Morning Thoughts.
Being so interested in the spiritual realm and everything involved brings controversial conversation, the subject of God being one of them. I see it all over Social Media - Spiritualists expressing their beliefs and Christians getting angry and defensive. Trust me, this goes both ways. And I'm tired of seeing fire being spit. Doesn't that kind of defeat the whole purpose of discussing a topic of such magnitude? So I just want to discuss...
There are two different sides to this topic. One side is the traditional belief that God is the father of Jesus Christ and that we must worship and respect this "person," with worship typically taking place in a church. On the flip, most of the humans I know who are exploring spirituality on a deeper level believe this: that we are God. And I'm not talking we are God in a sense that we are superior or above all things, or that you must worship us, no. But more-so that God is our soul; that we are the divine; that holiness is our legacy; that we have the power and ability deep down within to make this life what we so desperately want it to be.
In essence, we are discussing the difference between spirituality and religion here. But check it out - they both have the same values - live in love, not fear... show compassion... provide generosity... seek peace. And with both spirituality and religion, one is encouraged to pray, because praying is speaking to your higher self, or your higher power. Praying means diving deep within and having a meaningful and moving conversation with God, or with your inner soul. So wouldn't both spirituality and religion be one in the same?
What do I believe? Well, it's complicated. Let me explain...
When I first got sober, I was taught in the rooms of AA that we must come to believe in a power greater than ourselves. One that we understand and that we choose, with no limiting stipulations. At that time, I chose to believe in God in a traditional sense. I went to church nearly every Sunday. And guys - Church made me feel great! In fact, once this craziness is over, with what we're going through in the world today, and churches open back up freely, I'd love to go again.
But the entire practice of Christianity teaches you that God is outside of us - that he is a separate entity. Christianity says that HE is the one we worship and that HE is the one we look to for guidance and that HE is the one we obey. Diving further into the connection of the soul, there's a passage in the Bible that says this:
"Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. Your soul neither belongs to you nor Satan; it belongs to God."
This seems really intense to me. Like, too much intense. Like, I don't want to read that passage again because it makes me feel degraded intense. I simply cannot fall into this ideology that something or someone outside of myself has all the control over my soul. No, I have control over my soul. My soul is mine and I love my soul and I cherish my soul and I will live and breath and do everything in my power to make my soul a happy one. So, rather than looking outside of ourselves to the holy spirit, can't we be the holy spirit ourselves?
One thing I do know is that it's not all black and white. And this principle applies to everything in life, not just one's belief or lack there of when it comes to God. But while we're on the subject...
The bible describes God as holy, pure, good, righteous, just, merciful, trustworthy and faithful. This describes everything I strive to be for myself. I know that I have those values within me, and that I don't need to search anywhere else but into my soul to find them. It's like self-contentment - It's so hard to be sound and peaceful and simply contented and happy these days. But if I turn inward, if I look deep within my soul and literally reach in and pull out all of the feelings and emotions and purity that I so passionately believe live inside of me, then it's like I'm pulling out God himself.
In addition to this, I'm beginning to learn and trust that we are all inner-connected. I believe that we are beings with many previous lives and many lives to come, in many different forms. I believe that essentially we never die. And that we collectively chose to come here together at this time to evolve.
Hear me out - energy doesn't die. It doesn't just go away, but rather it disperses and transforms. So this level of understanding is really the only thing that makes logical sense, in my very humble opinion. And it's also pretty neat to think in such a way - that we don't die. When this life is over and we move on, I trust at that point we take a look back at what we've learned here on Earth during this short period of time, and then move on into a different form so that we can then learn even more, and evolve, and learn, and evolve, and learn... And repeat...
And in that sense we are mirrors of one another. We are connected. For example - have you ever noticed in your life that if one of your relationships is lacking, then usually all of them are? Or have you ever realized that you're a part of a group of friends who are suddenly concerned for your wellbeing as a collective? Or that you just don't feel like you're fitting in and hence you try even harder to be the human these people want you to be, but end up pushing them away even further? I've been there. And sometimes I feel that I fall back into that space. But looking back, I understand now that it's because I was inadvertently pushing these people away - out of my life. I understand now that my relationships are mirrors of myself. If my friends look at me and sense that I don't want to interact or try to deepen the relationship, weather I know that I'm doing this or not, then they'll pull away. It's just human nature. We can sense these things because we are one. We are all connected with one another. We're inner-connected on such a deep level that It's truly difficult for the human mind to understand. It's beyond us.
This is why I tend to lean towards spirituality rather than religion. I hesitate to look towards one higher-being to worship. Rather, I look towards MY higher power for guidance. And that higher power can be called God, or the Universe, or the Soul, or whatever. But I see the good in all and I feel we are better as a collective rather than as individuals just trying to make our mark in this limited span of time we call life.
I'm currently studying 'A Course In Miracles," and I'm sure as I move along, I'll gain a better understanding of what all of this means, at which point I'll discuss in further detail. But for now I'll ask you - what do you believe?
Cheers,
Kat
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