I am a former Lutheran with the other side of my family being very committed Catholics. So, I definitely know and understand how religion works and what the goal/intention is as well as how people respond to it in all spectrums of "believers." The first 20 years of my life I was what you would call a semi-believer that stuck around out of the fear of thinking differently; because the fear that if there was the exact God they talked about, and following the exact rules they talked was as important as they said then I was afraid I would go to the horrible place they talked about. To be honest, as soon as I started to look around in my teens and thinking a little bit, something inside me made me wonder if all this was actually true. I also looked around at the people and their actions. They would claim forgiveness, acceptance, God is all knowing and all creating, and LOVE of all; but in the same breathe they would claim Gays are going to Hell and they are abominations as well as unforgivable sinners. Now, understand that I am from small town South Dakota where there are very few ideas that being gay is even believable and must be very rare. I laugh looking back at this because now I live in Minneapolis, MN and there is a huge homosexual population and I have met and known many. Guess what I found out, they range in their personality and everything else just like every other person on the planet. Also, in previous generations religion claimed that other populations (blacks, etc.) were abominations and "Satan Sent." So, these people I was surrounded by in this "forgiving, accepting, loving" place was full of judgement, segregation, non-forgiveness, and dislike (if not hate). It seemed to teach me to Love all, but that we are superior; that we are all God sent, but not all of us (understand that I was very confused with head going *#@&$#????).
As I became more aware of my surroundings and started to observe instead of listen I realized that, at lease the religions I was familiar with, they got away with all these contradictory claims by doing some very tricky and quite brilliant supplemental claims. Some of these unquestionable "game-rigged" claims are "You must have Faith," "You must believe in Jesus and God to go to Heaven," "You must be Christian to go to Heaven," "You are the chosen ones because you are Christian," "Love God." I'm sure I am missing some, but non the less these are game rigging ideas. If they can get anyone to believe some of these few things then they can do, say, think, express whatever the HELL they want no matter how contradictory or blatantly absurd. Some of the things they say would be clearly and very observably manipulative to anyone not brought up in it or fearing of it. I can't explain how often I get hit back with the "I just have Faith" line (even some of you reading this are saying this right now ;-). At this point I realize there is nothing that I can do at this time and frankly it is not my obligation to do anything. These sayings are as good as mother telling you "because I said so." By teaching a young and very moldable mind these ideas is an excellent way to sign them up for life because it is a lot of work questioning these ideals because many don't know where to look for other answers or who to talk to about anything different. Many are simply too lazy to look around and really don't care (many of these people just go to church once in a while and do this so they can put in their time incase there is this God and Heaven).
Which leads me to my next point, FEAR. Fear is put in you in subtle and obvious ways. Such as if you don't believe in God and Jesus you won't go to Heaven (aka you will go to Hell). If you aren't of X faith you will go to Hell. These alone are pretty good reasons to keep riding that train and at least claim you are christian just in case they are right because you figure if they are right I go to Heaven, and if they are wrong I just die and that would have been the same either way. By the way, people like this don't really know anything of anything else in terms of spirituality, which leads me back to the first paragraph of this entry.
Spirituality and Religion are absolutely NOT mutually exclusive. Religion does not have a monopoly on spirituality no matter how much they say they do or whatever else you have heard of or thinking of. Religion has done the world an injustice by teaching that they are spirituality. They can't take something that has always existed and say they own it just as i can't all of a sudden claim I am the only way to water. Spirituality does not have to have RULES, religion DOES. Religion simply takes spirituality (which has and will always exist) and adds rules and ideas that they like as well as simply teaching the aspects of spirituality that they think serve them and can give them some substance while talking to people. This is done in the same way you would plagiarize another's ideas. In Christianity, they talk about God as being all-knowing, all-creating, you made in his image, all loving, all powerful, always present, etc. Funny enough, I always pictured God as a middle-aged guy in the clouds which so ridiculous that I can't even write about that here and will not even aknowledge that someone thinks that. The word God I fine as long as it is not describing a guy in the clouds orchestrating everything. I am spiritual in a way that can only be felt and discovered through a journey which includes fear, scrutiny, passion, knowledge, curiosity, questioning, LOVE, gratitude, trials, adventure, reading, listening, opening, watching, and feeling. I see God, The Source, Universe, or whatever you decide to call IT because I realize that I am IT, You are IT, WE are IT, I am You, You are Me, They are WE.
Whatever I do is spiritual and if I do good/Love/grateful then I am at the highest level with the closest relationship with myself and therefore The Spirit/The Universe/The Source/GOD. We have all existed forever and always will no matter the forms we take. I don't mean this in the way that some guy in the clouds decides to re-incarnate us, but I say it that the entire Universe is made up of the same amount of "stuff" it always has been and that it has always changed form but only used the same materials in that you can have metal and make a car, or a house, or a boat, or whatever. The fact remains that they all are made of the same stuff but are simply put into different forms and shapes with different purposes and uses, but all are useful and full of purpose and potential. All aim to serve and Be. All are the same, yet different. All are perfect, yet different. These are the ideas that spirituality is made of. Spirituality is everything no matter how different it may seem, it is all ONE. It ALL has Power, knowledge, LOVE, and purpose because it has all always existed as ONE and always will. It cannot be destroyed and more cannot be created.
So, no matter what form You seem to be or He seems to be or what She chooses to do or what They say, remember that there is only WE and ONE. No matter what You do it is Spiritual because IT is All relevant and impossible to find what Spirit isn't or find something not spiritual. You decide what is spiritual because You are Spirit so whatever You TRULY find to be Spiritual in your HEART then it is. No labels, rules, definitions, opinion, or anything else make it so; only YOU. All these rules, labels, definition, opinions, etc. ARE NOT REAL. They are made up and aknowledged/created by the SPIRIT (YOU and WE). So, let go of labels and rules and just BE and see/be grateful for/Love the ONENESS of everything and everyone. You and WE are The Creators and The SPIRIT; feel and aknowledge your power and use it to be happy/enlightened/grateful and spread Love to the whole world. I am spiritual because I KNOW it and aknowledge it without following anyone else's rules or labels about what it is and what it isn't.
Peace and Love,
Dr. Matt Mullaney
P.S. - Feel free to check out my Hubs.
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