.

110. ‘There need be no clinging to a faith if it does not resonate with the vibration of love we know the world needs.’ This is so important, that we clearly discern what is needed in any given age and not cling to traditions without feeling the truth of who we are and what is needed in this time. To fully embrace this in our lives and in our world would bring us to the knowing of who we are and would make everything about that vibration of love we feel in us first. This is The Way of The Livingness.

111. I gave up on religion when I was 18 and didn’t’ go anywhere near the word if I could help it until Serge Benhayon presented The Way of The Livingness as a religion. I wavered and hesitated, but now that I understand what the word truly means, i.e. reconnection, it all makes sense and I am able to say with confidence that my religion is The Way of The Livingness.

112. Organised religions have somehow butted in between our relationship with the Divinity within and made themselves the middle men who dictate how we are to be. It is fascinating how this ever was allowed to happen. Now we are on to this scam we can reclaim our true connection by passing this middleman once and for all.

     1. Couldn’t agree more Kathleen, it’s like the word religion is imprisoned by the very things we have been told religion is, and now is the time to reclaim the word for what it means and represents.

113. This is magic Stephen, as our sensitivity towards feeling never really leaves us we just learn to shut it down and opening up to religion is “grounded in intuitive common sense.” Then we start to understand what our True sensitivity is all about and how we re-connect to our “inner knowing or clairsentience.

114. “I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me.” It feels like this quality/value, and many others, have been hijacked by organised religion, that somehow those virtues belong to them, when they are inherent in all of us.

115. We have everything we need within us so no need of organised religion which is why it has had to work so hard to hook people in.

116. When we all are the sons of God, i.e. God lives within each and every one, we are with God when we are with people.

     1. That’s beautiful Alex. So really we are always with God, whether acknowledged or not, because if we are not with people we are with ourselves.

117. An old school friend recently asked me if our music was religious. I replied that yes it is, in the truest sense of the word. And she said she loved the music because she knew that the words and the music came from a true and genuine place within me.

118. Religion is actually a matter of common sense, as we all feel there is more than just this physical life because of the shared common source we all come from and actually know so well as of young.

119. True religion for me not based on scripture or a set of ideals and beliefs but on a connection to the inner divine qualities we all have and living and expressing that in all that I do.

120. “There need be no clinging to a faith if it does not resonate with the vibration of love we know the world needs.” Absolutely. We do not need a faith or religion to tell us how to be if that what is taught and presented as the way is not what we feel in our heart we can be as a humanity together. We do not need this because we all deeply know what is true in our hearts.

121. Religion is one of the topics generally recommended we stay clear of in public conversations. This itself shows how far removed most of us have strayed from the true meaning of religion which if embraced actually brings us closer to one another.

122. What you write about Stephen, is the truth of religion.. a lived knowing and way of life with our connection to God that feels true inside us.

123. True religion is an activity of Love – the re-connection to our own and unity with all others.

124. The greatest awareness that I have experienced in choosing the “The Way of The Livingness” as my religion is that to truly, bodily, absolutely love another, my love for myself must be cherished and held, without reservation, with every breath I take.

125. I have been thinking about the simplicity of this too Stephen, that what better way to show appreciation of God than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’

126. Indeed what greater reflection of religious expression than a child who simply “appreciates their friend, has complete love, care and compassion inbuilt”. This shows that such a connection is actually innate.

127. ‘Religion for me stems from within and is about acting with integrity, considering everyone in our actions and taking responsibility for our life.’ I agree Stephen and in doing so this can inspire others to make those choices in their lives.

128. The reclaiming of the word religion is amazing and can be felt deeply from within thank you Stephen for this beautiful sharing . “If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God. ” and ” a connection to a wisdom that cares deeply and respects the feelings of everyone, whether seemingly the same or vastly different.”

129. “If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.” The most natural and inherent way to celebrate God and our religious natures, connecting to and appreciating one another and all we bring. The more we choose to follow our inner feelings, the absolute ones that intend no harm whatsoever, the more we innately return to our true expression as divine Sons of God.

130. ‘Throughout time, people have been divided and diminished by religion, and violence has often been used to control and to conquer….’ This is so crazy when you know and can feel the truth of religion which naturally unites us in equality as we all align equally so to the truth which is in our hearts and every particle of our bodies.

131. I asked a very good friend of mine why he was still involved in a certain religion , I said “don’t you know from history how it all formed”? And explained a bit about why to me he was wasting his time and he told me he realised all that but it was the community that came with it that he really liked. But imagine the community we could have if all these separate religions didn’t keep us separated.

132. It’s crazy how WE have allowed institutions and a certain ‘special’ few to tell us that they are the ones who can connect to God and that we need to essentially go through them to get to Him. Nothing could be further from the truth – as, like you say Stephen, religion is about our connection with God and by virtue of having a body and Soul we cannot escape the intimate relationship that God is constantly offering us to have with Him.

     1. This is an easy way to give our power away, by not discerning for ourselves what feels true and what does not. It makes sense to me that we connect to God through ourselves and not from anything outside of us.

     2. It is indeed crazy Rachael, that we are only supposed to be able to connect to God through another’s ideals and beliefs. This never felt right to me, but although I always had questions about it, no-one could ever give me a srtaight answer. That was until I met Serge Benhayon, and everything that he presented started to make sense of it all. We all have access to God all of the time, we just have to learn how to reconnect to what we already know.

     3. It is crazy isn’t it?! The connection is in us always, it is he love we are and where we are from. There is no need to go through anyone else.

