What are you religious with? Are you religious with sport, food, work, a religion, fitness, Jesus, a Guru, Yoga, Love, Family… the list goes on?
Religion for me is not just about believing in God, reading the bible, going to church or following a certain order in life. A big part of it is how we live and our relationship to life, ourselves, to others and our values.
What are we religious with when we are born?
Our body, are we not? Just completely connected and feeling the presence of our delicate body, feeling and completely listening to our body’s cues and connected to what we need to support ourselves first and foremost, and of course connecting to our loved ones closest to us and our new environment.
Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be? So is it possible that babies are connected to something greater and more beautiful than we can even fathom, and obviously without any instruction to be so?
Could I go as far to say that babies know within – not on a conscious level but subconsciously and naturally as a part of their being – that they are a child of God? All knowing, as in feeling everything and in complete connection to themselves and everything around them. Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?
As we grow up, outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge come in and we can start to separate from that connected space we once held as true. The burden of these outside forces takes its toll so we begin to disconnect further from ourselves and from an otherwise body of God, a body of love and a body all-knowing of a deeper wisdom.
We’ve had it before, we have lived it before, we knew it inside out and it has never left, we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us.
The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.
By Aimee, Full time Mum of 2 children, Auckland, NZ
Related Reading:
God. It’s a Science.
Living a Religious Life & The Way of The Livingness
My Relationship with Religion
Words on Serge Benhayon 
Amen Aimee alignment to God absoulutely feel amazing, thus allowing us the All-knowing wisdom of being connected to our Soul, as some still remember from our youth as you have shared.
The word ‘religion’ has been misinterpreted to mean belonging to a specific group of human-held beliefs. True religion is to reconnect, move and live with the wonder and love of God and divinity.
Universal Medicine gives everyone the opportunity to heal the hurts that keep us from reconnecting back to the truth of who we are. We have allowed religious institutions to dictate to us what religion means, and while there may be some smatterings of truth most of what is taught is the complete opposite of the truth which we have accepted as a truth. I have discovered by attending the workshops and presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine that no one can take away our relationship with God it is a immutable fact that we are in our essence a God as our essence is God. When we overcome all the ideals, beliefs, pictures and distractions that keep us blind to this knowing and reconnect back to God then we are left in the wonderment of why we ever left such an exquisite feeling in the first place.
Amazing question Mary and when we feel the energy of true alignment to God through our Soul-full-ness many questions like these are answered through the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom.
The word religion is so over used and has been hijacked by many institutions all pertaining to own the word, they have misused the word Religion so it is always out of context to the truth of its origin. Have we ever stopped to consider that this has been done on purpose so that the vast majority of us are put of just by the word itself and so stops us from reconnecting back to the truth of God?
Add to religion reincarnation and then we start to understand responsibility and then what are we not responsible for if we are all Sons of God equally? would we be not responsible for everything? We get lost in the reinterpretation and drop being energetically responsible!
I like what you say Gregbarnes888 that we are responsible for everything. That then has to include the huge mess we are in, including wars, discrimination, and the greed for profit over our health and wellbeing, the list is long. This is not as some people believe just being ‘done’ to us we are actually doing this to ourselves.
Absolutely Mary, we are all equally irresponsible, thus everything in our life to bring us to responsibility from what we have shared is everything-inclusive, so this is turning our lives up-side-down and it is up to us all to turn the corner and see the light and re-connect, “re-bind” to our essences and “returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.”
When holding a baby one can not help but be in awe of the grandness of the universe, the pure love and joy is just so palpable.
“The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect” – hence has nothing to do with the institutionalized religions that we know of today and the big churches and building ‘dedicated’ to God and the worship of a ‘God’. It is the people and their relationship with the deepest part of themselves that ‘make’ the religion and not the building.
Wasn’t it Jesus that said over 2,000 years ago that the Kingdom of God is inside us or words to that effect that we seem to have either ignored or forgotten.
Aimee, I love the simplicity of how you start this blog – with the fact that we can be religious with whatever we choose to be religious with be it the beer bottle or God. This busts the picture that society has of a dogmatic religion. Religion is in essence our relationship with something, and what we choose to make it. Our relationship with God is there waiting till such time that we choose to feel it – meanwhile God never once stops the relationship with us even if we choose not to engage in it. What a level of love we are eternally held in.
I have heard people say that God has stopped loving us or we wouldn’t be in this mess we are in. I do not believe this myself, I believe that God is all around us in the very air we breathe, so he actually cannot stop beholding us. We are just using God as an excuse to not live the all that we naturally are, not because he made us because he didn’t, but because our particles belong to the universe and so that is our connection back to God.
Thank you Aimee for you awesome blog. I like especial this sentences: “The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.” You invite us to ponder about religion and I find it very worth to do it!
If babies are born with this absolute love of God, and I believe this to be true, then surely we as adults have a responsibility to support them to live in this connection as they grow up. I would say this would have an enormous impact on our society if we raised a generation of children that are not dominated by our current societal demands. It’s worth trying as we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy’ agreed which means what a responsibility we as humanity have in aiding babies to not only keep that connection they have but confirm and expand with it as they get older. Mmmm I feel we have a lot of work to do done with this one as currently we have not been so hot on it. And of course we can only support another with this if we first do this for ourselves otherwise it is from a baseless foundation, so, a lot of love and appreciation we must give ourselves as well.
Body knows God, even when we are disconnected from it, it still does, and we only need to keep coming back to it.
We are always and forever a child of God no matter our age or whether we believe in the presence of Thy Father or not. This is an immutable truth we are not always so willing to hear if it does not suit the way of living we have adopted in this life.
I could read and re-read these words Liane over and over again for they hold the truth of Religion in total simplicity.
A lovely reread as it reminds us of the first and main religion, the connection with our body and through our body to our essence.
Being religious is about how we live, what we think is established by the choices we make in our life…and so we can think many different theories and high ideals, but living either true and loving or not in practice with a commitment to heal…that for me is religious life. and I live it religiously…
Religiosity is not about beliefs but about a specific pattern of movement.
The beauty is that a child is so naturally religious that there is nothing else but connection with the all. Now we do not need to question further, only to observe how far we have gone away from
Our way.
I love this that religion is a big part of ‘how we live and our relationship to life, ourselves, to others and our values.’ Particularly apt as it is World Values Day today. I used to hate the word religion and what it stood for growing up because to me it did not make sense to give power over something outside of ourselves that we are sinners or that in order to connect with God we had to go to a specific building. So the reason I love what you shared so much is because its real and about how we live life itself, after all we all have a big responsibility with regards to this but currently not all seeing or accepting this.
I was also pretty twitchy about the word religion, but when I understood it to be in origin concerning reconnection and rebinding within,…then I knew the truth and I knew was religious.
It is fair to say that a fair chunk of the world’s population reacts to the word ‘religion’ but this reaction is to the bastardised form of the word and all it pertains to and not to the essence of what being religious truly means, for deep down every single one of us aches for the re-union with our true and divine self.
‘Aches’ is correct, it was an ache that could not be relived with anything available as a distraction. When I reconciled what I know deep within as true, and felt and registered from the body, I have not looked back. The twitchy reaction was from feeling hurt by the lies and bastardised version, realising I did not need to be hurt was profound and yet very simple. It is a choice, no one can take away your relationship with religion, God and being a God. The settlement of return is exquisite.
The more we get to know ourselves the easier it is to know that we are all religious. Whether we accept that or not is up to us.
Aimee that is very beautiful… to really feel that a baby is with God … and then to let ourselves reconnect in the same way with such complete innocence and totality
Religion is so simple and is a heart-led intelligence not a mental activity.
Religion – so simple. It can be felt and yet we let our minds argue.
Knowing that we are born religious exposes the fact that we do not need to be “converted” to a religion or baptized into a religion. That is all just man made and serves only those who want people disempowered.
What you have written Elizabeth is spot on we do not need to be ‘converted’ or baptized it is all a lie that keeps all in the illusion that we have to attain something, when in fact God resides within all of us, we just need to reconnect as Aimee says we are born with this knowing this connection already within us all.
What it further exposes is that love is our religion and that it is not complex at all. It is so simple that we like to make it something ;complex, which it is definitely not, but the opposite. Great way to bludgeon our truth.
I think that’s a good point – that we can relate to the beautiful body awareness and connection that babies can reflect because it is a connection that lives within us too and as such is always there ready to be re-ignited.
Yes instead of being or looking at a baby thinking how lovely we can say ‘I am that too’ it is just loving ourselves enough to connect or re-connect to the innate essence within us. It is always there and always has been there.
We are for sure all born religious, as what else are we impulsed by to move and express when we are born. As babies we are at one with our Soul, as such connected deeply with God and for me being this is precisely what being religious is, to live in a way that is impulsed by our connection to our Soul where our relationship with God is a given. And really, we all know this and what this means as we have lived and breathed it before, which shows us that it truly is our innate way of being and the foundation where we can return to live together in the harmony of Brotherhood which we are designed to live.
We all love babies and feel disarmed by them and we just accept that is how babies are. Yet we should actually look at this a bit deeper because how come that we as grown up adults don’t have this same melting and joy every time we see each other? What do we change from when we were a baby to being an adult? If we can’t hold this immense love what is our parenting and education doing that is not treasuring and nurturing this to be even more there in the adult?
So beautifully and innocently put Lieke, if we were to take a moment and stop to ponder your words
‘If we can’t hold this immense love what is our parenting and education doing that is not treasuring and nurturing this to be even more there in the adult?’
It seems to me that instead of nurturing ourselves we deliberately crush our beauty, sensitivity, fragility all those qualities that melt us when we are in the presence of a baby.
We are all born religious – awesome beings that need to appreciate the love we have inside. We need a true form of education that leaves us to be from young absolutely glorious as we are, the spark we are born with needs to be accepted and expanded further. Not going any less than that spark children are born with, only allowing them to grow – grow into more of themselves.
‘For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity.’ There is so much in this sentence because when we are accepting of all equally we have true love, and true religion
Do we love the innocence of babies because they reconnect us to a quality we have either forgotten or disregarded within ourselves?
And in those moments with babies, that same natural, religious connection is recognised in ourselves? It is always there, simply waiting for us to realise this and walk with it.
Re-bounding with the love inside.. And letting it come out.
‘we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us’ Here here! and Serge Benhayon is truly helping us to do just that ✨
We are all born with an innate part of us that belongs to the divine… We are by our very nature religious.
So true Chris – it is something that we can never truly be separate from, which is very beautiful and humbling to realise, but we can certainly choose to live in ignorance of our innate and divine religiosity and who we are in essence.
Beautiful Chris and so true ” we are by our very nature religious” we cannot deny it unless we become religious about denying it for the moment we let go our divinity reveals itself.
God has given us reincarnating until we get our life to an understanding where we can live the truth of who we are. The Way of The Livingness has us informed about how we shall come to a true point of evolution so we can deepen our understanding of God and thus continue to expand our awareness.
If I read your blog about religion and how we all are born religious, it makes no sense we as human beings have made all this complexity about religion, manmade religions with God outside our bodies. One thing is for sure when you hold a baby in your arms, or look a baby in their eyes there is an instant connection with the divine if you want it or not.
Great call in asking what are we religious with as we can be religious with work, fitness, food etc but what is the true meaning of the word religion – to re-connect, re-bond, re-align to the truth of who we are. It seems we are using the word religion, as many other words, not in their true context.
Our nature is born of divinity and to live in honour of that word, we may start to understand the truth of what being religious is.
I think it can be really helpful to discuss the word religion and unpack some of the many beliefs and ideals that are or have been associated with it and that we may be reacting to – because in that reaction we may in fact be throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak and labeling religion as something it isn’t in truth…
Agree Fiona, there has been atrocities throughout the ages that have taken place under the banner of religion, that would have many disassociate with the word and understandably so. Though these acts could not be further from the truth of living in connection with oneself, others and all of life…or religiously.
Victoria Picone if we were to study history we would indeed find that there have been many atrocities that have taken place under the banner of ‘religion’. The Alexandrian Library was decimated and the scrolls were either destroyed or plundered, the ones that were plundered were then twisted and misinterpreted by so called religious people of the day. The wanton brutality that occurred was to stamp out any resistance, mob violence was whipped up by the religious people of the day, to keep the population in check. Succumb to the will of the church or your business, homes, life will be destroyed. The Cathars were persecuted in much the same way by the Roman Catholic faith. This ‘religion’ also spread around the world and broke no opposition to its doctrine. The Crusades were another ‘religious’ war where people were murdered, raped, lives destroyed all under the banner of so called ‘religion’ it’s the complete opposite to the true meaning of the word. Is it possible this is a deliberate ploy as it keeps us away from the true nature of our essence to re-bond with God. So that there is a deliberate movement or configuration within our bodies born out of life times of persecution so that we don’t want to have anything to do with the word God, the word is a complete ‘turn off’ deliberately so. Is it also possible we have been lied to on such a grand scale that we are for now unable to see through the lies that have encapsulated us for life times. We will never be left alone to decide for ourselves, because behind all of this there is the Astral plane which influences everything we do, it will keep up the resistance to make it harder to return back to our soul, because in the resistance is the energy they use to sustain themselves. We are mere puppets to be used as an energy to feed off. When we can allow ourselves to come to this level of awareness we will be able to get a sense of the lies about God we have been fed over many lifetimes.
