I have always had a relationship with religion in some form or another. It started off when I attended a local Jewish nursery, and consequently declared in various conversations I was Jewish. On some occasions I even claimed my entire family was Jewish! Without really knowing what ‘being Jewish’ meant, I used to just enjoy certain aspects of their rituals, like when we would sing songs at Shabbat, and one song in particular about Cholla (braided bread eaten on Shabbat) ending up in someone’s little tummy before it was time to eat.
At this stage I had not associated ‘being Jewish’ with anything to do with Religion or God.
Then I went to The Church of England primary school. So, for the next few years my religion was Church of England (whatever that meant!). We went to church across the road to sing hymns once a week during school hours. We also used to sing hymns in school assemblies. The only two which I enjoyed were ‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine’ and one which was about different fruits and vegetables called ‘Cauliflowers Fluffy,’ sung during Harvest festival.
At some point during primary school I started to take an interest in Buddhism and became a lonely Buddha on top of the Church of England mount. The idea of serenity appealed, as well as being a ‘wise one’ with great knowledge and wisdom to pass onto others. I also loved the notion of being an animal in past lives. To me that was the coolest thing ever. I used to spend many a walk home thinking of which animal would be the best to be and as such, what I would spend a lifetime doing.
Still, by this stage, even though I had spent time in a church, I had not really considered what religion was or what it meant to have a relationship with God. And so, even by the age of 10, I was still bumbling my way through religions as and when I took a fancy to them.
In secondary school, through Religious Education lessons, I learnt more about the origins, history and purpose of organised religions. That put me right off.
I saw how exclusive and separatist organised religions had been throughout the ages, and it did not take much research to find how much blood had been shed and how many lives lost in the name of religion.
I denounced religion, not just as a personal belief for me, but as a concept for humanity. I would have passionate arguments with people about the absurdity of placing your life in some book’s hands just because they thought it was written by a higher power. I found it excruciating to see that there were so many people that, at the time as a young teenager, I considered to be stupid enough to believe in something so utterly ridiculous as say, every species in the world (over a million) fitting on one ark built by one person. Or, that because someone once ate an apple, women now have labour pains and men have to do manual labour… I was like, give me the big bang theory to defend any day of the week!
That said, I of course now realise that people are not stupid, and certainly not those who hold a particular belief with God.
I spent years becoming more and more comfortable with the fact that this is it. That this physical realm we occupy is the limit of our existence – we are here by chance, one day we will die out and there is nothing more to it.
I grew so comfortable with this notion that I would ardently argue the case that once we die, we decompose and that’s the end, even though as a child I loved the concept of reincarnation as it felt extremely familiar to me.
In 2015 I refreshed the acquaintance of Serge Benhayon, Director of Universal Medicine, Modern Day Philosopher and Focaliser of (the ancient) The Way of The Livingness Religion.
I began attending courses and workshops run by Universal Medicine and although I loved the philosophical and scientific aspects on offer, I would squirm in my seat when anything religious or beyond physical would be mentioned, even when it was someone’s lived experience. This ranged from talking about God and all manner of Macro-cosmic topics which are to do with the universe, all the way down to the Human Spirit, Soul, Archangels and The Hierarchy.
Only recently, when on a walk with a friend of mine, did I realise what this issue with religion really was.
My friend spoke about what religion meant for her, and as she continued to describe it I found myself firing up and wanting to express so much about how I love to experience the same sort of things. These included waking up in the morning and being inspired to go about my day, knowing that I am bringing more to the world than just function; and that connection with my Soul and the feeling of knowing that I am being looked after and prepared for anything that comes my way which comes with that connection; the relationship I have with the universe and the stars, all that is constellated and provided for me when I cherish and appreciate all that is on offer.
Within the space of a 10 minute walk I was ready to claim that I am religious. And deeply so.
I realised that it is not actually that I have become religious in those 10 minutes, but what happened was my understanding of true Religion completely changed.