133. Your blog certain shows how effortlessly it is to return the familiar essence and knowing that we are born naturally with… and it defines the word ‘religion’ beautifully, as it is a … ‘a return’ … a ‘coming home’.

134. Love the realness and practicality of what you offer here Stephen… “I can place trust in something that suggests that I act with more purposeful care, decency and respect for others, more understanding, more commitment to people and to situations.” It has a simplicity that many can relate to, and yet to live this way is truly harmonious and super powerful.

135. I absolutely Love the way you write Stephen. The truth you express is beautiful to feel and gives me an opportunity to deeply appreciate The Way of The Livingness and our natural religious way.

136. As religion was taught as I grew up, I had never really thought of or understood religion as being something that is intuitively known, yet it does in truth stem from within, and is a ‘known’ that is felt – it therefore can’t be a subject that is taught, like English or Maths. I like the way you refer to it Stephen as ‘intuitive common sense’.

137. My experience of childhood was similar in the sense that I new God was everywhere, including within each of us but yet my experiences of attending church and a religious school was not that; it was about rules and should do’s and should be’s and I found this very stifling. We have lost the true meaning of the word religion (amongst other words too). But this one is a biggy because we as a result of this we don’t get to see and feel that we are religious in every way, every activity throughout our whole day. Say to the average person in the street that what you observed of them was deeply religious and an argument will likely breakout because they may be offended by what is being said. That’s how far away we are from a true understanding of the meaning and vert beautiful reality of what this very precious word means. We have a lot of work to do to return the meaning of this word to its true place and understanding, so that we see that our everyday activities are full of religious activity and deeply connecting moments.

138. No wonder that we have to reclaim religion personally as it has made to be so impersonal by institutionalizing it and thereby give away our power and inherent knowing.

139. ‘If a five-year-old child appreciates their friend, has complete love, care and compassion inbuilt, then what could possibly be a deeper, more meaningful religious experience than this?’ – Such an awesome and powerful statement shared here – we so totally overlook the fact that religion is natural within us all, and that we do so much, including setting up religions rules and institutions – to reduce this within ourselves and within relationships.

140. How can people be divided, diminished and reliant on an external source to validate their innate connection with their own essence, with each other and with God, and it be called religion? The discrepancy in this alone shows that for a long time we have had it very very wrong.

141. Young children can innately sense who is safe and who is not, as adults many of us have lost that awareness.

142. “If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’ So true and when we accept ourselves as equal Sons of God then we can accept that everyone else is also a Son of God. With this understanding we would be so much more loving and caring with each other

143. ‘If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’

     What an absolutely beautiful observation, Stephen. Acceptance of ourselves and others as equal Sons is a gift I suspect God would deeply delight in.

144. Absolutely love this Stephen. A true religion has as its tenements a Love a deep care for people – and this comes with no exclusions – it doesn’t mean it comes with being “nice” or “good” either which is often something which can characterise a religion.

145. True religion as you say is a way of living, loving and being. It is caring for ourselves and caring for others knowing every move, action or word we say either heals or harms. The connection to this Universal Love/Divinity/God is within every single person equally so no one person has more access to this than another but it is by constant choice a deeper relationship can be built with this through the being/body and there the magic truly unfolds.

146. “…at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.” Absolutely Stephen. And this is something that I could never understand as a young girl and as I got older, that religion in general teaches the importance of loving everyone, but in reality this is not the case. What Serge Benhayon through Universal Medicine is presenting however is that he actually lives what he is presenting, and accepts everyone for who they are with no exceptions.

147. The difference between believing in God and knowing God are two completely different things. One is a mental concept of something outside of us, and the other is knowing the feeling of God in our own body.

     1. Beautifully said Rebecca, I totally agree. It is a world of difference when we choose to live religiously, connecting to all that we know.

148. True religion is just as you share with us Stephen. Until I came to know The Way of The Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon I had lost all hope of finding true religion.

149. Great question, Stephen – “why would we need to have faith in something that is external to the everything we already are”? This is something we need to keep asking ourselves, until such time as we surrender completely to the all-knowing nature of the soul.

150. “Religion for me stems from within and is about acting with integrity, considering everyone in our actions and taking responsibility for our life.” Totally agree Stephen. The more we deepen our religious connection, the wider the responsibility becomes, a constant awareness that everything we do matters and affects all of us, however minsicule or unimportant it may seem.

151. It seems to me that for thousands of years the Roman Catholic Church has used violence and abuse to control our society; we only have to pick up a history book to know this. It may take many years but I believe the tide is turning, these false religions will diminish and that we will come to know a true way of living that is not based on terror, fear of one’s life, violence or abuse, what we have and know now is not true religion.

152. As a child I innately felt a discord between what I felt was true and what was the prescribed teachings of the Catholic faith…I felt that I didn’t need to go to church to feel connected to God, or for it to tell me about the love I innately felt for everyone… but over time I gradually dismissed what I felt over what I was told. The beauty of The Way of The Livingness is that it confirms what I already knew to be true and live naturally so.

153. ‘If a five-year-old child appreciates their friend, has complete love, care and compassion inbuilt, then what could possibly be a deeper, more meaningful religious experience than this?’ great question and not one which requires any answers to do with religious places of worship, faith, trust, those with religious authority, etc. etc. It just is and lives in such a beautifully simple way.

154. The lost art of simple common sense could be called the heart of the Way of The Livingness.

155. The religion that you speak of, in time will sort all the problems in the world. Our need to conquer and have more than another will cease to exist when we have connection to God through the connection to ourselves.

