One World Religion - Is It Achievable?

Transcending the Religion of EGO

In the words of a great mystic poet, Jelaludin Rumi, “In the religion of love there are no believers and there’re no unbelievers.”

My submission is largely premised on this wisdom-laden, profound statement.

Taking a cursory look at what obtains today in our contemporary world, the fact cannot be denied that our religions are deeply characterized by ego of superiority complex. The fad is, “my religion is superior to yours, only my faith/belief will guarantee you a place in heaven (paradise), your way or path will take you to hell fire.”

The question must be asked, who has ever returned from heaven or hell to tell us he or she was in paradise or hell.

Mahatma Gandhi, it was, who said “God has no religion.” If God has no religion, it therefore implies all religions are of God-simply put, God is a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Zoroastrian, a Buddhist, etc. With this allusion, no single religion can therefore shoehorn God and lay claim to having an edge or preference over the other.

That said, a shift in paradigm is essential if we’re to attain a one world religion which in this context, is embracing and practicing, the ‘Religion of Love.’

On a personal experience, I’ve listened to people asking these questions several times over, “are you a Christian?”; “are you a born again Christian?”; “which church do you worship?”; “are you a Muslim?”; “are you Sunni or Shiite?” etc. but surprisingly, no one has ever asked the question, “are you a child of God?”, “are you an embodiment of love?”.; “are you spiritual?”. These later questions are devoid of any sectarian colouration and it makes any human neither superior nor inferior in the context of what some religious adherents ask.

This scenario portend that in the consciousness of many humans, specific religious affiliation, has a weighty ranking than being a child of God with no strings attached. Seeing God in every being-man, animal and plants rather than seeing man through the prism of a pie of the cake, which is our religious or sectarian leanings, fall short of the religion of love that will enthrone a one world religion.

The revered Dalai Lama had this to say when asked about religion, “If you have a particular faith or religion that is good. But you can survive without it.” He went further to state his personal position, “My religion is very simple. My religion is KINDNESS.” Beloved brothers and sisters, you’ll agree with me that kindness is a composite of religion of love.

Kindness without prejudice, kindness beyond the bounds of sectarianism, faith, and creeds is the religion required of mankind in the new Aquarian age. With true kindness in one’s heart, you’ll be blind to a specific sect, or religious affiliation. You’ll embody a large heart to accommodate all beings irrespective of their faith or belief, and obviously, violence will vanish from the surface of the earth with automatic alacrity.

There is this profound statement by St. Augustine which says, “God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”

The religion of love therefore makes us a microcosm of God which compels that we broaden our centre and make our circumference embrace all beyond limits. In the religion of love, we’ll transcend myopism, sectarianism, bigotry and ‘Us versus Them’ mentality.

Man must begin to see himself as part of an indivisible human entity rather than a segmented, narrow, fragmented, sliced, separate, and divided member of the human race through religion, philosophy, geographical boundary and skin pigmentation.

There’s a common statement that says we see the world as we are rather than how it is. To enable us see the world holistically, it’d be compelling to expand our consciousness.

In the book, Everyday Wisdom by Dr. Wayne Dyer, we are admonished thus: “Instead of labeling yourself as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or whatever you may be, you should rather commit yourself to resemble Christ (who evidently did not establish any organized religion except religion of love through his message)-Italics my own words, God, Buddha and Mohammed as much as possible.”

Beloved readers, it will be worthwhile asking the question what’s the meaning of Religion? Religion took its origin from the Latin word, ‘Religare’ which means to bring together.

It behooves us all to ask ourselves if religion, as presently constituted, has brought humanity together. Your answer is as good as mine!

In wrapping up this little piece, we must be told loud and clear that until humanity embraces fully the time-tested messages of the sages which was, is and will be premised on LOVE we shall continue to be embroiled in this worrying, mentally and physically eroding milieu.

In the religion of love, the ego has no space for concept of believers and non-believers, paradise-goers and hell-goers, senseless struggle, conflict, violence, maiming and killing certainly has no footing in the religion of love.

