RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL WHOLENESS
By Victoria Lynn Hall I remember the day the religious crusaders came to my door and asked me their question of the day: “Do you think there can be more than one valid religion on earth?”. It was asked in the way that assumed I would answer no because logically if one of them was right all the others were wrong. I told the Christian witnesses that I believed all religions had their own truth. They proceeded to explain that only through Jesus can our souls be saved and therefore all the Buddhists were doomed. At that point I asked them my question of the day which was, "If someone were drowning would you' ask them their religion before pulling them out of the water?". My guests answered No. "So", I replied "if you are willing to save someone from physical harm, no matter what their religion may be - don't you believe that god is willing to save the souls of all of us, regardless of our religion - don't you think that he or she is at least as compassionate as we are?". At this point they began reciting the scripture that they had interpreted to support that their religion was the only religion and I told them that I respect their devotion but I did not wish to join an organized religion and they left, never to return again.
It is important to remember that no matter what religious knowledge or beliefs we have, we must respect the spiritual process of others. I am not stating here a disbelief in Jesus Christ and Christian religions. I am saying that no religion in this world can be deemed absolutely right or wrong. In fact, I am asking you to consider that all of them contain the same truth in different forms. Religion is based upon a human and personal interpretation of Divine Energies. Like everything we participate in during our lives as human beings, religion is a personal choice.
The concept of God or Divinity is based on the existence of the highest intelligence known to man. This intelligence is formless, nameless and all encompassing. It's source lies at the core or center of the whole of existence. The further we dwell from the core of all life, the more we objectify this nameless intelligence. What objectifies or names this intelligence is the form our culture or we as individuals attach to it.
Imagine if you will a wheel with spokes connecting the center to the outer circumference. The edge of this circle is the surface of human existence, the outer reality of this world. The center of this circle is God, Divine energy, formless life. The spokes of the wheel connect the outer circumference, the surface of life to the Divine energy, the spirit of life, the core. These spokes are the archetypes of form that carry the nameless substance of spirit from the core to the awareness of human life forms who dwell on the surface. In order to reach the surface of life the spokes must separate but they are all connected at the center of the wheel. The farther one travels towards the core, the less separated these spokes become. At every point on the wheel where the spokes reach the outer circumference a culture evolves containing and expressing the divine essence carried by the particular spoke of the wheel or archetype from the center to the surface.
Many times, in order to establish divine consciousness or help a culture to fulfill it's divine purpose on earth, the divine energy will express itself through an avatar. These avatars are aware of their connection to the core of all life and travel from the source to the circumference as an agent for the force traveling through the spokes among the wheel. Avatars such as Buddha and Jesus are well known in eastern and western cultures. Both of these figures conveyed the divine essence of formless divinity to their culture in a way that could influence and be understood by that culture as to ensure the evolution of that particular race of beings. Before and since the time of Jesus and Buddha, and in many different lands and cultures, Avatars have appeared and reappeared in human form to remind us of our divine purpose on earth.
Each one of us can become avatars and archetypes of divine energy by giving form and expression to the formless, nameless spirit of divinity within us. We connect with this energy by finding our way along a particular spoke of the wheel, which may represent a religion or spiritual ideal, and traveling along that spoke from the surface of existence to the core and back again. In order to become whole we must find that place within ourselves that is aware of the core of existence and contains all possibilities, all forms and all manifestations of the divine energy. We are not limited to one territory upon the wheel, we do not have to travel strictly on one of its spokes but by returning to the core we can perceive every one of them or venture out and explore any emanation of God that we choose. We can also physically or mentally travel along the circumference of the wheel and visit the geographic locations, the cultures and the people who can connect us to a different aspect or presentation of the divine spirit.
By doing this we are not denying the god of our own culture, we are getting to know him better by expanding our awareness to encompass not just one but all aspects of her divine presence in the world. To deny ourselves all but one religion and one image of divinity is to receive only a piece of God's blessings and intelligence. By opening our minds to experience or learn about other religions we begin to recognize a universal spirit behind all of these manifestations that is pure divinity; God, limitless, boundless and whole.
(c)1996 Victoria Lynn Hall