156. Love how you describe The Way of The Livingness and the true religion that it is via the vibration that it offers and that vibration being all encompassing love through acceptance — of which this true religion in its essence offers humanity endless supplies of, to an inordinate demand globally. The only reason why we have the organised religions of today is because of the grossly acute lack of love there is in the world. When that gap love begins to close then it will leave only one religion – love.

157. “If one’s own life blossoms through how we live, then the opportunity to support others by nature becomes that much greater.” Beautiful Stephen… love the simplicity and practicality of what is offered here.

158. It was interesting to read this version of what religion means to the writer. I started to notice that instead of a divine or Godly focus it was all about people. I have been re-discovering over many years that religion is in our connections and love between people as well as the divine. The people aspect of religion makes it very real and practical and applicable in everyday life.

     1. Great point Fiona. True Religion is practical, real and lived.

159. Religion is naturally common sense in every sense of the word and we can so easily feel our divine connection when we start with simple steps by returning to our breath through the Gentle Breath Meditation.
     For more on GENTLE BREATH MEDITATION go to;
     http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=gentle+breath+meditation

160. It is through ourselves that we are always connected to God and his reflection is provided in nature all around us to remind us of this – just incase we needed a nudge or two.

161. ‘Observe young children and their innate acceptance, care and trust in others will become evident. Could this be a version of being religious we should all seek to master? ‘ How beautiful to have this beautiful reflection here on earth? How much do we honour and cherish these reflections as ways of reminding us of how possible and natural it is to be religious and in connection with our divinity?

162. I love this paragraph…

     “Our religious experiences must do more than tolerate other faiths: at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.”
     This level of love and acceptance of ourselves and others is what will bring about a true shift in society, for we at times are our own worst enemy.

163. ‘This was a faith that meant little to me at the time as the God that was talked of felt un-relatable – it just didn’t resonate in my body so the teachings had little to no impact on my life.’, I can completely relate to how you felt, Stephen. I knew without any shadow of doubt that God existed, yet what was presented to me at church and in our religious studies classes at school felt like stories that didn’t connect with what I felt to be true inside. I started using the words ‘a higher form of existence’ rather than ‘God’ to explain what I believed in, as I didn’t want to enjoin in the beliefs of the Church. It is so beautiful, thanks to the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom, to finally acknowledge and share the truth about religion.

164. ‘Could this be a version of being religious we should all seek to master? A religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience?
     Absolutely, we do not need something or someone outside ourselves to assess and measure our ‘worthiness’ in relation to God and the divine. We are already in relationship with God and everything, it’s up to us to deeply feel and appreciate all that we are, all that we are a part of and allow the expansion.

165. Reading about having a direct relationship with God reminded me of a teenage memory when my parents had gone away on holiday and I was home with my older siblings. The phone rang and I picked it up and said ‘Heavan, God speaking’, it was my Dad’s friend who was a Minister, and quick as a flash he said, ‘Oh good, a direct line!” :-). And that is true, our relationship with God is ours alone, it is one that we have a ‘direct line’ with it. It is not something that can be controlled and manipulated by other means or other people – no matter how hard they try!

     1. Whilst in one way this example is super playful and fun, there is also a great deal of truth to this if we are connected. We do have a direct line to God through the refections of each other. However we do need to make choices that allow an open line and its up to us, not God. His lines are always open.

     2. Fascinating and at the same time sinister that whilst a direct relationship with God is the only one that any of us can ever have, traditional religion has set us up to believe that it’s not possible for the common man to have such a relationship with God.

166. There are many brilliant points you’ve shared Stephen. The part about trust really makes so much sense. We can easily be fooled when we do not trust what we feel, and then allow doubt to set in which leads to giving our power away.

167. I love what you are saying here Stephen about how The Way of The Livingness is not encased in dogma. There is no need for dogma when there is love and truth.

168. What you share so openly and lovingly is religion that feels like many people would say – I am already that.
     I know I totally understand and appreciate what you are sharing, and these are qualities I live to the best of my ability.

169. ‘grounded in intuitive common sense’. Love this! And feels exactly what I grew up knowing religion to be but not having the words to explain it. From very early on I was suspicious about the religion I was being taught, and I can safely say that I definitely felt that it lacked any common sense.

170. Yes introducing religion needed to be very gentle and explored in full as the world has completely bastardised it. The simple reality of it being about connection helps to bridge the way forward.

171. “Religion for me stems from within” of course it does. How could our relationship with ourself, others and God it be any other way. Any true religion would support us to deepen this connection, and if they don’t they must be another agenda at play and that agenda has nothing to do with religion itself.

172. ‘Grounded and intuited common sense’ – this makes total sense as common sense is always caring and respectful of ourselves and others.

173. The ‘negative association many have with that word (religion)’ is already testimony to the perversion people have undergone in the name of so-called religion to the point that we prefer to not associate with it anymore or only in a very defined manner. Using the word religion like so many other words now requires explicit definitions to make oneself understood and not be bombarded by prejudices, interpretations and projections.

174. Religion, “a re-claiming of this word that represents us as we truly are” this is exactly why I now feel at ease with religion when before it just did not make sense to what I was sensing from within.

