🚪A gateway to oneness?

Hola from Morocco 🌶

We moved here a few months ago, and life has been very interesting, specially in one domain and everyone’s favorite light topic: religion.

Yes, todays Issue is about God.

Happy Monday, light and easy reading to start the week lol.

Unveiling divinity

I've spent most of this year living in Islamic countries. As you can imagine, my view on God has changed and shifted so much from the cross-cultural exposure.

Living next to a Mosque that echoes the Islam prayer five times a day, naturally has immersed me into a cascade of reflections on the nature of faith, god, and religion. Throwing some Notes to Self in here.

The melodic Islam prayer has become my anthem for introspection: five three–minute sized daily reminders to reflect on my own quest for personal connection with the divine in a society fascinated (obsessed?) with religion.

Whether I like to admit it or not, I’ve never had a daily reminder to reflect on “God.”

And to be brutally honest here, I've never really gave it much thought.

Since we moved here, I’ve begun to find God everywhere.

The enchanting moroccan markets, the kids playing football in the street, the ever-smiling spice shop owner, Morocco has suddenly become a world abundant with sacred wonders.

Fuck, has the whole world always been a gateway, a sanctuary of sacred wonders??

God = presence?

My idea of God has shifted beyond mere ritual and into the very fabric of presence itself.

!

Curiously, it’s the daily exposure to ritual and prayer that has made me believe that God is NOT found only in ritual: God is found in the moments of presence and connection with the world around us.

Maybe God doesn’t only manifest within the walls of a mosque / church /  insert worship vessel of your preference. Instead, maybe God also manifests in the precise instant when we choose to commit our entire being to ground in the present moment with unwavering focus.

Residing inside every single moment you decide to embrace the here and now with absolute dedication.

And yes – the worship vessel is no doubt a powerful universal medium to find connection, but the act of a ritual remains at a surface level if it is not paired with absolute presence.

Lot’s of reflection and not enough space lol, but some questions that keep floating around:

🧩 Is ritual just a door that opens into an invitation to embark on a personal quest to define your concept of God?

🧩 And, is God synonymous with presence?

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In a world where the word "God" has completely lost its meaning, Morocco has served as a reminder to rediscover the essence of the divine as a gateway to the present moment.

A reminder of the reality that every religion is searching for the same connection to oneness, navigating the same mystery.

And while here&nowing is still VERY much a work in progress, instead of seeing it as a “mindful” act, I now feel like God winks at me when I find moments of stillness.

(God, Allah, the universe, your higher self, intuition. Pick your medium, but don’t let your connection with the divine turn into ritual.)

May this lil’ reflection inspire you to seek moments of divine connection throughout your daily life. They’re there, if you choose to look for them.