Category: RELIGION

Garbage, Toilets and Cars – My Normal, My Religion

GARBAGE

I clearly remember when, as a kid, I made a decision not to throw any rubbish on the streets. It feels surreal for me to even mention it today, but when I was a kid the streets in Brazil were very dirty and it just seemed ‘normal’.

I realised that if there were things I didn’t like in this world, I had a responsibility to not contribute to them. I also remember that once I made that decision, I found my first obstacle – very often I could not find bins – but that didn’t stop me. I was so firm in my decision that I would carry garbage in my pockets, bag, or wrap an apple core in  paper or plastic until I could find a bin – this became ‘my normal’.   Continue reading “Garbage, Toilets and Cars – My Normal, My Religion” →

Playing with Life and Waking up with Me!

by Clare, Customer Service and Child Care Worker. Canberra 

This morning as I woke, I felt – ah… is it Christmas, is it my Birthday? Then I realised, no, it is me! I am lying here, gently tucked in under my blankets, with Me. This felt so warm and so beautiful… it is not Christmas, it is not my Birthday – I have simply woken up with Myself, in all the beauty that I am.

Feeling the joy I felt as a child, feeling the glow of the day dawning, feeling my heart sing within my chest, feeling how, as I lay myself to rest so lovingly the night before, I have woken refreshed, inspired and divine. This Is Me. This is all of us. This is Love.   Continue reading “Playing with Life and Waking up with Me!” →

Grow Your Own Love

by Jane Torvaney, Scotland

Last night when I came home from work I took a cup of tea out and sat in the garden. As I looked around me, taking in the vibrant colours of the flowers and their different shapes and sizes, I witnessed the ease with which they interacted with nature. The wind was blowing ever so gently, causing ripples of movement across their delicate leaves and petals. An abundance of insects were busy in the soil beneath and flies, bees and beautiful butterflies were flying around, sometimes choosing to land and explore the surface of the leaves or, in the case of bees, venturing deeper into the heart of the bloom in search of pollen.   Continue reading “Grow Your Own Love” →

A New Ending Point

By Joel Levin, Western Australia

A recent article ‘A New Starting Point’ explored what life might be like if we gave life a new starting point. It explored the change from having pain and suffering as our starting point, to making love as the starting point…

It seems, however, that that story is only the end of the very beginning.   Continue reading “A New Ending Point” →

Religion is Science, Almost

by Christoph Schnelle, Lismore Region, NSW

I react(ed) negatively when I hear the word religion. So much seems untrue about every religion that I know about. I shuddered at being identified with a religion – everybody would know that I accept something as true or believe in something that is obviously not true.

Recently I got a new perspective – religion can be true: actually, it is required to be true if it wants to explain the world. In other words, for a religion to be true, the following has to be true:   Continue reading “Religion is Science, Almost” →

The Way of the Livingness – the Religion I’ve Always Known

By Shannon Everest

RELIGION AT SCHOOL

For all of my schooling life I attended a Catholic school. It was the same school that my mum went to and also the same school that her mother attended.

Religion was a subject taught in different ways over the years as I made my way from Infant School to Primary, and then to High School. It was a compulsory part of the curriculum, the same as Maths, English and Science. We also attended a mass in church once a week, and when we had events like assemblies or graduations, we would do this in the church. We also celebrated all of the normal religious events in church, like Easter and Christmas.  Continue reading “The Way of the Livingness – the Religion I’ve Always Known” →