175. I feel we so gave ourselves away to a religion that asked for blind faith and obedience, and if you did this and gave your money too this would buy your salvation and a place in heaven. And I feel this seemed simple and easy, so many people did this not realising that there was a consciousness that came as part of the deal, it was hidden in the small print and people were ensnared in an energetic web that was extremely difficult to extract oneself from. I know this to be true as it has taken many live times to extricate myself from the consciousness of the Church. The tentacles of that consciousness went very deep and hid it self within my body so that I felt clear and then something crops up and I realised there was still more to heal expose and heal.

176. So simple, religion is everything that deepens the relationship within.

177. One day the world will reawaken and understand just what Religion is and how beautiful it is.

178. I love how The Way of The Livingness recognises the divinity innately within all of us and that it is about re-connecting back to this quality and growing our expression of it in all aspects of our daily lives, without imposition just as a natural expression of who we truly are and holding all as equal in that.

179. It’s utterly appalling that people have indeed been ‘diminished’ by religion when in truth, true religion is a continual process of expansion.

180. Many people worldwide are motivated to be involved in religion and the church because of how it is perceived by others or equally how it would be perceived by others to not be involved in religion. This external motivation is completely foreign to true religion; true religion is motivated purely by the innermost and pays no heed to what is outside of us.

181. “This was a faith that meant little to me at the time as the God that was talked of felt un-relatable – it just didn’t resonate in my body so the teachings had little to no impact on my life”, Stephen what is absolutely key for me, in this line are the words ‘resonate in my body’. I have been supported to return to God through the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom and the God that I have returned to is known in and by my body.

182. It is great to expose how we block our inner knowing, because this is the key to returning to our true nature and relinquishing all of the falsities we have accepted as truths.

     1. Well said Janet. The falsities in religion, in life and many things would not exist if we didn’t keep feeding and buying into them.

183. “This is religion that stems from within – it is impulsed and drawn out by our own experiences.” What a contrast to what we have been led to believe religion is. True religion that is simply a reflection of who we are and how we live.

184. As a child I felt the same as you or similar to what you shared, however growing up I grew despondent of ‘ religion so it’s also been great for me to claim back my religion, to claim back true religion and one that is universal and does not rely on a scripture but on a living connection with God.

185. “Our religious experiences must do more than tolerate other faiths” – To ‘tolerate’ other faiths is a great trait to have when you consider the volume of racism, abuse, judgement, criticism and discrimination in society, but do we stop at ‘tolerating’ being the new standard of respecting others? Or can we see that this is SO far off of brotherhood, and that anything less than true care, respect and love is not how we are designed to live with each other.

186. Religion has veered way off track, so I like how you titled this blog “Claiming back religion” because there is definitely something for us to claim back here, we’ve accepted our sacred experiences in the world have to happen in a building or a church or synagogue when our everyday lives can be a totally sacred, religious experience. There is definitely a lot to claim back.

187. How often we disempower ourselves by seeking approval and confirmation from people and established institutions outside of ourselves rather than being fully connected to our innate wisdom.
     “a lack of trust we have allowed in and a straying from the deep wisdom we all have within, but constantly choose to block – often by giving our power to institutions who claim to have the answer”.

188. I love this blog, Stephen. What you have written not only makes total and utter sense but it has been done in a way that is deeply heartfelt and honest, free of the need for intellectual recognition, but at the same time incredibly articulate and wise.

189. Church and religion really has very little to do with grand buildings and weekly gatherings but more how we live and walk through life. Being the livingness of love is what true religion is to me.

190. Thank you Stephen. Yes The Way of The Livingness is all inclusive, all equal, from the divinity we are at our core, and is always there for us to connect to, realign to, reclaim…religion.

191. Stephen, I can relate to what you are sharing here about God seeming un-relatable; This was a faith that meant little to me at the time as the God that was talked of felt un-relatable – it just didn’t resonate in my body so the teachings had little to no impact on my life.’ Growing up and going to church for weddings or funerals I remember that what was talked about did not feel true, I always felt a coldness in churches and that I was being lectured to, what was said did not feel loving, only laughable to me.

192. Whilst we’re at it, let’s claim back love as well.

193. There is such a simplicity to a living love that is found internally and expressed naturally. Religion can be just as simple as that.

194. “…..it puts me at ease…..” Beautifully described Stephen. Only a religion can put you at ease which is living innately within you and where through your connection you get impulsed forth.

195. “… the God that was talked of felt un-relatable – it just didn’t resonate in my body so the teachings had little to no impact on my life.” So true Stephen, when we are children these ‘teachings’ seem very remote and un-connected to what we are feeling and experiencing in life. What made a difference to me then and still does today is the quality of people, their inner connection, vitality, joy and healthy love of people. The Way of The Livingness brings all this together, our love, wisdom and intelligence, the science, philosophy and religion of Life, a truth when once experienced completely resonates with our innate knowing of God within.

196. If true religion as so clearly defined here by Stephen is one that has at its core an evolution of oneself through their own connection to their inner heart, then it is easy to see how the organised religions (such as Catholicism, Judaism, Muslim, etc.) have tried to crush this way of living over thousands of years. Because if we are all personally responsible and capable of connecting to God in even the most mundane everyday acts and expressions, than how can people possibly be controlled by others as if some organisation, priest, rabbi, or mullah has some greater ability to facilitate that connection?

197. Stephen, this was really great to read, thankyou. I look forward to reading this many times. I enjoyed this line “through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’” This is true equality and brotherhood.

198. Life will be so simple if we make religion from that what we know from within to be religion instead of relying on the external religion institutions that, up to this moment, bring more separation then they do unity.

