‘One River, Many Wells’

December 2020

'In different religions you get a different presentation of truth...because...truth is like a jewel with many facets. There are many paths to God and someday when people of various faiths arrive at their goal, they will be amazed to find all their friends there also.'

White Eagle's beautiful words have been the inspiration for some of my own voluntary work as an Interfaith Minister. With guidance from Anna Hayward, I have concluded both an address for 'Inter Faith Week' in an Anglican Church and a Worship Service at Oxford University with these words. I have also incorporated it as a conclusion to my award-winning essay (on the subject of Is Interfaith Worship a desirable practice?) with The World Congress of Faiths, which was published in the International Interfaith Journal Interreligious Insight in June 2020. I feel heartened that my essay, which addressed the broadening contours of Interfaith beyond a traditional understanding of tolerance between the faiths, towards acceptance of an understanding of the Ancient Wisdom of the universality in the depths of all religions, (which is at the heart of White Eagle's teachings), has gained recognition and publication in a leading International Interfaith Journal. Perhaps this is one demonstration of germinations of transitional change in humanity's evolution into the Aquarian Age...

White Eagle speaks of 'universal religion' and says that there is actually only one religion or truth, but many paths: 'There are many lines of approach to truth, many schools by which people reach the same truth.' This Ancient Wisdom is beginning to percolate through into modern Interreligious understanding too and so my essay was based on the similar theme of Matthew Fox's book ONE RIVER, MANY WELLS, in which Fox says beautifully, 'There is one underground river - but there are many wells into that river: an African well, a Taoist well, a Buddhist well, a Jewish well, a Muslim well, a goddess well, a Christian well, and aboriginal wells. Many wells but One River. To go down a well is to practice a tradition, but we would make a grave mistake...if we confused the well itself with the flowing waters of the underground river.'

White Eagle says that 'someday when people of various faiths arrive at their goal, they will be amazed to find all their friends there also' so, where is that 'place' where White Eagle says friends who have travelled different spiritual paths up the proverbial mountain, will finally meet? This 'place', which White Eagle describes as their 'goal' is not an outer physical location: the meeting of souls is not to be found in a Church sermon on a Sunday or a University Course or Theology Conference on Comparative Religion! It is not a meeting of minds at the comparative level of the conceptual contours of each 'well’ of tradition that holds the teachings of just one of humanity's sacred ways into the deeper depths of our human consciousness. Instead, it is to be found in the experiential inner planes of consciousness, which are the metaphorical  'flowing waters of the underground river', discovered during meditation, healing and the brotherhood work. Therefore, the true spiritual 'meeting' of 'friends' occurs in the depths of the soul-reality of the underground flow of the 'river' or 'waters' of Spirit. This is often esoterically referred to as a 'mystical' level of realisation, when a spiritual seeker arrives at their goal in the discovery from their own direct, inner experience of the flow of spirit in the depths of the soul within, where White Eagle says we 'rise in consciousness, as on wings of light', and the discovery of our souls of light, shining from within, is experienced as both our ground and goal.

This tender-delight of spiritual discovery or realisation of the inner light, is both personal and impersonal, as we cannot but emerge from the experience, knowing that this 'truth' which White Eagle says is 'like a jewel with many facets' is true both individually and collectively - that, not only are we a shining jewel of light, but so are all our brothers and sisters, whether they have experienced it for themselves yet or not. As White Eagle says, ’this truth lies in you, and in all men’. In the inner planes of our souls is where souls truly meet, not in any conceptual identity or physical building or any spiritual 'well' or tradition. As White Eagle says, 'there is only one truth. Throughout every religion and throughout all ages the truth prevails—that of man's Divinity, man's creation by the Father-Mother God in order that the little child of God, the spirit, may through incarnation in the flesh grow from unconsciousness to Divine consciousness.'

When we experience the deeper depths of our souls of light in what White Eagle calls 'the higher mind', we know that our lower minds (or broadly-speaking, our egos in contemporary psycho-spiritual language) are not the whole of who we are. We are then called to allow our lower minds to re-align in service of our higher mind and soul - in the eventual humility of admitting the deepest soul-felt longing to return to a true and heartfelt space in our interactions in daily life with others that reflects the true light of our shared Divine Consciousness within.

In this way, we bring the meeting of our souls on the inner planes into life, as our eyes meet in the outer plane of physical life; seeing others outwardly as the radiant souls of light that they truly are within. When we reach the goal of inner-realisation of ourselves as souls/beings of light, we are indeed truly, truly, amazed to see that the inner ground of our own being has been our spiritual goal throughout all of the different traditions or 'wells’ of faith which we have plumbed to find ourselves: '…many rays of truth, all coming from the one central truth.' This reminds me of the spiritual allegory in Paulo Coelho's wonderful book, THE ALCHEMIST whose goal of finding the treasure was discovered as having been buried all the time underneath his home, from whence he started his spiritual journey to find his fabled buried treasure.

I believe we all have buried treasure to find within the depths of our souls. In my published Interfaith essay, I offered the analogy of deep sea diving as a metaphor for the spiritual need to make that jump from the conceptual level of intellectual-understanding of a tradition or 'well' of faith into the experiential waters of spirit/life. This is where that 'pearl of great price' can be found in the coral reef in the depths of the ocean. White Eagle speaks of the universality of all religion, beyond traditions, creeds or 'wells' of faith: ‘…the purpose of life is to seek that universal religion or reunion with God...This is true religion, unbounded by creed, dogma, race or time...Religion has many paths in its early stages. The true religionist will recognise and respect the path of every other man, and will not attempt to force his particular mode of travelling upon his fellow travellers. He will allow all his brethren freedom of thought, for he knows there is actually only one religion, and all men are seeking this central contact. He knows that in time, as man becomes attuned he will realise the true religion of union with the Great White Spirit, and man’s relationship to every living creature. However, if your tradition or well of faith is not deeply helping you to find your own inner iridescent pearl within, maybe it is time to 'jump ship' for a true 'inner dive' into the coral reef of your consciousness...

So, I was recently touched to hear some beautiful lyrics in a song, ‘River Run Free’ by MaMuse, which soulfully questions how we can actually go about finding and letting this river run free inside us in our lives and, in her song, it is the mountains which shout: 'Free the well of Love within and bow down beside it....there's no need to doubt it...You can let the river sing...Hear that river calling, calling us into our calling...wade out in that water'...I hope you do...

– Rev. Jenny Miller

First published in Stella Polaris, Vol. 70, No. 1, December 2020