My kind of sanctuary.
The word religion derives from Latin meaning reconnection.
The traditional religions from the East—Tao, Hinduism and Buddhism (the latter actually a philosophy)—and the West—Christianity, Judaism, Islam (their mystical factions, anyway—Christian mystics, Kabbalah and Sufiism, which have more in common with one another than their parent religions) express the same underlying truth: The spirit of “God” (Infinite Spirit) is within us all.
Infinite Spirit is energy, encompassing every vibrating molecule in every being; it is not localized or timed but is always and everywhere.
The energy in each of us—all of us—is a manifestation of the cosmos.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, Don’t look for yourself outside of yourself.
Walt Whitman, a true mystic, put it another way: “I am divine and make holy whatever I touch.” In other words, you don’t need a middleman to Infinite Spirit (my Godly term of choice) because you already have a direct line that you may or may not have awakened to, a direct line to the divine within you.
Nirvana is where you are, wrote Alan Watts, provided you don’t object to it.