Religion, as it is commonly known today, is so far removed from what religion in truth is, that it is not strange that more and more people are turning away from it, looking for something different. Innately we know religion and God even if we do not want to use those words for the bastardisation they have become. The call from our divine essence is growing and more and more people look for truth. And as is divinely designed, for those who seek they will find.
“Are We All Born Religious?” I like this because it shows just how hugely wrong every single religious war has been and is.
Love what you say here Elizabeth. Power hungry politics is not religion. Anything that separates us is not religion.
Since it is an ineffable truth that our bodies belong to God, most definitely, when we are born, we are one with the divine. And this is somewhere we can return to at any time if, we simply choose.
It is so beautiful to read the true meaning of the word Religion “The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect;” connecting us to our inner self and each other as all equal as one. So different to the religion of dogma, churches, rules, institutions that divide, separate, create hostilities and war.
To me babies just are with the grandness they are from and intensively connected with. It is the adult that finds it difficult to relate with because they have lost this connection in heir growing up in becoming a valued and contributing participant of our current societies that do not recognise and appreciate the value of the quality our young born’s are born with and bring to the world, every time a baby is born.
Holding a baby is quite magical, and I know that as the magic of God. Straight from heaven.
There is no question we are inspired by something babies reflect to us, and I have often wondered if seeing that reflection of their connection connection reminds us of our lack of it. The way you have described a baby’s connection to itself, to its body and a way of moving that is fully aware of and exploring its movements is, sadly. very different from the way we live. If our connection to where we come from is potentially accessed from our bodies then no wonder we smile as we feel the love lived by a baby.
Religion is a difficult topic to write about in today’s society, there are so many different understandings, beliefs, ideas, judgements, dogmas, and information sources that each have a different perception on this world. This confusion with religion has made it taboo to talk about it openly.
Came up in conversation the other day that when we’re little we have no filter of what we should or shouldn’t say. That should or shouldn’t though comes from a right and wrong and also don’t rock the boat. You say exactly what is there and the truth rocks the adults in our lives especially when other adults hear young people say it as it is. For me I’m slowly coming back to saying how something is, and being more okay with reactions.
“For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?”
So clear when you put it like this, and then the baby/child gets loaded up with a whole bunch of ideals, pictures, beliefs from parents, friends, other kids, school etc… but we certainly dont start out that way.
We should question it differently around actually: what makes us not connected to everyone and everything? What have we been avoiding, not wanting to feel — the disconnection we have been living with all this time?
So it is more fair to ask ourselves: why do we avoid connection with each other and most importantly first ourselves?
What does it ask us to then let go of if we make our lives about connection and togetherness?
My whole perception of what being religious is has changed since being introduced to The Way of The Livingness. I’ve gone from perceiving it to be rules or dictatorship that one follows, to knowing Religion is something that lives within. Yes we are all born religious, for being Religious is a birth right we are all born with that we can choose to claim.
Thank you Aimee, you remind me of the fact that it is our body that is our connection to God, and in neglecting the body when we grow older, we too neglect our doorway to God. A doorway that is just there, always ready to reconnect to, but what we knowingly ignore and instead start to look for that religious connection outside of us, a movement that has resulted in the many institutionalized religions we nowadays know in our societies to exist.
I love the connection made to our relationship to our body being a doorway to our relationship to God. I almost changed the wording to window, which shows how easy it is to see our relationship with God as something we observe not something we are free to accept as ours to walk beside in equalness.
Yes, a window or door, but actually there is no wall at all that separates us from God. It is only from our own making from the mind that we need doors or windows to connect through, but in reality as you say Lucy, God is always beside and with us and it is up to each of us to make that a reality to live with.
I am realising how unimposing this is, there is no need from God for us to believe, or feel, ‘get’ or understand. There is simply a constant steadiness about the support offered that is mightier than anything.
Beautiful Aimee, even if we are not sure or do not have a relationship with God we all know how important our body is and so if we become religious with our own bodies we will get to know the divine anyway.
Religion is a movement and way of being, a return to all that we are, a way of being. It is not confined to anything of human creation, it is of the universe, energy, God, of the All.
If we understood what the true meaning of the word religion meant, then we would understand that we cannot escape at all being religious in life. It’s who we are and a part of all we do in life. Its not even a belief in God or going to church. That may be part of a religious expression for someone, but it not make someone religious. If we are human, then we are religious.
A had a child ask me recently, why are there so many different Gods and how do you know what is true. I asked what they felt, they said there has to be something the same in all people, something that brings us all together not something that moves us away from each other, like the belief in different Gods.
Wow that’s so gorgeous and highlights how we do all know religion and what is truly means. We need to have such wisdom recorded, so we are reminded of how much we do know when we are children and how much we are connected to all of life.
If religion means to re-bind, to re-connect, we must be connected and bound to begin with. And what with is what determines the way we live.
The current state of our societies simply described in a few words. Thank you Fumiyo.
” As we grow up, outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge come in and we can start to separate from that connected space we once held as true ”
This is so true and the innocence and beauty of a child is lost to what the world wants.
” We’ve had it before, we have lived it before, we knew it inside out and it has never left, we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us. ”
So very true re-connecting to the religion we are , from the inside out.
So true and we have lived it in this life, it is innately within us so it makes no sense that we keep looking outside of ourselves as we have been ever since. We can never leave who we truly are we can only disconnect from it.
When I hold a baby, I know God and I never thought of myself as a Religious person but that feeling and smell of a baby is pure love and the reason I just don’t want to let go when I am holding that bundle of cuddles and joy is because babies are religious with their movements and deep connection to their bodies. So, yes, I am wanting to live with that type of natural connection and every day is a learning, to return to what I was naturally gifted with as a baby, every day I am a student of the Livingness.
I so know what you mean Sarah about holding a baby, there is not a skerrick of doubt that what you’re holding is from heaven. I also love hearing the truth bombs that come out of little kids mouths, uninhibited.
Re-discovering the true meaning of the word religion has been very healing for me. Having had issues with established religions from early childhood on the word was tainted in a way that did not allow me to consider that I might be religious by nature. This is the evil of the religions we have today, they bring a false version of a truth so that what is true becomes very hard to access.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment’ the more we all do that the more love we will see and feel in the world. We can be so quick to judge others with our eyes and thus condemn them for the way they are all that happens is they get further entrenched in their patterns. Where as when we truly appreciate another we remind them of the love they are and it can be the start of them returning the innocence and love of the child they were and we all were and can easily be. We just have to give it a go in full.
I actually spent time in my early twenties looking at many different religions speaking to their church (etc) leaders and reading their holy texts only to discover they all seemed the same yet did not answer my questions about life and death and all that’s in-between. I have since discovered the knowing of my inner-heart and this is my religious teacher.
My religion is living life, as a student of life and love, simple easy. There are no rules or beliefs to adhere to or get right, rather live and observe, life is my petrie dish…. Awesome blog Aimee
We are born with connection to our true wisdom then take on a game of playing less to fit in. To return to this state of true grace and innocence without playing ball with the illusion of life – that is what religion is all about: a beautiful path of return – thank you Aimee.
Yes, ‘beautiful path of return’ is what religion means to me. A gorgeous reconnection with ourselves and God that is a very intimate relationship and one that needs no middle person, just our willingness to return to who we are.
Yes as babies we are, in this sense, deeply religious.
When we look into the eyes of a little child we see God. But the doubts creep in as we get a little older and so many of us lose our way and blame God for our issues and for the world letting us down.
“Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be? So is it possible that babies are connected to something greater and more beautiful than we can even fathom, and obviously without any instruction to be so?” I love this Aimee. We are indeed multidimensional beings.
Letting all in is a deeply religious and expansive experience. We do not have to choose like everyone else but knowing there is no judgement only a respect for all choices is absolutely freeing and powerful.
Absolutely — it is that simple. What we see in children is their religion, and whatever we or society introduces that is actually not their nature should never ever be imposed upon them, but given space to all that they are and feeling. Our world will by this very thing – be a whole different place if we start to allow children to be absolutely who they are in all their natural qualities, with of course the guidance of parents/family members and rest.
It really is that simple Danna we just have to allow children to grow up being who they are and they will then be empowered to be the love they are and will not so readily conform to the expectations that society puts on us. We are all naturally love and so it is natural for us to be love, to be any less than love is not normal, we just need to make love our foundation and benchmark.
We know all that we are from the day we are born. Over time we may have built up protection from hurts, ideals and or beliefs that have hindered this truth but we always have the opportunity to express, live and move in a way that connects back to God any time and this brings such simplicity and joy felt just as we were when we were born.
It’s definitely true we all know this innate fact Aimee. Love was just love and we did not have to do anything to be held and adored as such. We just are. Perhaps that’s a clue for what true religion is all about.
Profound, we as babies already know truth and love — hence our greatest intelligence is already known by birth.. this means all that we learn thereafter is an addition to the love we know to be. And so our education should be in truth based on that, which it currently is often not. And so, this blog enriches our view on life and the truth, love and joy that babies know and live by. No one can tell them so, as they are knowing of something within themselves and share with others universally so. They often feel connected to another plane of life, and so they are open and multidimensional. It is hence super important that they do not get disconnected from that in their life, this is were our education system in truth should be based on — not on achieving knowledge!
I love how you present religion as having the potential to be about us re-turning to our natural, innate essence – something that we already are rather than something that we need to search for outside of ourselves.
Beautiful Fiona, and yes I agree. It also suggests that religion is a very personal relationship with ourselves and our divine essence and therefor needing nothing from outside of us.
When we search for religion, love or connection outside ourselves it becomes a struggle because it is going against our natural flow. Hence why all the different institutionalised religions in the world haven’t worked to unite humanity, they do the opposite, they divide and separate people. Whereas true religion will unite us all, The Way of The Livingness.
We are all born with the ability to return, to know where we are from, to experience this, and in that experience, reconfigure and realign our lives
Being religious is a natural state of being-it is only our hurts that get in the way of truly being able to express it.
And what a beautiful state of being that is well worth connecting to again! I have yet to see the majority of adults of this world living the same level if not more joy than they lived when they were born and in their early years of life.
I love this question – “So is it possible that babies are connected to something greater and more beautiful than we can even fathom, and obviously without any instruction to be so?” – and yes is my answer.
Mine too Sarah and we all have been this baby and that ‘something greater is still there when we are willing to deeply connect and feel the truth of our (divine) being.
That we are at our basic nature religious makes absolute sense, for as babies we are totally in connection with our bodies and how we feel and we don’t filter that, we just are. No trying, no rules, just an honouring and when you consider what the word religion you can understand that to be aligned, to be connected we are part of a greater whole, one we all come from, and one we all will return to … true religion in other words.
To know the simple meaning of the word religion makes very clear that what are called religions today do not have much to do with religion and how beautiful to feel that it is found in reconnecting with ourselves, who we already are.
There is a magnetism in every baby that makes adults feel blessed in their presence. They offer to us a reflection with their transparency and connection, which is a reminder of what we one day were and will be again. The only difference between an adult and a baby are the layers we have chosen to wear in order to ‘protect’ our initial vulnerability, which is in the end what we most long for.
The prospect or even just the inclination that I, and that we as a humanity, could be returning to something grand and magnificent that is beyond our immediate understandings of life is very humbling.
Beautiful Aimee, you are spot on, religion is simply the re-connecting (or re-binding) to our innermost essence and if we want to remember what this is like, just look at and feel the quality of a baby.
We are a one humanity but we are yet to live this within our family, our communities and our world.
Being religious is found in the way we move and care for ourselves. From this quality of movement we see a shift in how we connect with others and how moving connected to our bodies can bring purpose, expression and truth to the forefront and shows that responsibility will return us to true religion and that it is a living expression found in our everyday movements for life.
We impose on babies and our children what we think much more than what we realise. We even try to convince ourselves that we are not imposing which is more harmful than the imposition itself but no matter what we think or say it is in the way in which we are with ourselves, our connection to ourselves and what we align to that makes a difference, a way of living that allows a child to be themselves without any imposition and not from what the mind says it does or does not do.
The power we have is shared by our way of living. As words can simply be words, but our movements do actually share with us the truth. The more we accept who we truly are and the responsibility that comes with that – the more our movements will be ones of truth and love.
