Thoughts on Spirituality

Thank you all for the comments on the last post. It was encouraging and reinforced my belief in the importance of a spiritual path. I appreciate each of you sharing your own personal experiences with spirituality, and I found myself relating to what each of you said.

It made it more obvious to me how many different ways of walking the divine path there are, and how each of us needs to find our own way.

I started to respond to the comments, discussing my spirituality, and soon I had written so much that I decided to turn it into a full entry.

I have read about many different belief systems, and I find all of them to have valuable insights and methods. And so I try to take what I can from each one.

I believe that there is power in asking for help with difficulties through prayer. This is why I pray. I’m not sure who intercepts and responds to my prayers and intentions, be it my angels, spirit guides, Jesus, God Himself, or the Universe.... but I believe some entity or energy out there has power to affect our life for the positive.

I also believe in a spirit world (heaven?) that is inhabited by angels, spirit guides, ascended masters, and souls that have completed their latest life on earth. It seems that certain people, such as shamans and psychic mediums can have direct contact with this world. Since I feel that I’ve been having spiritual difficulties, I thought I would first go to a spiritual healer, and that is why I chose to see a shaman.

While going to outside sources may be effective, I know that any true healing is going to happen from within. Since most shamans do see themselves as only facilitators for a natural healing process, I thought it would be a good place to start, to see if I needed to heal in certain ways that would help me progress further in my spiritual path.

I believe to find inner peace and joy, one must look within and find one's true self, which will be realized as one with the universe. Duality and the ego subside, and non-dual truth, peace, joy and love remain as one dwells in the true, original state. In addition to believing in the human potential to experience the divine, I believe that we have the capability to incorporate this experience into our lives, and live in harmony with the world.

This is one of the reasons I meditate: to look within, and attempt to know myself. I also do it to feel more centered, calm, and connected.

While I feel that my highest goal spiritually is to know my true self, beyond ego, beyond conditioning, beyond false concepts of self, I think that I can take steps along the way, becoming more loving and compassionate.

I guess this is where appreciating the journey comes in. I have to find contentment in the place that I’m at. I have to do my best to find love and express it through my life. Step by step, I must continue to search, with faith that I will find a path that will take me closer to the truth, to God. And in the meantime, learn to focus on the moment, and absorb the beauty of the present.