My spiritual journey



I personally started out an agnostic. By high school, my frustration over the unanswered question about the existence of God led me to a complete distaste for religion in general. Had I been a more outgoing person, I might have spoken out against religion. But I just rejected it for myself.

Then, in college, I had a mystical experience that convinced me that god is real and I fell into fully embracing the religion I had been raised in, assuming without question that my religion was the one and only right one, and all other religions were wrong. I started preaching (in writing) such a message against beliefs of others that I felt were wrong, an insult to God, as well as leading others astray from the Truth (as I saw it).

But after about a year of such exclusivist thinking, I took a step back and realized I did not really know what other religions had to say. I just assumed they were wrong simply because they were not my religion, assumed that different religions were entirely different and contradictory to my own. Such thinking, I now believe, to be a spiritual and psychological protective mechanism - self-preservation. But you notice how often I have emphasized "assumed"?

So I decided to take a college class and learn something about the other religions. That way, when I preached against them I would know what I was talking about and be able to claim some authority on the subject.

However, I very soon reevaluated my initial agenda for taking the class and learning about other religions. I decided that what I really wanted to know was the TRUTH. With this new personal agenda in mind, I opened myself to TRUTH, wherever I might find it. That enabled me to evaluate all religions more objectively as well as to listen to my own inner being as to what rang true to me and my own spiritual experience.

What I discovered was that there is actually more agreement between different religions than may be imagined. And there are also ideas in every religion that I could agree with and others in every religion (including my own) that I could not agree with.

So, all it takes to be open to other religions is to overcome fear and resistance that they too might have something of personal value to teach us. Why would anyone not want to grow spiritually by limiting their options on where to find TRUTH? Just because you allow yourself to be more open and approach all religions objectively need not mean you have to accept everything (or anything) they have to say. Just at least give it a chance.

During my 20's and early 30's I learned and explored about many different religions. I often found one or another that I felt I could say "I could be..." but then, as I get to know the religion better, I find things in it that I do not agree with. Eventually I gave up trying to find which one religion was for me.

I have come to say I am "nothing in particular and everything in general" or my spirituality is in the context of one world society not divided by artificial labels. It is a universal and generic spirituality that goes beyond labels and man-made divisions. There are things in every religion I agree with and other things in every religion I disagree with. I cannot choose just one to fully commit to. I have thrown off one label and do not desire to put on another.

An interfaith group I am involved with has taken to calling it "on the journey" but that makes it sound like a search for an identity or label. I gave up that search many years ago. I feel it is an endless spiritual journey with no particular goal in mind. Some just say "I am spiritual but not religious."

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