Spiritual liberation! 🔥
Isn’t it time for all religions to live in peace and harmony together? 😔
Isn’t it time that spirituality becomes a source of unity and personal emancipation, rather than division and mental indoctrination? 😔
Yes it is time!
That’s what I believe, and that’s why it was very touching for me to meet one of my favorite modern spiritual teachers in the world: Michael Bernard Beckwith!
During my event with Mindvalley in Portugal, Michael Beckwith was a guest speaker, and he spent 4 days with us, attending classes with us, partying and dancing with us, even sailing and hanging at the pool with us 🏊🏼♂️. (hence our casual photo in summer look!) 😊
Coming from the Middle-East where faith in God, and belief in the prophets and holy books, is often a source of conflicts, separation, dogmas and violence, i can only have deeper appreciation and respect to spiritual teachers like Michael Beckwith who teach the principles of spiritual unity, and promote harmony between all religions and faiths, and solidarity and peace among all people.
As a boy growing up in the Middle East, specially in my country Lebanon, religions seemed to me more like political entities and identities, rather than heartfelt spiritual faiths. I had so many questions about religions, and spirituality, and God, and the purpose of life, but in those days Google did not yet exist, and no one around me was able to explain to me in a convincing manner about these mysterious revelations that we were supposed to follow. Sure enough, it didn’t take me long, together with many of my liberal city peers, to turn away from religions and spirituality and from all what they stood for.
It was only later in life, through experiences of personal awakening and self explorations, that I became more receptive to spiritual teachings, more and more appreciative to what prophets, saints and religions were trying to say and achieve, and more perceptive and believing in this Force that pervades and moves everything, call it God, Universe, Allah, Source, Energy, or whatever you wish.
And as I immersed myself in discovering the world of spirituality, it was modern teachers like Michael Beckwith, and others like Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra, that best articulated this holistic spiritual faith that i was beginning to discover. A faith that does not contradict religions, and rather embraces spiritual unity regardless of everyone’s religious faiths.
Michael Beckwith, just as all enlightened spiritual teachers, including the biggest prophets,
teaches the universal principles that can be found in all religions. The principles of spiritual unity and of surrender. The principles of being kind to one another, helping the needy, being just, and fair, and compassionate. They all promote practices like prayers 🤲, meditations 🧘♀️, and communal rituals, that are meant to allow us to be more in tune with our spiritual essence, and more supportive to one another.
What I also love is how teachers like Beckwith can gracefully marry a deep faith in in the divine, while at the same time fully embracing modernity and scientific progress. They express a vision of spiritual faith that unites rather than divides, that enhances rather than limits our life, that is a source of trust rather than fear, that brings freedom rather than mental captivity.
And they teach that we are all one, that we are all connected. And that all religions ultimately come from the same source, and have the same essence.
Sure, there are differences between the various religions and spiritual traditions in the world, differences in rituals, differences in emphasis, historical differences, linguistic differences, differences in interpretations and practices, but I believe the essence of the various spiritual teachings are one. I believe that there is way more that unites us, than what divides us. And even what’s different between us, is a source of richness, and ought not be a source of conflicts.
Back to Michael! 🙂
I discovered Michael many years ago in the movie the Secret, and he immediately struck me by how articulate he is, how elegant his language was, and by his ability to infuse emotions in his words. And so I went on to follow him and study his programs, read his books, and listen to his podcasts. His book, Spiritual Liberation, is a book I deeply cherish, as it brought me great strength and inspiration on my journey. He was clearly to me someone who had experienced some sort of enlightenment or awakening.
And let me tell you also the story of how I met him! 😁
Michael was actually one the very few first people that i bumped into in Portugal during Mindvalley’s Afest. It happened on the first day and the very first moment as I arrived to the hotel in Carvoeiro to check in to my hotel room, a man was in front of me in the hotel check-in queue. I didn’t recognize this man from behind, but then suddenly he turned to speak to someone, and I realized who he was. Michael! 😮 I couldn’t help but greet him with strong emotion and affection, hug him, and tell him how much I loved him and appreciated him and his work. After all, this was the man whose voice was playing in my ears for years during my early morning guided meditations.
He looked at me cheerfully and said: well, you have a nice way to greet people! 🙂
So i went on to tell him how much I appreciated his spiritual teachings and holistic faith, and how much this is so needed in the world today, specially in regions like the Middle East that is still suffering from religious conflicts. And I also told him that as someone who comes from the muslim faith, it really saddens me to see how many narrow-minded interpretations of Islam are currently affecting negatively our world and contributing to intolerance or violence. And I told him with spontaneity that I wish something could be done about it, that I wish too I could one day do something about it.
He looked at me with a big smile, and replied: well, this may be your Dharma! And he winked! 😉
And at this instant the hotel receptionist called him to check in and our conversation ended. And that was the first encounter between me and Michael. An encounter that makes me happy and that I will always remember.
And I surely hope to meet him again! 🙏
Jihad Saad - Expand Your Awareness, Transform Your Life 