In those few moments I reconnected with a deeper than deep knowing that most of what we now call religion does not come from and is not of God. And so I managed to let go of everything the world has been accepting, therefore implying and saying religion is all the doctrines, bibles, churches, fear-mongering domination, cold seats, never-ending hymns, fear-based recruitment, preachings, as well as the key to the pearly gates and the doorway to God (but only if you give some money first) – peppered with wars, killings, money-grabbing and even child abuse.
I brought religion back to me, and found that there is not one ounce of the aforementioned included, that it is not about me talking to God or God talking back to me, but that Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God. But not from some holy, top of the mount, sacrifice a lamb and you will see me in my true form kind of relationship. Instead, from a point of inspiration that I can feel where there is more to life than this physical body and this earthly world; that I have a Soul which is here to guide me, look after me and navigate me through life with the purpose of reuniting, being one with it; that there is a Universe which is full of order and magnificent reflections for us; that there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.
I have felt what is possible when religion is lived in its true sense of the word, which is a kind of ‘greater than great life’ that I cannot and would not say no to.
True religion is for us all equally, it is specific for each and every one of us. This religion does not impose on what should or should not be. It offers space for oneself to be at ease. This religion for me is – The Way of The Livingness.
By Michael Brown, Maths Student & Retail Manager, United Kingdom
Further Reading:
What is true religion?
Organised Religion versus True Religion
Religion – a separative force or a healing power?
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
The Way of The Livingness is to forever deepen a reconnection to your Soul.
Like so many words religion has been reinterpreted so many have lost sight of what a True reconnecting with our Souls and thus God is all about and as you have shared Michael The Way of The Livingness has reopened the door to True-religion.
True religion as you talk about would truly enrich our lives. Going about the everyday things and feel our connection with the Universe, God and the stars is all what religion is about, thank you Michael.
Michael this is a great blog for a discussion on religion and how we have allowed ourselves to be controlled by a man made version of someone’s reinterpretation of God.
To me I feel that you have it in a ‘nutshell’ when you say that
” there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.”
‘Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my soul, the universe and God’ – this way of living religion frees us from rules and dogma, and opens the way for responsibility, power and purpose. Thank you Michael,
I love exploring my relationship with being religious. It is a profound and exquisitely delicate relationship that makes sense of life absolutely.
‘…being inspired to go about my day’ – I love that you have described this as being part of your relationship with religion and being religious. It is not a theological theory but a lived experience – practical, understandable and very inspiring.
How much more accessible is religion when we make it a practical lived experience? It completely takes away the mystery, piety and fluffiness of it all and in its place we have purpose, a foundation of self love and a grounded awareness of what we are feeling in relation to our connection to ourselves and therefore to the profundity of everything that can be felt around us and in others.
The religion I was taught at school always felt like a long distance relationship to me. The Way of The Livingness, on the other hand, is very personal and intimate.
The religion I was taught at school was what put me off religion, definitely a long distance relationship, and not a true one, not one I would choose.
Reading this again, to me it just shows the absolute innocence of children in how they tend to go along with things and the huge responsibility we have in respecting and caring for them where there is no imposing but rather supporting and nurturing them to be all they truly are ✨
Driving home from work yesterday I was inspired to appreciate the magnitude of the sky and in that moment felt the support that is endlessly available to us all. Moments like this are a confirmation of how deeply religious I am. And yes that is The Way of the Livingness.
We could say you had an-at -one-ment with the Universe, God is with us always as we live within his atma, which is our known Universe. We live and breathe his very breath and that to me is very reassuring that I am held in his love always, no matter what my mind might otherwise tell me.
Reading about what aspects of different religions appealed to you, has got me reflecting and wondering what it is that people go for. There are positive aspects to each religion, but can we accept these acceptable bits without also taking on board the elements that just don’t ring true, but go against our innate knowing of love? The solace and comfort I sought in a religious community to face my existential angst could never erase the niggle that this wasn’t it, and no matter how much effort I put in I would always have to come back to knowing this.
