The Connectedness Beyond Religion

 When I first began to explore other belief systems I looked into Taoism. I really liked its connection to nature and the eternal Tao (which is considered the natural order of the universe). This was helpful as my thinking about divinity changed from a personal God-like being to a more general, impersonal concept.

There are many ways to conceive of human spirituality and connectedness beyond religion. Vishen Lakhiani is one of the forerunners of the spiritual consciousness expansion movement today. His philosophy asserts that humanity has come to a point where we are no longer in need of religion, and that while it is ok to believe in religion, it is really about connecting beyond religion to the Oneness of all that is and the Higher Power that connects all life. He suggests that religions limit us by teaching dogma that end up as a lot of rules people follow, whether they actually believe in them or not. By raising our consciousness beyond our current religions, we can connect better with each other. Lakhiani believes that we are all particles of this Higher Power (or “God”), so we are in essence God experiencing itself. At the same time, we are also in essence experiencing ourselves. As such, we have all the creative potential of God, including our intuition, etc (Lakhiani, 2018).

Another helpful way to understand the connectedness beyond religion is through the common stream concept of Matthew Fox (2000), a theologian, Episcopal priest, and activist. He conceives of each spiritual tradition as a separate well, but below each well there is a common stream that feeds them all. This is a beautiful metaphor that shows us that various religious/spiritual traditions do not have to be separate or at odds with one another because they derive from the same Source. I believe if our hearts are pure and true and we are doing no harm, then the details do not really matter so much. What really matters is human unity, the desire to help others, and doing good. The more we can focus on those things the better off humanity will be.

References

Fox, M. (2000). Original blessing: A primer in creation spirituality. New York, NY: TarcherPerigee.

Lakhiani, V. (2018). Becoming limitless. [Course] Retrieved from https://www.mindvalley.com/