Nowadays, the word religion often has somewhat negative connotation of an organized institution which is more turned towards its profit, than towards God. However, religion is a very important notion for human society as well as for its individuals, and as such requires to be revisited and re-redefined. What we normally think of when we say religion is the mass, organized religion, and that’s not what this beautiful word was originally meant to denote. Its root lays in the Latin word ligare – meaning to connect, and the suffix re, which even today in modern English denotes repeating an action, or doing something again, so it could be translated as reconnecting. But to what, or to whom? The answer is very simple – to ourselves, or to be more precise, to our Self, our Soul, the God or the Guru which lies in each and every one of us.
Similarly, instead of invoking the dreams and hopes of a better world, the word utopia often creates negative associations of a nightmare society. According to its theory, utopia as understood by the Western civilization, stems from Christianity. So, utopia and religion are the two words which have somehow over time acquired negative connotations, and they most certainly deserve redemption and rehabilitation as they are both very important for reaching a better world. You may wonder how this can be done, and how the two are connected at all.
First of all, we need to change our old-fashioned outlook on utopia as a silly dream of a supposedly and seemingly perfect society which has a fixed set of rules imposed by some imaginary governing system, and which is so obviously full of faults when seen from the outside. The ambiguity of the meaning of the word – is it a perfect place or place that doesn’t exist, could be resolved in a completely new way – it is a perfect no-place, meaning it is not a place at all, but a journey, and being a journey it can never be perfect, which would be mean it’s over and done. It can only be more perfect, or better. So, the new utopia is dynamic, it is a constant change for the better. Also, it is constantly questioning itself, analysing its faults and looking for better solutions. So, the new utopia is constantly flowing, changing and improving, being aware of itself and trying to be better with every new moment. Doesn’t this somewhat evoke the Buddhist message to question absolutely everything? Also, utopia is no longer imposed as a set of rules from the outside, but it’s being built brick by brick, grain by grain, person by person. We no longer need some abstract rules to know what is good and what is bad, because we fully understand that harming anyone or anything means harming ourselves, because we are finally waking up to the truth that All Is One.
We are waking up to this new society which is getting better day by day as every new person awakes to the Divine Consciousness and understands that the only way to a perfect society is through unconditional love, selfless service and non-violence. New individuals who understand that by working on their self-acceptance and improvement means an improvement for the society as well, as we are all equally important members of that society, and more importantly, we are all examples to each other. Our behaviour is not just ours. It has so much effect and can change so much. Buddha, Jesus, Krishna and many others are exactly that – the examples of whom we can and should be. So, imagen a society of Bodhis – fully spiritually awakened people, of course it would be perfect. That is our way to utopia. That’s how mysticism as individual religion, i.e. reconnection to our true Self is important for the whole society.
This is where yoga starts to play an important role. But yoga, not just as a set of asanas, but Yoga as a conscious way of living. Since all that is done with full awareness can be Yoga. And among those different types, there is one which in my view surmounts them all, as it is equally and very obviously beneficial for the individual, and for the society, and that is Karma Yoga, or selfless service. This is the ultimate Yoga on our earthly plane, the one we should practice every day. There is no better way of elevating ourselves on our spiritual path, there is no method that can make us feel as good as selfless service. And then, the good we do for the society and Mother Earth is also priceless. On top of that, our selfless service serves one more purpose – as a good example to the others. Our actions can serve as an inspiration to others to do the same, to help and serve and continue the beautiful flow of unconditional love throughout this world. We are like dominos leaning on each other and we have the power to lift each other up, or take us all down. Our society is like a huge organism, and in order for an organism to be healthy, all, or at least the majority of its cells have to be healthy. And we are those cells, so it is our duty and responsibility to keep ourselves healthy, to love ourselves, be good to ourselves, and then to heal each other and help each other. We need to take care of ourselves in order to be able to help the society.
A beautiful example of literary utopia which proposes turns to Eastern religious teachings for the solution for a better society is Aldous Huxley’s not so well-known novel “The Island”. Its beauty also lies in combining the East and the West, taking “the best of both worlds”, or taking “the best of all the worlds”, or as he loves to say in the novel “Nothing short of everything will really do”. We, as individuals are also small worlds, microcosms, the pieces of a giant puzzle, and we all matter in the total picture. This Huxley utopia is definitely not perfect, some of his solutions are rather questionable, yet the essence and the ultimate message of the novel are extremely powerful and to the point.
So, it’s important to understand that utopia is not an imaginary place, it is not a place limited by boundaries. Just like the Kingdom of God lies within us, utopia lies within us, too, and we spread its territory with our good deeds, selfless service, unconditional love and rising the awareness. We are all ambassadors of Utopia, which is rising brick by brick, piece by piece, or to use the language of the modern technology, it is being downloaded like a torrent, one piece here, another one over there, until we finally have a perfect society of fully realized Boddhis. It is possible, and it does depend on you.
Article Credit: Tijana Sladoje