Reading about what church songs resonated with you as a child reminded me of the only hymn I liked at school – Libera, When a Knight won his spurs.
I just googled the lyrics and can see why it struck a chord. I liked the symbolism, the allude to times long ago that we were once a part of symbolically and that it was the energy that was renounced, not people.
I really enjoy what it feels like to claim back the true meaning of a word. Religion is one that has been manipulated away from truth for centuries to satisfy the desire for power. Its simplicity when reclaimed is exquisite. To be religious is to be connected to our innermost hearts and therefore in relationship with God.
‘Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God’. I love this one. And as this relationship is very personal, there are no rules or any external prescription needed, just an intimate deepening which naturally unfolds each one’s realisations about oneself and life.
Thank you for sharing all of this Michael. For your honesty and openness and for ‘firing up and wanting to express so much about how I love to experience the same sort of things’. There is real wonder and awe in the air when we let ourselves feel there’s so much more than our human existence.
Returning to a true knowing of what religion is after being affected by the man made ‘created’ versions portrayed in religious education, and anyone associated with them exposes just how far, even though they all contain a elements which ring true between them all, the remainder is from something which feels completely true.
Thankyou for presenting the truth of religion – in essence the world would be a very different place if all knew the grandness to be “walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.”
Yes and this ‘very different place’ is ours to make. As in, when we walk in relationship with God we will begin to live and see the grandness of heaven on earth.
What a great purpose that is, walking in relationship with God, allowing God to come through our every footstep as we re-imprint Truth and Love here on this planet.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if we just stripped religion right back .. like, took everything away of what it has been or thought to have been, etc. etc., and instead listened to our body, connected with the stars and then asked ourselves (instead of listening to another) what is religion to me?
‘ that I have a Soul which is here to guide me, look after me and navigate me through life with the purpose of reuniting, being one with it; ‘ now for years I believed I was on my own in life but actually this is so not so. I have the biggest and best ally I could ever want, my Soul. Now it’s time to look at all the ways I run away from myself and ask, is it worth it?
I heard a religious statement that is repeated at funerals the other day and it actually feels like a curse, a statement that sets you up for whats to come next… “From earth she came and to the earth she will return.” A simple statement but it feels to confirm there is nothing but human life, we started here as human beings and only return here as human beings. It cuts out the possibility of anything but human life.
So great to clock such curses. I used to think curses came in the form of being cursed at – so like if you are sworn at but I got one the other day that came from sympathy. I said out loud to the person that they’d just cursed me and I wasn’t taking the invitation to get sick. It didn’t matter that they didn’t acknowledge what I said, I knew the power in spotting it and saying no. Reading this I’m seeing there are curses in motion more than I’ve cared notice previously.
What a great awareness and spotting, of this curse, and then saying this is not true, renouncing what the other said.
Our world is full of things that say fine words but actually do the opposite. The fact that we have the capacity to feel this, in itself shows we all have a connection with the energetic truth. Live from this knowing place and you can’t help but feel unified with the divine.
When we are young aren’t we utterly adorable (not to say we are not when are older 😶) but just the absolute innocence of who we are and the naturalness of wanting to connect with everyone in our environment and feeling the oneness in our environment with everyone … which of course is true and innate which is why we can feel this ✨
Young children are utterly adorable, there is an innocence, a transparency, joy, and fun, a natural way of exploring their environment all coming from their bodies and their innate senses.
‘Still, by this stage, even though I had spent time in a church, I had not really considered what religion was or what it meant to have a relationship with God.’ I am not sure that any organised religion really supports us to know what it means to have a natural relationship with God. With this form of religion comes a lot of dogma that is hard for a child (and adults in truth) to understand. Simply by telling a child that when they are feeling playful, joyful, loving, connected, at ease with themselves that this is what being in relationship to God means. We can then understand the simplicity of divinity and that is ours to claim, very naturally so.
