A different kind of religious equality

In these past few months, I have been attempting to define my spirituality/religion without putting it into a box from which it cannot change and grow. It’s been challenging to say the least, but every now and then an aspect comes clearer to me. Most recently, the aspect that’s come more lucid is the role of clergy.

I’m not certain if it’s common to most pagan religions, but I have found within my own, the role of clergy is ambiguous and not as necessary than in other religions.
For example: The other day, I heard a Catholic mother tell her son, “Make sure you go to church and get fed.” She was speaking about the soul being fed through spiritual activity. She said it twice, both in the same way. In her belief, and the belief she taught her children, that in order for her soul to “stay on track,” she required clergy – a concept much different from my own beliefs. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, or one way is better than the other – it’s just very different.
The interaction solidified something for me. If it had been me speaking to a fledgling leaving the nest, I would have said something more like, “Make sure you take the time to feed your spirit. Take care of your soul.” No clergy required. No church required, either.

My spirituality is very egalitarian – the belief that all people are born equal, regardless of caste, economic status, religion, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, nationality, race, color, physical or mental ability, etc. Spiritually, this extends to the belief we are each born with a beautiful, untainted, powerful soul. I have found this to be a common theme in many religions I have investigated.

Where my beliefs begin to depart from many others I’ve encountered: I believe the immortal soul STAYS pure – pure, beautiful, sentient energy. It’s our spirit (the individual life expression that combines personality, consciousnesses, ego, id, life-spark, neural network, etc) that gets in trouble when it begins to depart from the path of the soul. When I lose my way, it’s because my soul and spirit are no longer in sync with each other, and usually also out of sync with the spiral pattern of the Axis Mundi. I do not require a mediator between Deity and myself in order to achieve a resynchronization. This concept is also common to alternative religions; however, this is where I take one more step outside the norm.

I tend to reject titles, degrees, and other methods of establishing religious hierarchy when at all possible.
Like the Maori, I recognize that every Being has a Purpose. We will have talents, skills, and perhaps even physical characteristics to best serve that Purpose. Every Being has its own place in the Great Dance. Every Being has a Sacred Duty to perform in service to the whole. No Purpose is “better” than another. No Sacred Duty is more “important” than any other. No Being has more spiritual authority than any other. There is no Alpha on the Dancing Grounds. When we meet, we are peers in all ways. We are each powerful, unique, and incredible. We are all beautiful, pure, immortal souls. We all have the ability to bring our souls and spirits into ecstatic alignment with the Axis Mundi, to live in spiritual harmony with all other beings, to experience the pneuma, to join in the Dance.
We are all equal on the Dancing Grounds. Come join in the Dance.