Love is my Religion

Here’s an old piece I wrote back when I was at the University of York. Thanks Code with A-sin Cole for bringing this back to my mind. I have put up this peice without editing a single word of it.

All my days I’ve been searching,
To find out what this life is worth
Through the books and bibles of time
I’ve made up my mind
I don’t condemn, I don’t convert,
This is a calling have you heard
Bring all the lovers to the fold,
’Cause no one is gonna lose their soul

Love is my religion,
Love is my religion,
Love is my religion
Hey you can take it or leave it,
And you don’t have to believe it

-Ziggy Male

The past few years have been very long ones for me. I have been on a soul-searching process to answer the basic questions of life that pertains to me; Why do I do the things I do? What is the essence of life? What do I stand for? My mother’s death in 2015 (her tribute is here ) opened my eyes to how vulnerable we human beings are and how short and fragile life is. Although her death remains fresh in my memory, the fact that the world has moved on (myself inclusive) really brings to fore the fragility of life and how fast and suddenly it can be taken from you. Apparently, the faster these questions are answered, the more reasonable passing through life will be.

As a young man who grew up in a highly conservative Christian family and took a lot of interest in spiritual things on the journey of communication with the unseen God. I have read books upon books on almost every major religion on earth (They all have their excesses I must admit). This brings to fore my ideal concept of individual faith vs organised religion. What do you believe and what can you interpret from your holy book? Apparently, unless we choose to deceive ourselves, every religious leader preaches the “We are good and others are bad” or better still; “We are on the right path, the others will perish” message. That horrible label exists!

” I am a Christian and I do not want to mix with unbelievers”. ” Muslims should have nothing to do with unbelievers”. That label has brought more sadness and evil to this world than any other of our earth’s problems.

Proper observations will reveal that the teachings of almost every religion are humanity’s striving to understand their relationship with a Creator. Studying these teachings with understanding of the current situations of the earth considering the fact that these things were taught at a different time entirely can only lead to a better understanding of one’s relationship, purpose and place in the universe. The heart draws one naturally to the sacred places.

Personally, I am not interested in living life in a very limited and ignorant way where I identify myself with a label and then reject everything and everyone who doesn’t wear the same label that I do. Not only do labels separate people, they also create imaginary barriers and walls then cause us to hate, fight and look down on each other. Life is too short for me to live mine that way.

I am not interested in being trapped by dogma which in fact is all about living with the results of other people’s thinking. I want to experience the world through my own senses. I want to KNOW things, not to believe things. I want to KNOW things because I myself experienced and lived them, and not because somebody told me I should believe them.

If you spend your life arguing about who is right and who is wrong, what religion is good and what religion is wrong, you will have no time left to know and experience God. And you will have no time left to experience the power and the greatness that comes from practicing the things that all these holy books teach us.

Love is the message of all religions. Love, kindness, peace, forgiveness, compassion and unity. And if you can welcome these in your heart, chances are that you will no longer care that much whether the world sees you as a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hinduist or a Jew; You will no longer care about arguing who is right and who is wrong, what religion is good, and what religion is right. You will be so busy LOVING and BEing, that you will have no time left to argue, nor will you be interested in doing so. The love of God is already within us, but also in all the temples, churches, mosques and all the places of worship. And for those who have found the love of God in their hearts, they will also recognize the love of God in all these places but also in everything and everyone. Because God is everything and in everyone. As Ricardo Arjona, a famous singer from Guatemala said in his song: “religion is nothing but a method with the title: forbidden to think, everything is written”.

To some extent, I am done searching now and I have found out what this life is worth. Not in the books or bibles of time did I find but by searching my mind. I don’t condemn, I don’t convert. This is the calling, have you heard? Bring all the lovers to the fold because no one is going to lose their soul. When I look at you, I don’t see a Christian, Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist or any other religion. I see God playing a dress up game. Love is my Religion, you can take it or leave it, you don’t have to believe it.

(Twitter: @joeloseiga)