Thank you Michael, as you have shared True Religion brings such a simple and Loving approach to the way we can live that is full of appreciation for the life changing acceptance by our own choice of how divinity in Truth is up to each of us to live.
True religion has to be lived, there’s no other way to bring it into being.
‘that there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.’ love, love love this. This is inspiration as to how to live as there is so much that, on some days puts me off. Walking with God as a foundation for life brings a loving purpose that cannot be deterred from being lived.
When we walk with ourselves in conscious awareness we walk with God. If we cherish it then we are honouring it and there is beautiful joy to feel.
For me, I have felt the presence of God the most when I have allowed myself to connect deeply with another person and afterwards look into their eyes to catch that spark that comes from their soul, or have felt Him through all the amazing reflections God offers via Nature- the way the setting sun illuminates the forest in golden light, the magic that makes a Caterpillar turn I to a butterfly, and the blooming cherry blossoms in the spring.
“I brought religion back to me” in reconnecting to our essence we reconnect to God.
We are all God and He is all of us. We and religion are intertwined, there is no gap. There is also nothing that we have to do in order to be a religious person. Religion is in our everyday livingness, it’s in the way that we walk, it’s in the way that we talk, it is in our thoughts and in our breath. Religion can be in anything and anything has the potential to be a religious movement.
‘We and religion are intertwined, there is no gap” love this Alexis. To walk with this knowing brings new meaning to our understanding of a ‘religious movement’.
Exactly Kehinde. History is littered with examples of religious movements that are utterly devoid of any true religion and yet walking down my hallway can be a religious movement if I am walking in connection with myself.
I love your understanding and expression of what religion is for you
‘These included waking up in the morning and being inspired to go about my day, knowing that I am bringing more to the world than just function…’ This to me is very beautiful. I know when I’m just ticking the boxes and when I’m bringing much more. It may look the same but there’s a communication of something more when I’m connected and bringing through truth and love.
It’s not what we do, but how and when aligned to truth and love. What we bring to everyday tasks is not just ourselves but the universe, planets and stars.
This is great Michael, and may I add to what you have shared, as the way we find our feet in a religious pursuit is fundamental in the way we accept our soul, as our movements, especially the way we walk, can have an amazing effect on our divine connection to our Soul.
I was presented with religion as a small child in the guise of the church of England and I knew instinctively that what was celebrated all around me was not what felt true in my heart – I knew God as a personal friend, as children do, yet everything around me at church was not anything like this true connection that I felt in my heart. As the years passed by I became more and more confused as I looked at different religions until I found again the Ageless Wisdom and all that had been waiting for me to return to all along. God is loving and God is wise and he waits patiently for us to reclaim and live the truth.
I agree Richard, a bodily experience, saying yes to what I was hearing and feeling was my way of knowing here was truth, when first listening to Serge Benhayon many years ago. My years of spiritual searching were over.
It makes sense to me that religion is something we walk in our daily lives, that we live the teachings. I had not experienced that level of responsibility till I found The Way of the Livingness. Now I cannot imagine living any other way.
And to live the teachings is not necessarily a ‘doing,’ it is something we embody, a way of Being.
This just shows me that children innately have a connection to something bigger than us and then find themselves bumbling along trying to find something that matches what they knew to be true.
There is a real unfolding of this journey shared. All necessary steps this lifetime to get you to this point now Michael, to find your true religion within yourself.
Knowing that we are more than human, that we have a Soul, ‘I can feel where there is more to life than this physical body and this earthly world; that I have a Soul which is here to guide me, look after me and navigate me through life with the purpose of reuniting, being one with it’.
“I brought religion back to me, and found that there is not one ounce of the aforementioned included, that it is not about me talking to God or God talking back to me, but that Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God.” Bringing religion back to me transformed my understanding of ‘religion’ too.
‘bringing religion back to me’ Sue, what you and Michael share is powerful, yet simple and transforms our understanding of religion.
