What would life be without looking beyond the life we live today? While we try to celebrate the lives of those who have died, do we have hope for ourselves when we are gone?
I had a neighbor once who was raised in Nazi Germany. He believed that life was like a light switch – once you died, that was the end, no afterlife.
I asked him, “Then what was the reason you do good?””
He replied, “So that the others who come after me will live well.”
I replied, “But if you are gone, what would it matter?”
He sat in silence.
Our real perception of the spiritual life…comes to us most clearly in crisis.
Values…
The values we choose to live by are dictated by our beliefs. If we have no beliefs in anything but ourselves, why would we choose to do any good at all? Everything done would be to fulfill ourselves. No one – not even our closest ties – would matter to us.
Our real perception of the spiritual life – and the after life, which some deny – comes to us most clearly in crisis. When we are facing potential, or certain, death of ourselves. During bouts of harsh illnesses, car accidents, natural disasters.
Spirituality…
The search for something beyond ourselves will come at one point in our lives. And when it does, we wonder what it all means.
Man isn’t just a body, but something more. He thinks, reasons, understands that some things are right and some are wrong. The inner urges that occur from the spiritual part of man.
Man isn’t just a body, but something more.
But misdirected, or guided by false teachings, those spiritual wanderings can lead us far astray from real Truth. We can lose our way very quickly and end up in a place worse than where our journey began.
It happened to me…
I couldn’t understand death. It didn’t make sense. Those who had died who were nearest and dearest to me seemed like a waste of life.
Those who had died who were nearest and dearest to me seemed like a waste of life.
Why do their experiences and wisdom exist if they just end up going to the grave with all of them? No one else could have those same life lessons, and they couldn’t pass on what they learned to others. Their stories would be lost.
Not unlike what I tell my grandchildren about my past life, or recollections of the lessons I learned. They merely yawn and forget all that is said within five minutes.
But I had to have an answer…the REAL answer
So I prayed. I did’t know how. I just talked out loud to the universe asking for an explanation of what it was all about.
And I received a reply. Not audibly. But directionally.
Seeing someone reach out to me and accept me for who I was, and answered my questions burning within me was the first encounter to that reply. Books from the first and second centuries were the second. Talking with those who had knowledge and answers was the third.
And I received a reply. Not audibly. But directionally.
Step by step, led by the invisible Hand I became convinced over the years where I needed to go.
And it led me to where I am today. Ensconced in something that has never wavered over the millennia.
Then I found solace…
At last, I found the answers to the profound questions that had kept me from the truth during my spiritual journey. This path revealed the purpose of life, the existence of life beyond this one, and guided me to the one who is in control of it all.
Through the valuable lessons of life’s curveballs, I began to seek for Truth. I realized that I was led astray by others who were more ignorant that myself. And I couldn’t stand the thought of never reaching that source of it all.
But most importantly, I had to learn how to connect with Him. As a limited, ignorant being, I needed to understand my own limitations. It wasn’t just “inside myself”, as some think. I knew I could only be as good as my teacher – and if that was me, I couldn’t grow beyond who I was.
It was more than I expected…
He had to show me that it wasn’t how I felt about my relationship to Him, but that I followed His teachings on how to reach Him. On His terms, not my limited ones.
It meant more than trying to piece together some bits and parts…
That meant something more that just someone preaching to me about their interpretations of written words. It meant more than trying to piece together some bits and parts of other religions into something I think “fits”.
It was – and is – only found in something ancient, unchanging, unwavering.
Then the light dawned…
I learned that that Something that is greater than myself could only teach me by what was left to man to learn. And that study led me to my Faith.
It is still and always in process, but with His help, it has never reverted back into the darkness. Only when I choose to do things my own way do I fail to follow the path toward the ultimate goal: life beyond this life, beyond suffering, eternal peace.
And I now have hope to be reunited with those who found the same path.
What is that path?
It is path to Truth – unchanging, eternal. The guardrails that surround my Faith keep me from straying too far off that path. They do not restrict me, but keep me safe.
Regardless of what life throws my way, if I stray, it is because I do not trust the One Who took me from a life of misery. I forget how He has enriched it with a life of great, spiritual wealth.
As life takes away more from me, it shakes me. I try to take up the reins again and stop the damage.
But when I stop trying to be in charge, He leads me to understand the greater gift found in hardships. Those are the lessons never learned in times of comfort.
Suffering and growth…
In the words of Jordan Peterson, “We are here to suffer, so learn to suffer like a man”.
I learned that happiness is elusive, but the adversities of life help me to realize just how small I really am.
I learned that happiness is elusive, but the adversities of life help me to realize just how small I really am. And just how far I must go to reach perfection, if at all.
So I must learn to suffer. And in suffering, grow in my spiritual walk, hand-in-hand with my Creator. No one else can understand me better than the One Who put me together.
Spirituality is the component of life found least importantly in comfort. But it the most important in the face of difficulties.
So what really is spirituality?
It is more than an ambiguous, amorphous, ethereal, changeable thing like picking out chocolate chips from a cookie and thinking you’ve got the whole thing. It isn’t choosing to find some part of a religious practice that “feels right” and then incorporating it into your personal life.
It is found in antiquity. It is reasonable. It is rigid. And it is unchangeable.
It is more than an ambiguous, amorphous, ethereal, changeable thing…
It is grounded in Truth. A Truth that is freely chosen.
It is found in physical reality.
And the greater it thrusts up its beautiful head, the greater the human race tries to destroy it.
Or at least those who seek it.
If changed, it becomes a false path – a misdirection.
It isn’t found in mantras or modern religions…
What spirituality isn’t…
It isn’t found in mantras or modern religions. It isn’t full of division, conflict, confusion, diversity of truths. It isn’t uncertain, constantly changed when boredom strikes.
Spirituality isn’t based on change, but upon unchanging Truth.
How can you find true spirituality?
Seek Truth and It will come to you. Ask that Something beyond yourself what that means. Tell that Something of your questions, troubles, problems. Challenge Him to show Himself to you, if you are ready.
Ask…seek…be open to a rely.
Those actions are called “prayer”.
You will get an answer. Probably in ways you didn’t expect. But if you ask, sincerely wanting to find out, you will get a reply.
Like I did.
Without that rich spiritual awakening, life itself holds no meaning or purpose. That is why it has become so important to my life.