I absolutely love the origin of the word religion, because it takes away all the rubbish and bastardisation that’s occurred since then. The original meaning, I can relate to deeply. The updated version…not so much.
I love this … being religious with our body .. after all the Kingdom of God lays within .. each and every single one of us. The connection is absolutely there we just need to remember and re-connect with this ✨
The statement “I believe in God”, followed by what that means in practical terms in terms of actions and affiliation seems to be a definite sign that someone is religious and the degree of his/her religious-ness. But, is it really? What does truly and precisely mean “I believe in God”? We may say for example, that we belief in a specific narrative of God as reflected in a ‘sacred’ book of our choice. What is interesting and worth reflecting upon is that it is all about beliefs. That brings us to a more general question: why do we hold on to some beliefs? Is it somehow related with how the body is energetically configured? And, a more crucial one, is our relationship with God one based on beliefs? Is this the pinnacle of what we can aspire to if we define ourselves to be religious?
A great point Eduardo in that we can say the words e.g. ‘I believe in God’ or ‘I love you’ but what does our body say instead of our mouth as this is the marker of all truth. Also how often do we give ourselves the space to truly feel into what this means for us. For example at a Wellbeing for Women event today we were asked the question ‘What does it mean to be a women in the world today’. For many of us to be given the space for us to explore this was amazing. In other words we can easily say what we do or don’t believe in but have we truly deeply felt into this for ourselves?
I love the origins of the words Religion. It takes all the bastardisation out of it and brings it back to the simplicity of the meaning of life.
The purity of a baby reminds us of the purity within ourselves that we never lose, just disconnect from as the forces from the world we have created slowly undermine us as we grow up and conform to the expectations of the world around us.
Babies see and know a person by their essence and inner quality before they see the rest. This is something we never lose but just grow to avoid.
What babies have we all have, except that as adults we try and pretend that we do not have it. We are all a part of a stupendous universe and just in the same way that a baby can connect to it so can we. It just requires us to want to do it and a willingness to drop our arrogance.
I agree with the list you present, Aimee, and it feels like being religious is our attempt to know ourselves by association with something we hold as true or give the highest value in our life.
Thank you Aimee – Yes, we are all born religious.
“For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity.” So, what happens to many of us that we begin to lose this innate sense of knowing and with it our natural way of living religiously and in time live in exactly the opposite way? The wonderful thing is though that we can return to this simple way of being at any moment, with our next choice.
‘Are we all born religious?’ We are all born connected, knowing who we truly are..
It makes sense to me that religion means to reconnect the very word gives the truth of what it is to be religion. The fact we have travelled so far from this truth in our current religions is deep sorrow we all bear. Knowing God never judges and welcomes home his son of man irrelevant of how far we stray in our desires to create heaven on earth!
Thank you Aimee, this religion is within us from birth.. A beautiful reminder: ‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment.’ We should come back to that ‘way’ inside us again.
Babies just live that they are a child of God. ‘For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious? Yes, very simple as the truth always is. Thank you Aimee.
I like that – reconnect, meaning there is nothing to aspire to in a true relationship with God.
Beautiful Aimee – “For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity.” It’s so clear when you put it this way!
The truth of what religion is breaks down all the pictures of how religion looks like in the world–a congregation, priests who are of age, a building where people gather, a book that people abide by…none of these images or no images in-truth can present what religion is. Religion is a lived union and intimacy we have with ourselves and hence also with life, we are born with this until we choose to ignore it, but it is still with us whenever we simply connect back.
If you could define the Religion I would like to be part of it’d be one which was all about warmth, easiness and Love. It’d be exactly as you say Aimee a way to reclaim and reinstate the natural, stress free state we lived and knew as babies. It’s philosophy would focus on equality and ultimately that we can only have all of this by choosing to embrace life and connect. This Religion is actually here today – The Way of The Livingness – and for sure, it is my way.
As a baby we all simply are. We have no identity and yet there is a wisdom and knowing in us that defies the argument we are a blank slate at birth. The opposite is true- we are universal and this never leaves, just gets buried beneath the illusion that we’re all individuals living in isolation from each other.
These words – a child of God – have over the ages held many connotations. But bringing them here back to the quality and the precious nature of a child has for me, the most filled truth of these words – there is no denying the divinity that a child holds.
If we are all born religious it takes away ‘having’ to be part of a religion. We are all born with the religion of our own inner heart, what happens next is a series of movements that take us away from this natural knowing, it is then we seek outside ourselves and when no longer hold that inner wisdom we fall for all manor of trappings around us.
Babies remind me of that connection so clearly, the simplicity of the connection to the love we are from, the interconnectedness of us all. We are blessed to have that reflection in our lives.
So if we can be religious about anything that totally debunks the ideal or belief that religion is worshipping God and Jesus. When I feel into the word Religion it is expansive and includes everything not just God and Jesus. How words have been abused, neglected and ignored because it has suited.
The prefix “Re” always implies that we are doing something again -so Religion is about coming back to something that we already know. Something so simple which we can make so complicated. Thank you for reminding us about this simplicity, Aimee.
It’s not hard to have a moment with God. Sit in the warmth of the sun for a moment, feeling the stillness of nature around and within you and you will feel the absoluteness of needing nothing, and having it all right there. There is pure contentment when we are connected with ourselves.
Religion has become my moment to moment relationship with it all. Big and beautiful.
Focusing on any compartmentalization of life be it religion, politics, work, parenting, education, art and the list goes on, makes me anxious, as it seems an escape from the fact that life is about everything. Making something more important or all important is a diversion from this truth that everything is about everything, my body tells me the distraction from this truth is not something it enjoys.
In the true meaning of the word we are all indeed born religious, and the thing is, this quality does not come and go, it is always there…. We are the ones who choose to feel this or not.
In the past i would have said no, but now after learning and connecting to the truth I wouldn’t question it for a second. Re-Interpretations of words can be extremely harmful. If you look at all the different meanings of religion and how close they all are at being the same just with slight or large variations. To know and feel God within me and know and feel how we all have the same level of connection no one more or no one less. This sure is true Religion.
“Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?” What a beautiful knowing we are all born with and can return to and feels so deeply beautiful and knowing of.
Amiee when you ask the question
“Are we all born religious”
I would say yes we are all born with an innate knowing of God. I know this to be true from my own experience I knew as a child that I had a true Father he was not my blood Father there was a knowing in my little body of a power that was holding me and that power felt very tender and I felt cocooned in the most delicious quality that I cannot describe with words, I never felt alone. I lost contact with this feeling and didn’t reconnect back to it until I met Serge Benhayon. I felt the same tenderness and qualities in him I felt as a child. And having known him now for quite some years it makes complete sense to me that I would feel these qualities in him as he is a sent son of God to remind us all that within us we all have this true knowing of God.
Is it possible that religion can be anything that supports us to re-build our connection with our innate divinity? So therefore the way we walk, the way we brush our teeth, the way we lay our head on the pillow…all of these could be religious? It’s interesting to consider this and I have found that by treating such ‘mundane’ activities with this level of ceremony and ritual and grace reaps amazing rewards and deepens my connection with my soul. Something that being in church has never done!
It’s great to debunk the whole pomp, ceremony, dogma of religion. As you say, our religion can simply be our relationship with our body. I know that my body is a zillion times wiser and more loving than any religious doctrine, practice or leader that I have come across!!
Thank you Aimee, the simplicity you shared is profound and life changing if we only stay with what is felt within our inner-most. What then keeps us in that connection is our movements and the power that comes from expressing our truth and not holding back is universally needed! Moving with the freedom that comes from living in our divine truth is a reflection that is constellating those who are blessed by that reflection.
“Are we all born religious?’ This is such a great question and one that I would say is seldom, if ever asked. If we consider religion or being religious as having a connection to and a relationship with God, the universe and everything in it then we are most definitely born religious. This has nothing to do with being born into an institutional church/religion and everything to do with our innate divine nature.
I reckon we are born religious, we are born knowing innately who we are, we may at times forget this, but whether we choose to hang onto it or to bury it deep down we know it lifelong, and as a wise man once said we are only ever a breath away from knowing it again.
Could we even be religious with ourselves when we are born? Could we realise our connection to the Universe from day one? Could it be that it is so natural and normal that we do not even have to think about it? In fact when do we start thinking and what fashions that thought?
If it is true that we are all religious because our our natural connection with God through our inner heart, the the concept of the institutionalised religions is exposed in its illusory ways in full, as these religion do not bring us closer to God but instead leads us further away from him.
What a great expose that we are all born with an innate sense of our connection with the whole of life and the Universe and open to feeling the expansiveness of it all and that we actually train our young out of it so we end up as an adult with a fraction of the awareness of that connection.
It was significant for me to read: “Religion for me is not just about believing in God, reading the bible, going to church or following a certain order in life. A big part of it is how we live and our relationship to life, ourselves, to others and our values.” Because that shows how my every single choice in life matters, and when chosen with care, love and honouring has the potential to support me in deepening my awareness.
Absolutely Aimee – we are born all knowing and this all knowing-ness never ceases, it is us that move away from that inner wisdom and attracted to mental intelligence that mankind have favoured over the intelligence of our inner heart.
Yes Rachael, the mental intelligence keeps is trapped in this world of creation is which we are in separation from God, while religion to the true meaning of the word, brings us a life in co-creation where we work with God and harmonious together.
Aimee, thank you – you have nailed it here: “The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.” True meaning of religion is to re-connect to who we truly are – something we all yearn for and seek all life long till we encounter it again at some point when we are ready for it – in other words when we are ready to feel the extent of ourselves that we have travelled away from the extent of love that is there to greet us and embrace us again and was waiting for us all along.
Our relationship with everything and everyone reflects our relationship with God. What’s beautiful is that God is always having a relationship with us, and never are we not absolutely loved and cherished.
Clearly after reading this blog it is clear to see that the word ‘Religion’ has been bastardised into something outside of ourselves, and used as a form of controlling people and gaining power. If we take it back like the author of this blog has done, we can feel how each and everyone of us knows the true meaning of religion at birth.
Spot on. The bastardisation of religion has been the seed of unfathomable corruption, almost every war ever waged and gigantic chasms in humanity. Such a million miles from that innate religion we are all born with – equally so.
It is amazing to connect to the feeling inside of belonging to something much grander than we can see and then realise that this feeling has been a constant presence in our lives and it is simply our connection to it or not that wavers… that is why we can call it a re-connection.
We separate from that innate knowing because we are not met for the love that we are, then we take on ideals and beliefs in the hope that these will deliver the love that we have separated from. A very devastating choice indeed.
Well said Jenny – thus is a devastating circle of choices that lead us further away from the love that we already are. Confirming each other, from core to core, being to being, love to love is so important so we are reminded of that inner spark and inner knowing that has never left us.
Religion is very much about relationship for me too. It is in every part of life and the way I relate to it. There is a ritualistic aspect to how we are in life – how we cook, clean, the hobbies we pursue are all religious. The great thing about our relationship with God is that it is naturally there when we are born and it never goes away, no matter how we deny or squash it, its back again next life!
“…For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?…” This is a true description of religion, yet we don’t see this displayed in our world do we?
It’s so crazy when it is written with such simplicity and clarity. What I mean is that it is hard to imagine how any of us could deny such a pure and clear truth. And yet…..just look at the world.
How very revealing Aimee, thank you for showing us the true meaning of religion ;
“The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.
It’s great you include Jesus in your opening question Aimee ‘What are you religious with?’ I’m pretty sure Jesus would have never agreed with, let alone wanted, the cult of personality that has arisen around him in the centuries since his passing.
I agree Victoria, it cannot be further from the truth what has gone on and what we have fallen for since the passing over of Jesus… the bastardisation of what Jesus represented and lived.
‘Are We All Born Religious?’ – 15 years ago I would have thought you were crazy to suggest such a thing, Today, knowing that true religion is simply a re-connection to who we truly are, a re-alignment to our own essence, which by the way is equal in all of us – today I know this to be the truth. We are all born religious.
It’s such a joy looking at a baby. They are bundles of joy who have been uncorrupted. It’s very sad to know that they will have ideals and beliefs ingrained in them by the time they are 10 years old. If they were left to develop without any imposition they would grow up wth the true meaning of religion ingrained in their veins.Carrying the knowing of the connection to God within us is true religion. If this were nurtured in us all we would be off to a very good start.
When we link back to our all known truth as a loving being it was not so long ago that we were totally open and full of divine love. It’s very heartening when we consider this fact.
“The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.” A simple movement back to who we are.
it is a great question when we are babies what are we religious to? There is a great surrendering and trust in our bodies. As we grow we step so very far from this that is is now killing us at rates we cannot possibly fathom.
It occurs to me that to be truly religious with God we must be deeply connected and knowing of our body. God cannot in anyway be truly understood in the mind alone.