‘that there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.’ Now this is inspiring – I know I am working on choosing this, letting go of the seemingly unfathomable pressures of human life to walk another way that is in harmony with the All, whilst also attending to all that is necessary in each day.
‘Believing in God’ will never ever help us to know Him, there will always be a gap between Him and us. In order for us to know Him we have to move with Him, we have to conjoin with his body so that His body and our bodies become One and the same.
‘Believing in God’ separates us from Him. To know God from inside out, is to walk as One.
Very true and beautiful. A way of living that cannot but be divine.
Only a divine way of living will lead to the divine, we can’t live randomly and hope that we’ll end up in Gods lap. That’s not to say that we all have to live identically, we don’t but there are certain threads that are similar and run through all of our living ways if we’re to return to God. Self-care, gentleness, surrender and truth are but four of these threads. Interestingly ‘believing in God’ isn’t a thread that we need in order to return to Him. Our living way is enough and there are no beliefs in our living way when it comes from truth.
I completely agree with your personal relationship with your soul that you describe as being your religion and that this is something that can be tangibly felt and experienced.
A lived experience, ‘there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.’
“I brought religion back to me…”. In these few simple words I feel you have summed up the first and most crucial step in understanding what religion truly is. It starts with our relationship with ourselves and from this foundation we will grow the dedication we have to living in a way that benefits all those around us. This way is not found in a book, written by those who seek to control, but within our inner heart, the doorway to true religion.
And the simplicity of this is absolutely exquisite. No hoops to jump through or rules to adhere to, simply a willingness to access our heavenly nature (innate within us all) and embrace the relationship with God that is always there.
‘knowing that I am bringing more to the world than just function’ yes, going beyond the to do list for survival and function is life changing. At school the thought of a job Monday to Friday 9-5 just filled me with dread, but only because I overheard people saying how much they hated their job and only lived for the weekend. I felt a deep despair that that was all life was so to avoid it I did shift work – talk about finding a solution to a problem and not resolving what was at hand: a lack of connection and purpose. I’ve been inspired by people like yourself who are bringing divinity to the world in the everyday things that we do.
All of life is a blessing, but without purpose we’re often unable to appreciate what we have. We fight rather than live in a way which allows us to be in the flow.
The Way of the Livingness is the realisation we come to when we stop looking outside of us for the something more to life we know exists, but have never stopped and looked within.
The Way of the Livingness is True Religion, ‘This religion does not impose on what should or should not be. It offers space for oneself to be at ease.’
‘Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God.’ This is very beautiful. It knocks comparison out of the window.
Religion is for all, it is our natural living way and we shall return to a time when each and every one of us is living religiously together as One until such time as we condense to such a point that there is no such thing as religion.
In my oh-so religious family, I was the outsider, the one who questioned and asked ‘But if God is love, why does the church discriminate against non-Christians? “Why does the preacher wear gold chains, wears expensive clothes and owns a private jet? “Why do people go to Church on Sundays and live in an un-Godly and unloving way?’ Without answers to these questions, I remain the outsider.
Great questions that expose the hypocrisy in much of mainstream religion as it stands.
Religion is our own connection inside with our relationship to God, it is for everyone.
Yes, religion is about relationship with self, and God, ‘Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God.’
I gave up on religion years ago because I could see, feel and hear the different agendas organised religious institutions had, from wanting to control populations to carrying out severe injustice, I wanted none of it. I could feel this was so counter to the true teachings of Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed. When I realised that true religion is about re-connection, and for all equally so, I was back in and wanted all of it!
As a kid I had worked out there was one God… one God, and we were all ‘his children’. It didn’t make sense to me that all our siblings were arguing over who loved God more, who understood God more and who had the right version of God more.
Absolutely everyone wanted to be the one God loved most or was proud of most, but I see a pattern here because kids constantly want to know who the parents love most as well!
