By Wes Annac, Editor, Openhearted Rebel

“Buddha was not a Buddhist, Jesus was not a Christian, Muhammad was not a Muslim. They were Teachers who taught love.” ()

Religion overcomplicates a simple message: live from the heart. Letting love and compassion guide your thoughts, actions, and intentions is the most authentic way to connect with the Source, as rather than forced conformity with a belief system, it brings about a natural evolution of the self.

The idea that devoting yourself to religion will bring spiritual rewards is an incorrect interpretation of the benefits of heart-centered living. We’re taught we’ll receive God’s gifts by changing who we are and conforming to what the church wants, when in truth, we can receive them by making a subtle yet powerful shift into the heart.

This way of life doesn’t make you wipe your personality clean so the church can reprogram it.

Instead, it grants spiritual freedom through an understanding of freewill and the necessity to use it wisely. Freewill is an incredible gift that can be destructive if misused. Heart-centered living brings an understanding of what actions help and hurt you, and you have the freewill to act accordingly.

Listen to Your Intuition

Although religion has it wrong, there is a pure spiritual truth you can access through mental channels available but undetectable in the ordinary waking state. These channels collectively represent what I and many others call the intuition.

The intuition is a deep subconscious part of you that communicates wisdom and, in a spiritual sense, can help you stay on the best possible path. It can be likened to a moral, spiritual guide or a link with the higher self (and ultimately God).

Intuitive wisdom often comes as a gut instinct, and whether you’re receptive to it depends on whether you listen to it. The more you listen to it, the more receptive you become. This is where living from the heart will save you, as it makes listening easier.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to distinguish the intuition from the ego. Sometimes, we prefer not to listen to it even if we sense it will cost us later. With so many opportunities to avoid the intuition, living from the heart ensures we’re more receptive and willing to listen.

No Religion Required

We’ll be more inclined to choose the right path if we’re devoted to a life of love and service. Therefore, no effort to change yourself or become something you’re not is required. All that’s required is to change the way you see yourself and the world. Then, start to walk with a spring in your step.

You don’t have to be religious, spiritual, or willing to become a whole new person. You need only live from the heart and let everything else come naturally. No real effort to change yourself or your behavior is required, as any changes that spring from your new outlook are natural and effortless.

It begins and ends with the heart, and for devoted spiritual seekers, I’m convinced enlightenment comes from consistent heart-centered living combined with dedicated spiritual practice and disciplined mental emptiness.

The Pathless Path

For those who aren’t “spiritual” but want to make a change in their life, this is the best path to my knowledge. It’s a “pathless path” in that it’s not a journey or a big complicated effort toward self-improvement. It is simply a return to your roots through a connection with your intuitive guiding voice.

As I mentioned, you’ll be more inclined to listen to your intuition if you live from the heart. If a situation requires your compassion, you won’t waste a moment doing exactly what you know and feel you need to do. If you get a gut instinct you feel is reasonable, you won’t waste time questioning it.

Heart-centered living seems to keep intuitive wisdom at the forefront of your mind. This helps you to be certain of the path you should take and never hesitate to do what’s right.

The greatest benefit you get from heart-centered living is the ability to slow down. You’ll realize you don’t need to rush your life, and you’ll be comfortable taking more time and putting more thought into what you do.

This will result in a much richer life to which you contribute much more. It’ll also bring a sense of meditative peace which, as you’ll learn, is just the beginning of what you can do. You can go much deeper, and your work (as well as the way you live in general) will reflect that depth.

My Personal Religion

Let’s not allow religion’s twisted misinterpretations to keep us from discovering and embracing the truth about love. Let’s live from the heart and let positive energy inspire us, strengthen our connection with the spirit, and relight the flame so many seem to have lost.

Let’s stop being afraid to express ourselves and create meaningful things, because this is one of many ways to better understand the creative force we know as love.

Love is the great spiritual truth so many teachers have tried to illuminate, and you can find it within, through the choices you make in each moment. This is my personal religion, and instead of creating hate, it places me on a path to natural self-improvement.

This is the path of enlightenment inspired by the heart.

About the author: 

I’m a twenty-something writer & blogger with an interest in spirituality, revolution, music and the transformative creative force known as love. I run Openhearted Rebel, a daily news blog dedicated to igniting a revolution of love by raising social and spiritual awareness.

I also have a personal blog, Wes Annac’s Personal Blog, in which I share writings related to spiritual philosophy, creativity, heart consciousness and revolution (among other topics).

I write from the heart and try to share informative and enlightening reading material with the rest of the conscious community. When I’m not writing or exploring nature, I’m usually making music.

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