Tag: #connection

The Only Sin

by Terah Drake, posted in Honoring the Sacred

Is there absolute truth in the world?

When it comes to our personal belief systems, I am not so sure there is. 

When it comes to taught lessons in much of organized religion, even less so.  

This idea might get some of you riled up, but stay with me to the end – I think you might just see some value and understanding as I bring it all together. 

Each religion teaches different ideologies; largely accepted and unchallenged “Truths”, such as There is no God but The God…But is God Yahweh, Allah, Shiva, the Demiurge, Zeus, or our own Buddha-nature?

We can speculate and theorize, preach and prosthetize, but ultimately, to say that any one person – or group of people – absolutely knows what “God” is is an extreme form of confirmation bias.

We each come to our own perspective and “belief” based upon our own unique set of experiences and learning.  Humans may be at the top of the food chain here on earth, but we are extremely limited in what we can perceive or understand.  

We receive an average of 11 million bits of sensory information per second – yet can only process 40-50 bits of that information per second.  This overwhelming amount of data is filtered by the Reticular Activating System, the brain’s “Reality Filter”, which largely “shows” us reality through a lens that was created in the programming of the first seven years of our life. 

So, for most of us, we are just reiterating, or regurgitating, the belief systems of our parents and caregivers, and their parents and caregivers, going back hundreds of generations.  

The religious beliefs of the moment, whether that moment is right now, ancient Greece, or 3000 years ago, change slowly, and only with a massive collective mindshift.  

Ra, Isis, Osiris, and others were also Thor, Freya, Loki, and others in the religious beliefs of the Norse, and were also Zeus, Poisedon, Athena, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis and others, who then became Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Minerva, Venus, Diana and Apollo, who kept his name when the Romans became the predominant political structure. 

But you get the idea, right? 

We can see “throughlines” in each culture, including Christianity, where religious culture “borrows” from the one before, but adapts to reflect the appropriate mindset of the time.  

This is not to say that I do not personally believe that a higher consciousness or power exists, but my personal interpretation, insofar as my limited human mind can conceive, is that God is the Unified Field; a consciousness that is woven into the fabric of every atom of reality – including those of every human on this planet.  

We are all cells in the infinite body of the Divine, having the experience of itself, as a human, or puppy, or plant, here on earth.  

Within this framework, I believe there is a place for organized “religion”; a gathering of minds in shared appreciation of our connection to and within this fabric, without the extremes of judgment and dogma that often accompany conventional religion.  

We need connection with others, and the reminder that comes through this connection that we are not individual, selfish little avatars rushing through this reality pursuing our own pleasures at the cost of others. 

But personally, I do not believe that the only way to God, or Christ consciousness, or Enlightenment, is through one exclusive religion.  We all can access the power and wisdom of “God”, whatever God is to us as a collective and individuals, at each and every moment. 

Perhaps this is why the apostle Paul said “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.”  

Hafiz, a revered Sufi poet who lived in the 14th century, said “What is that sweet voice inside that incites you to fear?  Now is the time to know that all you do is sacred.” 

Both statements, though in different times and cultures, speak of Divine connection.  When we “pray without ceasing”, we are in constant communication with the Source within – and without.  If we recognize that this life, and our actions are sacred, we are in alignment with All That Is.  We can not be in “sin.”  

Which leads to the second topic of this blog.  The idea of sin. 

If there is no ultimate “Truth”, can there truly be sin?

The Hebrew word for sin is Chatta’ah.  It means to “Miss the goal/ mark”.  It is to be misaligned with the Sacred.  

 It does not, exactly, as biblical culture suggests, encompass the litany of evils or “deadly sins” that are found within most religion, from coveting your neighbors’ goat (or wife), going out in public without a headcovering, gossiping, idolatry, unbelief, and what seems like a hundred or so more rules, regulations, and accompanying rites. 

I believe there is only one true “sin” – To believe, or treat the world as, Lao Tzu stated in the Tao Te Ching, as though everything is not sacred.  

If “God” is in every particle in the known universe – and beyond – and we “worship” God as holy, does that not mean that everything – everything is, in fact, absolutely precious, beautiful, perfect, and sacred? 

If we were to hold anything as an absolute truth, perhaps this would be it.  If we love that which is sacred, we must love it all.  “Sin” is when we forget this.

The only “sin” is to forget that this life is sacred. To destroy that sacredness; especially that which is innocent.  

This is reinforced by biblical scripture – in Matthew 18:6, Christ says “Whoso shall cause one of these little ones (that believe in me) to fall, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  

Think about that.  If it would be better to be drowned at sea with a stone around your neck than otherwise face the consequences of destroying the innocence of another being, what would the alternative be?  

We are in “sin” when we use that which is sacred for our own selfish use and mean – whether that is hurting a child or animal, coveting a neighbor’s goat or wife, or using a holy order such as a ministry or church for personal gain.  

Conversely, if we are in remembrance of the sacredness of life, how can we be anything but love? 

If we are living in a state of love, we cannot be controlling, jealous, prideful, envious, gluttonous, wrathful, or in sloth. 

