Hearing the Call.

In the last post I introduced the idea of the Whisper - a force inside each of us that communicates our deep desire to live as our highest Self.

Although language and nuance vary between religious and philosophical traditions, it is a concept that humans have been thinking about, writing, and organizing themselves around for thousands of years.

For the thousands of years we’ve been working to understand the Whisper, we’ve also been making recommendations on how to manifest it.

Many of these recommendations have come from organized religion, which I think can be helpful to think of as exactly that - guidance for hearing and cultivating our call to live fully and righteously.

In its purest form, religion should work to do both these things - improving both our ability to “hear” our Whisper, as well as put the call into action - truly living as our highest Self.

Sadly, we know that many organized religions have their fair share of corruption and darkness - rules designed for power/wealth accumulation, exclusionary teachings, violence, abuse, etc.

That being said, if you are able to look past the stain of some human hands on their evolution, re-examining religious traditions as a guidebook for the manifestation of the Whisper can be a helpful exercise.

It is helpful because it allows us to look at faith-based teaching and scripture through a different lens - a vast accumulation of wisdom and guidance that can be used in cultivating our desire to live fully and righteously - not necessarily as a reservation for your desired location in the afterlife.

Whether you were raised in a particular religious tradition or not, it might be a fruitful exercise to re-examine the “recipes” prescribed by various religious and philosophical frameworks using the lens of the Whisper.

For example, here are just a few traditional Abrahamic religious terms & ideas reframed in the context of the Whisper:

• Think of “sin” as a transgression or denial of your Whisper - moments when you say “no” to your call to live as your highest Self.

• Think of “heaven” as being in complete communion with your Whisper, not a place in the clouds. A feeling of absolute unity and ecstasy as a result of accepting your call to live as your highest Self.

• Think of “hell” as the opposite - complete separation and denial of your Whisper, not as a fiery underworld. Think of it instead as the fact that life itself feels like a place of “sorrow and torment” as a result of living in opposition to your Whisper.

• Think of “church” as a community of people helping each other listen to and manifest their Whisper.

• Think of “scripture” as a blend of history, doctrine, metaphor, and allegory that can be used as a recipe book for the manifestation of your Whisper.

To tie this all together, I think in many ways, the “how” of religion is very much secondary to the “why”.

The “why” is beautiful - a belief that we are more than just flesh and bones. That inside each of us lives a force of beauty and love desperate to be revealed.

Call it Soul, call it Whisper, call it God, believing you have it inside you is what matters.

Devote yourself to a particular religious tradition or explore many, but make sure to seek out, contemplate, and integrate the wisdom accumulated over thousands of years aimed at helping you live as your highest Self.