When I was young and growing up I had a lot of common sense about life, something was either true and made sense or it didn’t, and religion for me often didn’t make sense, amongst many other things in life. As a child I felt the connection to God in my heart, it was beautiful, simple and pure, and it still is. Religion to me is simply returning to that and living from that connection
When I felt this dichotomy in understanding, in my confusion I blamed myself and thought there was something wrong with me!
There are so many things that I absolutely adore about living religiously but what I am really relishing right now is that there is no end to how deeply we can delve into true religion.
I too have come to know there ‘is no end to how deeply we can delve into religion’, and with this knowing comes the joy of becoming reacquainted with what I have always known but chose to bury in reaction to the world around me. How wonderful it is to finally have the joy and beauty of religion out in the light of day once again.
We have bastardised so much here on earth and religion is one of them. True religion to me is our relationship with ourselves and connection to innate divinity we all hold within, equally so. No one is greater, no one is lesser. It really is that simple, so why oh why do we make it so complicated and so hard?
It is an awesome thing that living each day in all the Livingness brings order and rhythm to our lives, and closer to understanding who we are and a greater knowledge of the innate wisdom inside of us. It opens us up to embrace all that is presented to us. When I say awesome I mean that in its deepest sense, in awe of what is there to be lived in this gift of life.
Every one of us is unique on this planet, and we are all accepted as part of the human race. There are many religions on this planet, but there is one god irrespective of what we call him or her. So, how can we fault someone else’s beliefs?
We can’t fault someone else’s beliefs, we are being judgemental, which is a far cry from being Love.
The Way of The Livingness is living Religion, is Religion lived.
The Way of the Livingness allows the space for all I already am and have to bring to be lived.
There is something beautiful about being reunited with God and love, ‘the feeling of knowing that I am being looked after and prepared for anything that comes my way which comes with that connection…’ I have often feared living that connection in full and without apology as I experience very, very few people living their truth in truth.
Given that connection to God is something we all deeply crave, it would be prudent to ask why we fear it too? This paradox doesn’t makes sense at all until we ask what we are so invested in that we are scared to let go of in our surrender to the connection.
I definitely feel we all crave or want connection, to be truly met and accepted for who we are. To not have to strive or struggle to be ‘something’ and to get of the treadmill that we have made for ourselves and within society. I feel when we start to do this, including deeply accepting ourselves and allowing ourselves to just be. It is in this stillness and connection we then start to feel our connection to the divine which really is quite simple, no drama, no fuss, no stress.
Yes – when we begin to connect to that which we have craved for so long it is like coming home, but so so normal. As you say – no drama, no fuss, no stress – it just is.
I used to think it was religious to go to church once a week, but it didn’t ever occur to me that it is the way we live life on a daily basis. However we live our lives is our religious way, people say they do something religiously, meaning they do something regularly and have a consistency with it. The Way of The Livingness is a knowing of something greater than this life, and bringing this into our practical everyday lives.
In my own experience of religion, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, New Age spiritual teachings, none brings it to the cellular level, how we breath, move, express, relate to self, humanity, nature and universe. The Way of the Livingness is practical and magnificent.
I can relate to the version of religion you describe and remember the feeling of dis-connect it gave me. After church, then what? To Know The Kingdom of God Lives Within us, dissolves any need to follow mechanistic and prescribed forms of religion.
I was told that to be religious you needed to go to church every week, but the hypocrisy I witnessed put me off entirely. No wonder so many claim to not be religious today if that is what they believe. Coming to The Ageless Wisdom opened my eyes to truth, my body aligned and I knew I had come home.
Hypocrisy is rampant in religion, which certainly put me off many lives ago.
That so many of us accept versions of religion so far from the truth, without question is a damning reflection of how low we’ve fallen. The fact that many of us are not concerned enough about our own experience of religion even when faced with evidence of abuse, bullying, corruption, violence and lies, shows we are part and parcel of the same rot.