199. A true religion does not depend on dogma and contrived tenets, a true religion does not draw on anything that is not lived first.

200. The way you are claiming back religion Stephen is very beautiful. This is something we are all able to do without fearing any reactions but a celebration of living religiously that is so natural to us.

201. Enjoyable read Stephen, and love this: “I knew that the gentle caring boy I was had nothing to do with church, it was just me. Just as I knew that the attributes of love and care for their fellow man that I saw in others who attended church were qualities equally held within them, and that their attendance was really about connecting with others in community” – yes religion is nothing of title, particular faith, denomination, religious walls, but instead everything of being.. a being that is only from love.

202. One way to describe religion (true religion) is that it encompasses everything that is true, with no restrictions except being true.

203. Religion is such a beautiful word. It represents who we innately are, the natural qualities that are simply because of the interconnectedness with the all, the fact that we are never not in a relationship with the all. It is about living what’s inside outwardly, and there’s such simplicity and beauty in that way of living.

204. ” Observe young children and their innate acceptance, care and trust in others will become evident. Could this be a version of being religious we should all seek to master? A religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience? ” This is so true the re-connection to our divine quality and the expansion of same by living with this religious impulse.

205. Thank you Stephen, yes anytime we place somebody higher or lower than ourselves – we move away from our natural way and thus God. This shows up so many versions of what we have called Religion, which in truth are nothing but point scoring machines to separate and keep us apart.

206. Religion can be so much or so very little depending on my commitment. What differentiates me from the true source or not is the depth of my understanding to completely surrendering and focus on allowing that reflection of my relationship with my inner-knowing to bring me what I need. Trusting and being absolute to who I am in life. To know myself through the acts of my willingness to evolve back and master my connection with life and my essence to the way I live in tenderness and openness to everything I feel not holding any of it back. It’s a grace and love I cherish with all.

207. ‘If one’s own life blossoms through how we live, then the opportunity to support others by nature becomes that much greater.’ I often see people gain through ways that have involved someone being exploited to some degree. Now I am seeing many whose lives are blossoming because they know what is given to them is there to support them to support humanity. This has shown me the falsity in martyrdom or that money is root of all evil.

208. As with any truth, Religion isn’t something that can be bought or even ‘learnt’, as it is already known and within each and every one of us, whether we choose to acknowledge it’s existence or not.

209. ‘This feels like it comes from a lack of trust we have allowed in and a straying from the deep wisdom we all have within, but constantly choose to block – often by giving our power to institutions who claim to have the answer.’ – so true, Stephen. Throughout life, we get bombarded with countless pictures, ideals and people telling us how we ‘should’ be, and gradually, we start to let go of the steadfast connection we have with our gorgeous selves, where everything has made sense for so long. We begin to question whether ‘everyone else’ is ‘right’ and, not wanting to get left out, or left behind, we start buying into the falseness, stepping away from who we truly are.

210. “at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves”. When I commit to really accepting myself, so much ‘stuff’ comes up which sometimes wants to make me run a mile! The stuff is often around all the times I have not accepted myself, or when I have accepted someone else’s opinion of me which may have been true or not. It is a loving work in progress to deeply accept yourself, and know your own true value.

211. This is a very beautiful sharing, as I read this it resonated with me, that is a religion that doesn’t divide or separate people in any way but brings us all together.

     1. Spot on Kristy, The Way of The Livingness is a religion that unifies us all, separation can’t exist when there is truth and love present.

212. An inspiring blog Stephen. The lack of rules and regulations in the Way of The Livingness opens the way of return to a true re-connection with our innate Divine Essence and thus with God – this is the glory of true religion, equally for all.
     “This way of living does not have rules and boundaries, just a knowing that we all hold something magical that is there to reignite; an ever-evolving relationship with religion, through oneself, with others, with life itself”.

213. ‘If a five-year-old child appreciates their friend, has complete love, care and compassion inbuilt, then what could possibly be a deeper, more meaningful religious experience than this?’ Beautifully expressed Stephen. Yes, I totally agree – there really is nothing more gorgeous than observing and feeling innocence in expression, and yet Christianity seeks to tarnish this from birth by declaring that every child is born of sin. Excuse me, but no – you only have to look at the 5-year-old, let alone in appreciation of a friend, to know that within there is something truly, truly beautiful and gold. One of the reasons perhaps why I simply adore children is because with each encounter I am reminded of true religion and what it means to re-connect.

     1. Absolutely agree Michelle… being around children teaches us so much – the naturalness and harmony of how to live in this world; the ease of expression especially truth, being open and honest; being non-judgemental, accepting and loving of everyone… the list goes on!

        1. It lights me up just to read those words, Paula – when we can appreciate children in this way we are in truth appreciating so much more and also recognising that because we can see all these divine qualities in children they are still inside of us too.

214. Amen Stephen. There is such warmth in your words that serve to rekindle the flame of love that lives deep within the hearts of us all. This is a truly beautiful and exquisitely religious piece, thank you.

215. I was brought up in the Catholic religion and I always felt separate from God, a lesser being who had to be good – this is so different from the Truth of who we are.

216. “…at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.” Stephen, these words make me melt. So much love.

217. Religion that lives within and expresses from within – what then is seen on the outside as a religious way of living is not a dogma, concept or faith but the externalization of the inner knowing of our interconnectedness with the all.