This offers us a simple strategy for re-connecting to God and that is to build and develop our relationship with our bodies, get to know them by listening in to what they have to say and taking care, so we can feel his constant presence in us.
It is very revealing when we understand that whatever we have a very close association with, is a religion in the sense of binding us to it – and that can be beer, uppers or downers, anything really. This understanding normalises the word ‘religion’ and can lead to some very sobering insights.
“Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?” Such a great question Aimee. A baby only knows what it feels. Judgement, jealousy and comparison are therefore introduced somewhere along the way as we grow up and it is a matter of choice as to whether we take these things on or simply step back and observe what is happening.
I would say we can all agree on the purity and preciousness of a new born baby and thus we have a marker of the tenderness and love that lives in all of us and most importantly because we can feel this love we also know this love deep down inside. It is ours as we come form it and thus can always claim it back and live it.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?’ This is beautiful, for love can not judge. When we stop judging ourselves, we stop judging others. When we let go of judging, so much grace and love can flow, bringing much understanding and acceptance of firstly ourselves and then all others.
We can get to know God by reconnecting to our body.
“Could I go as far to say that babies know within – not on a conscious level but subconsciously and naturally as a part of their being – that they are a child of God?” And yet, most of us believe as adults that we need to impart wisdom and knowledge and force religion on to them, like they don’t know. Which is just from disconnecting to our own bodies and our own connection to God that we then replace it with knowledge.
This relates a lot with our acceptance of ourselves and our beauty both as men and women. A baby never questions that it is gorgeous and beautiful and deserving naturally of such love and care. Yet as adults some of us cannot even fathom how beautiful we actually are. How does this phenomenon even exist?
How do we recognize a religious person? By their movements. There is something about them that stands out. Their thoroughness, spherical nature, stillness come to mind. It is about qualities that impulse a distinct type of movement.
I can sense that as a baby I was open and free in my expression and in my connection with my loved ones and perhaps I can say I felt a connection with the all and with god, pure joy. But this changed when I had to go to school, then there came the corrections to my behaviour and the way we should relate to one another, actually very imposing and completely against my nature. But now I can say that I finally have succumbed to it and reduced my awareness and level of expression to the acceptable norm society needed me to be. Very sad actually to acknowledge that this is how society is trying to model all people into this reduced way of being while we all can feel inside that we are so much more. No wonder there is so much waywardness as that inner conflict as a result of this suppression is looking for a way out. So simple it is.
It is very beautiful that life gives us a point in our cycles between birth and death where we can physically experience a truly soul-full connection with ourselves and everyone around us as the babies we are. This marker remains and so long as people are here on earth, there will be this for us always to return to – reminding us that there is more to this life and that we are returning to our precious light.
I agree Shami, it is a blessing that babies are born as they remind us every time that we are that too. The power of the innocence babies emanate is very tangible and most people cannot do otherwise than succumb to that as deep inside they know they are actually the same.
I love what you have shared about the origins of the word religion. I read them and it makes total sense of the purpose of life and our relationship with one another.
religion is not religion if it is not lived and embodied.
Thank you Aimee, for expressing so naturally the truth we know to be. Be all that we naturally are – just like children know. So why would we accept anything less, and if we did, we can now choose no longer to and accept all the deep love and playfulness we have inside us – that we once lived.
Remember that deepest connection that you felt when you held someone’s hand, or touched their heart – the extra warmth you can feel in the centre of your palm, the deep inner stillness as you feel that warmth. What if that was the very first thing that a baby felt as they were delivered into the world? That would be such an incredible start in life, a welcoming like no other, and a blessing for the person doing the holding no doubt.
Absolutely no doubt… as a midwife I can vouch for that.
Beautifully presented Aimee. We are all born knowing God and our place as his living Sons within his great body of love that we call ‘the Universe’. Yet due to the nature of life we have created here on Earth and thus all that imposes on us externally by way of beliefs systems that we have constructed that do not honour this knowing, we have all gradually drifted away from this divine expression. Then a baby is born in our life and we cannot take our eyes off them…what is it? What is that quality, that glow in their eyes, the open heartedness, the joy, the love? And just like that in an instant we are forever reminded that life is a cycle whose true purpose is for us to re-turn to the divinity we are.
I’ve just been observing a stunning example of this, watching two men rocking their babies to sleep on a flight. Could the open sweet warmth in our hearts when we hold or look at a baby be our own connection rekindling? And the baby is therefore a reflection of who we all are.
I love your suggestion that babies are connected to something far greater without any intruction to be so – I guess most of us have had the feeling looking into a babies eyes that we are facing an ‘old soul’.
Humanity seems to become obsessed with belonging. To do this we tend to divide and try to dominate. The need to belong to a group comes from the innate knowing that we belong to something much grander that the day to day living we can see.
It’s interesting how we as adults place so much importance on what we do as who we are, but as babies the only thing to really be responsible for is to feel their bodies and everything else around them. It’s as if without the normal complications and complexity of modern adult life, they have the space to simply be themselves. We could learn a lot from babies in this regard.
“What are you religious with?” this is an important question to ask ourselves and ponder on as many people would call themselves religious just because they attend church once a day/week but they live in total disconnection from their essence having to rely on nervous energy to function and get by and hardening their bodies from the constant pushing through and distrust of others. This is not it! as being religious is our deeper connection with all there is, a constant communication with the stars knowing that everything is so perfectly constellated for our return back to soul and our bodies know that.
Nature is a wonderful gift when left alone. There is simplicity and truth in our nature.
It is so true we are born connected to life, others and our environment so we are born religious by our relationship with life.
Thank you Amiee for bringing some much needed light to the word religion, for eons now we have been getting it wrong, and one of the reasons for this is we don’t live true religion.
Because, like with many words, we mess with their true meaning.
Aimee you remind me that we were all babies once, which to me means we were all already religious and connected to God from day one. How amazing is that? Our connection still remains, it is patiently waiting for us to say yes to reconnecting to religion and to God.
A very interesting question – ‘Are we all born religious?’ Yes we are – but what is our chosen religion? What do we connect and bind ourselves to?
Good questions Jenny – I’m pretty sure that if you were able to interview a baby their chosen religion would be quite different to the religions that are peddled today. It would be very simple, body oriented and very much about how they feel as they interact with the world.
‘As we grow up, outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge come in and we can start to separate from that connected space we once held as true.’ – Indeed we do, not many people are able to stay truly connected to their true selves once they start to relate to the outer world.
It’s great to understand how judgement comes to be because a baby does not judge anyone ever even though they feel all of what is going on. Judgement only comes to play when we are hurt, as a baby is never born hurt. It also shows that hurts are not naturally who we are, they are a creation.
Perhaps what is closer to the real meaning of religion is that developing relationship with our bodies which provides a deeper connection with the essence of who we are and the grander universe.
Birth is something we need to explore more deeply.. As what opportunity we get in that specific life to learn and the family we are born under.. And a global approach: what is my expression/expansion that I bless the world with in this life (and many thereafter). It asks us a new approach to look at birth in order to then raise our children with this awareness and understanding – serving them the best we can – helping them to express all they are and for them to be.
Absolutely Danna. Our job as adults is simply to make sure the child is free to express that which they naturally will express when we do not impose another ‘way to be’ upon them.
I would say, yes, we are all born religious and that it is our natural and innate state… it is our deepest yearning to reunite as one.
Connected to our Divine beingness is the joy that babies reflect to us as a profound reminder of who we are in essence, a quality that in fact remains unchanged within us, regardless our age. Yet as we grow up we disconnect from our love within, through which we forget that our true religion is that which reflects living in connection to who we are in essence, where we would realise that our bodies, our being and God are forever in union, as such in a harmonious relationship with the universe and its cycles. When we disconnect from this sense of knowing we forget who we are, what religion is and why we are here, yet every day, in every moment we are called to return to live in connection to the greater version of who we are and the Divine beingness we are all here to live.
The world has made up (‘legitimate’) ways to be religious. So, it is accepted that being religious means X, Y and Z. But is it really? How do they know that what they do in the name of religion is true? How do they know whether they can feel divinity through X, Y and Z? How do they know whether their ‘religion’ presents truth? Unless we introduce the body in the knowing equation and allow ourselves to feel the vastness of divinity through it, there is no way to know the truth of what we are sold as religion. When we start using the body, we know that most of what is promoted as religious and in the name of religion is false.
The simplicity of a child’s relationship with life is a point of inspiration for us all as we get lost in our detachment from what really matters in life.
I found that an interesting question – what are we religious with as a baby? If religion is about connection, then from my recollections as a small child, my religion was everything I could feel. It was like everything around me flowed through me and I held it all in the warmth of my heart. It sounds so simple yet this is a pure delight to live this way, feeling and understanding everything, as the energy that flows through us freely as kids hides nothing.
It’s ironic that ‘religion’ is about connecting to God who we all know deep down is the epitome of love. Yet, the religions we have made today are anything but that…separating and dismissive of certain groups of people, (especially those of other religions) arrogance in being right, war, greed and corruption. If we were all truly religious would not love be the motivating factor in everything we do?
This simple and beautiful expression sums up how natural Religion really is, it also exposes how distorted our view on what the word Religion really means is.
Aimee on reading ‘Religion for me is not just about believing in God, reading the bible, going to church or following a certain order in life’, it made me realise that all of these things can actually be a barrier to truly accessing God. If God is within (and she is) then the belief that by ‘doing’ certain things we will get to God, actually prevents us from ‘being’ with God, if there is no ‘beingness’ in our doing. It is only through our being that we are able to be with God.
As children our relationship with life is indeed through our felt sense and our bodies, it is very sad that we disconnect with this relationship and natural way of feeling and knowing life.
Aimee, what you share reads so simply and feels so true and yet has been utterly lost, forgotten, scribbled over and purposefully buried. Thank you for re-surrecting and re-instating the truth for all to hear and feel.
To come into this world knowing that we are a Son of God and to be lovingly supported by those around us in this knowing is to me being truly religious. Unfortunately so few of us begin life like this but this innate knowing never goes away it simply waits for us to return to it and to claim it once again.
It’s wonderful watching people’s faces when they look at babies. They become so open and loving. It’s a shame we don’t feel that we can be that way with fellow adults. As soon as we communicate with each other the protection comes back in.
“The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth” – and so then perhaps Aimee this is what re-birth or to be re-born in truth means – to come back to our true born connected selves.
“…For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity…” We start life this way, it is interesting to recognise how much influence cultural and society norms influence and shape a person’s view of the world.
‘The burden of these outside forces takes its toll so we begin to disconnect further from ourselves and from an otherwise body of God, a body of love and a body all-knowing of a deeper wisdom.’ – A powerful statement, we have indeed strayed very far from our true origin. Still, all that is needed is to recognise this fact and be open to re-connect to who we truly are.
The beauty of the word religion as you have defined it is that there is nothing new to learn here but just a reconnection to the once mastered Livingness of the Soul.
I see a picture of the horror that comes in as we take on those ideals and beliefs and walk away from the connection that was so normal at birth and it reminds me of the painting ‘The Scream’ by Munch. No wonder babies cry when they feel disharmony around them and when they feel the tension that is not at one with the love they know we are. To have had this awareness many years ago when my children were little would have made such a difference to how I supported my children as they felt all of these things.
When I take a moment to stop and be still, i can can feel that in the stillness there is definitely something to reconnect to, it is vast and it is powerful.
It is incredible how the outside influence can have such a dominating effect over us is we so choose to allow it. To be taught from when we are babies that everything we need is within us and that we have it all would be have a completely different out come. Maybe ill-ness and dis-ease wouldn’t be where it is today if we were brought up and encouraged to be this?
Aimee, It feels great to read how simple true religion is and also how it is natural for us to be religious, it is not something we need to go outside of ourselves searching for, we are born religious; ‘For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?’
“a body of God, a body of love and a body all-knowing of a deeper wisdom”, is such a beautiful confirmation of what we have lived as little children, and so we know it – and because it has never left we can at any point reconnect, and live with religion as naturally as we breathe.
It could seem virtually impossible to convince someone that religion is not a problem word, as its connotation has left us in conflict and at loggerheads. But it is never about making another believe, but about creating that relationship with god ourself, and that can be in how we view our place in the Universe, amongst people, but crucially, how we live with regard and integrity. That sounds like a religion I could live, as it isn’t a follow but something we each lead by our own example and reflection.
It is beautiful to connect to babies as they remind us of our true tenderess, delicacy and love.
I agree Kerstin, although i would add that due to my lack of connection with myself, coupled with my exhaustion, it was nye-on impossible for me to truly connect with my son when he was a baby. As a result of being on the constant look out for a way out of my body it made it impossible to connect with the body of another, however now that I am able to re-connect with my body, I am able to connect to the bodies of others.