When we die, I believe the actions and choices of our life will be weighed – by our own eternal knowledge – not according to the way we “acted” in life, but rather, what the predominant force of our hearts and minds were.  

Anubis weighing the human heart with a feather

Islam teaches “hell” as a place of fire, boiling water, and suffering. Judaism teaches damnation as nothingness; a complete separation from God.  But my belief is that there is no real “hell” at all; that this particular reality is a place for us to learn, and to grow spiritually.  If we live from a place of selfishness, we likely are confronted by the “sins” of the life we chose to live, but when our soul takes accountability for these choices, we get to try again, in another life.  

I’ve had experiences to suggest I’ve been through this life many, many times before.  I’m certainly not perfect in this particular version of me, but I am aware, and that awareness allows me to keep remembering that life is beautiful, sacred, and absolutely perfect – even when it might feel far from it.  

This is only my personal perspective, given my own unique set of life experiences. I can not speak for – or judge – anyone else’s personal way of seeing, being, or navigating this particular version of time-space reality. 

But perhaps, if you are in a space where conventional religion has been failing you, this might give you something to think about.    

Big love.💖

  • Terah

Connection

by Terah Drake, posted in Uncategorized
Better, together.💞

I had a dream last night that a sorcerer bound myself and two of my friends together with black string, with a few feet of length between each of us.

We attempted to cut the string, but each time we tried,  it became stronger and thicker, until it was a tightly coiled black rope that no one knew how to cut or unbind.   

We were told that there was another sorcerer in a distant land who should be able to help us, and we set out to find him, having many adventures – both challenging and fun, along the way.  On our journey, we learned to cooperate and collaborate well, and to navigate together successfully.  The thing I remember most about the feeling of this experience within the dream is the humor that we all shared at our situation, and by the time we did finally find that other sorcerer, it no longer felt like a frustration to be bound together.  

But we had come to have those ties unwound, and the sorcerer easily dissolved the ropes.  At first, we were all overjoyed to finally have our freedom and set off in three completely opposite directions to re-find our individual paths. 

But it didn’t take very long to realize that once we had become accustomed to the challenges of being so closely tied, we had all been so much happier, together. I felt a tremendous sense of sadness and loss, and I began walking back to the crossroads that we all had parted from, hoping my “family” would also be moving back that direction to find a path that we could walk together.  I awoke, still experiencing a little of that grief.  

In the Yogic tradition, we are taught that we all have invisible lines of energy called Nadis that connect us to Source, each other, and the Universe at large.  Those lines that connect us to our most loved ones are like the thick cords of my dream, but we have many etheric connections to those around us.  They are there because we need connection to others.  These cords can provide information, give and receive energy and to those trained to recognize and move energy, even heal.

But these cords can also be used to harm, siphoning energy or life force from those around or conversely, draining ourselves dry as we give too much of ourselves to others, if we are not emotionally healthy.  

The pain from this can cause us to isolate; to draw away from everyone out of our hurt and pain.  As we create this distance, we also loosen those ties and the connections we have to others, often leaving us feeling empty and alone.  I believe our addiction to technology ironically emphasizes this.  We are more connected and also disconnected than ever before – perhaps a large reason for the dramatic uptick in depression, suicidal ideation and most tragically, unaliving – a rarity until the last decade or so.  

I think the dream was a reminder that we need those cords.  It is a reminder that even when we are annoyed or frustrated with our loved ones, when we communicate, cooperate, collaborate and find healthy ways to compromise to work together, we will always be happier journeying together than when we isolate or think that we always have to walk our paths alone.  

Connection without codependency…

This is not to say that codependency is a healthy thing.  If we feel that we need another human in our life to feel fulfilled – If we can’t be content or at peace when we are alone with ourselves, it is probably because there is some aspect of our internal self that we are avoiding out of fear or dislike.  There will also be times when we really do need to spend some time on our journey with ourselves – to heal, to figure out something important or just to learn to truly like and feel complete and comfortable in our own company.  

But big picture, we need those cords that keep us connected to others.  We need to be loved, and to love.  We need to share laughter, tears, ideas, adventures and experiences with other souls – our families, our friendships (framily) romantic partners, or our communities.  Ideally, a combination of all of these, and maybe even a furry companion or two (or four, for some of us…👀👀)

This need for connection and collaboration is  true on a larger scale, as well. Democrats versus Republicans, men versus women, white versus… every other race…you get the picture.  

It’s all fear-based indoctrination and intentional segregation/separation.  But this division is not truth.  We are all a unique amalgamation of past experiences and patterns that lead us to whatever ideology we happen to be holding right right now. But if we are at the extreme of one place or another, we are in separation and lacking the balance that being able to see two sides of what is often the same coin can bring.  

 If we allowed ourselves the ability to step outside of our egos and identification to recognize the fact that underneath our ideological programs, we are all just humans, trying our best to figure things out on this big, beautiful planet.  

Wouldn’t it be better if we had the gift of many different mindsets to learn and grow from?  Not to mention, if we made all of the folks out there that we labeled as “other” or even “enemy” into friends on our journey, what an amazing, big beautiful party this life could become.

Something to think about.😎

Big love💖