Where is the Path You are Following Taking You? Ways of Life That Lead to Flourishing

The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes provided we arrive at the same destination? Mahatma Gandhi

The other morning, I walked with two lovely women. One of them told me the story of her life—a journey I’d title “Walking Through Many Layers of Hell Before Finding My Way.” It was raw and beautiful. Despite hardship, she found strength, healing, and wisdom through finding and following a spiritual path.

It reminded me how crucial it is—this choosing of what path we follow. Our philosophy, religion, or worldview isn’t just a private choice—it shapes how we treat each other, how we cope with suffering, and how we find joy. So it matters. A lot.

And yet… look around. It’s hard not to notice people getting swept up in movements that are angry, exclusionary, even harmful. Somehow, we’ve confused having strong beliefs with needing to fight or dominate others. We've lost our way to the good life.

So what kind of path - religion or philosophy or worldview really leads us to flourishing—both as individuals and as a society?

Let’s pause the debate club for a moment. No charts or comparisons. Let’s not get lost in who’s right or wrong. Instead, let’s ask better questions about the path we are on and the destination it leads us to.

Does walking on this path, following this way of life, lead people to becoming more compassionate, less cruel?

Does walking on this path, following this way of life, lead to healing, not hatred? To justice, not judgment? To gratitude and peace, not fear?

If so… we’re headed toward holy ground, following the same North Star. No matter what we call our path.

The good news is that many traditions—when practiced in love rather than fear—nurture what humans most need: belonging, meaning, resilience, and joy. Think of the Buddhist monk cultivating compassion. The Christian mystic resting in divine love. The Indigenous elder honoring the land. The Stoic standing in quiet dignity. The African mother teaching Ubuntu: I am because we are.

Each of these paths, in their best forms, are following the same North Star leading to the same destination: a fuller, kinder, wiser humanity.

The Dalai Lama once said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” That simple phrase, when truly lived, has the power to transform a soul—or a society.

Christian mystic Meister Eckhart put it this way: “Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.” And that language? LOVE, humility, awe, and service.

Even secular philosophers sometimes speak like prophets. Richard Rorty wrote, “My sense of holy is bound up with the hope that some day my remote descendants will live in a global civilization in which love is pretty much the only law.”

That’s it, isn’t it? The best religion—or philosophy, or way of life—is the one that ultimately leads us to loving - caring about others as we care for ourselves. Not just those who look or think like us. Everyone. And it brings us joy, meaning, life.

Maybe we need fewer arguments about religion and more sitting together on the porch conversations about what helps us grow, heal, and connect. Maybe the most sacred path is the one that opens our hearts, softens our judgments, and invites us into community.

So, if you're wondering what path to follow, look at where it's pointed by asking:

• Does this way of life help me show up with more kindness, love, and compassion for all?

• Does this way of life offer me purpose and meaning...hold me steady when life gets hard?

• Does this way of life make space for joy, hope, gratitude, wonder, and mystery?

• Does this way of life urge me toward wisdom and humility?

  
  

If the answer is yes—hold on to it. Walk it humbly. The path, no matter what it's called, leads toward the Good Life. Or maybe you aren't quite sure what path you are on. It could be time to look around and take notice.

How might we journey together to The Good Life by practicing a worldview that leads to flourishing for all?

Coming up later is part 2. How do we stay on the path once we have decided the path is leading us to the good life?

There are parts of following the path to the good life that may be easier than you think and parts of following the path to the good life that may be harder than you think according to scientists. Stay tuned for a blog in the near future about what parts are easy and what parts are hard - the common blocks to following the path to the good life. And how to get around the blocks.

In the meantime, we can notice what we are experiencing, our goals and intentions, who we are being and how we are doing (that's what we are doing now in our weekly good life and compassion circle). AND...

If you have 14 minutes or so and would like to get a head start on peering into our our moral strengths and challenges as humans on this journey according to researchers who are studying babies like Paul Bloom, click on this video of babies and youngsters at the Yale Infant and Cognition Center. "Born Good?"

On another note...I have had a couple of readers already comment on how this squares for Christians with John 14:6 - Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This is how it makes sense to me...(and I realize many others see it differently).

For those of us who follow Jesus, John 14:6 is a treasured verse. It's also a controversial verse. And yet, when I look closely, I see that Jesus was not necessarily claiming exclusivity over truth but pointing us to the Way—the way of love, mercy, and surrender to God. Anyone walking that path, even unknowingly, is drawing near to the heart of God. As Father Richard Rohr writes, “If it’s true, it has to be true everywhere.”

As I read other words supposedly spoken by Jesus, he is not acting like a gatekeeper, but rather he guiding people to an abundant life for all (as most, if not all, of the religious founders say). And as many of you may know, early Christians were not called Christians but rather followers of 'the Way' meaning the Way of Jesus.

For example, Jesus said you can recognize a tree by its fruit (Matthew7:16-20). If our worldview bears fruit like compassion, peace, humility, justice, gratitude, and especially love - it's aligned with the heart of God. The spirit of my blog is asking us not to look at the label but the fruit, the destination - that's what can unite us all as we walk various paths. You may also want to look back at the blog on Healthy Religion: The God That Everyone Knows.

Within the Gospels, Jesus continually embraces outsiders - Samaritans, Roman soldiers, Canaanite women - and affirms the faith of those outside of his own tradition. His mission was expansive, not narrow.

He says, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold" (John 10:16), suggesting a mysterious and generous vision of belonging.

My husband John says, "I don't want to hear what you call yourself. I want to see how you love." It's all about the fruit. The fruits of the Spirit in Christianity - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. John says all these fruits are "cousins" of love or different expressions of love. Certainly all those attributes are descriptions of spiritual maturity -an advanced flourishing humanity.

It might be helpful here for those who have never heard of him to read a bit about Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, and teacher. Find out more about his work and his thoughts on the Omega Point and advanced [Christ] consciousness.

Chardin thought that the universe is evolving—not just physically, but spiritually. He thought that everything in the universe, including humans, is slowly moving toward greater goodness, consciousness, and unity. I know this can make some people's eyes glaze over, but I find it rich and stimulating and uplifting.

He called the final destination of this evolution the Omega Point. The major points are:

1. Evolution is going somewhere – Teilhard believed that evolution isn't random; it has a direction. It’s moving toward more awareness, more connection, more love.

2. Humans are key to the process! – Unlike other creatures, humans are self-aware. We think, love, create, and seek meaning. This consciousness is part of the evolutionary process.

3. The Omega Point is the destination – It’s the ultimate point where all creation becomes fully united in love and consciousness. It’s the highest point of spiritual and personal development.

   
   

In short: Teilhard believed the universe is growing toward a future of deep unity, love, and divine connection—and that future is the Omega Point.

My favorite Pierre Teilhard de Chardin quote: The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.