The Way of the Livingness has empowered me to restore my focus on what it means to be truly religious, re-aligning to God within me and hence God within everyone. Consequently I have knocked out all the anti-God things in my life that I was religious about such as alcohol, late nights, caffeine, chocolate, emotional love and for that matter emotional anything! The more we connect, the greater we experience a steady joy that supports us to live life and deal with our everyday stresses free from the reactions that drain us so much, constantly evolving our awareness, tenderness and responsibility.
I agree there is something about babies that is very holy and sacred and they remind us of our own sacredness and connection with something much grander than physical human life.
Thank you Aimee, showing us the absolute truth that we in fact come and stem from something so big : as you say; we have lived it, done it, we know truth and love inside out – all we need to do is reconnect to it, even though we have left it for quite a while. We can now live our healthy future by living the truth right here and right now. The rest does no longer exist.
We are born knowing the truth of religion and then we separate from our bodies and our knowing and have a false religion imposed on us. We lose sight of what we once knew and the fact that we are naturally religious.
Some would say that being born is coming back with a clean slate to start again. But, as you have pointed out, we come back complete with no need of the slate. When we start adding our past outside beliefs, ideals and lived choices that have pulled us away from our completeness we were born with, we start filling our slate with exceptions and only if, conditions that separate us from ourselves again.
It is true, we do come back complete – it is only when we start questioning this fact that it starts to get complicated i.e. we learn to adjust and succumb to the expectations of the outside world.
If we are all religious when we are born and we are, this is something that we can never lose it just gets buried or somewhat confused or lays dormant until we choose that spark to reignite it and once again realign.
A fascinating question to ponder… ‘what am I religious about?’… my space, my routines and rhythms, my commitment to love and all it encompasses, to the care of myself and those around me… to name a few. Living life = religion in that sense, unavoidably so, it is only the quality of the religious experience that determines whether or not it is ‘true religion’ or not.
‘we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us.’ This is so true, and there are many ways we can reconnect – the Gentle Breath Meditation is one, going for a walk is another, listening to the sound of our voice as we speak, or simply stopping to feel inside our bodies enables us to be more aware of what energy we have allowed in.
This is brilliant Aimee. Babies are indoctrinated into false religion every day but true religion is known all along.
It is a great question that you ask, Aimee, regarding what we are religious about, as these are things we are very ‘connected’ with, so they have a profound effect on us, therefore, it’s important to know whether we are choosing wisely and that the effect is nurturing and supportive as opposed to harming. Once we start looking into all the corners of our lives, we may uncover things that we are religious about, which are actually pulling us away from the love that we are, so it’s great to bring the honesty and awareness to what we are actually choosing.
‘As we grow up, outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge come in and we can start to separate from that connected space we once held as true’ – yes, I have felt this to be true for myself, as we dis-connect from the love that we are, there is a feeling of loss and emptiness, to avoid feeling this we then start to fill this space with distractions which take us even further away. However, the choice to re-connect is always there, just waiting for us to be impulsed to do so.
‘As we grow up, outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge come in and we can start to separate from that connected space we once held as true’ – that space is always within us, but we leave it when our lives become externalised. So we end up having a relationship with what comes from outside in rather than inside out. Inside out brings a loving way, outside in brings separation from who we are.
“A big part of it is how we live and our relationship to life, ourselves, to others and our values.”
When you talk about religion in this way, it makes sense. It means that you can’t be one way in church, and another way in your home. or in your workplace or community. True religion is a consistent way of living – where you bring all of who you are, your values, to you and to everyone – each and every single time (not in perfection, but with a dedication to be true to who your are and consistent in your approach).
All babies that I’ve come across definitely connect (= relate) to each and every one they need. Very precise, very observing. So are we born religious? Yes, we are. We LOVE connecting to people and being naturally wondrous. When we are love, we see the love in others. Only because we’re not confirmed in our upgrowing we lose this precious, religious way of connecting to ourselves and others!
When I am playful with the Latin meaning of ‘baby’ I feel that it is free of the slavery we are all entrapped in. So is it possible that the roots of the word ‘slavery’ come from that we are all enslaved by until we re-connect to our Soul?
I love your question Aimee ”are we all born religious?’ It brings it back to a most important consideration – what do we connect to and live that then becomes our ‘religious’ way of being?
I agree Jenny and it shows that religion is not about following or joining any organisation or living by a set of rules or doctrines but feeling our own truth through our body’s connection with the universe.
We are ultimately responsible for what we are religious with, as this will either pull or attract others to do the same.
Some interesting ones for the collection of ‘things’ we can be religious with: stress, unworthiness, success, recognition, falling in love, sex, shopping, self-doubt, emotional drama or intensity, losing, winning, drugs…
A huge one also which could almost be the biggest religion of them all is sport, I know that coming from New Zealand that the predominant religion is rugby and people are fanatically religious about it.
Living in Norway, I could say the same about sport – all sorts of sport, summer and winter. It seems to be all consuming.
I know many people who are religious about rugby, and indeed I was too, but it didn’t really show me a way to be more loving in my life. One day I looked around a stadium and thought, this is like sitting in a giant outdoor pub where people are allowed to jeer, boo or cheer, and that was the day I gave rugby away. I now choose my religion more astutely.
I was never really drawn to rugby, but started watching it to fit in with my brother and his friends. I have 3 sons who all play rugby, so I have watched a lot of games, there is something about the pack energy that exists with rugby, it is incredibly strong and I don’t think I have ever watched a sport where the ‘energy’ affects the spectators and players to such an extent. There is something very animalistic that encourages aggressive behaviour on and off the field and often seems to draw the gorgeous young men so far away from who they truly are.
It is true! As babies we are naturally full of joy and open to people wether we know them or not. So what is it that babies are doing that we forgot about as adults? As we are not living this purity of joy, love and openness.
Great question, Lieke. I reckon we get so caught up in our heads about all the shoulds and expectations that we forget the innate wisdom of our bodies and miss out on so much support and guidance.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’ It seems odd that we have all that we have ever wanted as a baby and spend our life time growing away from our innate expression and love. Yet, can spend a life time looking for what we already had.
Gorgeous Aimee, you only need to have a baby come into a busy, tension filled work place and watch everyone melt and become more themselves again and the whole energy of the place become more about people instead of profits…. all that from being in the presence of someone who is connected to their body!
Aimee the way you worded this in your question: “What are we religious with when we are born? Our body, are we not?” Mmmmm, religious with my body, yes please, and something I am deepening and learning from all of the time.
What a beautiful sharing Aimee and amazing to read and feel the joy of babies children and the natural connection with God we all are. We can see this in their eyes their whole bodies and the way they move and it reflects to us who we are with absolute love no judgement and with all knowing awareness and joy. Simply magical and is true religion in returning to this in our every living way.
Sport is definitely something a lot of people are religious about.
When we are born we are religious in the true sense of the word i.e. we are naturally deeply connected to ourselves and our innermost essence.
Being religious with our body is something that, when we choose to reconnect to, brings us a sense of the interconnectedness of everyone and everything.
We usually associate the word religion as only being connected to churches, and many can react to the word religion because of our relationship with organised religion, but in fact we can be religious about anything.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’. So true – there is so much to learn from babies.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment,’ we live in the illusion that we must teach babies and children and yet in truth there is so much more that we should be learning from them.
With the current state of chaos in the world as it is, all the more important it is to re-connect back to and remind ourselves of our true nature, which seeks harmony, equality and innately knows how to live in oneness.
“Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone.” what a great way to live life, i know for me I am gradually working to support myself back to this point, to this point of embracing people and life with no judgement but reading all the energy that goes on at the same time. Actually life makes far more sense this way than trying to figure it out in my head!
When we are babies our entire world is about our bodies and our relationships with our parents, our carers. And then we start school and are told that this is not it, that we need to know things, be good at things and perform. However, the more we are encouraged to deepen our relationship with our bodies and one another, the more we can automatically know everything we need to in the moment, because true religion connects us to our innate and immensely wise inner knowing.
‘…we knew it inside out…’ until we started to let the outside take over and buried what we innately knew. The good news is that it is only buried and not lost forever and we can do a little digging to reconnect with it. Worth some spade work in my experience.
Life without connection to the divinity we are naturally from is so dull and grey and flat. No wonder we turn to distractions and look for a buzz or a hit. But once we have connected back to that divinity life is full of colour and vitality and warmth. The joy returns and it then makes no sense to look elsewhere for stimulation. The natural joy and love that emanates from a baby is there for us all to connect to. Adulthood need not be a drudge. We can live with joy in everything that we do.
Walking past a shop window yesterday, I had a similar feeling, In the window were two large framed pictures of men who have died: one, a Formula One racing car driver, the other an actor renowned for rally driving. The window displayed them as deities, god-like figures and I imagined these pictures revered and hanging in some homes. We can choose to be religious about anything,
And when we worship and idolise others, it’s at the expense of connecting to and appreciating the beauty that resides within ourselves.
I agree that religion is something we are innately born with – as in being aware of and caring about the quality of all our relationships. A religion that encompasses every aspect of our life equally and honours the divinity within us all – a divinity that is not dependent on whether we visit a special building or follow set rituals.
It is only when we live from our mind that makes us so disconnected from our bodies and therefore become so wayward in our behaviour we naturally will never have. Could it be that there is a setup in our societies with the only purpose of getting us out of that body connection we all are naturally born with and that our school systems for instance, only appeal to the mind and comfortably ‘forget’ to nurture the connection with our body too?
Not so long ago I would have said we are not born religious it is something we become, but through my greater understanding of what religion means for me I would say we are all born religious, and we are here to return to who we truly are and to return back to God.. I am not from a church going family but I remember being aware of God as a child, I would look at the stars and know he was there, there was a warmth and comfort I got from this, but like so many children I left this feeling to fit in with the world and I lost that connection not only with God but with myself.
I always understood that Religion was ‘is how we live and our relationship to life, ourselves, to others and our values.’ but that was always dictated to us by whatever religion we belonged to, and people who didn’t belong were seen as separate to us in every way. I love that The Way of The Livingness is a religion for all equally, and sees that everyone is equal regardless of where they live, what culture they have and even what religion they belong to. God is very much part of The Way, but there are no distinctions or different Gods, there is just the one God that created us all as equals. It is not about a belief system but how we live.
‘We’ve had it before, we have lived it before, we knew it inside out and it has never left, we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us.’ So true. It has never left. Our innate essence, the true love, divinity, magic and wisdom is all within we just have to reconnect to it. Crazy to think we spend pretty much most of our lives constantly looking and living the opposite direction of this.
We are indeed all born religious… as babies we are connected to the love and joy of who we naturally are, and show this to the world without reservation.
We can strip down our values to something as simple as, do I care for my body, do I love who I am and have love, care and compassion for all those in the world. That seems like a pretty solid type of religion that we could all practice, saying no to abuse and self interest and putting our care and that of others at the heart of what we do.
Religion is our connection to that which is devine, that divinity we ourselves are.
It’s true – that religion is not something that needs to be taught but to be honoured as being entirely within us from birth.
I love seeing old people with babies…my elderly dad was around a baby recently and he came alive more with her around. Her joy was so apparent and she was showing everyone just how to be herself.
It’s really interesting to look at what we make our religion instead of what we know so naturally when we are born. All this being despite the knowing that we are on a false path rather than face our pride of having made the wrong choices for so long.
‘to become like children again…’ makes quite sense when presented like in this blog.
Children remind us that we come from somewhere far grander, that is that we are connected to the divine. We do not have to lose that divine connection as we grow up. To not lose it requires us to deal with our hurts so that we can remain open to our divine nature and truly religious way.
New born babies take our breath away as they remind us of how we are meant to live.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment’ – This fact is undeniable. Could it be because babies enter this world already knowing that we are all ONE.
When we take away everything that the world says we are, we are left to live our deeply religious way.
There s a general perception that childhood is the best years of our life and as we get older the ‘responsibilities’ of life rob our enjoyment of it, so many end up falsely seeking irresponsibility as a panacea for all the ills they feel. But could it be exactly what is mentioned in this blog: the abandonment of the true religion we hold, the growing disconnection from our inner essence and the dulling of our acute sensitivity and awareness which brings such devastation?
I love the beautiful reminder in this blog of how we are all the same and come from knowing God naturally when young. It is already there within, we just need to let it out!
Absolutely there is a lot we can learn from babies – wisdom is not bound by age.
We certainly have gone to great lengths to load ourselves up with images of who, how and what we should be. Connecting to our inner-most essence is far simpler and delivers true joy rather than fleeting moments of a far lesser substitute that can never deliver the Love we are.
If we re-define or go back to the true definition of religion, religion is not the terrible thing we have come to think it is. In fact, who wouldn’t want to be religious?
True – for the many interpretations and definition of Religion are far removed from the truth of Religion that is within us all.
To me the element of religion comes in when we accept something as true. That has a whole host of consequences but the acceptance to me comes first.