     1. Beautifully said, Alex. Religion is simply the lived expression of our connection to God and the universe.

218. Beautiful Stephen! ‘Observe young children and their innate acceptance, care and trust in others will become evident. Could this be a version of being religious we should all seek to master? A religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience?’ Once we did master this way of being religious and the simple thing we have to do is to re connect with our innate relationship with the wisdom inside of us and accept we are all Sons of God.

219. Absolutely grounded in intuitive sense – we all know who God is. Its not in a picture – but Connection.

220. I remember growing up the confusion with Religion and when I question or spoke of this confusion there was a shutting down in a way but also more confusion. It was like you could never get a straight answer. This lead me to turn away from Religion or at least what the word meant to me at that time. I remember knowing of something grander, something that was so great and grand that I couldn’t get my head around it and when I look the only thing that came close to what I knew was always unexplained. I walked around with the confusion for years and it wasn’t until The Way of The Livingness that things opened up and everything made sense. This cleared the way for me to make sense of something I had felt when I was younger and ironed out the confusion literally for the first time. Religion now holds the meaning and the living power of that meaning in my everyday life and I no longer turn away from the word and in fact I know it to be everything I am naturally.

221. Where religions tolerate one another in the name of peace, there is a lack of acceptance – not acceptance of the religion itself but a lack of acceptance of oneself as a son of God. When we accept this there is a knowing that each and every one of us is that equal son also, no need for tolerance but a genuine sense of brotherhood.

222. If we tolerate someone else, or a group, or if we belong to a church or mosque and tolerate another church or mosque, we are very far from living a religious life. Toleration may bring a kind of peace, but it still divides and separates, another word for having to put up with the other because it is there and won’t go away, and a peaceful state benefits us not everyone. It’s a kind of acceptance of the situation but not of the natural, Divine loving quality within each of us. Living from that essential place brings harmony, very different from toleration.

223. Very cool Stephen and very true. I never grew up religious but I have attended church on the odd occasions, recently due to work, I sat there on a Sunday afternoon. From my experience of The Way of The Livingness and the service I was in, the latter felt as if the whole process was cutting me off from God. Whereas the more I learn to apply the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom into my life the more connected to God I feel.

224. I like the way you say, “in full technicolour” because it highlights the huge ‘shaded’ areas of what religion has been bastardised into. The dogmas, the judgements, the control, corruption….the list of toxic ‘dyes’ that pollute and change and muddy and desaturate the glorious technicolour that we all innately are. Religion lived in truth allows and embraces the full spectrum of colour that we all are.

225. We cannot have something that confirms our innate inner knowing and being if it is not from that part of us in the first place. Conventional religion comes void of the true qualities of who we all naturally are within and hence by nature crushes and detracts us from seeking to know and honour our natural inner selves. How are we to ever know and feel the fact of the Sons of God we all are if we are being drawn away from honouring the only knowing that we have to know it so?

226. It is so lovely to watch small children being naturally tender and gentle; their delicateness is divine. As you say, Stephen, we have no need to master it, it is already there. We do need to hold onto it, and not lose it, because the way of the world is everything but this. The great news is that we can rekindle this truth as The Way of The Livingness teaches us.

227. In The Way of The Livingness, there is no looking up to anyone or putting oneself higher than anyone like I see in many organised religions. There is an equality of knowing we are all sons of God, expressing our essence and qualities in many different ways.

228. I love your reference to the love and care that children tend to naturally express, and your memory of how you knew that when others displayed these qualities it was also their own essence and not because of some external factor that was making them so.

     It is wonderful to redefine religion in the light of the natural expression that it is, vastly different to the externally prescribed dogma and doctrines it has been reduced to for so many of us.

229. Stephen I love what you have shared as it conveys the livingness of true religion, an aliveness and vibrancy that is sorely lacking in traditional religion.

230. When we ‘tolerate’ other faiths, it is a temporary unstable ‘putting up with’ that can flip into active unrest at any time.

231. “… being naturally religious…” is a beautiful way of describing the natural and simple ways a young child expresses love, care trust and acceptance. From this, you can’t help but recognise that there are many factors in life whilst the child grows up, that has influence on the growing child’s expression, that has the potential to mis-shape, or reduce this natural way.

232. There are so many dimensions to religion, dimensions that may only be felt and can not be theorised.

233. A religion seen as a connection to our divine qualities and not an outer measure of faith and obedience? I like this question, it inspires me to feel within my own body for the truth and to not be guided by the opinions of others.

234. Religion as I knew it as a child and young adult is very different to the what I call my Religion now and that is The Way of the Livingness as presented by Serge Benhayon. To me, this is true Religion that I totally relate to on all levels. To know the truth that we are all the equal Sons of God and all that brings with it.

235. “at the heart of true religion is a deep acceptance firstly of ourselves and from that love a deep acceptance of everyone, no matter what they believe or how they act.” How incredible to bring the real truth to society, to humanity, I loved reading this as it takes away tolerance and brings in truth.

236. True religion has always been a part of my life, it is just that for a lot of my life it was buried under the fear and damnation that the Catholic religion imposed on me. When I started attending The Way of The Livingness presentations they confirmed what I always knew, that God resides equally in each and every one of us.

237. It’s so, so delightful that we can return to an understanding of religion that is based in such refreshingly common sense terms as is The Way of The Livingness. I suspect that’s where people feel flummoxed – we innately know religion isn’t supposed to be that complicated, yet our mainstream religious institutions have made it so. Well, either that, or our agnosticism has eliminated any hope of reconnection to something true.

