ONE UNIVERSAL FAITH. THAT IS THE TRUTH OF THE ETERNAL, AND IS SACRED AND SPIRITUAL THE TRUTH THAT ULTIMATELY WE MUST AWAKEN TO. AND ONLY WITH THIS AWAKENING, SHALL COME OUR SPIRITUAL HEALING OF OURSELVES, OF EACH OTHER, OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND OF OUR MOTHER EARTH, OUR HOLY GAIA.

An excerpt from Richard Dell's YOUR FLOCK FORGOES YOUR FOLD' speaks of the need to recognise that all paths to God are valid. This is a constant theme in Richard Dell’s STARS IN OUR SOULS. And surely it is one of the most important points that we can make about men and women and their spiritual journey. Having one path is fine. Indeed, many of us need just one path. But to imagine that our own path is the only true and valid path to God is to negate so much of what we might gain from following our path. For most of us, the spiritual / religious path we follow is as much an accident of birth as something that has been independently thought through. Do Anglicans really imagine that they would be Anglicans if they had been born into a Muslim family in Saudi Arabia? Likewise, vice versa. But there is a much more important point to be made. None of us can know the truth, the real truth about God and about the higher spiritual realms. None of us can afford to be exclusive. It is not our role to be exclusive. It is our sacred duty to be inclusive. In fact, it should not be seen as a limiting duty. It should be seen as a joy, as an approach, a state of mind, that connects us with each other, that liberates us and that enriches us. In our natural environment we instinctively know that monocultures are limiting and potentially deleterious to our wellbeing. It is the same with religion, with our spiritual journeys and quests. As one of Richard Dell’s poems in STARS IN OUR SOULS explains: each of us when seeking God sound a pure note of spiritual aspiration. All of us together, sounding our own individual notes, sound a hymn.