Your Spirituality

[Adam]

Edit: I'm changing this post around to be a bit more inviting for other people to share their spirituality. Feel free to hijack the thread with your own interpretations of spirituality.

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I don't think that it would be fair to be a moderator for this sub-forum without letting everyone know where I stand first. That way, people know what to expect and feel comfortable talking about such a personal, controversial issue.

I am a devout Universalist. I believe that all religions have truth, and that it isn't necessarily the dogma that matters, rather, it is the individual's growth that matters. I am including Atheists in the category of having truth because, for them, there really no higher power that they can recognize.

My religious background is eclectic Christian (Mormon, Catholic, Born Again, and Corner Church of Christ {I love visiting the small, single congregation churches }), solitary Wiccan, Taoist, and I'm starting to study Druidism and Buddhism.

Which do I hold most near and dear? All of them. I am as comfortable around Christians as I am around Witches. My personal philosophy doesn't allow me to single any one group out. I love the selflessness that Christian doctrine teaches, the understanding of cycles that comes with Wicca, and the all-encompassing Now/Here/It/Way of Tao.

The only thing that I am intolerant of is intolerance. That doesn't mean that if someone makes a racial or religious slur, that I'll be intolerant towards that person; rather, I will stop the intolerant action and work with the people involved to help them see each other's side.

Personally, individual spirituality is more important to me than religion. I recognize, though, that many people's spirituality is closely tied with their religion. Even for people on a more solitary path, they have a foundation in at least one major world religion. I would love to learn more about the different religions so that I can help as many people as possible. Because of that, I am thinking of starting a weekly topic in this sub-forum where we introduce different religions and learn about their ways. I'll probably start that a week from tomorrow, to give the new members a chance to get to know each other first.

Finally, my life purpose is to bring peace to everybody. This is largely due to the time that I spent in the military training people how to wage war in the name of peace. I recognize now that fighting for peace is like having sex for abstinence. I see spirituality, or self-determination for the atheists, as one of the cornerstones for peace. Pursuing Consciousness and Awareness is one of the paths to peace that anybody can follow, no matter what their religious background.

[Dave Kaminski]

Originally Posted by Adam

The only thing that I am intolerant of is intolerance. That doesn't mean that if someone makes a racial or religious slur, that I'll be intolerant towards that person; rather, I will stop the intolerant action and work with the people involved to help them see each other's side.

Good luck Adam. I find that people are pretty defensive when it comes to talking about religion. Maybe I'll see a different attitude on these forums when it comes to discussing religion. I wonder if we'll ever see Bill Fitzpatrick of Success.org here...

[demk]

Thats the first time i have ever heard the term universalist and i feel it applies for me. It seems like a good word for the spiritual eclecticism that happens nowadays. Peaople seem to want to know the truths without all the dogma which has damaged society in the past.

Universalism is something that resonates with me. I'm going to check it out on wikipedia right now.

thanks

Demk

[sourceofmiracles]

Adam,

Thanks for sharing that, man. I feel a kinship with you in that I feel inclusive with many religions. It is a more complete (integral) way of looking at spirituality, truth and life in general.

You might be interested in the Integral Institute which is an on going study on the spiritual/ontological truths of perennial philosophy, religions and science. Includes: The Contemplative/center prayer of Father Keathing benedictine christianity, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi of kabbalah, Zen and Big Mind techniques developed by Master Genpo Roshi, one of the first Western Tibetan Buddhist Lama's Surya Das, and many others.

[Zach]

I believe in Adventism myself, kind of an offshoot of Christian Protestantism. So, therefore, I'm not too interested in the more "new age" spirituality and such. But, I don't put down anyone because of their religion, beliefs, or practices..I feel that it is necessary to be kind and be repectful to all people, to set an example instead of intimidating them and setting a bad image for yourself by threats of eternal damnation and torture in hell, which is quite common in Christianity.

[RandomJohn]

I take whatever resonates with me. Buddhism, yoga, huna, christianity, tantra, hinduism, islam all have something to contribute. Ultimately, it's what resonates with you that counts, right?

[Mnemosyne]

How many religions and philosophies exist in the world? How can a single religion or philosophy be right while the others are wrong?

