I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with organized religion.  As someone who’d never attended church, always looking from the outside in, the assertion that scriptures written millennia ago contained the ‘words of God’ seemed ludicrous.  How could there be billions of rational people around the world, in diverse groups, claiming that their particular book, their beliefs, their way, should dictate behaviour, morality, and rituals, in this modern day? 

I wondered how they could follow so blindly and I suppose that I shared a natural disdain, along with other ‘non-believers’, for those that insisted it was “their way or the hell-way”.  There may have even been a beneath-the-surface, irrational, school-girl resentment towards those groups from which I felt excluded.

I apologize to anyone who might find my opening statements offensive, however, before you condemn me Shirley Sherrod-style, please read on….

Ironically, in my twenties and at my most rebellious period towards traditional belief systems, I married a Baptist Minister’s son.  It was an eye opener certainly but even this new family of church-goers were unlikely to be able to convert me to their ‘ways’.  And fortunately, they never tried… which ran contrary to my expectations at the time.

The best lessons in life come from personal experience and contact with others.  To that end, I encourage you to read this article  in ChristianWeek about Pastor bob and MJ Paterson-Watt (yes, another minister on the in-law side) from Woodbine Heights Baptist Church and their involvement with the Daily Bread Food Bank, the Shoelace Collective and Not Far From the Tree.  They work with others in the community to grow and pick local fruits and vegetables which are then shared with those less fortunate.  bob and MJ and their associates are shining examples of church leaders who are committed to do good both for their community and the world at large without concern for differing beliefs or enforcing theirs on anyone else.

So, now, as a ‘mature’ 40-something who has searched a little deeper, observed the good that these community groups of ‘believers’ can do, and explored spirituality at both an intellectual and instinctive level, I understand so much more.  Actually, ‘understand’ is not really the right word, perhaps ‘sense’, ‘empathize’, and ‘appreciate’ are all more appropriate.

When I was researching and writing “Vision Speak”, my primary interest was humanity, our evolution and growth, spirituality and religion, and its effect on society.  Whether I was researching to stimulate my imagination for my writing or for my own personal enlightenment cannot be separated.  The goals were one and the same.  During this stage, I came to understand that all the great religions have timeless wisdom.  Many of the rituals practiced within their hallowed halls have true meaning for the participants.  They help to bring people closer to the source of their beliefs and to each other.  Good religions bring people together in love and harmony and a community spirit.  Wise spiritual leaders know that their way is not the only way yet they are focused on leading those that want to practice with them, using the teachings that have inspired them.  How could anyone possibly resent that? 

Although traditional religious practices may not suit my spiritual journey in life, it has certainly proven to be a viable and successful model for billions of people for many centuries. 

Yet, we have all seen examples in the news and during the course of our history, where horrible death and destruction were enacted in the name of religion.  In my novel, I imagined a society where religion was controlled so that no group could ever claim their way as the only way.  Exclusivity was forbidden and I speculated on where humanity might go next if we could bring an end to battles over belief systems and wars and widespread violence.  By the end of this first book, the possibility of a collective, harmonized way forward for humanity is exposed.  So, now I am excited for the next stage in this journey, for both my fictional world and my own growth.  Certainly, initiatives such as that demonstrated by bob and MJ show what can be accomplished with a community in harmony.  Imagine this on a world scale with a unified collective consciousness.

I recently completed a fascinating course with EnlightenNext called the “Evolutionary’s Guide to Changing the World”.  This brings to mind some of the course material about the evolution of culture, spiral dynamics, and the observation that as culture and consciousness progresses, we can see that each new stage is not born purely out of creation but often in reaction to the past stage. 

It strikes me that in my youthful, reactionary attitude towards religion, I was only seeing the negatives and looking for something drastically different.  Clearly the vast majority of these groups are focused on living in a community of love and harmony, caring for those less fortunate and creating a better world for their children.  What could possibly be wrong with that?

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