What are we religious with when we are born?
Our body, are we not? Just completely connected and feeling the presence of our delicate body, feeling and completely listening to our body’s cues. Yes absolutely Aimee, and I was so aware of this today as I watched all of the little ones in my room at work. When they have something they want to express they just go ahead and express it, there’s no thought of how or if anyone will like it or not, they just let it out. They just connect to what they need and express that, with no filters or worry, and in a totally natural and open way.
I remember a friend telling me a story about someone they knew who had a toddler, and then gave birth to another baby. They overheard their toddler go up to the babies crib and say to the baby something like ‘can you remind me what God looks like, I am starting to forget’ – and it touched me beyond words, that the innate and precious love we see in babies and young children is that natural connection to something more than this world and it gets stripped away from them because we do not understand how to honour it
Wow, that is deeply touching Rebecca. Take one look into the eyes of a baby and you can see heaven and some babies more than others have eyes that are deep and ancient.
I agree – and I have seen children who have been honoured in that knowing and they grow up to be the most amazing young children.
And of course they will grow into adults that are in touch with what they feel and will be able to honour it rather than overriding it.
I love this, Aimee, because by discussing religion in this way we are normalising the fact of our divinity, and celebrating what is inherently there in each and every one of us.
Babies know how to let go, like really let go and surrender within themselves. Life begins with knowing when its time to eat & sleep. simple. Then becomes for most what I would call an intense mental strain and stress, a drag on our bodies. We live this to the point that we can’t imagine living in our stress free natural state where work actually rejuvinates us and home life is a deep honour and joy.
I am always mesmerised by babies and love the simplicity that they live in. Every moment they are just being in that moment with nothing else needed other than the functionality of being a human. The delicate and pure sweetness that they are is delicious and one that I am starting to remember that I too am such qualities too.
I would say we are born religious, as a child we infinitely know the magic of life and the wonder of everything around us, we know we are part of something magnificent and we know we are that magnificence too.
“What are we religious with when we are born? Our body, are we not? ” This is not something we bring focus to or are even necessarily aware of as parents, we respond to what is needed by reading the baby’s body language because this is how babies communicate, but we don’t continue this as the child starts to speak we start to listen to the words rather than the body.
Most of us are drawn towards new born babies as we can feel that they have a certain quality of innocence and natural joy is it possible that it stirs something within ourselves that we long ago abandoned? We can feel that they are completely open and trusting of everyone and isn’t odd that we expect them to ‘perform’ by smiling at us because we are smiling at them. Even at such a young age we have expectations that need to be met so that we feel better without out any seeming regard for the baby. As they get older the expectations grow and deepen and before we know it hey presto we have completely crushed the innocence quality they once portrayed and we adored, the bundles of love have turned into mini adults.
Religion is one of those words that everyone has a personal relationship and meaning for; some associate religion with blind following, others with a ritual they commit to each day, some with God and so forth., but sometimes simplifying words right down to their roots can support us to have a clearer universal understanding e.g. ‘to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect’ in this case.
Babies are so beautiful because they are with themselves and fully present in each moment. They’re not trying to be anything, they are already everything. And that is the way of true religion, it’s intrinsic to who we are, an inside out way of living: no trying, no doctrines, just connection to our innermost selves.
This is so true, if we try too hard to be something we are just try hards instead of just being who we naturally are.
Aimee, absolutely; ‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’ When I look into the eyes of a baby they are full of love and joy, they feel connected to something grand, something universal.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?’ I so agree with you Aimee. We can learn so much from our children if we can get past the convenient consciousness we have bought into that they are lesser because they are small. They can show us everyday what love really means and yet how many adults around them really appreciate the depths of what is being offered?
Religion is innate within us all, we never fail to be religious, the real question we need to continually ask ourselves is what are we being religious about? Are we being religious about sport, drugs, TV programmes, going to Church, praying, work, shopping and the Internet, or are we religiously reconnecting to our inner sacredness and expressing this divine quality in all we do?
As I read about the ‘outside beliefs, peer pressure, societal expectations, ideals and knowledge’ I can feel a sense of inevitability and given-up-ness in bowing to this force. But instead of giving in, is it possible that we can surrender to the ancient wisdom of our bodies instead? It seems very possible to me and that this sense of inevitability is in fact part of the force itself, not anything that is true. I sense we can make this choice and choose instead to be religious with the love within.
I love hearing the original meaning of the word religion “The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect; perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.” when i hear this I feel at ease in my body and at one with myself, it turns on its head my perceptions and hurts around the word religion.
Thank you Aimee, beautifully and succinctly stated! The simplicity and truth you have presented here is a pleasure to read and feel. We are connecting back to all that we innately lived and felt as babies, as natural children of God.
We are all made and come for the same place, call it star stuff. We are like raw clay that can become anything, but at our heart, we are the same no matter what the world attempts to mould us into, that is always our choice.
It’s interesting how the word religion means something completely different now to when it was used in ancient times. It’s origin was about our own re-connection, a connection inwards, but now it’s about connecting to something outside of ourselves.
I agree, it’s fascinating how religion means something totally different today than it did in ancient times, it’s very hard to have a problem with its original meaning of re-connection and re-binding.
Yes it is time to re-connect back to what religion truly means and our new borns could help us to allow ourselves to feel where we come from.
It’s no coincidence that the word religion has been bastardised, becoming entrenched with many false ideals and beliefs, weighing people down with guilt and expectations or keeping them far away in reaction to the unloving reflection being offered by organised religions, either way, it has been very effective at hindering our return to our true selves. I so appreciate finally understanding what religion truly means.
Babies reflect a level of joy that we have all had experience of. Our experiences in life definitely shape us but there is no reason we have to leave behind that feeling we had, it is a choice and one that we can return to if we commit to discarding those things that leave us feeling hurt.
It is actually mind blowing to understand that we are born all knowing and already equipped with all that we need for living a religious human life while the common belief still is that babies have to learn life from scratch as they come inexperienced and do not know how to live life.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’ – loving the simplicity in this question. We are striving to be what we innately are – the love that filled our little bodies at birth is all still there, just waiting for us to choose to re-connect allowing it to flow into our every movement and expression.
I love watching the way babies connect with their bodies and play with their feet, explore sounds they can make – we tend to dismiss it as adults, but perhaps their actions are more meaningful than we realise.
Yes I love this way of considering religion, a relationship with our bodies and that as babies we are still in connection with the fact that we are, in fact, more than our bodies. That our bodies in-house our soul. I have watched so many babies delight in discovering their bodies, their toes, their nose, what they can do with their mouths and their fingers – it is all about discovery, and there is a sense of wonder and humour in every discovery. You have taken me back to remembering the hours I used to spend watching in equal wonder the discoveries they made that I have taken for granted.
Thank you Aimee, religious we all are from birth. As it is our true and deep origin. Yet we have picked and used the word religion to bastardise and not use in its true meaning.. Hence we are more in reaction to the falsity as we all know what true religion is, hence our reaction. So what we can do now is unmask the falsity by coming and claiming back that which we know is religion. Our origin. Oneness.
Recognising that religion is inescapably linked with the connection we have with our body, re-defines the construct of the word ‘religion’, and, is supported by the fact that we are very connected to our body when we are a baby, as you share … “For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?…”
“The origins of religion come from the Latin words re-ligare or re-ligio which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect” Its interesting how much a word can get bastardised over time until it loses its real and true meaning, such as is the case here. And it only takes one person to change it before it begins to take on another meaning. This raises the question of how many other things in our world have been changed over the centuries, or even millennium, to end up being so far removed from their original meaning that they become totally unrecognisable.
I love the true meaning of the word religion, to re-connect with an emphasis on ‘re’ which tells us we have been there before.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’ It is funny (or not) that we strive to be something that we already are! This exposes how we do not nurture right from the very beginning all that is already there for if we did we would not seek outside of ourselves or strive to be something else.
That is so true, we were religious with our bodies as children, absolutely so and then over time we began to let outside pictures affect us. And the magic thing is our bodies don’t go away and don’t stop talking to us so we can come back to that religiosity now no matter our age and deeply honour our bodies and thus us.
I can’t help but look at a baby and be filled with joy at the recognition of this little bundle of divinity, the simplicity of just being, and responding.
I love this – exposing the lie that we have to do something to be religious and that we are in fact simply born that way and we associate becoming or choosing religion with seeking a return to what we have always known.
One of the greatest things that I have learned is what religion actually means. It has helped me undo and unpack what I thought it was. The very beautiful thing was in understanding religion is that I have realised that I have always known religion and its truth because it is who we are.
I love how you have said that babies are religious too by being “All knowing, as in feeling everything and in complete connection to themselves and everything around them. Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone. For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?”
Well said Aimee – we can be religious about watching that TV show every week or every night, or religious about going out to the pub on Friday nights, or religious about putting ourselves to sleep at a certain time in the evening and the list goes on….’what are we religious with’ – is a great question that breaks us out of the mold of seeing religion as linked to praying, going to a church or reading the bible.
Any tension or disharmony can be a great opportunity to observe that we simply have lost our connection to our own essence and with that our connection to God. It’s a choice to go simple or go to the compilation. One reflects God, love and truth, one reinforces struggle and separateness.
There is certainly un undeliable quality about a baby, a purity and grace and innocent love everyone feels. It can be easy to right this off as simply the product of their age, lack of experiance of the plight of the ‘real world’ and yet in my experiance I have known people who have reconnected back to those qualities and live them as adults, religious in the way they are to preseve that quality.
When we are born we are so very attuned to the feelings in our bodies, why is it that we disconnect from this as we get older.
Pretty much every religious book says God is our father and that we are his children. Then surely it follows that there is no need for trying or proving ourself to be accepted by a God, and that all of us, the whole of humanity, are equal brothers and sisters. How did we manage to make life so complicated and so far from the truth that is plainly in front of us?
The fact that “Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment” and that they express themselves in a fullness and absoluteness that we as adults shy away from, shows we have a lot to learn about religion by reflecting on the love, tenderness, joy and open-heartedness that is so abundant in this period of our lives.
Love your sharing of where the word religion came from and how this relates to who we naturally are at birth. Babies can teach us so much just by being who they are in full.
‘We’ve had it before, we have lived it before, we knew it inside out and it has never left, we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us.’ We all feel it inside our bodies, this ageless wisdom has never left us.
I love this article as it talks about being religious as an act of following rather than a something we belong to outside of ourselves.
Looking at our relationship with our bodies as our religion is a sure way to get more honest!.
But what an absolute treasure trove of insight, wisdom and I could go . . . on that comes from choosing this religion, this re-connection, re-bonding with ourselves. No more looking outside for answers or accountability from others for us to feel ok.
We all know the way back to what is true and so if religion is about ‘to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect’ then it is the returning to the love within that being religious is all about.
We have many pictures, flavours and doctrine of religion yet religion that counts is our true connection to God and the relationship we have with the Universe.
Babies are wide open, loving and full of joy… they feel everything and understand everything – not from a mental perspective but from an energetic perspective. Babies and children are so much wiser than we adults give them credit for… we have much to learn from them.
So true Paula that we can equally learn from our children as young as from them being a baby but the common belief in raising children is still not like that as we think that they are born unknowing and inexperienced and that we have to teach them how to live life to our ideal and beliefs.
The interpretation of religion that you write about here Aimee just feels absolutely true in the body and way more powerful than the current interpretations out there that are laced with control and fear.
Spot on Julie, true religion is a holding or an allowing to be held by God in ways we could never perhaps have fathomed, and meanwhile we have this image of religions as being controlling and powerful and often instilling fear in us – the complete opposite to what it truly is. And this is because of how so many religions in our world today have in my opinion lost their true meaning, and not made it about the body like Aimee has so beautifully presented in her blog. Religion is accessible to us all from the moment we are born, and here I am talking about the religion that naturally lies within us all and not a man-made religion relating to a church, a book or a congregation.
Religion for me is having a relationship with everything – especially my body/home/car i.e. the direct reflections of my livingness. These relationships are the key to setting standards for a way of life that exposes the ill-made ideals and beliefs running riot in mankind.
‘Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment’ – a beautiful reflection of how we all still are when we choose to drop our protection and let everyone in as equals.
So true Alison, we still are that in our core, it is the layers we put on top of that wonder, fragility and connection that results in the judgement we have for each other.
Sadly there is no doubt that forces begin to taint the all knowing wisdom we have as babies. As we step out into the world, we are imposed upon and expected to live the ideals and beliefs of what it is to be human… and as we do so losing the connection to who we are and the space that holds us. However no matter how far we stumble away, at any point we can return to what we let go of, but have never lost.
Great point Sammy, our path to return, to re-connect, is a choice away. Sometimes is takes a stumble for us to appreciate who we truly are, have always been and always will be.
