I get asked quite a bit about my personal spiritual beliefs and what I usually answer is that " Its personal."
I consider myself quite a non judgemental person when it comes to what other people want to believe because ultimately, I judge people on their actions, not their beliefs.
Said in another way - You can consider yourself to have spiritual/religious beliefs and still behave in abominable socially anarchistic ways that hurt others. Ergo - be as good a person as possible and try to leave this world a better place than when you came into it. For me, my flavour of Spirituality helps me do that.
I feel lucky because in past eras people were generally told what to worship, today we are (unless you live in an autocratic society) allowed to practice many different forms of connection to the divine and I think that is a great blessing. I think it is wonderful to be able to explore what creates meaning for you, even if that means you don't believe in God or the divine at all.
My spirituality has helped me find connection between me and the world and universe i'm aware of. I have very deep appreciation of it, an unending fascination and wonder about the world and I want to learn as much as I can about it and where I fit in.
Maybe i'm just crazy and the states I have reached in Meditation where I felt that my soul wanted to leave my body or where I have felt an unending oneness with every living thing have just been altered states of brain chemistry? I can't prove that.
What I do know is that by believing that there is something that exists beyond me, beyond us all, that has an intelligence that is unfathomable feels so comforting to me. Maybe its narcissistic to believe that there is something/someone, if you like, that has made me and all things? I do feel lucky to be here. It gives me comfort to know that I might be like a Bee, or a flower or the stars. I feel there is genius in everything that exists.
I'm baptised Catholic and grew up in a very observant extended family, whilst my parents were really anti-religion, so I experienced both sides.
I can appreciate why people are religious. I honour religion because it gives peoples lives meaning and comfort and I think that is very important because we are all searching for the meaning of our lives and are just trying to be happy. So believe what you want!
Now, I don't mean that I abide by surveillance by a man in the sky who looks like a BeeGee wearing white robes and therefore I won't hurt anyone... NO.
I choose to try and be an egalitarian human because they are my values and I think that is the best way to live in peace and harmony.
At the end of the day, I think religion is great for giving people a reminder to just try and be good to one another and appreciate what you have, also, when things are bad, you are not alone. That is fantastic!
What I don't believe in is dogma. I also don't believe in telling people what they need to believe. The question should be... Why do you care what I believe in?
From a historical point of view, lots of religions were manipulated by men for power over others and to bring into line unruly societies and overthrow warlords. There needed to be large and powerful organisations to be able to do that, so religions served another societal tribal purpose than just connection to God/Gods.
Today, some still use spirituality/religion as a reason for separation and to hypocritically judge someone else. I'm happy to live in a society and country where I'm allowed to believe what I want and am allowed to evolve and change those beliefs at will. Some people don't have that privilege.
All philosophy aside, I think that if you believe in something divine, then all roads lead to Rome. Essentially, there is no one-way to be connected to the mysteries of life and connection with the One-ness. I believe that what you like is perfect. Its all ice cream, just different flavours.
I think that someone can be deeply spiritual and have appreciation and love for all creation and never have meditated or gone to mosque. I also think that you can go the temple every Sunday, get up at 4am to do yoga daily, do Wim Hoff, go to every Anthony Robbins seminar, wear prayer beads and be an absolute p.i.a.
I love my spirituality because it helped me be more aware of myself and my behaviour. My good and bad bits. I feel so much more connected to everyone as a normal person, good, bad and ugly. I feel so much more appreciation for myself and I have faith in what I can do for other people to make them happier. I love my spirituality because it gave me a much richer sense of humour about everything, as well as bucketloads of compassion. I find i'm more at peace with the world, I have a broader view of things and a more open mind. I find i'm more patient, humble and loving. My spirituality stops me feeling lonely. It brings me comfort when things aren't going right or in times of great change. I'm also not as scared of dying. I can catch myself and be conscious a lot more of the time when I'm behaving like an ass-hat. (Yes, spiritual aspirants behave like ass-hats sometimes)
I could go on and on, but as I said before "Its personal". Spirituality for me is an internal process and really, nothing words can explain, its just a part of my life and thats it. To me, there is nowhere God is not.
Peace.
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