Yes I agree, inspiring to know, no situation or state of being ever too great or too late to pull ourselves out of and live a truer way.
It doesn’t make sense that religion we have been brought up with is so divisive, that it has caused war and trauma for generations. If we are all God’s children and he does not favour any race, colour or creed then why are we all fighting? I love the fact that The Way of The Livingness is for all without any distinction.
We get hooked onto the collective safety a religion brings and feel comfortable in the concept that ours is the true one, but how can it be true if it is not collectively for all? We are taught to abide by the religion we are ascribed to/ascribe to through fear, not by love.
“I realised that it is not actually that I have become religious in those 10 minutes, but what happened was my understanding of true Religion completely changed”. A change in our understanding of something has the ability to change our relationship with that thing or indeed person and equally a change in our relationship with either a thing or person has the ability to change our understanding of it/them.
So often when we recognise a truth we come to understand that we have been living it for a while without realising and appreciating the fact.
“I saw how exclusive and separatist organised religions had been throughout the ages”. By it’s very nature, if something is either exclusive or separatist then it can’t be true religion. It’s simply not possible.
I have spent so much of my life in reaction to religion, whereas now it feels so spacious to re-connect to my inner knowing of what we are all offered when we are willing to be open to the divinity within.
I loved reading how you, as a child, said you were Jewish because you liked what you felt and didn’t have any notion of how difficult it is to get into certain religions and sometimes never actually be fully accepted unless one is born into it. I love the openness of this, the freedom to be who we are without question or doubt. Then you discovered the dogma within organised religions. I remember being shocked at how menstruating women were thought of as dirty, this greatly disturbed me.
The curtailing of our natural exploration and evolution is all around us. I remember living in LA and, after having been used to walking coastal paths in the UK which are public land, being shocked and angry that many of the beaches were private, reserved for the few. I’m inspired to ask, am I excluding myself from love?
‘there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.’ When people ask me ‘do you believe in God?’ there is such a chasm presented between the ideals we create from the head and the reality that there is to live and feel from the body. When we can come out of the head and live from the body, understanding what this means by experiencing it (not by intellectualising it) we will know that God is fact – no beliefs necessary.
When Serge first presented The Way of the Livingness as religion, I faltered, resisted, because of previously held associations of conventional religion as corrupt, false and separatist. Awakening to true religion and The Way of the Livingness was a breath of fresh air, a homecoming that allowed me to re-connect to something I had always sensed, but not known how or where to express it.
What you share Michael is that without an awareness of true religion, many denounce outright the version of religion that is out there. The simplicity of religion as expressed here brings us back to truth: “Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God.
‘…what happened was my understanding of true Religion completely changed.’ When I came across The Way of The Livingness I can say the same was for me. My understanding hit a new level and it was something that made complete sense to me.
I knew the truth of Religion at heart and why I questioned other conventional religions. The Way of The Livingness confirmed and deepened my understanding.
The Way of The Livingness has helped me to make sense of the other religions out there, as in how they came to be and how man has put their own stint on the original teachings.
“I brought religion back to me, and found that there is not one ounce of the aforementioned included . . . ” Is it not that what most of us has to do – to bring the true religion back to us and to experience the space that comes with it. I for myself love this way of the livingness as it offers me all the space I need to return deeper and deeper to god and my soul and to let go of all of the pictures that come with it.
This is written with such sweetness and beauty so I was convinced that it was written by a woman and was very surprised (but not really) to find your name at the end, Michael. Absolutely gorgeous.
As I dabbled in many religions over the years there was a knowing in me that there must be more, and these religions missed the mark when it came to feeling a truth within them. For me religion is about a relationship and a communication with God, and nurturing that deep knowing from within.
I love what you have shared here particularly about nurturing that connection ✨ a great reminder.
“…. Religion is about my relationship with me and ultimately with my Soul, the Universe and God.” I love the simplicity of this – the truth of Religion beautifully expressed.
