Dancing with the Divine

January 1, 2024 Open Religion No Comments

Religious feeling, such as in prayer, can be seen as a dance with the divine, where both partners invite each other.

It’s a continuous two-way communication.

In this regard, the concrete meaning of the divine is secondary.

It’s about a general feature — or should be, in the best case. Think of it from the standpoint of the divine. Being divine, after all, It/He/She doesn’t mind very much if you have any misunderstandings about this. The most important is the dance.

If you feel this two-sidedness, you are with the divine.

You can then feel how the exact form is of second importance. To some, it may even feel as if ‘being with’ and ‘being’ are not so different.

Notoriously, mystics in any organized religion are more prone to feel this as real — whether in an altered reality or in the everyday one. A true mystic is a spontaneous Dancer with the Divine.

Everyday mysticism

Dancing divinely is not just for exceptional occasions. In principle, it can happen to anyone at any moment.

Such as now.

A leaf falls from a tree.

A person makes a gentle movement.

A sunset brings something of the universe alive.

Anything can turn into a dance with the divine.

A specific religion is a format.

With the use of a good format, many people can be brought to many good dances.

Excellent!

Trying to change the format may feel as if it’s not working anymore. Indeed, as with any dancing, one way or another, you have to know what you’re doing. Trying to enforce things will break things.

But there are other nice formats. Also, a change that comes profoundly from the inside out will not break the format. It will just change it a bit ― no reason to be anxious.

Keeping to a format is OK, but being stuck with it is less OK.

Being stuck can tear you apart if it contradicts your true self.

Then, sooner or later, your divine dancer doesn’t follow you anymore. If you keep going, things may go awry before you realize. For instance, one may lose faith and fall into despair. Or worse, one may become a fundamentalist in a desperate attempt to keep things together — endless hardness.

Much in contrast to the latter, Open religion brings an Open format.

You can dance this way, then that way. In any way, your partner follows because you are genuine, original, and authentically yourself.

The divine desires you to be your true. This is, the divine wants You.

This You may be realized in a setting of organized religion, but not necessarily. This way, a ‘religious’ person may eventually be less spiritual than a non-religious person. It’s not by calling names that one becomes religious.

It’s by dancing.