Spirituality Posting

[wyn]

So. Yeah. zorman32 and arualanne inspired this one.

Besides, it's been a while.

Spirituality posting- for those of you what are small-minded, unwilling to discuss such topics in a calm, rational and mature way, or just plain stupid... well, you might not want to take part. Because really, I will get out my Clue By Four. And then I'll use it. Heh. Please don't make me get out my LiveJournal Etiquette Rules, mmmkay?

For my own part, I look at Spirituality and Religion as two entirely separate things.

Religion is a system of beliefs put in place by man to try and explain the Spiritual- a unique and individual path to be walked by each being which taps into the energy, life-force and beauty of God, The Creator, The Divine, Allah, or whomever you relate to in this regard.

Spirituality does not need Religion to exist as it is already an individual's Spirit Journey. Religion, on the other hand, is a structured base of rules and regulations which tries to define how Spirituality works. As such, it needs at the very least the idea of Spirituality so as to be able to exist.

That being said, I have known a handful of deeply Spiritual people who are not in any way Religious. I have also met several Religious people who have no clue what true Spirituality is.

Now, in a friend's posting, someone brought up the point that he believes it is not possible for one to be spiritual and have a human experience.

I tend to disagree.

For one, I believe that I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I believe that when I die, the meat sack otherwise known as my body will fall off and then act as food for Mother Earth after having received sustenance from her my entire life. As I told arualanne, I kinda like this idea as it makes me happy to realize that there will come a time I can give back even that little amount (granted, there's a ton of other ways to give back to Mother Earth, but I'm not getting into that here as it would just totally derail my train of thought- and we all know where that leads to, heh).

Anywho, in looking upon myself as a Spiritual Being first and foremost, I realize that when I die, my body will remain as my Soul goes on to it's next great adventure, test or lesson needing to be learned. As such, I believe that while I'm a Spiritual Being, I do realize that my body is human- ie, having a "human experience."

Zorman states that by their very nature, spirituality and physicality are in complete opposition to each other, existentially. Yet I have to disagree in that I believe that the more we learn in the physical, the better spirituality is proven. The more complexities we discover in the very foundation of life (cells, mitochondria, atoms, dark matter, etc.), the more it proves to me that life is not simply some big colossal accident that happened when a big pointy rock smashed off of another big pointy rock. Plus, honestly? The Big Bang Theory never made sense to me... because where'd the rocks come from in the first place? Oh, I believe in evolution, but to say that we're just a Cosmic Coincidence... it doesn't make sense to me.

Now I know I have a fairly eclectic group of friends here on my list. There are a couple of atheists/agnostics, a Christian or two and a far greater number who probably identify as pagan or such. More than likely there's one or two of you who identify as something else entirely.

This is open to all of you.

Thoughts, ideas, beliefs, discussions, etc. are all welcome here. I simply ask that you be polite in sharing your beliefs and understand that it might not be that of another. Respect their beliefs as you would ask for your own to be.

After that, feel free to add your two cents worth :)

Comments

Re: Clarification

[shadows-wolf06.livejournal.com]

I was hoping you'd show up in here :)

This does make more sense in some ways, though I still tend to go with the idea that we are purely Spiritual Beings. I will grant that the human body does bring with it a *ton* of baggage, however. It's because of this that so many things get lost in translation- our wants come first instead of our needs, our comfort comes first in the stead of our growth, etc.

Personally, I find no need for religion in my own life. While I understand that having structure, rules and guides to live by works for some people, I prefer to tread my own path and stick to my own morals and principles along the way. I have also seen far too many people use religion to suit their own purposes or act as a spiritual crutch; instead of truly delving into what they profess to believe, they simply go to their services, place their offerings in the basket and believe themselves to be good examples of their organized religion.

...It's just one of my pet peeves I guess. I don't have a problem with someone who professes to believe in a faith and honestly works their hardest to get to know just what it is they're saying they believe in. To me, that's awesome. It's the blundering idiots that talk the talk yet can't get up off their damn asses to walk that tick me off.

Walking in two worlds sucks, to be quite honest. It's hard to keep a balanced foothold in both as the human body is more conditioned to immediate gratification and the physical, I'll give you that. But having tried to walk away from the Spiritual (long story), I can honestly say that I need it in my life. I am nothing without my spiritual connection as there's nothing but death inside without.

::giggles:: I find it funny that after having put out a good bit of fairly philosophical and intellectual thoughts and opinions, you turn about and end with that.

Don't sell yourself short. You may not know everything, but you don't have to downplay what you do know ^_~

Thanks for heading on over here, btw. I really do enjoy hearing your take on things :)