“For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?” This is beautiful as it brings us back to who we are. It shows that we are all the same but how much we have made life about being different.
Could it be our responsibility to re-connect, to that child like innocence or inner-sense, which is our connection to the divine?
I had never thought about it like this – babies are religious with their body; it makes so much sense. There is an amazing ease and immediacy that we leave behind when we become adults and that is well worth recapturing and living.
Amazing breakdown of what religion truly means, and how it isn’t about dedicating ourselves to a certain religion, book or set of rules, but about developing a connection with that spark inside and living a life of love and respect in every movement.
We enter this world fully connected to our bodies, to God and to one another and consequently feel everything. Confirming this truth then provides us a with a very dependable way back to God that we abandoned in favour of external images, attitudes and beliefs. God is within us all and the so the simple way back to God is to re-build the tender, loving and perpetual relationship with the physical body we live within.
“The burden of these outside forces takes its toll so we begin to disconnect further from ourselves and from an otherwise body of God, a body of love and a body all-knowing of a deeper wisdom.” this says it all, we are naturally a body of God connected to and with God, how amazing would the world be when we are supported to keep this connection and body of God as we grow up.
I was watching a baby probably about 8 months old have lunch recently and he was definitely his own person and so connected to everything around him in the open way he interacted with his surrounds he was very settled in his own body. He spat out the food that was given to him preferring instead to help himself from his mothers plate while at the same time being completely fascinated by his feet. You could tell that his parents adored him which confirmed the adoration he natural felt within himself. It was very beautiful and inspiring to observe the purity of this little fellow. So my question has to be where do we go so wrong in raising our children that this purity gets lost as they grow into adulthood?
Everyone loves babies and I feel this is why. They remind us of those innate qualities we too have yet sometimes forgotten or have buried under our perceived hurts.
So true, you can look into the eyes of a baby for hours as they hold a depth of clarity and wisdom that gets lots as we age.
Aimee, this article makes so much sense, babies are accepting, non judgmental and full of love and joy and so how we could say babies are not religious and yet they do not go to church, pray, read the bible etc and so with institutionalised religions have we got it wrong when we make it about God being outside of ourselves and when we make it about doing rather than simply being our natural, amazing selves?
It’s ironic that all a baby can do or be is JUST BE with its body and therefore all that with the environment and with the people around it. It’s us (the peers) who impose what we want on the baby, and this is the state of our world, imposition after imposition. We are stuck in a cycle where now babies and the young are now born with dis-ease where in turn that imposition is returning back to us. Love does not impose, and what we need or want from another will one day return as an imposition on us.
Aimee this is beautifully written and reminds us that we entered this world as adorable babies, with a stillness, glowing eyes, a presence that connects to the hearts of everyone equally and without judgement, and joyfulness. Very powerful and why we love being with them.
True parenting and true education on this basis starts with nurturing the wisdom we are all born with then. How sad that the common way of raising and educating children today negates this wisdom and buries it under a pile of beliefs, ideals and external knowledge.
Religion is how one lives one life.
Yes, especially the kind of religion we choose.
I love meeting babies, they gaze at you with full attention, wide eyed and completely without judgment. I can feel how they are feeling and sensing so much more than they are seeing on the surface, they drink us in on a multi dimensional level, they know everything about the energy we are expressing. I always feel naked and vulnerable as a baby gazes at me because I know they are aware of my energy and where it stems from. As you say Aimee, we were all babies so we know this place of absolute knowing and connection to the ALL. It is still possible for us to reconnect to it, and that is the Way Serge Benhayon teaches us through living our normal lives aware of the energy we are moving and expressing from, Love or not Love.
I just love watching babies, particularly when they are breathing and content in just being with themselves. How they can find anything to entertain themselves with and as you say Aimee a level of joy and playfulness that is applaudable. Re-turning back to who we are innately designed to be and letting go of all our ideals and pictures so we are free to be who we are is a path of return that I would never turn my back on.
Agree Natalie, that state of surrender and joy that babies are in is really something worth re-claiming. it sounds so simple but to undo all what we have learned is indeed a path of return.
I love how you have brought religion back to the very basics of having a relationship with your body and how this is natural and something we are born with right from the start, this makes it so simple to return to as it is our most innate state of being and so there is no need for completed ceremonies or rituals, just the re-turning to ourselves within where the Kingdom of God resides.
What happens from birth – the extent to which we deviate from our naturally connected state – demonstrates the extent to which a variety of forces impose ideals and beliefs on us and act to undermine us. Or rather, we let this happen to us rather than maintaining the connection we were born with because we have not managed to set and maintain a super-strong foundation for ourselves in previous incarnations – one that will see us through the obstacles that must be navigated on planet Earth.
What will the world look like, when children are encouraged to maintain the love and joy they were born by seeing and feeling what is not love in the world and not being affected by it?
Being born with an innate, undeniable strength of religious connection to one’s body… Hmmm… Just another truth that goes to show there is no actual ‘achieving’ something in life, but rather, a returning to what is already innately held within. Beautifully and simply stated Aimee. Love it.
A beautiful reminder Aimee, that we are all born divine and connected to our body. Babies are very sensitive, in tuned to their body and never hold back in expressing how they feel. They are completely honest in letting us know when they like or dislike something, not afraid to be who they are, absolutely gorgeous to observe.
There is much to consider with the word religion and how we can be religious is any activity. And yet true religion is a connection with ourselves unburdened by outside influences. To understand that allows us to see how much we are pulled to be this or that to the detriment of everyone.
I love observing how natural it is for babies to be so focused and fascinated with how their bodies can move and their commitment to never giving up e.g. trying to talk, walk, sit up, feed themselves etc. and the joy and tenderness they bring forth in adults by simply being themselves. Seems crazy that we dim these amazing unique sparks of light by thinking they need to conform to fit into how others are living, when they are actually reflecting to us how we can re-turn back to be those tender harmonious and loving qualities of being that we were originally born with. Re-connecting – re-bonding to our true essence of Love.
A profoundly simple and powerful description of true religion Aimee. Thank you.
Religion as a return to the relationship with the love we are and living that is simple and true… our natural way.
Imagine a world where the deliciousness, tenderness, fragility, warmth, joy and love of a baby was what was to be sustained, maintained and lived and everything around that baby reflected back to them to stay with all that they were connected with at birth. We would not accept anything that currently exists in this world.
I was sitting across from a baby in a pram the other day and the level of openness and willingness to engage struck me. He looked at me directly and I could feel him seeing clearly without any of the obstructions we often layer ourselves with as we grow up. It was a very beautiful exchange for both of us.
You just have to look into the eyes of a baby to know that they are connected to something that most of us have long forgotten. What a great piece of writing Aimee, and a great reminder that we are all connected to this same source, we simply have to rediscover it for ourselves.
Who we truly are never leaves us even though it may not have been lived for life times. It is a joy-filled reunion. Re-turning and re-connecting to what is true, and living in that reconnection, knowing full well that we made a choice long ago to step away from it hence the re- bit.
This is a good question Aimee. It makes sense to me that we are born Religious. A baby is totally absorbed by itself and needs to be to survive. The love we bring Into this world is what helps protect us and ensures our Parents are enthralled with us.
Babies are born on a very ‘clear’ slate – but what happens to that, its as if there is a general acceptance that quality is only for babies but not a life long quality that we can be living, religion is exactly that, that inner connection to something greater, and our relationship with everything in that quality…maybe it is possible and that simple?
We are all born with the ability to reconnect to the great love that we are, thus we are all born religious. If we do not honour this innate connection we begin to seek fillers that promise to alleviate the suffering caused by not living true to this love.
Religion is very simple – thank you Aimee.
If we all stayed with the connection we had to God as babies, we would not have the abuse and corruption we have in the world today.
Knowing nothing as babies is the perceived understanding and that through education we ‘fill up the empty vessel’. What if though, it is as you describe and babies have an innate knowing, a wisdom that we have long left behind, a presence and awareness that we have chosen to shut down? There is a beauty in holding a baby… no ideals and beliefs coming back at you just a simple reflection of love and stillness.
Beautiful Aimee, your blog offers the simplistic fact, that it’s all there within and always has been, we need only to re-connect and claim what we already are.
Babies are indeed fully connected with their own bodies, and show no fear in expressing what they feel – at first it is just with a cry or a smile and, sadly, as the adults around them react, they learn what is ‘safe’ to express or not, what reflects their love back, or not.
A simple and very gorgeous article on being religious and how natural it is for us even from the moment we are born.
Yes! This meaning of religion I can accept and embrace. Thank you Aimee!
It’s true – babies shine with light and love and show us all how we can be. No wonder we love them so much! A wonderful reminder and reflection of how we can be unconditional. can we allow ourselves that?
We are children of God, meaning that we’re constantly offered to be the love that we are and forever expand the love that we are. This is the only true religion. We find it in people, in nature, in God, in ourselves, everywhere. Everybody at their own pace. God has provided free will, for us to forever choose whatever we want to choose. Loving choices that brings unity into this world or separation. In every choice. How amazing!
We are seeing more and more that no one in fact owns religion. At it’s origin as described in the article it was never a word used to identify a certain place or belief but it was more an everyday action, a return to something that once was. How we use words in this way is important as it sets us up for what is next and for what is seen in the future. In current religions we are seeing much turmoil and exposure, is it possible this comes from the fact that they have too stepped away from what the truth of religion is? The more each of us appreciate the truth of religion the easier or more at hand this truth will be for everyone to come.
So true Ray, “how we use words in this way is important as it sets us up for what is next,” so words with energetic integrity contribute to our movements back to our divine connection. The bastardisation of words sets us in directions and movements away from who we truly are. From our connection, we can “feel what is true for all of us” so we will naturally return to being religious, then words will be felt energetically for their truth.
‘Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?’ – How true, one of the things that also stands out with babies is their absolute harmlessness. Isn’t it a paradox then, that we have ended up with a world that is full of hatred and harm?
“The origins of religion come from ….perhaps this is referring to us returning to our natural state as we all are at birth.” And this could be the physical birth we have all experienced coming into this plane of life in physical bodies, the birth of us returning to our true universal selves which is so far beyond the 3-dimensionality of this world.
I recently visited my 5 month old grand-niece and just being with her it was obvious that she knew who she was and that she felt connected to something far grander in herself. I observed how this inspired the adults around her to be more themselves; they smiled more and were able to be more affectionate with her than they are normally. When someone is just himself or herself and is connected to who they are in essence it has the potential to literally transform the world. This to me is the power of true religion.
Babies hold an exquisite innocence and joy that is almost impossible not to be instantly drawn towards them. Could it be a recognition and a sense of wanting to return to that quality of something far greater than the physical body that they reflect, which is calling deeply within us – to that which we once knew so well, before burying ourselves under layers of ideals and beliefs.
“So is it possible that babies are connected to something greater and more beautiful than we can even fathom, and obviously without any instruction to be so?”
What I love about babies is that they really look at you, fully present and we accept it and let them, we lose this as we grow and it is such a shame as we become uncomfortable probably because we are living less than we know to be true and don’t like to be really looked at. But with a baby we know there is no judgement just love and we let ourselves be loved.
It’s true some people don’t like being looked at and do what they can to hide. And then when we choose to really see someone, without any judgement, I often see tears well up in their eye’s as they receive and feel the love that they are missing.
Like so many things in life, we have twisted and perverted the word religion to mean the opposite to what it truly means. Religion today is perceived as oppressive and separatist – we go to war over religion and we stay stuck in our own religious cultures and beliefs that are different/superior/better than others.
All this keeps us thwarted – religion in its bastardised meaning is about capping our evolution.
Whereas, the true meaning of religion is a devotion to something you deeply revere from within, in the knowing that by devoting yourself to this, you return. You return home to the real you – in other words, you are evolving back to the ancientness of you.
This is beautiful what you share we are born with all the knowing and connection, so like you say possible religion which simply means to re-bind, re-bond and re-connect.
This is a great reminder of our natural way of being… and as you say, we only need to simply reconnect to our body and we are (on the path) back…
Aimee, your words hit me. I am straight back into feeling the solid presence of my body´s innate knowing. Bang!
Aimee -I am a mum of a 10 month old. And she is teaching me so much. She adores people – no matter who they are – she just brings them love. And she totally listens to her body. She experiments with it all day and has no fear or hurts to contend with. An amazing observation.
So many things I have been religious about in the past, from sports, to intelligence, to certain foods. But the relationship I have developed with the body in more recent years is the closest thing to god I have felt
It’s not just as babies we get to appreciate the love we are but through adults who reflect this transparency in how they don’t hold back on loving one another – and when I say loving it’s not the lovey dovey stuff but the emanation of love that comes from the connection to the all through our being. I’m especially appreciating the tenderness of men who allow themselves this connection with themselves. I can also find it initially challenging to feel this as it exposes the belief I’ve got to go hard to survive. but what a beautiful understanding it is to know that hardness is not necessary.