238. To claim back religion has for me been life-changing. No longer do I shrink from the word which has been so corrupted through the ages. I now claim it as my way of life, The Way of The Livingness, and in this, there is now an ever-deepening ease within my body and life.

239. After just having completed an Esoteric Yoga group session it is without a doubt that our body holds the key to divinity, love, wisdom, truth, stillness and joy and what I am feeling more and more is how religion in an alignment to the true love within, and a surrender, in allowing that love to flow through our whole being and movements in each and every moment. Very humbling and so beautiful to feel and a great marker to start the day with a knowing that when we get ourselves truly out the way all that is needed is already there.

240. Reclaiming our connection to God and true religion and living from our inner knowingness will turn the tide of despair that humanity is struggling with.

241. I love how you share religion in truth is grounded in intuitive common sense. Of course it is… our intuition, our innate knowing, is activated through our religious connection – it is all in fact one and the same.

242. ‘I can place trust in something that suggests that I act with more purposeful care, decency and respect for others, more understanding, more commitment to people and to situations. To be more connected and aware of my inner knowing, how to handle situations using deep wisdom I have lived before but disconnected from.’ … for what you describe so beautifully, Stephen, is know to us all already, nothing is ‘asked of us’, yet we feel the exquisite pull to be more, which in truth simply means choosing to live the full-ness of all that we already are.

243. This reminds me of the saying “The kingdom of god is inside you”, there is something so beautiful and so reassuring to know that everything we could ever need is already within us, and our job is simply to rediscover and unfold it and learn to live it everyday.

244. Yes, Stephen. A truly religious way of life is something we all know from being children, something very natural and deeply connected to everything.

245. ‘If we want to thank God for life, what better way than through our connection and acceptance of our self and others as equal ‘Sons of God.’’ – there is no greater gift than to deeply appreciate, live and share, unreservedly so, the gift that we already have, all that we are.

246. As a child I could get never my head (in truth my heart) around the contradictions in the religion presented to me – ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’, yet no one did; ‘We are all God’s children’, yet ‘He sent us his only son’; everybody was equal and the same yet they were not treated equally so; etc. Yet I always knew there was something ‘about God’ that made sense and I spent years attempting to find out only to be disappointed in my search. That is until I met Serge Benhayon and The Way of The Livingness. Thank God for Serge Benhayon.

247. I feel a bit like a 5 year-old reading this blog, who knows in his heart that the truth of religion is love. He can feel that all religions have love at their heart and is puzzled then, as to why there are so many divisions between different religions – after all, they are all from the same one foundation. Perhaps we have a great deal to learn from the innocent children we once were.

     1. I love that Richard, a loving acceptance of everyone no matter what their religious beliefs, knowing that we all have love at our heart.

        1. And perhaps that innocent child is ‘alive and kicking’ within us all and not something we have left behind at all.

248. It is absolutely gorgeous to see how most young children will play with whoever is willing, there is such an openness and love of connecting with others. When we allow this kind of openness as adults it is amazing how others open and blossom in that connection too.

249. It is common for a lot of people and mixes of people in our society to have a sense of something “godly” or “spiritual” and knowing there is more in life, but mostly we have missed out on unifying and experiencing what that actually might be because of our interpretations.

250. “This is religion as we can all know it… grounded in intuitive common sense.” Thank you Stephen. This sentence alone knocks out all the division between established “religions” and restores the innate meaning of an activity that we all know at heart that no doctrine can instil. The Way of The Livingness is just that, a way of living, respecting, responding to and expressing our innate love, wisdom and immense care towards one another and our selves. Anything less than this is not our true expression and therefore can be easily exposed and discarded, hence deepening our relationship with God and the one family we all belong to.

251. I also grew up going to Church, but it never felt like anything I could actually connect to or understand. It felt very much as though others felt the same and were really there out of a sense of duty, obligation and because they wanted to see their friends and catch up with everyone afterwards – to feel part of a community. Nothing wrong with wanting to feel connected to others and to come together, of course, but what if true religion is so much deeper than meeting others and going to a building once a week? To me, true religion can only come from within, first. It’s our connection to that deepest part of us, that little quiet guiding voice that knows intuitively and instinctively what we need to do next, whether something feels true for us, or not. It’s a sense of who we are, and that knowing that we are part of something much greater and more enormous than we could ever imagine.

252. True religion is absolutely something that we all feel from within and requires no faith or trust in anything outside of us. Reclaiming that I am religious from the stigma and bastardisation of what it truly is is a beautiful process.

253. Finding true religion is a homecoming after years of wandering blind in the wilderness,

     1. and very joyful.

254. We all have a knowing that there is so much more to us than the mundane everyday of life…”…we all hold something magical that is there to reignite; an ever-evolving relationship with religion, through oneself, with others, with life itself.” Beautiful.

255. A beautiful post Stephen. “This way of living does not have rules and boundaries, just a knowing that we all hold something magical that is there to reignite; an ever-evolving relationship with religion, through oneself, with others, with life itself. This is religion as we can all know it…” True religion is innate in all of us – it’s just that the word religion has been bastardised away from its true meaning.

     1. Indeed Sue, a beautiful post it is, and too, it makes religion so simple as there is only one compared to the divisiveness between the religions these religious institutions foster.

256. “This is religion that stems from within – it is impulsed and drawn out by our own experiences… this makes sense to me – it puts me at ease and it puts us all at the heart of our religion.” And it is what we all know, experience and remember from young… its only a matter of reclaiming it again as adults.

