Many Paths |
| Most
of us know that spirituality does not equal
religion. However, most religions
offer a path to spirituality. Did
you ever wonder just how many unique religions
exist in the world? Here is an alphabetical
data base list of known religions as of 2021 |
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My
experience of seeking God through the channel
of religion has taught me that there are
two kinds of people to be found in these
groups: TRUTH seekers, and LIFE STYLE
seekers. As part of the first group,
and after many years of frustration in
organized religion, I turned to books, people,
and the internet to explore various belief
systems. I gleaned pieces from several
sources, and formed my own spiritual conclusions
based on what rang true to my inner being.
I do not fault organized religion,
as it provides many services to mankind,
not the smallest of which is the curtailing
of evil in our society. As for leading
us to God, even the darkest religion may
lead a seeking heart to the TRUTH - which
itself is relative to each individual. A
person must find God within, for that is
where he dwells - whether we are believers
or not. If we did not wear this suit
of pajamas called a body, what would we
be? A bunch of energy masses - or
in other words, many unique, individual
spirits. Spirits are beings without
bodies. Some live on this plane, and
many live on other planes (or dimensions)
of the universe and beyond.
A person will find contradictions in religion,
but cohesiveness in spirituality. Yes,
there is a higher being, but if God is "All
That Is" - then that includes us. Hence,
Jesus Christ and other holy men could accurately
delcare that we are "gods" --
as we are a part of all that is. It
is the ultimate journey of each person to
extrapolate answers to his inner seeking,
and his resources are wonderously vast.
How preposterous for a Human Being
or a group of such, to impose doctrines
and beliefs on their fellow man. Yes,
we have to start somewhere, and religion
is the logical place to begin. But
to fence ourselves in and divide ourselves
from one another by a belief system is primitive
at best. As we learn and grow in our
awareness, or spirituality, the fences (or
mental prisons) come down and we realize
that we are all ONE. We are very much
a part of one another; even people we have
never met are our "relatives".
We see that much of our dogma needs
to be discarded, as we embrace a higher
reality, and enjoy the brotherhood of mankind
free from scrutiny or judgement. As
Roger Waters wrote in "What God Wants"
- we are all just humans being. Humans
-- spiritual beings with bodies. |
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It Takes
Courage |
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I
spent my adolescent and young adult years
joining and attending several of the well-known
Christian denominations, as well as New
Age groups, sub-cultures and disenfranchised
Truth Seekers. I spent 14 years
in a religious cult, from ages 21 to 35.
I sacrificed everything that a person
could, and deprived myself of my entire
personality in order to find God and prove
to him that I was willing to so do. Since
I was a small child writing poetry to
God, I had a strong sense of being connected
to more than just this physical world.
I wanted to come into full knowledge
of that connection, and I gave my whole
heart to the quest. Spiritual seekers
often find themselves on the fringes of
society, isolated and alienated from members
of their family, their friends, and mainstream
society. It is a lonely path, and
having a rebel streak is helpful when
swimming against the tide. It means
not settling for the status quo, not blindly
accepting opinions and beliefs of our
parents, teachers, or other pedants. Yes,
in a sense Truth seekers are rebels. They
are among the world's adventurers. They
are the ones who do not believe the world
is flat, and dare to prove it - if not
to others, more importantly, to themselves.
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Truth
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| As
stated above, Truth is relative, as reality
is relative - it is in the eye of the beholder.
We may converge at many points of
our awareness, just as we all see the color
blue in the sky. But the definitive
hues within that color are as many and as
varied as are the people who perceive them.
That is part of the glorious human
experience - to be a dinstinct individual
entity with thoughts and perceptions that
are filtered through our life glasses. It
is immeasurably enriching to partake
of another's reality - to learn and to view
TRUTH as they see it. All it requires
is an open mind, and an open heart for our
vision to be enlarged, and our sights to
be elevated. We begin to see the wonder
of creation. We appreciate our humanity
and we begin to love All That Is. |
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To Share
or Not to Share
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Unlike
religious mandates of prostelization, it
is not necessary for a spiritual person
to vocalize his/her beliefs. Although
it is immensely gratifying to engage in
the kindredness of like minds and hearts,
there are many people who would rather not
discuss subjects that lend themselves to
conflicting opinions. Emotions are
triggered and defense mechanisms are employed.
As Edward Albee said, "My favorite
sport is theology" - and history tells
us of philosophers who spent their entire
life bantering beliefs. In the end,
all is vanity.
On the other hand, it is hard to resist
a hungry person when you are holding an
abundance of spiritual food! There
is a huge difference between debating dogmas
and feeding a seeking soul, just as there
is a vast disparity between being taught
and being fed. To feed is to share,
not to impose. The marvel of it all
is that our sharing may be completely non-verbal
- we exude our reality just by BEING. There
is an aura, a radiance, an energy field
that we project. Some people may even
be frightened by the intensity of it --
others will be drawn to it.
It is a joyous occasion when we can share
our reality with others without the urge
to sway them to our way of thinking. At
the same time, it is a privilege to partake
of the heart renderings of another without
having to agree, or defend, or desecrate
the sanctity of his TRUTH. An awesome
spiritual banquet is prepared for us and
it is ours to select the delacicies that
we find alluring. Each person brings
his portion to the table, and we are all
abunantly fed. |
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