“Forget the nonsense of there and here, race, nation, religion, starting point and destination. You are soul, and you are love.” Rumi
Though Unity – A Positive Path for Spiritual Living – is not an interfaith spiritual movement, it mostly finds its roots in Christianity it integrates practises from different other spiritual traditions, I personally like celebrating different religious events and rituals because I believe that all paths leads to God. I find that each celebration offers an opportunity to observe the inner movement of Spirit and helps us expand our relationships with the Divine Presence.
“All religions, all this singing, one song. The differences are just illusion and vanity. The sun’s light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall, and a lot different on this other one, but it’s still one light.” Rumi
Ashura, is an Islamic religious celebration that was originally requested by Mohammad. It commemorates Moses’ parting of the sea for his followers and the following gratitude-filled fasting and meditating.
Mohammad was a great prophet and spiritual teacher who taught similar messages that of Moses and Jesus about Spiritual Love and Devotion to the Divine Presence. This Love and Devotion is beautifully reflected in Rumi’s poetry. Though Rumi was not a Muslim, he belonged to the followers of the mystical tradition of Islam called Sufism.
When I look at a religious tradition, event or celebration, I imagine that it was created a long time ago to support a group of people to move into closer personal relationship with the Divine – the source of all Life.
As I observed Ashura, I was not fasting, I simply spent some time in meditation and contemplation yesterday: I imagined the parting of the sea as the opening of human consciousness as a result of following the teachings of a ‘master teacher’. In my understanding, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and many more through human history were great spiritual teachers of ‘master teachers’ who carried the same message of spiritual Love for God, self, and others.
Moses lead ‘his nation’, the followers of his message, into a new level of consciousness, to a level of Freedom from a fear-based consciousness that generates the madness of the physical world. By remembering we move into Gratitude; as a result of our personal efforts and God’s Grace we are freer and therefore at a more joyous and abundant place within ourselves.
Why don’t you spend some time today in Meditation and Gratitude remembering all that is the result of your spiritual efforts and God’s ever present Grace in your life. You may want to make a list of these so you can always be reminded. 🙂
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