257. Religion: “… a re-claiming… that represents us as we truly are, in full technicolour, free of comparison, control, judgement, jealousy and all the other emotional currencies we exchange with in everyday life.” What a great way to be!

258. Utterly stupendous, this piece of writing describes true religion with every delicately placed word.

259. A religion you can have trust in, return to, one that was there already, as you say Stephen, when we were children. The simplicity of this religion is its strength: it lives within us, all all we are called to do is connect to our own inner divinity.

260. You make some great points Stephen. When we connect to our inner heart as we naturally did as children then we can feel the essence of true religion that has a divine quality that is within us all, which for me I have never been able to find in institutional religions, that keep us held in faiths, beliefs and dogma that when felt with the body and not the mind really don’t make sense and don’t feel true. I feel what you say is true that many enjoy going to church because it offers a bringing together of people and this is something that is innately sought within us all.

261. The Way of The Livingness reintroduces the truth of religion ” a re-claiming of this word that represents us as we truly are, in full technicolour, free of comparison, control, judgement, jealousy and all the other emotional currencies we exchange with in everyday life.” It is felt from my heart and reignites the true magic and divineness we all are part of. A beautiful sharing Stephen.

262. True religion is a natural way of being that stems from a connection to oneself and to God; it is not a way of being that is controlled by beliefs living in a way that is not a true reflection of what is going on inside the body eg.living with emotions running through the body yet claim they are acting in the name of God.

     1. It is weird how religion has been used so effectively to control entire nations of people which must be that absolute antithesis of its actual meaning.

263. From my own experience Stephen I would agree with you that it is possible to loose trust in ourselves and others and this leads to a disconnection from ourselves and the world, a withdrawal from life. I have over the years of knowing Serge Benhayon regained trust in myself and have worked hard to re-engage with life and in that engagement rediscovered my love for humanity and I am back fully committed to life.

264. Love is love and this is innate, for me this is true religion. If so called religious bodies preach love as the main tenet of its teachings and then go out and practice the complete opposite, then where are they in terms of their connection to God?

     1. To me it is obvious why most people I know turn away from religion, when they witness acts of crime carried out under the name of God and religion that is completely void of love. I certainly did the same, but now I have found The Way of The Livingness and I am living true religion again.

265. Yes we do not need institutionalised religions of today tell us what true love and compassion is as we deeply know this from the moment we are born. Even more so the version of those religious institutions are often just a small part of the love we are truly capable of. Loving others is naturally we do not need to be told to’ love our neighbours’, could this not more be the start of the problems we see in the world today than it is the solution to our problems?

266. The Way of The Livingness is claiming back the truth about what Religion is, from Religions that have caused us nothing but separation and war and something many are wary of. It is true we have to get well past tolerating other religions and see that there is only one, and we are all one and that oneness does come from within.

267. I agree Stephen that we have strayed from the deep wisdom we all have within. I am starting to trust and rely on my inner knowing rather than give my power away.

268. A religious life is how we live life, not we say or do, but the quality we express, do we consider the All and others in our choices, do we speak as if everyone can hear us at all times, or do we have idea we have walls around us and hide our habits and not so loving behaviour. I Love that we are all connected and the energy comes first, we are in energy and the walls around us are in truth insignificant, which is even more reason to be aware that what we say, do, choose impacts on everyone.

269. The word ‘reclaiming’ says it all; we are all innately religious; we have simply chosen to disconnect from something that the world continually shows us, is exactly the opposite of what you have so simply demonstrated is true religion. We have seen, and are still seeing, wars in the name of religion, separatism and hate in the name of religion; the list goes on. But there is no hate, no war or separatism in religion, there is simply the coming back to who we truly are and from there the coming together of every man, woman, and child in equalness and in love. True religion is always there waiting for us to reclaim it, whenever we are ready.

270. Stephen, this is a great point; ‘If a five-year-old child appreciates their friend, has complete love, care and compassion inbuilt, then what could possibly be a deeper, more meaningful religious experience than this?’, when I see how tender, caring, joyful and loving young children are they feel so complete, it seems obvious that they do not need outside influences such as institutionalised religions to tell them how to be, they are living a truly religious life already, without even trying, it makes me realise that this is our natural way.

     1. Looking back at how I was as a child, I realise and recognise that I was living in a very naturally religious way without any instruction or guidance. I didn’t even need to hear or mention the word God, I simply lived religion naturally, as do most children.

271. The Way of The Livingness is a reconnection to all that is Divine within each and everyone of us, free of dogma, do’s and don’ts and separation.

     1. Clear, concise, claimed. Well said!

272. True religion has and will always reside within every one of us. Most of us have just forgotten what shelf we have left it on within us.

273. Beautiful Stephen, you have owned religion for yourself and made it entirely relatable and real in daily life. This alone if applied throughout the world’s current so-called religions would turn life around in so many ways. The contradictions and hypocrisies are too enormous for words… your simple gestures and approach however would undermine them all.

     1. I agree Jennifer. Religion is not owned, it is lived and through that living is the claiming back of all the love that we are so it is able to expressed with all that is.

        1. Yes beautifully said Liane, religion is lived and through the living of it we come to know who we are, and we come to know God. Not a rule, tenet or commandment in sight, just the simplicity of what is love and therefore of God, and what is not.

274. Thank you Stephen for sharing this awesome blog. You’ve reminded me to appreciate how we are all born religious, already connected to God and love. Being religious is a matter of returning to what we already know and have connected to in the past. God’s love is always present and accessible to everyone.

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