In search of a new evidence base
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In search of a new evidence base
The trajectory of many endeavours is that they start out with a grand vision, but over time the core becomes eroded and what was once a beacon of hope becomes yet another wannabe, still trying and vying for the title of being a ‘lighthouse to the world’. But ultimately it runs aground on the rock and reef of individuality, greed or idealism.
Many modern religions were founded on the back of a soul-inspired teacher, who never talked about establishing a church or temple in their name. In fact, some even talked against the priestcraft of their time.
“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practise and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practise what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden” [i]
The work of these soul-inspired teachers and the quality that they represented inspired many to live as they had suggested. Humanity in all its wisdom sought to protect these teachings in the only way that it knew how, which is to codify and enshrine their works into rituals, priestcraft and their own form of religious law.
Centuries on, the focus has become protecting what has been codified, rather than checking if what is being lived represents the same quality that these fellow souls lived. The result is suicide bombers acting in the name of their prophet, gun-toting Buddhists trying to rid the country of the Muslim ‘scourge’, and Catholic priests were found to have assaulted young children across the world only to be protected by the very institution that created them and claims to be against what these perpetrators have done.
What started with a seed of hope reverts to a barren garden of asserted truth and defended battlements that seeks only to protect those who are most committed to perpetuating the whole charade.
The result is that people are turned off religion, not because the desire to have a relationship with God is not real and some would even suggest innate, but because they have never seen a way of being religious that doesn’t at some point lead to double standards, double talk, hypocrisy and a reliance on blind faith.
Then there are those who turn to science and its own holy lexicon of evidence-based medicine. Again, the principle started out pure enough. Do not rely just on what you think is happening, find a way to check for variables, to check for assumptions, ego, conflicts of interest, so that there can be confidence in the results. This is a positive thing… but what has humanity done with it?
Marcia Angells, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, says:
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”[ii]
So, what evidence do we then believe?
There is one part of life that can never lie. There is one part of life that day in and day out gives us information that is so accurate, our only way to avoid its honesty is to find ways to continually ignore it or cover it with so many layers of rubbish that its voice is all but muted.
To ignore the body’s communication is the equivalent of having a hazard light on your dashboard that you spray-paint black, or reach under the dashboard and cut the wire. Either way, you are not bothered by its message and the problem is ‘solved’. Or is it?
What is this ultimate teller of truth? Our bodies.
If Catholicism brought vibrancy in life, why would Christians need to do yoga; why is another model of health needed? If Buddhism brought vitality and real enlightenment, why aren’t monks working full days in the community with mortgages and kids, showing us how to be ‘in’ life and not how to be removed from it? If the Islamic faith brought a deeper inner peace and settlement with life, the only form of extremism we would see would be extreme loving. If science truly brought wisdom and understanding, then there would not be the bullying, harassment, petty politicking and outright fabrication of findings that goes on.
There is something missing and that is an evidence base that can be consistently applied… and that evidence comes from the body. More specifically it comes from the Soul.
Our bodies respond to one of two sources of energy: one that represents all that is soulful and loving, and one that is not. It is as simple as that. You might imagine that a body NOT infused with the love of the Soul would fall into anger, jealousy, rage or resentment far more easily. If a body was continually being drained by these emotions, would it not be in need of continual refuelling to supplement its energy levels? Would this not be a clear point of evidence?
If a body is being run by the light of the Soul, would it not move in a way that was more harmonious, both with itself and others? Would it not act first out of love and deep care for itself and then equally for others around regardless of race, colour, gender, socio-economic status or religion? If a body is imbued with the lightness of the true light that we all are, would there not be a joy in this expression and little need for temporary highs to signify life was going well.
Would this not be a simpler way of testing if any given model or theory had merit? It seems like we already have a set of measures that could be applied so very simply to many of life’s BIG questions.
Why don’t we do this? 1. All that talk of love, soul and energy puts some people off. 2. We are confronted by the overwhelming fact that very few aspects of life would meet these criteria.
The result is that many would rather discredit, deny or dismiss these criteria than deal with the facts that they would lay out so very simply.
What are these criteria? …They are the Soul’s five key elements: Harmony, Love, Joy, Truth and Stillness.
Where do we test for them?... Our bodies – nowhere else.
Our bodies are the barometers that unfortunately have become so misaligned and mis-calibrated to everything that is not harmonious, joyful, loving or still, that many will read this very statement and discredit, deny or dismiss the wisdom it contains.
If we want a real evidence base, we need to recalibrate back to the soul’s criteria for living.
Harmony: To what degree does your chosen way of living bring greater harmony to all that live in its rhythm. To what degree does life flow and unfold with an ease and precision that no amount of planning could achieve.
Love: To what degree do you experience a deep love for yourself and those around you, even those who would otherwise wish ill of you? Does your body reflect a body that has been loved by its form of food, exercise and daily living?
Joy: To what degree do you feel the joy of being alive, the purpose of life and the beauty of all that we have available to us in any given moment? Is that joy a radiance from within or does it get replaced with external things to bring peak moments of happiness?
Stillness: Do you feel settled in your body? Do you walk with a purpose that contains no push? Can you fall asleep with ease and surrender to rest? Is there a vitality that is not derived from any form of stimulant or emotional drama?
Truth: To what degree does your chosen ‘way’ bring all to an equal understanding of life? Does your ‘truth’ lead to a development in your life beyond improving how things function and an ever-deepening relationship with your soul?
We need to recalibrate back to the soul’s criteria because the alternative is what we are living right now. We don’t need to be perfect at it, we don’t need to be dogmatic about it but we do need to be honest about what we think and do and how it measures up to this real evidence base for living.
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Religion, Evidence-based, Harmony, Love, Joy, Truth, Stillness