As kids our relationship with God is effortless but then because of how we’ve lived in between childhood and adulthood and then as adults, our relationship with God is something that we have to work at getting back to. Such a waste of time. If we didn’t mangle ourselves in the ‘growing up process’ then we wouldn’t have to put ourselves back together again later on. Bring on the day that we recognise, acknowledge and preserve the natural relationship that children have with God.
Something that struck me as quite tragic when I re read this blog is how children, who are the most naturally religious beings on the planet are often put off religion by their exposure to the bastardised and twisted version that we adults doggedly pursue. Gone is the joy of religion, gone is the ease of religion and gone is the truth of religion. Tragic.
I can remember studying religious education at school and being fascinated by the many different religions but they felt quite distant and disconnected from life, and I never related to any of them the way we can relate to living very moment of our day with The Way of the Livingness.
True religion is vibrant, it is alive, it is interactive, it is responsive, it is a moment by moment relationship with ourselves, with God and with Life and yet what gets dished up at school is often a flat unresponsive greyed out topic that has not an ounce of true religion in it. A tragedy.
Gorgeous blog Michael. When we live from the knowing that we are ‘bringing more to the world than just function’ we are content and at ease with ourselves. We do not feel the need to want anything or be anything else; life is complete.
‘Religion? For some or for All?”. Religion the sum of All of Us.
“… there is God, and that his beholding is not something to be believed in, but to be walked with in every footstep in order to be felt, and subsequently to be honoured and treasured.” So true and we know him through The Way of The Livingness.
OMG you brought back really sweet memory and song … I used to love this ‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine’ ✨ See we are so aware … we have always known the light is within us.
A truly stunning article Michael. Relatable, down to earth, full of wisdom, very funny but most of all it has the power and the ability to bust the myth of religion wide open. Brilliant stuff.
Reading this about our soul being there guiding us back to God and to being who we truly are, I feel to ask myself, am I really allowing myself to be guided? I hear that when things get complex all I need do is surrender, but I realise I’ve been trying to surrender to something unknown which causes me anxiety. But if I’m surrendering to my Soul, to me this brings a settlement to my body.
Michael, I resonate with everything you have written. We have allowed ourselves to be taken in and blinded by what I call false religions. Like you, I believe that true religion is about my relationship with me and my soul and the universe, which to me is the body of God.
Organised religion is very different to true religion, ‘I saw how exclusive and separatist organised religions had been throughout the ages’.
I love the fact The Way of the Livingness is so practical and yet I love that it reminds me that we are so much more than our body.
True religion is very practical, it’s the nuts and bolts of life. If it’s not accessible or easily understood by the common man then it’s not true religion.
Yes, exactly so. If it’s not for everyone and in our everyday but reserved for special occasions or people perceived as special or entitled in some way through means such as wealth, birth, ritual or behaviour, then this exclusivity makes it more a members club.
I’m very aware that this could be said of ‘The Way of the Livingness’ because it could be seen that there are practicalities to it that makes one a member. But what I’ve learnt is that, for all my efforts at setting myself apart from people as different, as an individual, I’m no more or less than anyone else, unique yes, so equally able to connect with God and have a relationship unique to me with Him – just like everyone else, no-one is excluded from this. For me the practicalities are simply ways to support this connection. Equally I can do things that sever this connection just like we all can.
The great thing is, we can’t ever sever our connection to God because God is fundamentally who we all are. We can however interfere with our connection so substantially that we totally lose sight of who we all are.
I too love the practical nature of The Way of the Livingness and knowing we are aligned to something much greater, our universality, the stars and planets, makes life glorious not mundane.
I, like so many other people in life used to feel that everyday life was incredibly mundane. A repetitive existence that needed to be spiced up with drama, eating, travel or clubbing. All of those things now would hamper the fact that life for me is now is a fascinating magical multi dimensional experience.
In the mundane we experience life as ordinary, aligned to something greater, we experience its extra-ordinariness and wonder.