“We are now going through a period of demolition. In morals, in social life, in politics, in medicine, and in religion there is a u…niversal upturning of foundations. But the day of reconstruction seems to be looming, and now the grand question is: Are there any sure and universal principles that will evolve a harmonious system in which we shall all agree?”- Catherine E. Beecher

These incisive words by Catherine Beecher gives us the leverage to go inward and seek for that solution, which by no means, resides dormant within each of us waiting to be awakened to actualize the much desired harmonious system.

May I be privileged to conclude this piece with a story of the pigeons from an anonymous source. It goes thus:

In an ancient Temple, a number of pigeons lived happily on a roof top. When the renovation of the Temple began for the annual Temple feast the pigeons relocated themselves to a Church nearby.

The existing pigeons in the Church accommodated the newcomers very well. Christmas was approaching and the Church was given a face-lift, All the pigeons had to move out to look for another place.

They were fortunate to find a place in a Mosque nearby, the pigeons in the Mosque welcomed them happily. It was Ramadan time and the Mosque was repainted, all the pigeons now came to the same Ancient Temple.

One day the pigeons on top found some communal clashes below in a market square. The baby pigeon asked the mother pigeon ‘Who are these people?’ The mother replied; ‘they are Human beings’.

The baby asked, ‘But why are they fighting with each other…?’ The mother said ‘These human beings going to Temple are called ‘Hindus’ and the people going to Church are called ‘Christians’ and the people going to Mosque are called ‘Muslims’.

The baby pigeon asked, ‘Why is it so? When we were in the Temple we were called Pigeons, when we were in the church we were called Pigeons and when we were in the Mosque, we were called Pigeons.

Similarly they should be called just ‘Human beings’ wherever they go’ The mother Pigeon said, ‘You and me and our Pigeon friends have experienced God and that’s why we are living here in a highly elevated place peacefully.

These people are yet to experience God. Hence they are living below us and fighting and killing each other when they are all human beings created by the same God whom they all claim to serve! Perhaps there will be peace if they refer to themselves simply as human beings instead of seeing themselves as Hindus, Christians or Muslims.”

ATTRIBUTION

My humble take in realizing the noble objectives of one world religion are as follows:

Religion must move from political religion to spiritual religion. What we have at the moment is political religion wrapped in the garment of brain-washing, control and deep materialism.
Humanity must begin to see beyond the externality and see each person that crosses his/her path as a child of God with full imprint of the Divine in him or her.
Anthropomorphic view of God i.e. God seating down somewhere behind the clouds in heaven with a shinning crown on the head apportioning blame, punishment and granting rewards must be put to death and replaced with a more reasonable, wisdom-laden concept.
Man must come to the realization that by his choice of faith he/she is neither superior nor inferior to any other different faithful-all are on a journey according to their respective levels of evolution or consciousness.
Man must make effort to see at 360o rather than 90 or 180o perspective-must think ‘moon’ rather than ‘crescent’ when dealing with another human being.
Man must return to his original pristine state which is enlightenment and stop walking away from it.
He must realize that he’s a spiritual entity on a mundane journey rather than the contrary.
Human relationships should be seen and lived from the standpoint of creating paradise on earth for all rather than creating an illusionary heavenly paradise for our sectarian adherents who belief or uphold only our dogma.
My advice is when it is asked of you what Religion you practice, without any form of hesitation, simply say, ‘Religion of Love’
Permit me to conclude this piece with these words: In Truth, there’s only one race-the race of Humanity; In Truth, there’s only one Religion-the religion of Love; In Truth, there’s only one Language-the language of the Heart; In Truth, there’s only one Prayer-the prayer of Service beyond self.

By this shift in consciousness we shall all be primed towards attaining the goal of ‘One World Religion’ where we all live in peace, harmony and true spirit of brotherhood/sisterhood in the vineyard of the Divine.

Wahab O. Owolawi.Ph.D

University Professor & Author:

A Dialogue in the City of Niyod (A book on self-enlightenment)
Dialogue with the Self (Unlocking the door to your true self)
Affirmations for Successful Living

Wahab O. Owolawi. PhD is a university professor in audiology. He has also been a student of mystical/esoteric science studies for over three decades. He has a flair for extensive reading and learning to understand the universe, the power behind it and how to harness the power inherent in the universe for the good of all humanity.

He has also written a couple of books which are available on amazon and other global internet bookstores.

He can be contacted via the following email and cell phone: deleowolawi@yahoo.com (+966 502047739)