Comparative Religion

Having been a life-long spiritual seeker and student of religion and philosophy, I was pleased to find that this course was very well researched and offered many additional reference works with which to expand my knowledge even further. The course had much to offer, and from my own personal experience and interest, I will write about an aspect of the information that prompted me most to reflect upon the nature of humanity’s need to define the Indefinable.

The topic of alchemy, which is to some extent a universal theme in all cultures, is fascinating in that it reminds us that all of those beings born into the human race are, by the complexity of their innermost nature, indeed alchemists in varying degrees. It is entirely by our own individual choice whether we opt to exercise this ability on the physical/material, mental/emotional, or spiritual/conceptual plane. The more conscious the choice is, the more potent it becomes.

The difference between a mediaeval alchemist seeking to elevate a base metal into gold is merely the plane on which he operates. Within our own minds, we are constantly trying to elevate our understanding, increase our wisdom, and release ourselves from lower, instinctive “animal” behaviors. Within our own spirits, we are also, either consciously or unconsciously, attempting to make sense of Existence and find our own place in the proverbial scheme of things.

One Hermetic principle of the Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet) states simply: “What is below reflects what is above”. This forms the basis of understanding of the interrelatedness of all objective and subjective matter and energy. W hat is to be found within an individual human being is also within the Universe as a whole, one entity reflecting another. This therefore helps to explain the individual’s perpetual attempt to improve, understand, expand, and conquer both one’s own personal life on a subjective level, as well as one’s surrounding circumstances on the objective level. We are not only necessarily agents of evolution, but also its results. We are, in a sense, branches, leaves, fruits, and seeds of the Tree of Life – branches in our species, leaves in our individuality, fruits in our ability to change the course of individual and collective history, and seeds in our ongoing evolution out of what is now considered to be “human”. What actually lies before us remains, nevertheless, still a mystery.

However, one would wonder if the archetypal principle of alchemy has really changed at all from medieval times into modern times, as we now split atoms for fire instead of merely splitting wooden logs to transform one element into another. Is this perhaps our inescapable recurring pattern and destiny – to continue to split and transform substances until we find the ultimate golden substance, that which we generally call so insufficiently and ignorantly “God”?

As a practitioner and teacher of yoga, which is based upon the Vedas and tells us that all is one eternal energy in a playful and infinitely imaginative myriad of temporary forms, and Reiki, which proves this point in a very practical application, I submit this theory: All religions are further forms of alchemy, in which both their leaders and followers attempt to find, through their own individual experimental and experiential approach, the highest form of gold possible – i.e. , the Formless behind all forms. 

Rev. Sandra Denninger, B.A.  D.D

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.