“For the love of all Gods, is not a quiet moment filled with endless brilliance?”

– from the song “No More Division

God, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Jah, Yahweh, Hu, Shivah, Shakti, Satnam, Waheguru, Gira, Dadar…these are just some of the names that people name a divine presence throughout the world. In Zoroastrianism alone, there are 101 names for God. Despite the human majority’s belief, the devotion to a “God” never worked for me. There are too many realities and contradictions in the human experience for my rational self to accept this. Over time, I have come to accept an “energy consciousness”. This belief has been mostly facilitated by my experience with music, exposure to meditation and openness to healing light energy work.

Music is the universal language and unconditional equalizer among all people. It offers endless variety, history, commentary, lessons, emotions and stories. It delivers a release from pain and suffering. It heals and connects. It transcends divisions, race and nationality. It is the transmission of pure energy that penetrates the individual and collective soul, creating community and building unity. If you’ve ever been to a concert where suddenly everyone screams in recognition of a spectacular moment, you probably had a feeling of instant connection with everyone and everything around you…a natural elevation of self, a feeling of elation, peace and joy. Could this be the same feeling people experience when in prayer? Can music deliver the same peace that belief in God does for most?

I studied meditation in a sociology seminar during college. Masters like Krishnamurti, Suzuki and, my favorite, Thich Nhat Hanh appealed to me for strategies in commitment to and practice of mindfulness via the Buddhist faith. Focusing on the breath and being fully present in the moment is very similar to improvising on an instrument (guitar is my preferred portal). When the moment is engaged and mindfulness attained, time stops and peace becomes real. Isn’t inner peace the first step toward any sequence of possibilities to “unite the tribes”?

In my 20s, I came to learn of Reiki energy healing via a musician friend. Reiki is a channeled healing energy made up of life force energy that is guided by a higher level of consciousness to heal the body, mind and soul. I eventually learned the practice to administer “treatments” to others. My Reiki Master described the practice as “becoming a hollow bone to cleanse and transfer unspoken knowledge” to the recipient. This was quite appealing. Reiki is available to all. There is no ritual or rite of passage.

What is appealing about the 1God.com concept is its inclusion of all religious and non-religious points of view in the name of unity, in “uniting the tribes”. To a spiritualist, this is very much in line with the belief that an energetic consciousness sits above religion and text. Tapping into this universal energy is the ultimate peace. Energy with positive intention can be a force for good. 1God is indeed positive intention worthy of global attention. And then as we begin dialogue and efforts toward unity, perhaps we can come to agree on the following truths:

We all want love and to be loved

We all breathe the same air under the same sky

We all die

With the finality of death, shouldn’t we be able seek our own individual path to peace without judgment and with full acceptance? If so, then 1God is certainly an attainable vision to unite the tribes. And when attained, we might find we can agree that quiet moments are truly “filled with endless brilliance.”
 
 
 
Photo by josemanuelerre