Next month I plan to visit the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto. The Parliament is a huge forum for interfaith dialogue with a history that goes back to 1893. I am looking forward to find inspiration and meet people from as many different wisdom traditions as possible.
To be clear, I will be there as a private visitor. Even though the main objectives of the Parliament of the World’s Religions coincide perfectly with the spirit of the Gamma Tao, I will not participate actively in one of its many interesting sessions.
I will represent the Gamma Tao in a humble, very discrete manner and with deep respect towards all the other major traditions that are present at the Parliament, hoping to learn even more from them than I already have.
The Gamma Tao will probably be one of the newest religious paths present at the Parliament. It will certainly be the smallest, because to my knowledge I am still the only person in the world who actually follows the Gamma Tao.
Even though it is open for everyone, the Gamma Tao can be considered as my personal religion.
The fact that the Gamma Tao is a personal religion does does not mean that I can do what I please and bend its rules at will. In fact, it is the other way around. Ever since it originated in my mind, it is the Gamma Tao that leads me. The Gamma Tao gives me direction. Its objective of personal and universal flourishing does not come without obligations.
Surely I am not the only one with a personal religion.
As Mahatma Ghandi famously said:
“In reality, there are as many religions as there are individuals”
I believe this is true. How perfect or orthodox your religion may be, your own understanding of it is always determined by personal conditions.
Many people nowadays practice personal forms of religion and consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious”. They use this formula to distance themselves from organized religion.
I understand why religion has become so controversial, but I do not mind calling the Gamma Tao a religion.
The Gamma Tao will never be part of organised religion. That’s almost a contradiction in terms. Why would a personal religion be organised?
On the other hand, the Gamma Tao could one day become a platform for people that share the same basic ideas about what is important in religions and philosophies of life. The whole idea behind the Gamma is that it offers only a basic foundation. It would be a platform that promotes diversity and stimulates people to become active in their own communities, because without any form of organisation you cannot have much impact.
So it could be a platform of γHumanists, γTaoists, γChristians, γBuddhists, γMuslims, γJews, γHindus, γPagans, γAtheists or any combination of these and other wisdom traditions, a platform of people that beside their own main paths observe the minimal principles of this basic “interfaith philosophy”.
It might never happen. If the Gamma Tao does not become such a platform, that is perfectly fine with me. It will remain my basic philosophy of life or personal religion.
I do not feel any aversion towards the word “religion” anymore. Actually, I like it more and more. I like it in the same way as the word “philosophy”. For me these words have become broad and open concepts available for every human being, not limited to an institutional context, whether that is a church, a temple or a university.
While philosophy is literally love of wisdom (philo-sophia), I now see religion as a way to “re-connect” (re-ligare) to our universal origin.
Since this broad concept of religion encompasses our whole being in the universe, it is not only “spiritual”. It is also “material” and in this world. So it includes ethics and certainly does not exclude reason. It is the art of being in the universe and living a good life. I call it an art because living a good life requires skills and creativity.
The values of the Gamma Tao combine all these elements for me. The Gamma Tao may be a personal religion in its forms and practices, its scope, principles and objectives are universal, just like all “real” religions.
A personal religion like this is certainly not a non-binding ego trip, it is a personal way to re-connect with the universals.
Since the Parliament of the World’s Religions is a gathering of all religions, it should also be open to personal religions. I am excited that by simply being there I can represent the Gamma Tao.
I plan to write more about my experiences in Toronto here in this blog.
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