I think it's important to remember that religions and philosophies reflect the values of a particular culture at a particular time. In fact, I think that it is very important to read religious texts in the context of when/where/how/why they were written.

Nevertheless, I feel that all religions and philosophies have some level of truth to them.

[Toine]

Aren't they merely different paths towards the same destination?

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Toine

Aren't they merely different paths towards the same destination?

I wholeheartedly agree!

[AndyMartin]

Originally Posted by Toine

Aren't they merely different paths towards the same destination?

Only if practiced as a journey and not a destination in and of itself.

I believe truth unfolds itself to those who are willing to live it.

[Brendon Colby]

I like what Ghandi said:

(When asked if he was a Hindu) Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.

Like RandomJohn, I take any wisdom that resonates with me from any source.

[Scott H Young]

I think the only way I define my current spiritual views is unknown. I'm still in the midst to trying to figure out a model of reality that bears enough proof in my mind to completely accept. I'm still looking for my moment of enlightenment that Gautama had 2500 years ago.

Until then I guess I'm very scientifically minded and currently believe in an objective view of reality.

[Nneka]

I'm actively involved in Unity which pulls from Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish traditions.

I believe that God dwells within all of us and around us and that we are expressions of It. I also believe that we choose when, where, whether, or to what degree we express God.

I think that religions provide a framework for discovering the nature of God and setting up mores for a particular culture. They help to build community around shared values.

[David Hausladen]

Before I got deeply into spiritual growth, I always thought there was something weird about the fact that Gandhi claimed to be a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Jew. How could you claim membership to religions that actively opposed each other? It's funny how back then his words seemed noncommittal to me--like he was trying to cheaply get support from all religions--whereas now his words seem enlightened.

Just another example of how spiritual growth changes the way you think in dramatic and unexpected ways.

[songwriter]

I'm not a religious man. I never have been. I can pick some beliefs from religions but not only from one.
There are 5000 religions in the world, all of them say they have the only truth. So at least, 4999 are wrong...

[Andrew Brunelle]

I don't really embrace organized religion, I kind of follow my own religion where I amke the rules and I know the boundaries. It's a combination of various belief systems. I'm more spiritual than religious. I believe in different things and know that there are things out there that will never be explained, but I've made peace with that.

[Trina]

I am not at all religious. I wouldn't even call myself spiritual. I think that religion can be dangerous because it can take away the sense of responsibility and accomplishment that people should have for the decisions they make. Also, I have a REALLY hard time with faith. I am a see it to believe it kinda girl. I don't see the purpose in a higher power, so I don't believe in one. LOL. I respect other people's right to believe however they wish though. There are SO many different people in this world so I expect and accept other people needing other beliefs systems than my own to be happy.

[Athena]

great question--

it helps to see the difference between DEISM and THEISM-- that is, in simplest terms-- respecting that there is a GOD versus respecting god through a RELIGION.

I see GOD as a universal power, and high consciousness as a universal force as well.

what religions try to do is channel the power of God and univeral truths, and make them more palatable for the masses. Many religious texts contain the same basic principles, but with a lot of other stuff that is false, manipulative, and contradictory between one another. But they are used as systems for domesticating certain societies, so they work at the time they are needed. They are not pure truths in themselves, simply systems for understanding the higher power.

it's like, GOD is pure water, but religion is the branded form-- coke, pepsi, tropicana, vitmainwater, etc-- they each have some form of the pure essence of water, but they are adulterated to make it more palatable for the masses. Its important to see these things are not as pure as water, as religion is not as pure as GOD.


(also refer to Power vs Force-- the section where Dr Hawkins calibrates the levels of truth of each religion.. in order of purity-- Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam (in their current forms)
each of the original teachers, Christ, Buddha, Krishna, Abraham, were most pure in their teachings, but as their teachings were passed down to different people, their teachings became progressively less pure.)


It's unfortunate that many atheists see impurities in religion, and then doubt the existence of GOD-- its important again to see that religion itself is not GOD, but simply a branded channel for it.

You can learn about God through religion, but you have to be able to discern what is true in the teachings, versus what was added for societal control. By studying many religions, it can help to see the overlap where the higher truths reside, though that's quite a process. Finding purer spiritual texts and teachers helps.