“Are babies not pure love and the absolute definition of joy and isn’t this what we all strive to be?” What a great question. I would respond with and absolute Yes. But for most of my life I have believed that it is simply not possible to live that way in the world, and it has appeared that the whole of humanity agreed with me. That is until I met Serge Benhayon who lives that purity of love, joy and tenderness 24/7. And now every day I witness more and more people inspired to start living the same in their own life in all sorts of professions, conditions and circumstances, and I know that this most natural way of living is not only very possible, but is the only way for humanity to truly evolve.
I love listening to a babies joyful sounds, their squeaks and squeals and laughs. The sound is so unifying, no separation, no judgement… just pure joy! They don’t even know how to speak but no matter who you are we can all feel the joy and love of a baby.
Love this Joshua 🙂 I’ve often said (and will no doubt continue to do so…) that it is babies who should be essentially facilitating all sound and expression workshops… We have much to (re-)learn about how easy and natural our expression can be from our little folk.
Great blog describing how religion is naturally an inbuilt part of us, and whether that gets tuned into an opposite or skewed version or whether we live the truth of it, is defined by our choices and our beliefs.
No wonder we all love babies so much- they reflect to us where we come from.
So simple yet look at how we have chosen as humanity to control, manipulate and redefine a word that brings us back to who we are and reminds us time and time again of our greatness.
Religion as a return to the innate love, connection and universality we all hold within our innermost makes sense to me!
Re-binding, Re-connecting and re-bonding is a type of religiousness I can commit to, in fact a re-engaging with life and people.
Religious with our bodies – this is very beautifully portrayed here as being the very first thing we have a religious connection to. And if we allow ourselves to feel, with absoluteness, many of the things we have a religious relationship with as we age actually abuse our bodies, so how honest are these behaviours and how important is it to return to our first and most holding religious experience.
Not much in life encourages us to really take care of our bodies, at best we are prescribed things to do to keep our body functioning (which is important) – this blog asked me to consider what life would be like if I took even greater care of my body.
I love the clear and precise way that you have presented religion in a new (or should I say old) light Aimee.
“We’ve had it before, we have lived it before, we knew it inside out and it has never left, we just need to reconnect with ourselves and feel what is true for all of us.”
Indeed Aimee, the blue print is there just waiting to be re-activated, like a blade of grass grows towards the light, we are magnetically pulled to what confirms us for who we are.
A beautiful and clear understanding Aimee between the connection a baby has with their body, its response to change in and around the body and the way this is not interfered with from outside of the newborn’s body – very religious. As we grow sadly other things slip in and separate us, leaving us in the wake of sadness and loss and always seeking that truly religious way we once held so beautifully in and with our body.
Religion: to re-bind, re-bond, re-connect… so true Aimee. Re-turning to who we naturally and innately already are, and living this way that continues to ever deepen our re-turning.
We often hear the phrase that babies or children ‘are bundles of joy’… because they don’t judge anyone -including themselves. They live every moment in the love and joy that is there to be lived, and share it with everyone. Life is simple, and time has no meaning.
Thank you Aimee for this fresh and relatable look at what it means to be religious in daily life.
It is certainly true that as babies and young children we have an innocence, connection and purity that we mostly seem to lose as we grow up or is that down? However, I don’t think it is all about us being babies because we also need to have a conscious awareness and learn how to live in the world and express and reflect that as wise elders (note being an elder is not an age related thing).
Beautifully simple Aimee, a baby has a connection to themselves that feels grander than their relatively small body, their presence feels bigger and washes over us when we are with them. Religion being a way of life to re-connect to that presence that is within our bodies brings it back to that simplicity.
I like how you say we are religious with our body when we are born and babies. And it is that we do not question it but live naturally in this body and according to its rhythm and part of the grander whole. I agree we are from a grandness that we do not allow ourselves to see anymore once grown up as an adult and having been moulded to fit the societal customs and beliefs.
You show me Aimee, why I love new born babies so much. They are so connected to their bodies and themselves, so full of pure love and absolute joy, that they remind me where we all truly are from.
Hear Hear. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t melt at seeing a new born. Many people may feel that they do this because they are so tiny, but it is the energy they emanate in their connection that is so compelling.
Yes we are all born with that innate connection to the fact that we are Sons of God and no doubt this is the reason why even the toughest person melts in the presence of a baby because it is a reminder of the absolute love that we come from being reflected to us with no agenda.
‘What are we religious with when we are born? Our body, are we not?’ I have memories of being a baby and being held by an energy that I could feel was all encompassing and all around me. I felt very held by this and whilst I remember moments of self (spirit) the all encompassing energy was always there. Of course my relationship to this was felt through my body but there was also an inner part of me that was aware of my own universality and multi-dimensionality in relationship with the all encompassing energy I was feeling – it was very natural and normal. Over time I chose to cut my connection to myself and so stopped feeling so consistently this energy. I am learning to come back to this and to make it my consistent living way.
Deep inside we all know we are connected to so much than our current world allows us to think, Deep down there is no denying we are all divine, and it is in the ignoring and outright denial of this fact that we create much of the world’s problems that we see today.
This is so simple and gorgeous Aimee, simply gorgeous! I love observing babies and the way they feel everything around them through all their senses and the absolute joy they radiate. They are pure love.
Great blog Aimee and a very pertinent question: “So is it possible that babies are connected to something greater and more beautiful than we can even fathom, and obviously without any instruction to be so?” Observing a lot of babies over the years I would say absolutely yes. There is a deep sense coming from a baby that they know who they are, so therefore it is up to us as adults to ensure that they do not lose this innate knowing and the connection to themselves as they grow up in a world that will try to pull them away from themselves at every opportunity.
A brilliant blog Aimee – one that resonates deep within. Babies come in all-knowing and as masters of true religion.
Religion is our birth right and it is curious that so called established religions actually take that away from us by making it into something we need to achieve outside of ourselves, luring us away from what religion (re-connecting and re-binding) is all about.
‘For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same. Is this not being religious?’ Absolutely Aimee. As we grow up, the simplicity of that gets distorted.
Knowing and understanding the true and original meaning of the word religion has totally changed how I relate to it. It is all encompassing: about deepening that connection to ourselves, and the all, and living and expressing it every day through rhythms and rituals.
Aimee I love this, it makes me realise that we are naturally and truly religious with our inner connection to and with God and the Universe. We then actually end up not being who we truly are and in that choose versions of religion (from institutional religion to sports) to cope in life. All the time not appreciating the magic that is inside us.
There have been so many times when I am left in awe of our young son – he is so full of joy. And it’s not just him, it’s all little babies and toddlers his age. Something I suppose I haven’t really thought about before is that I can choose to be inspired by this little guy. He’s showing me what religion is.
It changes all the preconceptions of the word religious when you see it from this angle – not as an institutionalised belief system, but as a way of life, a relationship with something, with ourselves and life.
The judgement issue that you raise is so huge for humanity. We all come from the same source and we are all returning to the same point. We each have our own speeds and flavours of evolution but ultimately we are all the same, all sons of God. Judgement of another only serves to stunt our own evolution, which in turn slows the evolution of the whole.
We might say that if babies are born with the innate connection to their bodies and inner wisdom that they don’t need religion because they are already living in the fullness of that connection. Perhaps we only need to ‘re-bind and re-connect’ and hence be religious when we have chosen to disconnect from this living way.
When I look at a baby sleeping the stillness, peace and surrender I see in them is exquisite and it makes me ask myself how it would be to live my life this way?
A newborn knows everything, is directly connected to God and has joy and vitality coursing through its body….yet wouldn’t have a clue what 2+2 equals. By the time that baby is six years old, it will know what 2+2 equals….but, it is extremely likely that it it will be less all-knowing, less joyous, less aware and less connected than when it was a toddler. This is a responsibility shared by all of us; not just the parents and teachers and child-minders and anyone else who may have come into direct contact with that child – but all of us, as each and every one of is supporting a way of living that considers intellectual knowledge more important than the embodied wisdom which we all innately have – and which toddlers display in abundance.
Love is the epitome of religion itself – it is not a doing but rather being. The more I am this love in and with everything I do then the more I am living the true religion I know. Otherwise I just get swept in anything and everything that is going on around me.
Beautiful post Aimee – thank you. “Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone.” So true, Babies are pure love and joy, as you say. Why then do we leave this state – and why do most of us not return to this amazing way of living? I know a few who who do live this way – inspiring people.
I would agree with you that as babies and young children we all have a sweet natural innocence about us, and I feel sure this is why we are so naturally drawn to them as because as adults we miss that sweetness and innocence in ourselves, which does get crushed by societal pressures coupled with an education system which to me crushes children rather then support them to grow into caring and well rounded adults. We are now seemingly governed by systems that we have put in place that do not nurture or honour us at all, so is it time to question what we have allowed our society to become and dismantle those so called pillars of society that do not work and have never worked except to keep us small and down trodden.
“Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment, all the while energetically feeling everything and everyone.” – I had the joy of spending several hours with a baby recently, and if the conversation got too serious or heady, she would totter in and squeal in joy, breaking the heaviness felt in the room.
“Babies accept and embrace people for all that they are with no judgment” I always find this so beautiful to see and it is for sure our natural state. There is that notion out there that this changes when we grow up and we can’t hold that quality of being but have we ever wondered if this is true?
I don’t feel we are all born religious – but I do feel babies bring an incredible amount of stillness.
All we need to know about a truer way of being is felt in the love, joy and connectedness of babies.
We are born religious, it is our essence. We lose this quality through parenting, societal pressures and when false religions are imposed in its place. Religion is our innermost self, an expression of love and purpose in everything we do.
If there is a truth to religion, if there is a true religion, then I strongly suspect that it is very different from what we know religion.
We all love to see these qualities of joy and love in babies for they remind us of where we come from and where we are returning to.
I look forward to the future when that natural state of love we are born with is nurtured in equal amounts for all new borns coming back into this world, that is when the number of times we circle the sun will be coming to an end.
Aimee, I loved reading this article, I can feel the absolute truth you are sharing about babies and how ‘For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity. Everyone is the same.’ This is very beautiful, I notice this with my young son too, he openly talks with people and is his loving self, no matter the age, look, culture of a person, I can feel how this is our natural way to be – to not judge people from outside appearances, but to be open and loving and equal with all.
Stunning and delicate, this piece of writing opens the doors to the soul so that everyone can walk through and see the truth of who we are.
“For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation – they are simply a single humanity.’ It is the most awesome thing in the world to sit and watch a new born baby. Their entire world is all about their own bodies and their connection to all the bodies around them. This is a beautiful expose Aimee that puts us back in touch with our greatest friend. Learning to care for ourselves as we do a new born baby is a sure fast way to re-connect with our original innocence and the deep sensitivity of our physical bodies, innately and irrefutably aligned to the intelligence of the Universe.
Reconnecting to the connection with our body that we had as a young child is without a doubt reconnecting to our innate knowingness of the Divine.
One only needs to look deep into a child’s eyes and connect! There is a deepness that you can feel that has not been tarnished yet, by time.
Religion is an alignment with our full body to a movement that is universal in nature.
“For a baby there is no class, no creed, no color, no separation” The simple truth of these words really show that all ideals and beliefs come from outside of us and are not who we truly are.
‘I was born a Catholic’ is the phrase I have used in the past and I realise that is untrue. My mother was a Catholic, my father was Anglican, and there was an assumption that we three children would be brought up as Catholics. We went to church every Sunday, we were baptised, we had First Holy Communion, Confirmation, went to a Catholic Boarding school, but that still didn’t make me a Catholic. I was given the name Carmel and that is who I am. The Catholic religion was imposed on me but, to be honest, I accepted it as part of life, until I was around 17 when I began to question the rules and regulations that went with it, such as birth control not being allowed. When I was younger, having God and all the Saints as my friends suited me, and I loved singing in church, especially the Latin Mass as it was in the 1950s. Latin, like Italian, is a beautiful language to sing in, with rounded vowel sounds. So for me, Religion was all about the doing of being a Catholic, or being a Jew or a Hindu. Not a total way of life that has nothing to do with beliefs as I am learning now, a way of relating to others, a way of working, eating, living.
Today I’m feeling a bit raw, after a few unloving choices and a dose of emotions – my body is feeling the pain. But it’s beautiful and stunning to read your words Aimee and remember, no matter what we choose, no matter what we do – we are naturally this absolute Love. In our essence we are uncorrupted. I don’t have to solve the ‘issues’ I have just return to the same tender quality those young babies have.
In restoring the real meaning of religion, that is re-bind, re-bond and re-connect we came back to a way of living that is in honour of who we are and where we come from instead of the bastardized interpretation of the word religion that only takes us away from who we truly are and instead tells us that we are not good enough and have to work hard for getting a place in heaven.