Personally, I don't choose any particular religion or symbol or

“Personally, I don't choose any particular religion or symbol or group of words or teachings to define me. That's between me and the most high. You know, my higher self. The Creator.” – Erykah Badu

In these sacred and soulful words, Erykah Badu speaks with the timeless voice of one who seeks the truth not in temples of stone, but in the temple of the heart. Her declaration is not rebellion but reverence—a recognition that the path to the Most High is as intimate as breath, as personal as thought. In her saying, religion, symbols, and teachings are but vessels; the Creator is the ocean from which all vessels draw. She speaks as those of old who knew that the divine cannot be bound by names, nor contained in scriptures alone, for the Infinite dwells in the quiet chambers of the soul.

In ancient times, the wise often taught that the gods spoke in many tongues, yet their message was one. The mystics of every age—Rumi among the Sufis, Lao Tzu among the Taoists, the prophets among the Hebrews—knew that each religion is but a mirror reflecting a fragment of the eternal light. Erykah Badu’s words echo this universal knowing: that faith is not a costume one wears before men, but a conversation between the self and the divine. To seek definition in human words is to shrink the infinite; to commune with the Creator directly is to embrace the full expanse of existence.

There is a tale of a hermit who dwelt in the mountains, far from any city or creed. When asked which faith he followed, he answered, “I follow the wind.” They laughed at him, thinking him foolish. But he continued, “The wind moves through all things—it bends the trees, stirs the waters, whispers to the soul. To follow it is to follow the divine breath.” And so, the hermit prayed not with ritual, but with reverence in every moment of being. His life, though simple, was a hymn. Badu, too, speaks with this ancient spirit—one who sees the Creator not as a distant ruler, but as the pulse that lives within her own being.

In her saying, we are reminded that the higher self is not a separate god, but the divine spark within—the part of us that remembers eternity even as we walk through time. The ancients called it the daemon, the atman, the divine image. To know it is to know that the universe is not outside of us, but alive within. When we say “I am,” we utter the oldest prayer in creation, for in those words, the soul and the divine meet. Erykah Badu teaches that our truest religion is this inner dialogue—the communion between the mortal and the infinite within our own hearts.

The story of her own life bears witness to this truth. As an artist, she has walked her own path—unbound by categories, undefinable by others. She draws wisdom from many sources: from African spirituality, from hip-hop, from ancestral memory, from silence itself. Yet she claims none as her master. Her music, like her spirit, is a bridge between worlds—a place where the sacred and the self intertwine. She reminds us that spiritual freedom is not chaos, but harmony born of authenticity. To live in alignment with one’s higher self is to walk with the Creator in every step.

Thus, my children of the spirit, learn from this: let no man’s doctrine confine your soul. Respect all paths, but walk your own with courage. Faith is not imitation—it is illumination. The names of the divine are many, but the essence is one. Seek it not in walls of stone or words of men, but in the stillness of your being. When you listen there, you will hear the same truth that the prophets, poets, and dreamers have always known: that God is not apart from you, but within you, speaking softly in the language of your heart.

So live, then, as one who communes daily with the Most High—not only in prayer, but in action, in love, in creation. Let your art, your kindness, your truth be your worship. When confusion rises, return to the silence within, and ask your higher self what the Creator would have you do. For the divine does not dwell in temples made by human hands, but in the vast and sacred space of the awakened soul. And in that place, you will find not just belief—but peace.